Even though I eat apples year round, it does feel especially good to eat them in the fall knowing I could potentially be eating ones I picked myself. E. and I went apple picking last year and it was my first time going in forever. It was really fun! Orchards are very calming and lovely places: the rows upon rows of fruit trees, the greenery, the fresh air. When I visited S. in New Hampshire way back in July 2003 we went for a few walks in this orchard near her house and it made me feel like I was in a L.M. Montgomery novel. It would be so pleasant to get to walk in an orchard on a regular basis. In July 2005, I visited my friend M., who I first met in Berkeley in Fall 2004 when he was a Brazilian exchange student, in his little town of Fraiburgo in southern Brazil, which is known as the 'Land of Apples' because they grow so many apples there. M. was an agricultural engineer (or something like that...) for this big company that owned many of the orchards in Fraiburgo. It was their winter, and he had to check on the apples (really just buds I think) twice a day. So I went along with him in his little car, driving throughout the orchard making sure all the apples were okay. Afterward we went to a barbeque with people from his work and this nice woman who also worked there gave me some Pink Lady (which she pronounced laid-gee) apples to eat. They were very good, even for non-McIntosh apples. As far as jobs go, M.'s seemed great if you like agriculture and apples and being outside. And I love the idea of one's whole job being centered around apples.
Though I like the names of different apples like Red Delicious (I think that was Snow White's favourite!) and Golden Delicious, I only love to eat one type: McIntosh. I will also eat Pink Lady, if McIntosh aren't available, but even those pale in comparison to my love for McIntosh. It's a bit odd to passionately love the taste of one apple, but not like the taste of others. But that's just the way it goes sometimes. I eat a McIntosh almost every day with some cheese. Apples & cheese are an amazing combination, and one I never get sick of!
Apples are also the only fruit I don't like cooked (making them the opposite of cauliflower and broccoli, which I love cooked but won't eat raw). I wish I could like apple pie as it's such a traditional, popular, feel good food. But I just don't. Although L. once told me that a diner in Florida she was at served her a slice of cheddar cheese with her piece of apple pie. I just did a little googling on the issue, and apparently that's quite popular in both New England and the midwest. So now my new food/travel goal is to find a diner the next time I'm in any of those places and hopefully find apple pie on the menu. I'd be willing to put aside my dislike and eat that one piece if it came with a slice of cheddar cheese.
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