This time of the year is one of my favorites. I love the scents, the flavors, and the colors of fall! Every year since I was very young, my family has always gone to the same place to pick our own apples at the beginning of fall…{Rinker Orchard} in Stephen’s City, Virginia. I love the homeyness of this place and after so many years of coming here, we almost feel like we are part of the family. Although there are always a good amount of people there, it never feels like an over-crowded tourist spot. You are truly able to enjoy the crisp fall weather with your family and roam about the orchard to find the best apples you can! There are many apple varieties offered there, however, in our family we only go for the Ida Reds!
Our family’s fall-time tradition doesn’t stop there. My mom brought to our family and to the apple orchard her family favorite from Buffalo, New York…{Beef on Weck}! It is a tasty sandwich piled high with roast beef on a kummelweck bun and drizzled with au jus. Each person in our family has different accompaniments they prefer, including tomatoes, horseradish, and salt/pepper. I can’t handle the heat of horseradish, so I load up my sandwich with tomatoes and au jus and have found that this favorite is also good on pretzel rolls, even if it isn’t the traditional way of building the sandwich…I don’t care when it tastes that good! Below is a photo of a sandwich, done my dad’s way….he was so excited that he dug in before I could take the picture. The sandwich might not be the easiest to put together in the trunk of a car but, along with some potato chips, is perfect to eat while enjoying the beautiful landscape of the apple orchard and is well-deserved after lugging around a bushel of apples. Our family has also brought this with us to several Virginia wineries at which the sandwiches are much easier to put together and just as perfect for enjoying the scenery there.
Now that we have a bushel of apples, I am looking forward to trying out all the many fall recipes I have pinned and found to highlight them in the next month or two! The list already includes: {caramel apple brownies, apple chips, apple crumble pie} and it doesn’t stop there. So be on the look out in the coming weeks for all these apple recipes to be posted on {A Hint of Ginger}!
A Hint of Ginger 