Blackberries

I live on a street that boarders a public park area. It is seriously infested by what we in Australia call prickles. Here in America I've noticed that they aren't really called that, instead they are called blackberries after the fruit, rather then the thorns.

I've been eyeing them off for a while, and as I've been riding my bike past the bushes laden with heavy ripe berries I've seen a lady come by and pick a whole bunch of them. This week I decided to do the same. Once again, my berry picking accomplice was Tricia (of the blueberry escapade last week). We picked around 2.5 pounds. I started using them straight away as they were gorgeously ripe. I simply rinsed them in cold water, tossed them with a bit of sugar (not much was needed to be honest) and then made a crumble with oats for the top. Baked them and voila! Breakfast for the next few days!

Note to self = blackberries are in most of August... at least that's when the lady has been picking them....

Kirche Mousse

I've been playing around with a mousse recipe I have. It has a serious amount of kirche and a bit of vanilla. I adore it because it packs a serious punch. I'm thinking of using it in a cake (the recipe for the mousse comes from a cake - but I wasn't brilliantly happy with the cake when I did make it). I'm thinking of using a recipe for a shortbread type cookie with a bunch of salt in it as the base - maybe a sponge with kirche soaked cherries or cranberries as another layer or maybe a cherry/cranberry gellee layer and then some more mousse. But I'm not sure yet.

For the top one it was simply put in a mold with the salty short bread cookie, the one in the wine

glass had mousse with layers of the cookies crumbled, and another layer of kirche soaked tart cherries.

Blueberry Muffins

I love oats. Seriously I love the texture (gritty and dense) and I adore the flavor (earthy and nutty).... and I had blueberries so I made blueberry muffins with sweet little gold muffin tins protecting their bottoms.

I used the recipe from: http://www.recipezaar.com/Blueberry-Oatmeal-Muffins-44023

I found they are a smidge dry, so next time I may add more blueberries (or more butter when I eat them...). But I have a whole lotta blueberry muffins frozen in the freezer ready to be defrosted and microwaved at my leisure!

Blueberry Shortcakes

I haven't tried making the American 'Biscuit' before. But I thought that I would give it a go this week, and an attempt to make blueberry shortcakes. The biscuit recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan's "Baking from my home to yours' and mostly involves a ton of butter and a light touch. They did turn out well though, buttery, tender and flaky.

For the blueberries I simply heated them in a small saucepan, added some sugar and some blueberry liquor and then reduced them so that they were pretty congealed.

The cream is whipped with sugar and a bit of marzipan liquor.

Overall a good tasting dessert, very simple, very clean and a little boozy. Pretty god by my books!

Blueberries - In Season Now

Tricia called me up and asked excitedly if I'd like to go pick blueberries with her the next day. Of course I'd love to so off we went. There is a farm down the road from where she lives. We aren't talking a rural gal' here either she lives downtown in a 'mini city' just outside of downtown Seattle. Needless to say, I was pretty impressed by this farm.

I grew up listening to the nostalgic talk of my Nana telling me about her childhood in Germany and how she had picked blueberries off the bushes in the forest near her house. One year mum decided she would get Nana a pair of blueberry bushes so she could in essence, re-live her youth. She loves those bushes, covers them with nets and picks the berries in the morning so she can make cakes with them.

The bushes we picked from were not the cute, baby bushes Nana has but scraggily bushes taller then I. Easier to pick let me tell you!

So we picked a bunch of blueberries, and I've been attempting to use mine ever since.

Note to self: August = Blueberry Month