Autumn is Officially Here!

Well, I missed it by a couple of days!  The autumnal equinox happened this year on September 22 at 11:09pm - it is now officially fall in the Northern Hemisphere. I am so excited!

Fall is such a wonderful time - the weather is my favorite change. No more insanely humid, sweaty days for a while and a chance to pull out my cute sweaters.  Austin has been cool this week - temperatures in the 80s are a welcome break from the 100 degree plus weather that graces us in the summer. Alright, so not exactly sweater weather yet, but we are moving in the right direction. Days are getting shorter.  Which reminds me, the time change!  I love the luxury of extra sleep when we "fall back". Don't forget to change your clocks one hour back on Sunday, November 7th.

Apples are coming into season and I personally cannot wait to eat my fill.  I gave up on Red Delicious apples a long time ago.  There is nothing worse than a mealy apple (or really any mealy fruit, for that matter) and Red Delicious always seem to be mealy.  So although it is the Platonic ideal of an apple in the US, I wouldn't eat one by choice.  The next most common apple is probably the Granny Smith, which has great texture, but is too tart for me. Thankfully, more varieties of apples are showing up at the store year round.

Gala apples are okay. If they are on sale, I buy them, but they also tend towards mealiness, so it can be a gamble. If I can get my hands on them, Pink Lady apples are my go-to everyday apple. The texture is nice and crisp - I've never had a mealy Pink Lady. They are good for eating and for baking - their texture holds up really well in crumbles or pies.  To me, they are a perfect balance of sweet and tart.  If you can get some, I would highly suggest giving them a try.  They go exceedingly well with peanut butter, as the slight tartness cuts the fattiness of the spread.

More varieties become available in the fall. Honeycrisp apples are very sweet.  And crisp is right in the name!  You know the texture's going to be good. Ambrosia apples are my absolute favorite.  I usually only get them once a year and they are expensive.  But they are so good!  I remember when I first had Dylan try one.  He was blown away by the flavor and didn't know that other apples besides red and green existed. I want to encourage everyone to try all the varieties of apples you can this fall. Maybe you will find a new favorite. Or just enjoy the apples you can only get this time of year. Just don't settle for the boring ones, okay?