Picking at Samascott Orchards

Cherries.  Cherries!  CHERRIES!!!!!  That's how we started loving Samascott.

We brought our own containers, which is earth friendly on both of our parts. You can weigh them on your way on to make sure you're only paying for your fruit.  $2/lb.  The bomb.

Being supertall is helpful; you can get the high up ones that other people can't reach (unless they have a ladder, which one woman did).

The signage was a little rough - we looked for blueberries on our first trip but couldn't find them.  We were a little fried from the sun, so that may have been a factor.  Instead we bought some at their market.

My friend the Dirty Radish posted some cherry recipes, but let's face it - I ate all 4 lbs raw...with J's help.

We may go back for blueberries, it depends what's up with the weather and our J+J itinerary :)

CSA deliciousness and apple picking!

Week 3 of the CSA brought some smaller butternut squash, so much so that they were two per option instead of one.  I mixed and matched with a small butternut, regular-sized acorn squash, and of course, concord grapes.  You can smell those babies across a room.  Otherwise I got a few apples (not too many, since we'd be picking soon), tomatoes, onion, and pears.

Stuff we made:
-  African Peanut Soup from The Dirty Radish - very tasty. I served this to some guests on Friday night, and the reviews were rave.  I emailed the recipe to my Grandma.
- Acorn squash and gorgonzola pizza....or at least, our own special variation of it.
- Butternut squash and chickpea salad from I Flip For Food.
- Cakeballs from Eat Run Read.  OK, these had zero to do with farm-freshness, but they were a HUGE hit with the gang at home, in the office, and on our picnic.  Red velvet.  Decadent.

J just demanded that I take a wedge of tomato and suck out the seedy gooey part "like an oyster," because "this is the sweetest tomato [he's] ever had in [his] life."  I obliged.  Thanks for sharing, friend.

Apples are still ready for picking.  We love pairing local farms with wineries (see Stribling Farm adventure, and we've also done Great Country Farms + Bluemont Vineyard).  So Homestead Farm + Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard seemed natural.  I'd been hearing about SMV from my very favorite future sister in law for quite some time, and it was high time I enjoyed the stunning view of the mountain, a $5 tasting, and a glass of sangria.  Plus, we stumbled upon the perfect farmstand for J3 to find a beautiful white pumpkin.  Did I say beautiful?  I meant spooky!

CSA Friday and What I've Been Sharing

We picked up more CSA items, this time together.  This week's bounty includes zucchini (for ERR zucchini bread, perhaps), peppers, apples, pears, Concord grapes, grape tomatoes, green beans...all things that want to be eaten muahahahh.  I am controlling myself around the squash because I know it'll keep coming week after week.  Spaghetti squash and butternut, I'm watching you!  You will be turned into a pasta substitute and a soup (M&T perhaps), respectively.  Mmm.   

What I've been sharing: My weekly recaps started in February when I had become stir-crazy and blog-crazy from the snow, and they ended right around the time Top Chef began.  Instead of confining myself to something weekly, I just want to round up some things I've shared via email, Google Reader, Twitter, and *gasp* face-to-face conversation recently.  Maybe you'll find something story-worthy in my yammering.

Pretty cranberry beans from Cara's Cravings.

I am dying to eat this goat cheese and tomato quiche from Corcoran Street Kitchen.  It's beautiful, mostly because like me, she's not shy with the parsley : )

Skirt steak salad! And also, a sock monkey. From Smitten Kitchen.

Sometimes eating makes us tired.  Puppies too.

This Crispy No-Knead bread from Evan the Carnivore looks awesome and crusty (in a good way).

Amsterdam Falafel is expanding, says Metrocurean.  I'd like to see one in Bethesda!

Quinoa got a prime nerd spot on the popular law blog Volokh Conspiracy. Then another.

What to do with all those apples (and apples, apples, and more apples )?  Pinch My Salt has a few ideas. Don't forget to pick them too!  It's nice to see that Stribling was popular this year!

I did a noodle kugel showdown between BGSK and the Shiksa by making half of each recipe for an official taste test (and by official I mean at a staff meeting).  The (legal) opinion of our team was for the Shiksa's recipe, but J liked BGSK better.  Both are delicious.  Shiksa's has a crumb topping (YUM), less butter, and adds cottage cheese to the mix.  J thinks it's too dessert-y because of the crumb topping (which could easily be left off).  Anyway, it was my first kugel ever, and I'm happy with the results.

