One day at a time: November 2008

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Making Applebutter With My Family

A bunch of us gathered at Ron & Sue Stearns' house to make applebutter. They had already done all the prep work (thank you!) and cut up about 15 bushels of apples and cored them and peeled them and strained them . . . but today we gathered to cook it and can it. We all brought food and had a great lunch together and had a great family day in the process.

Our family has beenmaking applebutter for longer than I have been alive. The big copper kettle had belonged to my Grandma & Grandpa Rummel and Mom remembers it from when she was a little girl. I have memories from as far back as I can remember of eating Grandma's homemade bread with her applebutter spilling off the edge. Yum!!

Esther and Mom chatting while stirring the applebutter. Then Rachel took over for a while.

Liquid gold!! As the day went on, it boiled down and got darker and thicker. All in all, there was about 15 pounds of sugar added to the brew as it boiled down. The smell was incredible!!

RuthAnn taking a turn :)

They made a wonderful beef stew outside over coals. These really cool cast iron pots are made to put coals under them and on top of the lid to cook food. The stew was absolutely delicious!!

Mom and Becky taking a moment to enjoy the stew and the beautiful Fall day.

Liam & Declan enjoyed themselves on this fun day. They ran around and played outside all day!!

They sat on the cooler and wanted us to pull them around. My back hurts so bad from rough-housing with them!!! :(

Then the got on this wagon and Mark pulled them around the yard. They were collecting pine cones. Declan was NOT thrill with the pine pitch that he had on his hands!!

Me taking my turn stirring the brew.

A family affair

Aunt Sue made a bunch of homemade bread while we were stirring the applebutter and we were all thankful as she sent us all home with a loaf!! :)

We devoured 2 loaves of bread there on the spot with hot applebutter ladeled onto the bread straight from the kettle!! Yum!! Nothin' better than that!! :)

Liam and Declan loved it, but mostly wanted to lick the applebutter off the bread instead of eating the bread too!!

Esther and Rachel charing some bread.

Getting ready to can. We had to bring in the applebutter a bucketfull at a time. We each had our stations to get the applebutter canned.

Esther was the jar filler, Mom wiped the edges of the jars and passed them on to RuthAnn. I would put a lid on the jars and then RuthAnn would put the ring on and tighten them. From there we would pass them on to Dad or Ron and Sue to carry them to the shelf or put them in boxes.

Liquid gold!! :)

All in all, we got about 65 quarts of applebutter from the batch. Not bad!!

The old copper kettle. Lots of history in that old kettle. Its helped bring wonderful applebutter to our family for more than one generation now!!

Myrtle Beach & Charleston, SC

On the way to Myrtle Beach, I passed a field that looked like freshly fallen snow. Turns out it was cotton!! I know I may be a total "yankee," but I had never seen a field of cotton before. I was a little taken with it and in fact did "take" some :) Just a couple little cotton balls :)

This place was really cool. Its called Barefoot Landing and has tons of little shops and restaurants that are on both sides of the lake. You can go back and forth on these bridges that connect the two sides.

This place had really awesome chocolate and candy!!

This Halloween display was awesome! As I walked by it, something hissed at me and the fog came shooting out of somewhere and scared me a little!

My hotel!! Its called the Sandcastle Resort in South Beach of Myrtle Beach. It was totally awesome :) I was up on the 6th floor and had an excellent oceanfront room with a terrific view :)

Me in front of the hotel

The hotel had really great pools and hot tubs!! They were heated very well and even though it was chilly outside sometimes, they were very comfortable to swim in!! :)

Another really cool place that I went was Broadway at the Beach and Celebrity and Celebrity Square. There are tons of shops, restaurants, theaters, etc. surrounding a lake. Again there are bridges connecting the two sides. A very cool place to visit!!