autumnal

I love fall. It's probably my favorite season. Yesterday I had plans to go hiking and apple picking with some friends. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate, but we did get to do some great leaf-peeping and apple buying. We rented a Zipcar and traveled up to Fishkill Farms. Even with the rain, it was apple-tastic.

We had fresh, warm apple cider donuts - yum! And I bought lots of little gourds for a pumpkin-scape.

On our way back to the city, we made a pit stop at a Target (because that's what you do when you're a New Yorker with a car for the day). I picked up a Mr. Potato Head pumpkin decorating kit, and these little felt buckets were in the $1 section.

They are now filled with candy, of course. And then on to the main event - apple pie!

I even made my own crust from scratch with a recipe from this month's Bon Appetit. It was surprisingly easy. I was going to attempt a lattice crust, but opted for a regular top. I used a small cookie cutter to cut the excess dough into small leaves and rimmed the crust with them (I stole the idea from Martha).

The crust burnt a little, but it was still delicious.