Family Picnic at Ragle Park
After Saturday's hunting and gathering extravaganza it was time to enjoy the fruits of our efforts, or in this case, apples of our efforts, and head to Ragle Park in Sebastopol for an autumn afternoon of gentle sun and good company.
As we approached the picnic area, a red tailed hawk scolded us from his home above in the towering California Oak trees. Covered with moss, their greyed and twisted trunks made a quiet shelter for our picnic table. My daughter, Lauren, climbed high up into the largest tree to investigate a large bird house lodged in the branches.
As my sisters' twins scampered off to join a soccer game on the Oak Meadow, the rest of us settled in to enjoy the gorgeous tomatoes my mother had purchased at the farmers market in Santa Rosa, the St. Jorge Cheese, our home-made Walker Apple Ranch pies, bread from Wild Flour Bakery and deviled eggs we had made together that morning from fresh eggs collected at my sisters house.
Life is Good in Sonoma!
Our apple pie recipe:
My sister prefers the crust recipe from the Silver Palate Cookbooks while I always use the one Gourmet Magazine recommends. Below is our adaptation of the Silver Palate version.
Pie Crust
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 2 t sugar
- 1 t salt
- 1 stick butter
- 6 T shortening
- 5-6 T ice water
Put everything except the ice water in a Cuisinart and pulse about ten times until mixed. Add the ice water one tablespoon at a time, pausing to pulse after each addition. Pour the dough onto the counter top and pat quickly into two balls with minimal handling. Wrap each in wax paper and refrigerate 30 minutes. Roll each ball between two pieces of wax paper. If the dough edges get ragged or torn, fold them back into the dough to make a neat circle and roll a little more.
Our Brown Sugar Pecan Apple Pie Filling
- 8 Pippin apples cut into bite-size chunks
- 2 T flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 t cinnamon
- dash nutmeg
- 2 T butter
- 1/4 cup whole pecans
Put everything in a bowl except for the butter and pecans and mix together. Put mixture into the lower pie crust. Top with butter and pecans. Add upper crust and crimp edges. Vent with fork pricks. Bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes.
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1) Lunch in Healdsburg. Shop at the Oakville Grocery for a picnic lunch. Enjoy the charming old town square. For fine dining try Dry Creek Kitchen, a Charlie Palmer restaurant featuring seasonal food and local wines. Stroll and shop the chic plaza stores.
sian River. This is Johnson's Beach near Guernville, always mobbed on hot summer days, but we prefer the quieter Steelhead Beach which has a convenient large parking lot and clean public restrooms.
4) Take the HWY 12 drive to Bodega Bay. Stop in the town of Bodega and visit the house where the movie "The Birds" was filmed. Walk on the beach and see baby seals at Goat Rock (but keep an eye out for rogue, sleeper waves). Buy fresh oysters and fried fish at Boat House. Hike the cliff trail at Doran Park, south of Bodega Bay on a spit of land separating the bay from the Pacific. The scenic cliffs are spectacular and there are views of migrating gray whales in season (707) 875-3540.
