Granny Smith’s Famous Applesauce

My Granny Fran makes the best applesauce I have ever tasted and I think most people agree.  Each fall, everyone that knows her will drop off their bruised, battered, sometimes sour, sometimes over-rip apples from their garden trees for Granny to work her magic on.  And every holiday, Granny will come with her bag of goodies, her homemade dessert and a jar of her frozen applesauce.  It is treasured in my household and a tradition I never want to lose.

So this past weekend, I made a date with Granny so she could to teach me her famous recipe.    I came well equipped with apples, my apron and my food mill and recipe she had given me during my bridal shower.

I met up with Granny and Grandpa at Nations Burgers for lunch, where Grandpa refused to let me pay, I enjoyed the timeless burger and fries and Granny and Grandpa argued over who had actually requested the slice of pie to be bought (both while enjoying each bite).  Having spent my childhood enjoying the very same meal and experience with my grandparents, it was pure joy. 

We arrived at their house and while Granny changed into her cooking clothes, I was taken next door to meet their neighbor and see her newly renovated kitchen (very lovely).  And then it was back to their familiar home and straight to work with Granny being the perfect teacher, providing guidance when needed but allowing me to do all of the actual work.   From washing, chopping and cooking the apples to testing their softness and adding the sugar and spices, she was right there providing her years of insights and tricks. 

Between cooking and milling and spicing the applesauce, I spent the afternoon just hanging out with my grandparents.  We looked through their old Christmas letter to determine when they had gone to Scotland, Wales and London after it was mentioned during lunch (it was 1985) and I quickly learned about various other trips and life experiences…such as Grandpa going to Israel, their trips to Death Valley, Yosemite, Colorado, about their foster child, and about my parents, aunts and uncles’ new jobs, moves and growing families.

 

Granny and I sat on their loveseat/lazy boys with our feet up while we FaceTimed with Dana and Cassidy.  We watched a YouTube video of a second cousin presenting the Women’s Hall of Fame awards for the year.   And when everything else was done, I helped them work on one of their 500 piece puzzles that I so fondly remember from growing up.     (I just received a phone call from Granny saying that they finished last night!)

It was a perfect afternoon and I now have two jars of Granny Fran’s homemade applesauce in my freezer, made by yours truly. 

Hochzeit Reisen.

Martin and I still plan on taking a proper honeymoon…you know the one, a three week vacation to someplace warm, relaxing, stress free and possibly with drinks with umbrellas in them.  However, since we were already in Europe, we decided to spend a few nights after the Germany wedding in the Italian Alps.  To avoid confusion, this was not the honeymoon…while beautiful and relaxing, it goes against all things “honeymoon-ish”... it was cooler weather, we went hiking each day for five hours, there were no umbrella drinks, and for better or worse, we had a packed agenda… At best, we will call this our Hochzeit Reisen (or German Honeymoon).

We left the Dortmund area on Monday morning and began our journey south towards the South Tyrol region of Italy.  We stopped in Nuermburg Monday afternoon to wander through the old historical town and spent the night in Eichstatt to avoid spending all day in the car. 

After another five hours of driving the following day, we arrived at our destination, Hotel Asterbel in Braies, Tuesday afternoon for our three night stay.  The hotel was perfect, tucked under the impressive Dolomites, with full amenities including spa and sauna, amazing meals and great views, and within walking distance to Lago Braies (or Prages Wildersee if you are German), the main attraction of the region, in my eyes at least.

We woke up early Wednesday morning for breakfast and then a mid-day stroll to the Lake…the trip was allegedly 2 hours, but true to form, Martin magically made it into five.  It was beautiful though: crystal blue green waters, an easy walk around the lake and then lunch on the patio of the famous Lago Braies Hotel.

We got back to our hotel for an afternoon coffee and apple strudel on the deck, then an late day sauna before heading to dinner and then straight to bed for a good night sleep before the big hike the next day.  While Martin always complains about me overplanning, he took the cake on this one.

