an ode to summer: blackberry sangria

i know, i know.
it's fall, it's my favorite season.
but, i've got bits of summer,
still to share.
bear with me.
with one more ode to the past season.
and to late summer apples.
and here too,
is my second recipe.
and you can find #1, here.

oh and there's a new ladle for my shop,
it'll be there later today or tomorrow.
it's made from rhododendron wood,
really.

oh and
those tiny apples in the photos.
i know, adorable.
they're crab apples grafted onto a transparent.
and this graft is special,
this one was the last graft
of my late friend george.
an amazing man,
who passed at 90,
a few years back.


he taught my father of apples.
and of gardens and of life.
and he played crib with my mother most everyday.
he was great man and i feel privileged to have known him.


anyway,
that last branch he grafted
was so full of tiny
beautiful apples this year.


try to imagine the tree.
a woody old trunk, peely, mossy.
most of the branches,
bare of fruit now,
leafy. free from apples.



the one branch he grafted
turned to 4 or 5 now.
they are heavily weighed down
as though they can barely hold their load.
they're full of those tiny peachy pink apples
the ones with the yellow tinge.

the transparents ripen early
they are long gone.
but the late summer crab apples
they are there.


in all kinds of apple glory.


i wish you could have seen my face
when i first saw them that is.
i don't know why exactly i reacted as strongly as i did.
i've seen many grafts over the years.
many trees with two different types of apples
swinging in the wind.
as to almost be showing off their beauty.
this one though.
this one was something else.
it was beautiful.
i wish you could have seen it.


happy day friends.
more tomorrow.
xox, n.





blackberry sangria

2 bottles of grenache based red wine
(or any wine you like really)
750 ml club soda
1/2 vanilla bean
2 cinnamon sticks
1 lemon (sliced)
1 cup fresh orange juice
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup fresh blackberries or marionberries
2 apples sliced
1/2 cup chambord

1. combine wine, sugar, chambord,
half of the blackberries, vanilla pod, orange juice,
cinnamon sticks and lemon together
and stir until sugar is mostly dissolved.
2. let stand in refridgerator for 2 - 24 hours.
3. before serving add the soda,
the sliced apples
and the remaining blackberries.
4. i think it's nice to serve it from an old bottle
with a pretty ladle
and lots of ice
into small glass lassie cups.
5. but, anything you like is just fine. enjoy!