Apple of My Eye

Years ago, I worked as a Personal Assistant for a couple in Beverly Hills. If you've seen the movie "A Devil Wears Prada" you get the gist - lots of perks but, at the end of some days, your biggest accomplishment was "getting the sandwich right".

I will never forget the day when I went to the grocery store and picked out what I thought to be the most insanely gorgeous apples ever. I displayed them perfectly in a bowl on the counter at the home of my former boss. To me, apples are not only delicious and nutritious, they are an art form. Later that same day, I returned with the dry cleaning. To my dismay, the apples weren't on the counter, but rather on the floor, in a flimsy plastic bag, by the door. "She" (to remain nameless) said I could take them home because she "didn't like apples". Didn't like apples? Who doesn't like apples? That night, over a glass of wine with a friend, I realized I couldn't relate to "her" anymore and it was time to move on. Didn't like apples?!

I'm originally from Sonoma County. Pictured below is me (center), my sister & my cousins at our home in Sebastopol. We lived on 4 and half acres of mostly apple trees.

I can't imagine my life without apples. As a kid, picking apples gave us something to do. Climbing apple trees gave us somewhere to hide. Rotten apples provided the means for a good prank. Apples were found daily in my Snoopy lunch box. They were my after school snack when I got off the bus. My sister and I even rode our bikes up and down the street pretending to be "Charlie's Angels" with apples tucked into our tube tops. You get the picture, I love Apples! My mom used a crank-style device that cored and peeled them at once and my sister and I would stand near the table and down that "apple skin slinky" barely breathing. Our undressed apples then turned into pies and coffee cakes and sauces - the fruits of mom's labor.

What I'm getting at, now that I'm a member of Wine 2.0, is that I moved away from Sonoma County before getting to experience the pleasures of what I was surrounded by - amazing wine - so I may not have the appreciation many of you have for grapes and wine. However, I can relate. I appreciate your passion and enjoy learning from you. After reading some of your stories, I'm inspired. I look forward to tasting your recommendations and trying the fruits of your labor.

Look, all grown up with my family's tradition - homemade apple pie just like mom made....

Cheers!

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Comment by Karyn Johnson on June 19, 2009 at 9:33am: Ha! Yes, it is an Oscar (a plastic one that reads #1 Superstar)! Thanks for noticing! Wow, I'm going to look for apple ice wine - sounds interesting! Merci!

Comment by Denis Cadieux on June 19, 2009 at 9:24am: That pie looks amazing! Is that an oscar on the shelf? Late harvest would be more my thing for me as well. But what might be good too would be apple ice wine. We make some pretty damn good ones up here in Canada, hey!!Try to find some if you can from the province of Quebec. I wrote a comment on winelibrary.com because they had a pretty bad one the show and i had to stand up for my country. Pour la patrie!! as we say in french. Also they are a bit cheaper than, say, canadian ice wines, wich can be as expensive as château Climens!! It's worth trying to find. Au revoir

Comment by Karyn Johnson on June 19, 2009 at 8:20am: Thanks, for the recommendations, Jim! We had blackberries, too! Delicious!

Comment by Jim Milone on June 18, 2009 at 4:34pm: Pie is my life (well besides, the family, and wine of course) I have always wanted to take a road trip across america and hit all the famous pie spots. I grew up in a similar enviroment where my Mom would make fresh pies all summer as long as we supplied the blackberries, apples etc. got pretty spoiled. When I went away to school I had to learn how to make them for myself.
Hey Felipe,
I recommend Botriytised whites.......Sauternes or same style Sauv Blancs....LH Reisling or TBA would work.
Did an Icewine in 1985 that still holds up to apple pie pretty well.
JAM

Comment by Felipe Gonzalez Jr. on June 18, 2009 at 4:18pm: Apple pie is my wifes favorite. What wine can I pair with Apple Pie?

Comment by Murphy-Goode Winery on June 18, 2009 at 12:54pm: Mama mia, Karyn... you were a cute kid back in the Charlie's Angels days, but with that pie, you're even cuter now! Okay, so we're talking with our stomachs and taste buds (hey, we're wine and food people)... all I can say is, glad you got away from those devils in Beverly Hills, welcome back to the goode life!

Apple of My Eye

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