Apple picking, Burčák and Friends

Last year we tried to find some place to pick apples. Apple picking is something that I love to do especially becuase it marks the beginning of fall. The smell of baking apples, a fire in the fireplace and hanging out with friends is something to look forward too. Unfortunately last year we didn't find anywhere to pick apples. It seems it just isn't done here. This is probably becuase it seems everyone has apple trees in the gardens. We have an old apple orchard in front of our house that did not produce any fruit last year. We just assumed that the trees were so old and uncared for that they just stopped produing fruit. To our surprise this is not the case since this year they are loaded with apples! They are not the big pretty apples, they are small and have many blemishes but they are delicious! The girls ask everyday when we get home from school if they can pick an apple to which of course I always answer yes and I grab one as well.

Since the apples are so tastey and apple picking is difficult to come by here we invited some friends over on Saturday to pick some apples. We also thought we would walk to our neighboring village and pick up some burcak, a fermented young moravian wine only available at the start of the harvest. Our friends had never had Burčák so it was the perfect weekend to pick some up. Unfortunately we didn't get to go for our walk since it was pouring out so we just drove over and picked up the Burčák. We did manage to pick apples although we didn't stay out for as long due to the rain. The rain really didn't matter though becuase we had a great time with our friends. The girls were excited to have their friends over and they all played nicely. Fortunately for us they did keep most of their play upstairs so that the adults could hear each other over the clomping around of dress-up shoes and excited girl voices. It was our first real fall meal of the season with pumpkin soup, spezzatino toscano (an italian veal stew), potatoes and menelik (a piedmont version of Tiramisu) for dessert. Good friends, good food, happy kids...can't ask for much more than that!