Remembering November with a Thankful Heart

It feels like the last two months have been a blur, and here we are today, the last day of 2013.  Even though it seems like awhile ago already, I really wanted to share some pictures from the last two months, so let me just highlight what the Hickson's were up to in November.


We started out with a photo shoot in Central Park.  In about three hours, Robby snapped about 700 pictures of this lovely family we know from Church.  I had fun carrying the gear, coming up with ideas for what Steve, Becky and their daughter Maelee could do in the pictures, and holding the extra lighting to help Robby get just the right shot.


Becky and Maelee


Steve and Maelee

We had Jessa, Meghan, Richard and Scott over for our monthly dinner.  We rotate hosting every month, and technically October was our turn but we couldn't get our schedules lined up until the first weekend in November.  We served Penne Pasta with Butternut Squash and Italian Sausage; it was a great fall dish.  Jessa made a Ceasar Salad with homemade croutons (yum) and Meghan made homemade ice cream with an apple crisp (double yum).



Just a few days later, we made an unexpected trip to Florida to be with our family as Robby's grandma had passed away suddenly.  I am so thankful that we were able to be together.  It was helpful to share memories and bond during that time.  Please continue to pray for our family, especially Grandpa. 

We were glad to see Addi during this visit, and were so impressed with her communication skills!  She knows some sign language, and she is so sweet.  If she wants to ask you to give her something, she does the sign for please and then says "Peeeze".  It just melts your heart.

 
My sister, mom and abuelo also came to be with everyone.


Cousins!  Cristie, Tiffany and Crystal

Oh.  And this happened.

Robby went to play Basketball with his cousin Kyle, Jeremy and Uncle Paul.


While we were away, Erin and Brett were so gracious in taking care of Bess.  She couldn't get enough of Erin after we got back.

 
About a week or two Later, the Awesome-in-Laws came to town for Thanksgiving.  Hurricane Addi was a force to be reckoned with!  Bess didn't know that she had finally met her match!


We ventured out and about to get the last glimpses of fall and the first signs of Christmas Magic in the City.  After pizza at Lombard's we faced the crowds at Macy's to see the Christmas Land on the 8th floor, then we made our way to Bryant Park where the Christmas Shops were set up and the Skating Rink.  Afterwards, we checkd out the Main Branch of the NY Public Library.  Currently, there is a free exhibit called ABC: Why Children's Books Matter.  It was really interesting, and well worth a visit.  I would definitely recommend it (it's going on until Sunday, March 23, 2014).


Addi and Uncle Rob


Crystal and Mark


 Crystal and Addi on Thanksgiving. 

We hosted Thanksgiving at our apartment for the first time ever.  Can I just say again how thankful I am for our apartment?  God really hooked it up.  We had friends in and out all day, we had Turkey and all the fixin's.  Friends brought delicious side dishes and desserts.  We ate, and ate some more.  We shared what we were thankful for.  It was a very special day, and I am so glad that we were able to have family in town for it.  We realized it was the first Thanksgiving in four years that we have spent with family.


 Jessa, Christy, Kelly and me

 
 Jessa and me

A few days later, we had "Thai and Pie" Friendsgiving.  We met at Scott and Katie's for a fun evening of Thai food and leftover Thanksgiving Pie.  On the way home, we bought our Christmas Tree from a sidewalk vendor who was here all the way from Norway!  He comes to New York every year in December to sell Christmas Trees.  We normally don't get a tree because we go to Florida for Christmas but I am so glad we did this year.  The piney smell instantly made the apartment feel ready for the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

Easy as Pie? Williams Sonoma Homemade Apple Pie Recipe

Last month we went to an Apple Orchard upstate, with our wonderful friends from church.  I have to share some pictures from this great time before I get to the apple pie.

We rented a zipcar, but it did not work out exactly right at fist, so this is a pic of us at the garage where we originally intended to grab the Van.  We're smiling, but Rob has the right idea... no fun!

Even though we had a late start, it was worth it.  We had the best time at the Harvest Moon Farm and Orchard.

Close up of some gorgeous apples.

Me and Jessa.  Look at the great view and the colorful trees!

Me and Rob!

Rob carrying the Half a Bushel of apples that we bought for the pies!  That's about 50 apples!  We split the bag with everyone and used them for the Apple Pie Competition the next night.

Rob, me, Meghan, Scott, Amy, Jessa, Richard, Pam, Andrew, Andrew, Deb, Katelyn and Trevor.

Now, on to the pie!

I used an Apple Pie recipe from Willams Sonoma.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. granulated sugar

16 Tbs. (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch dice

3 to 4 Tbs. ice water

For the filling:

2 lb. Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into slices 1/4 inch

thick

2 lb. Pink Lady apples, peeled, cored and cut into slices 1/4 inch thick

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

4 tsp. cornstarch

1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

Additional items:

2 Tbs. cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 egg white, beaten with 1 tsp. water

2 tsp. granulated sugar

Directions:

To make the dough, in a food processor, pulse the flour, salt, and granulated sugar together until combined, about 5 pulses. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 pulses. Add 3 Tbs. of the ice water and pulse 2 or 3 times. The dough should hold together when squeezed with your fingers but should not be sticky. If it is crumbly, add more water 1 tsp. at a time, pulsing twice after each addition. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, divide in half and shape each half into a disk. Wrap the disks separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.  

