Apples, Pumpkins and Wine

After our excursion to the Hill Country the week prior, we decided to start making plans to do something every weekend (now that we have Karen our Navigation expert to keep us from getting lost). ;) I picked up as many "somewhat" interesting-looking brochures at the ticket office here on base. I was only partly surprised that there wasn't a whole lot to do nearby (besides the Riverwalk, the usual restaurants, shopping centers, movie theaters, disappointing zoos and run-down old miniature golf centers). So last weekend, we chose to head out to Medina, Texas (about an hour away) to go to the Love Creek Orchards to pick our own apples, try out their homemade apple ice cream, fresh-baked apple pie and pick out a pumpkin for Kristin to paint later. We were driving so far, we actually drove into an actual cowboy-kind-of-town! I was surprised. This area seems more like Mexico to me than Texas. We usually don't see people in cowboy hats, boots and wranglers unless we're getting close to Dallas, so it was a nice surprise. There were even people riding their horses on the side of the road. One horse was even tied up at the local saloon! It was great!





Anyways - we eventually arrived at the Orchard and they were putting on their annual Great Hill Country Pumpkin Patch. I wanted us to join in on all of the fun (hayride, petting zoo, apple orchard tour, pumpkin painting, build-your-own scarecrow and tour of the cider & apple processing barn), but it was SO frickin' hot and humid out and there wasn't any shade whatsoever for any of the activities! Only in Texas can you get a sunburn in mid-October. Sheesh! We decided not to do the pumpkin patch thing because we didn't have a hat for Katie and I wasn't sure that I wanted to pay the $20 admission fee for all of us - especially since I can't imagine us having that much fun baking in the direct sunlight for very long. We ended up just going into the Country Store for homemade apple ice cream and a slice of fresh-baked apple pie. Mmmmm...yummy!! Since we couldn't have access to the orchard without paying the admission fee, I bought 3 fresh-picked apples from the store. Yeah - it doesn't seem as special I know, but at least they taste better than the apples we get at the commissary! And I wanted yummy-tasting apples for the carmel apples Kristin and I were going to make later.





Afterwards, we started driving to Sisterdale, TX near Boerne to go to the Sister Creek Vineyards for wine tasting. Along the way, we saw a river/park off the road, so we decided to stop and take a look. It's too bad we hadn't brought our swimming stuff - it was hot enough outside to take a dip. Anyways - it was a slightly dirty but cute little river. We saw a couple of people kayaking. I think I'd prefer to kayak in this river rather than swim in it - I'm not a fan of slimy cootie germs. Ew!





We jumped back in the car and headed the rest of the way to the Vineyards. It was an additional 45 min to get to there, but it was well worth the trip! The winery is located between the cypress-lined East and West Sister Creeks in a restored 1885 cotton gin. We gave ourselves our own tour of the winery (with a do-it-yourself tour checklist), then we enjoyed sampling a few of their wines before choosing a bottle to buy. I've never really been much of a wine-drinker (one glass of wine always seem to make me a bit sick), but now I have a favorite yummy-tasting wine that doesn't make me sick!! It was the Reserve Texas Muscat Canelli. Mmmm hmmm!!! Yummy! And it doesn't make me sick because it doesn't have all of the sulphites that are added to commercial wines. So for those of you who get a yucky blah feeling after drinking just one glass of most wines - this is the wine for you! ;) It's too bad this vineyard is so far away though - I want another bottle! On second thought...maybe it's better than it isn't so close... ;)







The next day, Kristin and I made our carmel apples. I've never made them before and I have never really cared too much for them in the past, but I wanted to do something Fall-ish with Kristin. We need some more annual traditions to do together, so I thought I'd add this one to our list. Man! They were SO good! I'm pretty sure it was just because the fresh-picked apples we bought were so yummy. It isn't like it takes a whole lot of talent to make a carmel apple, so it can't be anything I did. :) We washed the apples, jabbed the wooden sticks in the end, melted the carmel, dipped the apples and rolled them in chopped peanuts. I may have to make a quick trip to the orchard and vineyard in the next week or so. Tricia's word of the day: Yummy! ;)









And lastly, since I wasn't able to get a pumpkin at the orchard either - I was forced to lower my standards and purchase one at the commissary. Commissary produce is always a disappointment and I'm not the only one who thinks so! Sure enough, two days after I bought it, it started to mold. Rrrrrr... Just like all produce from the commissary does! I quickly washed it up and got it ready for Kristin and Jason to start painting. I strategically placed the moldy mushy side to face the window, so no one might accidently jab their paint brush into the mush. I forgot to mention that the oozy mold coming from the mushy side started to smell like an extremely bad diaper stench that had been molding for a few days! Gag gag gag... Oh excuse me, I think I just threw up a little in my mouth. ;) Okay okay - so anyways - we all managed to paint around the mush. The stench was so great - we had to quickly take a few pictures, wrap the pumpkin up in several grocery bags and run that bad boy out the door and into the trash! Oh well. We tried! :)