When Life Hands you Apples

I apologize to my loyal readers (mom, Eric) for not posting recently. It’s been a hectic couple of weeks, but the good kind of hectic! I’ve been to Georgia and back three times in the past two weeks! All for good reasons though: wedding planning, a photography gig (see Madison Claire Photography on Facebook, shameless plug), and to pick up Eric from the airport after an interview in Boston!  

        

This past trip I was able to spend a few extra days in Georgia while Eric made me jealous with pictures of Boston in full fall color. I planned to counter this with a trip to North Georgia to go apple picking when he returned. North Georgia is famous for it beautiful mountains, small town charm, and delicious apples. I decided there was no better time to go pick apples in Ellijay, GA than a crisp October Saturday.

Turns out there was a much better time, but I’ll get to that.

My mother is a fan of cute towns and fall colors, so I asked her and my dad to come along with us. I figured they could drop us off at a roadside orchard and then through town and sight see. It was such a perfect plan to me… silly me.

The first sign of the line of cars drew a collective groan from the car. I should have realized that everyone else in the state of Georgia would have derived the same perfect plan as me on that beautiful October Saturday. The cheerful car ride soon turned into a sauna of impatience as we inched our way up the highway. Well, half the car was impatient… luckily for my dad and me, Mom and Eric have seemingly unending patience.

My perfect plan was sinking quickly, so I decided to just find some apples to buy so we could get on the southbound road as quickly as possible. We headed for downtown Ellijay and discovered the source of the traffic. Leave it to me to pick Apple Festival weekend, Ellijay’s biggest festival, to plan to pick apples.

Well, the mood in the car turned around when we found a prime spot near the Apple Art walk downtown, a spot that turned out to be right next to crates of fresh picked pecks of apples. We purchased apple pastries and enjoyed a quick walk through the tents. On the way out of Ellijay we passed the fairgrounds for the apple festival and saw more tents than at a SEC football game. Once again, leave it to me to pick Ellijay’s busiest weekend.

Thanks to some good apple turnovers and a large cup of boiled peanuts, our trip to the beautiful North Georgia Mountains wasn’t spoiled by bad traffic. And, thanks to half a peck of apples, I was able to make my mom’s famous apple dip. So I guess the lesson is, when life hands you apples, make something sweet!

Pam's Apple Dip 

A great dip for a snack or an appetizer for a party! Delicious on apples, or even by itself (ask Eric).

Ingredients:

8 oz package of cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup of brown sugar

1/2 cup of sugar

1 pkg of bits of brickle toffee (optional, but I love it)

1 can of pineapple or lemon juice

2-3 Apples

Directions:

Combine softened cream cheese, brown sugar, sugar, and toffee in a mixer or large mixing bowl and mix until well blended

Slice apples thinly and dip in pineapple or lemon juice to prevent browning, blot dry, and set on serving plate

ENJOY!