I love early September, when it’s still warm enough to wear skirts without tights and the air starts to get that crisp fall scent.  I start to crave hearty foods like soups and bread, warm cider and spicy ginger snaps.  There’s something about fall that gets under my skin in a very good way.  It always seems like a time of fresh starts and clean slates when all of your failures of the past year and your guilty pleasures of the summer can be set aside and everything is clean and new.

On Sunday afternoon in a need to get out of my apartment I hopped the 71 and went to Harvard Sq where I perused the farmers market to my heart’s content taking some really amazing pictures of late summer tomatoes and corn as well as bushel bins full of winter squash piled high and begging to be baked, stewed, pureed and eaten with cream.  There were apples as well blushing red and begging to be plucked from their bin and eaten with juice dripping from your chin. 

As I was perusing the farmer’s market I saw a young girl point to a sign for Honeycrisp apples and sound out the words, “Hon-nee Cr-isp.”  The older woman who was with her encouraged the girl to pick an apple from the bin, to try.  As I watched the girl pluck an apple from the bin and her eyes light up over the feel of one of those perfect apples in her hand I knew I needed to get one too.  I grabbed four apples and followed the girl and the older woman to get my apples weighed and paid for.  After her apple was weighed the girl took a bite and had a look of pure happiness on her face.  That is fall.  The unadulterated happiness of the first fall apple bursting on your tongue.  From the sharp burst of the skin to the soft yielding flesh inside – apples are Fall and everything I associate with it, clean slate, new pencils, and fresh notebooks.

As I left the farmer’s market I fished one of the apples I had purchased out of my bag and took a bite.  It was perfect.  Ripe and sweet with a just-right tartness that makes your mouth water and crave another bite.  I finished the apple and entered the T-station, the friend I was meeting just had to try these.