W. Mark Felt (the fictional one, not the real one mayherestinpeace) hit up Volt's Table 21. Jealous!

Lunching in the DMV laid out the details for next week's Curbside Cookoff, maybe a chance for those of us working in outer Mongolia to try some trucks?

I recently ordered Girl Scout cookies from a coworker's daughter.  I finally took the 30 seconds to Google the answer to the age old question: why are they sometimes Samoas and sometimes Caramel deLites, but always the same and delicious?  Two bakeries, my friends.  Two bakeries that are the Official Girl Scout Cookie bakeries, and each council can pick which one they want to go with.  Certain cookie varieties and package sizes are required, and some are nearly identical due to popularity.  My favorites are Thin Mints from the freezer. Samoas/Caramel deLites are second favorite.

Other than that, recently I've eaten from Taylor Gourmet in Bethesda twice, BGR The Burger Joint once, and I haven't been to Pete's Apizza in almost 3 weeks, so obviously I'm going through withdrawal.  We're saving our appetites and pennies for a special dinner coming up.

Stribling Farm & Chateau O'Brien Winery

When we went to Stribling Orchard for some last-minute apple picking, we had NO IDEA that Travel + Leisure had rated it one of America's Best Apple Picking Farms! Wowzers. Talk about impressive.

This place is great for kids and adults alike--and it doesn't hurt if the weather happens to be a perfect 75 degrees without a cloud in the sky. Just about an hour from the stressful, hustle-bustle city life is a place where your biggest problem is picking more apples than you can comfortably carry. Thirty acres of apples to roam around, marked by a color-coding system so you know what's in season and what's for baking v. eating.

Other things: Bring a picnic! And if you arrive in the early afternoon, please get in line for a pie BEFORE you pick--we waited more than a half hour on line in the store (which had treats like jams, preserves, honeys, bbq sauce (!!) not to mention the pies, breads, and turnovers) only to watch the last pie get sold. One mom pre-paid for 2 pies, and she was prepared to make her family wait 45 minutes until they were cooked and cooled. I KNOW that earlier the line wasn't nearly as long and they were not out of pies.

The only baked item left when we got to the front was this apple raisin bread. Darn.


I'm kidding about the darn, of course. This "bread" was like an enormous fluffy pastry. If you squeeze the loaf, it squished for you, then slowly rose back up. It was filled with fresh apples--not apple "flavor."

And did I mention they let you use adult tools?!

Stribling Orchard
Markham, VA
Getting there: You take 66, and then just hop off. Directions on the web site.

NEXT! Just like our previous U-Pick experience (Bluemont Vineyard after strawberry-picking at Great Country Farms ), tired out from our farmwork, we headed to the closest vineyard. About 2, maybe 3 minutes away is Chateau O'Brien.

The tasting room was CRAZY--there are two, one for the regular $5 tasting, and one for the $10 cellar tasting. We had enough standing around after the major line for our apple bread, and we were in need of a snack. A crusty baguette and cheese plate later, with a glass of apple wine (the owner said it's too sweet for him--on this beautiful day, especially after picking, I thought it was just right) and a glass of the Northpoint Red, and we were set up juuuust fine on the amazing patio.

What views! Also, we usually only go to wineries in the summer--an exception for the mulled wine at Swedenburg. So this is one of the few times we've really seen the grapes hanging on the vines.

They are pretty into Tannat--I'd like to try it on my next visit. Is it the grape that will make Virginia wines great, as the CO proprietors claim? Maybe. But it's not native, like Norton.

The inside space at Chateau O'Brien is also really nice--a lot of places in the NoVa wine trail are all about their outdoor space, with plenty of room for picnicking, etc, but very little indoor seating. Understandable, because mostly people come for a tasting. But I can see curling up in the coziness of Chateau O'Brien on a winter weekend afternoon, sipping a deep red wine in a big comfy sweater. Almost makes me look forward to winter...almost.


Chateau O'Brien
Markham, VA
Getting there: We just followed the signs after the exit for Markham.