Goodbye, September!

September was mostly a really good month, weather-wise. (Everything else for me has been good, too, but you know that already, and I do not want to bore you further with how much I like my life and all of its aspects.)

Sunrise on the 28th of September, seen from my kitchen window

At the end of the month - last Thursday, to be precise - for the first time in quite a while I went to the palace grounds. My Mum came with me, and we had a look at the pumpkin exhibition and a snack and drink. It was a very nice late afternoon / early evening, made even more precious by the knowledge that this was most likely going to be our last visit to the park for months to come.
 

If you've been reading my blog long enough, maybe you remember that the southernmost part of Ludwigsburg's palace grounds are decorated with pumpkins every year. The theme is a different one each time. This year, it's Circus.

Both my Mum and I love the "Pumpkin Secco", a sort of sparkling wine that is made with pumpkins. We find it tastes as lovely as it looks, but reminds us more of apricots than of pumpkins.

This year, the pumpkin quiche I was looking forward to eating was out by the time we got to the food stalls. I chose a traditional onion pie instead, which was really delicious. (Best eaten warm!)

On our way back into town, we stopped at the orangery to check out the current exhibition. (That has featured on my blog before, too; sometimes I could not help but wonder at the "artwork" presented in the glass house, while at other times, I really like what they do.)

Right now, it's all about apple harvest and processing. These cabinets reminded me of Kay's Dad - look at this post of hers to find out why :-)

It was interesting to see the many devices involved in apple harvest, most of them old, but people still use them nowadays (or their modern versions). Also, the number of apple sorts is amazing - usually at the groceries stores and supermarkets, we are offered only a few of the most popular sorts at the time. Remember the time when everyone was crazy about Granny Smith apples? After that, it was Golden Delicious, and these days, it's all Jonagold and Braeburn, and few others.
Good to stop and think, and have a look at how much work is involved before fruit gets from the tree to our kitchens!