The next day was similar, although this time the alleged and mentally prepared for five hour hike somehow diminished to four, even factoring our lunch stop on the Alpian Hut deck and the huge delay caused by me having a minor panic attack…again, while most honeymoons are relaxing, I spent a solid 15 minutes fearing for my life…about three hours into the hike we encountered sheer cliffs, an 18 inch path and bolted in cables along the rock wall providing the only thing to prevent failing me from.     

 Here is me trying to look casual and like I am having fun. 

And here is the a shot looking back at the path…

We also had to scale up the side of a ravine, sans trail, but I guess that should be no surprise given our past hiking experiences…Another beautiful day of scenery and serious physical exertion from hiking.

Our starting point...see those mountains, yeah, we had to go over them

We went over these too, without a trail

Our view from the top...before the panic attack

Heading back down

That evening was spent again at the sauna and then enjoying our much needed five course meal.

Exhausted from the hiking and yet surprisingly relaxed, we began the drive back to Frankfurt the following day, stopping in Wertheim for the night once again to break things up.  Our last dinner in Germany was fantastic and we headed to the airport with smiles on our faces and the re-assurance that we would be back in just a few months for Christmas.

Hochzeit – A German Wedding

Naturally, marrying a German man would include a German wedding in his hometown of Iserlohn, Germany.  And similar to the San Francisco wedding, it was amazing, fun, unforgettable and went by in a blur.  Here is the German Montage!

I arrived Tuesday morning and was excited to take the train from Frankfurt to Hagen to meet up with Martin (we hadn’t seen each other in over a week since he left to go fishing in Norway and I hadn’t taken a proper train ride in Europe since leaving Switzerland).  However, in less than one hour of being in Europe, I managed to get completely lost and my two hour train ride turned into four.  On a positive note, I was able to see the entire surrounding area of Martin’s home town including Dortmund, Essen, Koln, Dusseldorf and Oberhausen.   And even better, it gave me a funny story to tell the girls that night…Martin’s sister Meike and best mans Peter’s wife Steffi had organized a girl’s night out to celebrate the upcoming wedding and hear all of the details.  Unfortunately I couldn’t give them details…Meike had done of all the hard work so she had to fill in the blanks, but on the upside, it left me completely stress free! 

My parents arrived Tuesday afternoon and Dana, Cody and the kids arrived shortly thereafter on Thursday…the American invasion had officially begun and was officially complete with the arrival of McKane and Galvez the following day.  

The days and nights leading up to Saturday were packed with sightseeing, large breakfasts, dinners with the two families and a constant translation between German and English.   Between the upcoming wedding and being an interpreter, I think Martin finally appreciated the stress and pressure of planning and organizing a wedding.

I woke up Saturday morning at 8:30am and prepared myself for a long and full day.  First stop, the hairdresser for my $35 up-do and then back to the hotel for make-up by McKane (only a slight change from the pampering and star treatment I had received in SF, but high quality nonetheless).    With the dress on and everyone looking their best, the American contingency then made the quick walk to the 900 AD church where we were to make it official in Germany.  The hour long ceremony, in German, was beautiful.   Between the gorgeous voice of the vocalist singing Ava Maria, the history and age of the church, Cassidy sleeping and Blake snoring on Dana’s lap and the fact that Martin tried to put his large ring on my right-hand ring finger in a moment of confusion, I was brought to near tears of joy and happiness.    Things were right in the world…I was even able to pronounce “I Do” correctly and without offense in German (“Ja, mit Gottes Hilfe”). 

The recessional took us outside the church to the courtyard for congratulations and champagne before heading to the reception a few miles away.  And from there the party got underway, slowly at first, but escalated as expected with both the German and American friends drinking and dancing until 4am, a marker I never thought I would make…it was just too great to meet all of Martin’s friends and finally be able to put faces to the names I had heard so much about.   Martin has an incredible group of friends and family and I am so lucky knowing that he is willing to be away from them while in San Francisco.

We ended the weekend with brunch on Sunday and then sent my family to Munich on the early train Monday morning…Martin and I were ourselves heading south, first to Nuermburg and Eichstatt and then on to the South Tyrol region of the Italian Alps for a few nights away. One might call it a honeymoon, but to us, it was a just a nice trip to finally be able to relax and enjoy married life.  The proper honeymoon is still to come.

Just a few of our favorite photos!