Weekend in Instagram

Wow, what a great weekend!  The weather was gorgeous and it was just one of those weekends were you feel like you haven't stopped moving yet there's a huge smile on your face.  Love those kinds of weekends!  Friday I was feeling a little worn down, so we took it easy and stayed in (the only time we weren't busy doing something).  Lately anytime we at home relaxing on the sofa that means it's ball-time for the Cheese.  Either he's begging for us to throw it, he's just sitting there chewing it, or he's sleeping next to it...and it's all adorable!

Oh Cheesy!

Saturday we woke up bright and early and headed over to French Park for a walk through the woods with Cheese.  The park was pretty quiet and we didn't encounter anyone else on the trail.  The weather was heavenly, sunny with a fall nip in the air!

 Cheese was tired and apparently thirsty after our walk through the woods, so on the way back to the car he took advantage of the dew on the grass and started licking the ground nonstop.  At one point Antoine was running with him and he was still licking the ground!  Silly dog.

After showers we headed to Skip's Deli in Mason for a late breakfast.  I got my favorite, a blueberry bagel with this amazing blueberry cream cheese.

Then we headed further north to Lebanon to go apple picking at Iron Fruits Farm.  It had been three years since we last went apple picking there, so we were really looking forward to it.

 The apples kind of sucked and they have really let the fields get overgrown, but we still had a great time, despite the fact that I nearly hit Antoine in the head several times with the apple picker stick thing.  Oops!  

 While the fields were a little treacherous (i.e. poison ivy, burrs, and lots of vines to trip on), their little store is quite nice.  And inside they have all kinds of fresh produce, jams, and cider.  And strangely enough, the apples inside looked amazing (compared to the pick-your-own apples).  My theory is the pick-your-own fields/trees they've just let run wild and the other fields (which we saw on our way out), they carefully maintain and pick themselves to sell inside, at a higher price.  Oh well, we still managed to pick a 1/2 bushel of apples after some searching, and also walked away with some fresh peaches, green beans and apple cider.

We had plans to grill out at my sister and brother-in-law's house that evening, so we ran to the store to get some essentials so I could whip something up for dessert.

 I ended up making a blueberry peach crumble with the fresh peaches we got at Iron Fruits and the blueberries we picked earlier in the year and froze.  I stuck to the recipe for the most part, except I added nutmeg and cardamom to the fruit base.  I also added some cornstarch (about a 1/2 tablespoon) since I was using frozen blueberries.  I also used margarine instead of butter since Christian is lactose intolerant.

We headed over to Michelle and Christians and ate grilled pork and steak, fresh corn on the cob, green beans and pesto pasta salad.  Michelle and I had apple cider cocktails (hers with rum, mine with bourbon).  And then we had some crumble with vanilla (lactose free) ice cream for dessert...

 Mighty tasty, if I do say so myself!

Then we played Cards Against Humanity by candlelight on the back patio, it was raunchy and delightful.  We went home tipsy and happy.

Sunday was a busy day in the kitchen for me. 

I started off by making an apple crisp for Antoine to take into work to share with his coworkers (again, I added fresh nutmeg and cardamom to the base, and decreased the water to 1/4 cup).  I haven't heard yet how it turned out. Then I made and canned a batch of marmalade and a batch of apple jam (and I didn't even make a dent in the apples we picked).  By the end of the day I was exhausted yet content and I relaxed the rest of the evening.

So, how was your weekend?  Did you get out to enjoy the gorgeous weather!?  I'm bummed that it's going to start getting warm again, I'm so ready for Fall.