Summer's best moment is upon us apple-lovers

by Anne and Brendon Mathews

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And I could tell what form my dreaming was about to take.
Magnified apples appear and disappear.
Stem end and blossom end,
And every fleck of russet showing clear.
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bent.
And I keep hearing from the cellar bin
The rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
-Robert Frost
from "After Apple-Picking"

Robert Frost says it best here; there is no season of more pageantry than late summer's arrival of new apples.
So what do I do to celebrate? I go out on our deck and beat the heck out an old canning pot to the tune of "It's Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White," all the while trying to eat a new apple, with no hands. It is not a pretty sight.
I have longed for a definitive book on apples, and I think I have it now. Called "Apple Lovers Cook Book, by Shirley Manson and Jo Nelson, you will find this little gem at Ming Wo in Lansdowne. It's long in quality, if short in quantity.
I especially enjoyed the variations on the old tradition: apple pie. I remember when my sons were little and we lived in Burnaby, I would go to Oakalla Prison, knock on their door and announce, "Mrs. John Q. Public is here to pick your apples." Believe it or not, we would get an escort and we would pick a couple hundred pounds of apples.
They would be turned into apple sauce the following day. Gone are the days of hot steamy kitchens. These days a new crop of Golden Delicious and Macs means there's no panic to "preserving the season."
Here then is a recipe for fall, featuring two of the things we do best here in B.C. It is taken from this little cookbook.
Apple Cranberry Relish Pie
Unbaked nine-inch pie shell
6 cups peeled, sliced apples
1/3 cup cranberry sauce
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
Mix apples, cranberries, sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon. Turn into pie shell.
Bake at 400F degrees for 45 minutes until apples are tender.
I like this recipe because you save so many calories by not using a top crust. You may spread a little melted apricot jam on the pie when cooled, for a lovely shine. The choice is yours