Some Fun Things Lately - Apple Picking, Ann's Party, Boston Globes, and Toby's New Friend

September was a crazy busy month for me.  I feel like we only had a handful of nights that we weren't off doing something, which made for a lot of fun...but has left me exhausted and fighting a cold!  I've told you about a lot of the fun things we did already, like visit the largest antique fair in the world and go to Saratoga Springs and Cooperstown, NY, but today thought I'd share a few snippits from other awesome things we did last month!

Ann's birthday was a few weeks ago, and our friend Betsy threw her a beautiful dinner party with a bunch of us girls.  It was SUCH a fun night.  I love hanging out with the husbands there, but there's something special about girl time.  Agreed?  We had a great time eating yummy food and hanging out all evening.  Betsy has a beautiful home and is an entertainer extraordinare.  Check out her beautiful fall appetizer display below - she used a large basket and layered wooden boxes to add height, tossed in some pumpkins, and even included some flowers and a cabbage.  I brought dessert: gluten free cupcakes and homemade nutella ice cream.  Happy birthday, dear friend!

Last week I shared my lasagna recipe that I made for a group of our friends after we went apple picking.  What I didn't share with you were any pictures from the first half of the day!

Honey Pot Hill Orchard is easily our favorite place to go apple picking in the Boston area.  It's about 45 minutes west of Boston and seems to have an endless amount of apple trees, hay rides, hedge mazes, farm animals, pumpkins, and yummy cider donuts.  All the makings of a perfect fall day!

The next day we had dinner with our neighbors, Paul and Ali.  We're so lucky to live next door to some of the coolest people.  Dinner was at their house and featured their homemade pesto that they made from their garden.  Seriously good!

After dinner, Ali got one of their guinea pigs (Bolt) out of the cage and we decided to see if Bolt and Toby would get along.  I was terrified Toby would think he was a toy, so we took things slowly.  Toby wasn't sure what Bolt was at first...he rarely sees animals smaller than him (besides squirrels)!  After checking him out from afar (picture number 1), Toby walked across the table and lightly "booped" Bolt on the top of the head.  Then Bolt licked Toby's face and they rubbed faces.  Success!!

We've played (and won) a lot of trivia lately.  Last week our team name was "The Intellectual Q-Tips"  to go with our head gear for the evening.  Poor Ann had to wear a head wrap to cover a 3 day electrode test, so Barb and I wrapped our heads in solidarity.  Laugh if they want....we won.  :)

The final random fun thing I wanted to share is one of the cool art installations happening in Boston right now.  There are 26 globes lining the Tremont Street edge of Boston Common that are part of the "Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet" show that travels the world.  Each globe was designed by a different artist and covers a different green strategy or environment issue.

What fun things did you do in September?

Apple Picking

A few weeks ago, Travis and I went apple picking at Honey Pot Hill Orchards.  We usually end up going apple picking in mid to late October, but this year we wanted to make sure we got some honey crisp apples (my favorite), which ripen earlier in the fall.  Since we usually go later (after most have had their apple fill), we'd never experience the madness of the crowds.  It was CRAWLING with people, but we still had a lot of fun!

So far I've made a honey mustard and apple pork tenderloin and two apple cakes!  I love apple season!

In addition to picking apples, we went through the hedge maze.  Honey Pot has two hedge mazes - the one we conquered and another down the street that is the largest hedge maze in the country!  It's 1.5 miles long, has 6 "outlook" bridges to help people scout out their path, and takes about an hour to complete.  We'll have to go back another day to do this one!

 We also looked at the farm animals...

 ...and ate hot dogs and apple cider donuts!

Have you gone apple picking before?

Easy Apple Cinnamon Cake

A few weeks ago, after going apple picking, we had our friends Ann and Terence over for dinner.  Dinner was going to be an apple/honey mustard pork loin, but I also wanted to use some of my freshly picked apples in our dessert.  Since I didn't have long to prepare (and have even less experience with gluten free baking - Ann is GF), I decided to get a gluten free box mix and try to "sup it up".  

It turned out so well I decided to try it again with a non-gf mix - it's a winner...and SO easy!

All you need is:

Cake:
Your favorite yellow boxed cake-mix (plus the ingredients needed to make as directed)
3 T brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Drizzle:

2.5 cups of apples
2.5 Tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon


Directions:

First, mix the cake mix according to the directions on the box.  Then add 3 Tablespoons brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg.

To make the drizzle, melt 2.5 Tablespoons of butter.  Stir in 3/4 cup of brown sugar (or more if you'd like) and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.

Peel, core and chop up 2-3 apples (you'll need about 2.5 cups).

Now to put it together!

Spray a 9x13 pan.  Pour in half of the cake batter

Drizzle the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture and 3/4 of the apples on top.

Spoon on the remaining cake batter, then top with the remaining cinnamon sugar mix and apples.

Bake according to the directions on the box mix!

Top with cool whip or vanilla ice cream, and enjoy!

Gluten free cake mixes usually make enough for a 9x9 pan, so adjust the extra ingredients accordingly.  The "dump" method works well.   :)

So easy...and you'll never know the base is from a box!