I got up early before church and made the crust.  It was a lot to make in the food processor at once, so I had to make the recipe about one-fourth of the portion at a time.   I left it in the fridge about 5 hours.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out half of the dough into a 12-inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Fold the dough in half and then into quarters and transfer it to a 9-inch deep-dish pie dish. Unfold and gently press the dough into the bottom and sides of the dish. Trim the edges flush with the rim of the dish. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

I have never made a pie crust before, and I don't have a rolling pin. Rob helped me roll the pie crust to a nice 1/8 inch thick even crust using the wine bottle!

Looking good so far!

On a large sheet of lightly floured parchment paper, roll out the remaining dough disk into a 12-inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Using leaf pie cutters, make rows of cutouts in the dough, spacing them 1/2 inch apart and leaving a 1-inch border along the edges, to create a lattice appearance. Reserve the cutouts for decorating. Reroll the dough scraps to make more cutouts. Refrigerate the lattice top and cutouts for 30 minutes.

We did not have leaf carters, but Rob came to the rescue again! He cut out three leaves in the center of the crust and we decided that would be fine for the ventilation and decoration.

Meanwhile, make the filling: In a large Dutch oven, stir together the apples, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and cornstarch. Set over medium heat, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are just tender but not mushy, about 20 minutes. Uncover and cook until the liquid has thickened and become glossy, 5 to 7 minutes more. Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice and let cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. 

Peggy helped peel and core the apples.

Position a rack in the lower third of an oven, place a baking sheet on the rack and preheat the oven to 400°F. 

Let the pie shell, lattice top and leaf cutouts stand at room temperature for 5 minutes. Transfer the apple filling to the pie shell, scatter the butter pieces on top, and gently invert the lattice top over the pie. Trim the edges flush with the rim of the dish and press the top and bottom crusts together to seal. Brush the underside of the leaf cutouts with egg wash and gently press them onto the edges of the piecrust, overlapping the leaves slightly. Decorate as desired with the remaining leaves. Brush the entire top crust with egg wash and sprinkle with the granulated sugar. 

Place the pie dish on the preheated baking sheet. Bake until the crust is crisp and golden brown, about 1 hour, covering the edges with aluminum foil if they become too dark. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and let cool for at least 1 1/2 hours before serving. Serves 8.

Gorgeous!

The apartment smelled amazing as this backed in the oven!

We made our way over to  Meghan and Scott's for the competition.  I thought it was so cool that we all made such different variations of Apple Pie.  No two were alike.  We got to all sample a piece of each pie, then vote on Taste and Appearance.  Our pie won!  We won the lovely green apple centerpiece you see on the table above.  It is now a "floating trophy" which will be awarded to next year's winner of the Apple Pie Competition.

Good Friends. Good Eating.

This fall we have had many meals with friends.  Breaking bread together with friends and family...  it's seriously one of my absolute favorite things to do.

Me with sweet Ali before she moved to Atlanta.

Rob with Barry.  We all went to The Meatball Shop that recently opened up on the UES.  Yay!

An evening of Gelato and shenanigans was had as well.  We went with Rich and Jessa to Grom, a gelateria based mainly out of Italy! Their website is even in Italian!

Rob with Richard.  What is he doing? Who knows?


Me with Jessa.

The four of us, up to no good in Washington Square Park.

Me and my Robby.


The Washington Square Arch.

Oh my gosh! It's Adam Saunders, the drummer from metal band, Naked Vengence!  Adam was visiting from Florida, so glad we could get together with him for dinner at Blockheads.

We enjoyed dinner in midtown with the Doxzon's!! They were in town for the Hillsong Worship Conference.  Denise was my mentor in high school and Todd, her hubby is the Pastor who married us.  We share the same wedding date, the day we got married was their 7th anniversary.

Me with D-Momma Doxzon!

Robzilla with the buddies!! They were our ring bearers.

The Doxzon's.  Love this picture! LOVE it!

We had a fun dessert night with our friends from Denver, Mike and Angie at Sugar and Plumm on the UWS.  It was deliciousssss!

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate...

The insane banana split.  We had two of those. And sundaes.  Sugar coma much?

Me with Angie.

We had some dear friends visit from Miami, and were introduced to a new NYC transplant, Koepp!

Me, Koepp, Robs, Peggy, Jim!

We had brunch at Sarabeth's, then hung out at the apartment.  Peggy and Rob helped me bake an apple pie, from scratch!  (More on that, and the prize we won in another post to come!)  While we waited for it to bake, we watched football, and Bess showed us her TOUCHDOWN skills.
 
Looking forward to many more memories with friends and fam, involving food of course!