Taste of the Town : Apple Pickin' Time

My favorite Van Morrison CD is playing and I just pulled a piping hot apple crisp from the oven. For some reason whenever I make apple crisp I must have Van Morrison’s “Moondance” in the background. I know it sounds strange, but it seems to help and who am I to question the kitchen gods?

Unlike the cherry tart, the apple crisp turned out perfect. I used Macintosh apples freshly plucked from the trees at Apple Holler. That’s right. Despite spending a good portion of last Sunday lazing on the couch, Scott and I somehow managed to make it to the orchard.

On the way we stopped for burgers (why does bad-for-you-food always sound so good after being out too late the night before?) and suddenly found ourselves in the midst of what can only be described as a Jerry Springer-esque moment.

Apparently a customer didn’t get the right number of sour cream packets with her baked potato and before anybody knew what was happening, she started screaming and shouting at the terrified teenage girl behind the register, calling her all kinds of things I can’t print here. Meanwhile, the rest of us just stood there wide-eyed, immobilized by the shock of encountering such a psycho in suburbia.

Finally the woman got her sour cream or whatever it was, the situation was diffused, and the rest of us went back to our artery clogging consumption of burgers and fries.

Feeling incredibly alert after our encounter with Reality TV-like pit stop, we continued on to Apple Holler, where cars were parked along the road for about half a mile in front of the place.

We parked in a nearby field, where I quickly perceived that flip flops had not been the best choice of footwear for this occasion, and joined the throngs of families making their way to the entrance.
We passed the stuffed scarecrows, perched on bales of hay and surrounded by multiple pots of jewel toned chrysanthemums, and pre-paid for a bushel of apples.

Meanwhile, scores of parents tried to keep up with their kids, who were racing around the smart addition of a children’s area complete with barnyard animals, a corn maze and all manner of other activities to keep young ones entertained.

Other people headed inside to the bakery for pie purchases or to the buffet, which boasts homestyle country meals. I personally like the breakfast buffet where you can get Applewood smoked bacon, homemade biscuits and gravy, apple walnut French toast and all manner of other tasty breakfast goodies.

Since we’d already eaten, we bypassed all this and headed straight down the dusty trail to the orchard. Row after row of lush green trees bending under the weight of all their apples lined each side of the trail.

Each variety was marked with a white sign in front of the row: MacIntosh, Gala, Honey Crisp (one of my faves), Courtland, Golden Delicious, Northern Spy… they stretched on and on around the massive pumpkin patch nestled in the middle.

We filled our bag to the brim with a mix of MacIntosh, Golden Delicious and Courtlands then Scott threw it over his shoulder and we trudged back to the car. Satisfied that we had at least accomplished something of value for the day, we headed home and took a well-earned nap.

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Where to find it:
Apple Holler
5006 S. Sylvania Ave. (about 30 miles south of Milwaukee on I-43)
Sturtevant, WI 53177
(262) 886- 8500
www.appleholler.com