Adventures at the Ithaca Apple Festival

This weekend I went to an Apple Harvest Festival in Upstate New York with the kid brother. If you consider 21 a kid, which I do. I got to relive my college days (for two nights) of getting carded at the door to bars only to get carded again ordering a drink a. Fighting for standing room on crowded dance floors with underdressed nineteen year olds, while The Killers are blaring so loud that you can't hear yourself think, but it's cool, thinking is overrated anyway. When I wasn't at bars listening to loud rock songs I did get to thinking a little: mainly about how important family is. Even though mine isn't large, what matters most to me is the family you craft for yourself based on what you do have, however big or small. And if you think about it, that's just perfect.

I'm too exhausted from a day of plane delays and turbulence to give you the complete play by play, but to whet your appetite for a full-fledged, apple-icious rundown:

Naturally, I would pick the rainiest weekend of the season to visit the beautiful Finger Lake region, but the leaves are just starting to change and the drive from the airport on Friday was scenic and calming.

The first night of the three day festival featured live music and this cotton candy stand that looked like it was plucked straight from a nineteen forties-era circus and planted in downtown Ithaca. It made me think of Water for Elephants.

Even though the Apple Festival was set up more like a street fair than a harvest festival, there were plenty of farm-fresh goodies everywhere, including fresh baked goods, locally grown produce and organic vegetables. And of course - plenty of apples.

Nothing says end-of-September like a caramel-drenched Red Delicious! So to cap off this month, and since I have more tales from Apple Fest than I can fit into one post, stay tuned for more apple-related propaganda here in the coming week.

If you have any especially delicious apple recipes of your own that you're dying to share with the blogosphere - post them this week or link to old posts in a comment. Feel free to send the links my way and I'll include them in one of my posts at the end of this week.

Comments

[Jamie]

Carmel apples are my favorite!

[Lacey Bean]

Dave and I were going to go apple picking today but it was soooooo rainy!!! Maybe next weekend. :)

(We need to get a pumpkin too!)

[Joey]

As the Bluth family says, family always comes first. Except for breakfast.

Oh, but that's right--you aren't up on your Arrested Development.

[Anna]

Those trees are gorgeous! I love this time of year!

[Kristen]

I once had a goal to attend as many food festivals as possible! There is nothing quite like a festival, and an apple festival sounds right up my alley!