After months of rehab and recuperation following two shoulder surgeries, staff photographer Madeline Steege returned to the newsroom bearing gifts from her garden last week.

Zucchini.

No, not those pint-sized things you find in the grocery store. These were zucchinis — the kind I remember my dad growing when we were kids. The ones that if you hollowed them out right, could probably be used as canoes.

She also brought a photo of her prized pumpkins. OK, a 48-pound gourd is not necessarily earth-shattering news, but considering the fact that she lives less than a mile from the ocean — 48 pounds is pretty good.

So in the coming weeks, you can expect a zucchini bread recipe from either my mom or my wife.

And anyone with a really good pumpkin pie recipe can send it to: food@theworldlink.com, I will pass it on to Madeline and the rest of our readers.

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Despite the tough economy, a pair of new restaurants have opened in Reedsport recently.

Emilio’s at The Landing opened on Sept. 22 on the riverfront, and Happy House opened mid-summer on U.S. Highway 101.

If you are a sushi fan, Happy House offers a sushi bar. And the portions on their menu meals make for a really good value.

Emilio’s owner Valentine Segura will offer Mexican and American fare and a full bar on the waterfront of the Umpqua River. The restaurant is a couple doors down from the Discovery Center.

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My parents are in town for their annual October visit. Since their visit corresponds with apple season — and my wife, Autumn, and I just happen to have a few apple trees — this usually means plenty of apple pies.

This hasn’t been the case — so far. But there is a week left in their stay. This time, Mom brought with her an apple cake recipe she found in one of her magazines.

She made it for dessert on Sunday. After two helpings (just to be absolutely sure) It gets the thumbs-up from me. I even brought a piece to work Monday morning for breakfast.

The original recipe appeared in Women’s Day, but Mom substituted grapeseed oil for the vegetable oil, used whole wheat flour as well as regular flour and used Akane apples from our trees instead of the Granny Smith’s called for in the recipe.

If you can find Akane apples at your grocer or local fruit stand, they are worth a try in baking. They make a great pie, and the apple cake turned out wonderfully.

Here is the recipe for apple-walnut cake with cider sauce.

Apple-walnut cake with     cider sauce

2 cups sugar

1 cup plus two tablespoons vegetable oil (or grapeseed oil)

1⁄4 cup apple cider

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

1⁄2 teaspoon salt

3 cups flour

2 large Granny Smith apples (31⁄2 cups) peeled, cored and sliced

11⁄2 cups chopped walnuts

Cider sauce

2 cups apple cider

1⁄4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Coat a 10-inch tube pan with removable tube insert with nonstick spray. (Note: Mom used a Bundt pan.)

Whisk sugar, oil, apple cider, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt in a large bowl until blended.

Stir in flour until blended. Stir in apples and walnuts.

Scrape mixture into prepared pan. Bake 1 hour and 10 to 20 minutes.

Let cool in pan on wire rack 1 hour. Removes sides of pan. Cool completely before lifting cake off bottom of pan.

Cider sauce

Whisk cider, brown sugar and cornstarch in a medium saucepan until blended. Place over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, whisking occasionally. Boil 1 minute or until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla; stir until butter melts. Let cool to warm or refrigerate until serving.