There are some things that -- no matter what kind of mood you find yourself in -- can put a smile on your face by merely existing. Puppies. Sprinkles. And for us, berries -- an especially potent antidote to a case of the Mondays.
These brimming cartons suggest a sun-kissed summer weekend spent slowly wending through the berry patches, plucking the gems from their shrubs and eventually departing with lips stained red and blue by all the tastes sneaked along the way.
Flickr user The Boastful Baker snapped these beautiful blueberries and ravishing raspberries on a recent trip to the Northwest, and this morning they serve as a happy reminder of weekends past, real or imagined.
Trekking across the Niagara Region for seasonal comfort food, pies and wines, and traveling through Muskoka for honey, coffee and family farming.
"Mad Men," their love of cocktails, and a recipe for a Betty Draper-inspired gimlet.
Sumac's sour, fruit-like flavor makes it a great substitute for a splash of lemon.
Open's 2008 Riesling-Gewürtztraminer is a fine summer wine, plus the run-down on Beringer's 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon ("a steal") and Prospect's Pinot Noir.
Recipes: Spicy Baby Back Ribs with Orange Glaze, Cool Summer Garlic-Lily Soup with Almond Pesto, White Gazpacho with Almonds and Grapes, Seafood Kebabs with Zucchini and Yellow Squash Rice, Garlic Shrimp with Unripe Mango Curry, Any Fruit Coffee Cake and Pollo Con Naranjas, Grilled Tomato Sandwiches with Blue Cheese Spread, and Mesclun Salad Pizette with Peaches and Pecans
In the short, chilly days of November, it's nice to be reminded that raspberries, blackberries and blueberries were once heaped abundantly on the tables of farm stands and markets. I have two gallon-sized bags of blackberries squirreled away in my freezer, it might be time to pull those out and make something delicious with them.
Over the weekend, I ate the best pancakes of my life. I headed to CT with friends, and we had pancakes BOTH mornings. Sunday morning, I tasted the most delicious blueberry pancakes that you can imagine -- the taste and fluffiness were beyond what I thought a pancake could achieve. So I was already on a pancake high when I returned to the internet Sunday night to find TWO WHOLE blog posts on fruit pancakes. It made me even more excited to start experimenting with these types of recipes at home. Here are some from around the web that look particularly tasty:
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a review of Vlada, a New York bar that specializes in infused vodkas. As I mentioned in my post, my experiences at Vlada had made me nostalgic for the moonshine that I had once enjoyed in Southwest Virginia. Back in the day, I used to buy 'shine by the gallon and infuse it with fruits, herbs, honey, and other ingredients, producing a wide range of aperitifs. While I'm a huge fan of store-bought liqueurs, I have yet to meet the mass-produced tipple that can rival the blueberry-infused moonshine, moonshine-based absinthe, or moonshine krupnikas that I once made.
The more I thought about it, the more I decided that the time had come to restart my experiments in fruit infusion. I had a half bottle of Everclear in the liquor cabinet, which I quickly determined was still relatively fresh and potent. A trip down to the farmer's market gave me a couple of pints of fresh blueberries, which I washed, dried, picked over, and packed in mason jars. I covered the fruit in grain alcohol, closed the lids, and set them in the back of one of my kitchen cabinets. Apart from giving them a daily shake, I was content to let time and the 190-proof alcohol do their work.
A week later, the alcohol was stained a deep purple and the berries were gray. A quick taste assured me that the grain was still mighty strong, but was now infused with a nice blueberry flavor. Wanting something a little more intense, I let a second batch of berries steep for a week in the alcohol. Afterward, I had a very alcoholic, very intensely flavored blueberry liquor. I also had a second batch of slightly sour-tasting blueberry alcohol that I got from running the leftover blueberries through my fruit juicer.
I find these little pecan frangipane tarts, topped with fresh blueberries and raspberries are so appealing. Made by food blogger Nicisme, she took her inspiration for these tartlets from Aran at Cannelle Et Vanille.
It is blueberry season and those almost-purple, chocked with antioxident little berries are all over the markets. I've been out to pick them twice now and I'm planning to go at least one more time before the season is out. Melissa (aka The Boastful Baker) recently went picking and came back with 13 pounds (I have to admit that I only picked six pounds last time I went out to the u-pick farm).
I am not a pie person. I enjoy eating them, but I find the process of making crust, rolling it out and getting it into the pan more bother than I can really deal with. However, I happily embrace all varieties of crisps and cobblers because they are hugely easy and are a wonderful way to use all that great summer fruit.
Yesterday, I made the easiest cobbler ever. It requires just one bowl, one measuring cup and a baking pan. Butter your favorite baking pan and set it aside. Pour five or six cups of blueberries into a medium-sized mixing bowl and add a few cubed nectarines (not required, but very tasty). Sprinkle cornstarch, sugar, cinnamon and grated nutmeg over fruit and squeeze half a lemon in. Stir to combine and pour into the baking pan. Use the same bowl to mix up the biscuit-style topping (recipe after the jump) and spoon it over the top.
I took it to a cookout last night and it was the perfect finish to a meal of hamburgers, potato salad, grilled corn and fresh, garden squash.
On the Fourth, I went with my parents and my boyfriend to pick blueberries, and we came home with 20 lbs. of them. Apparently, we're not the only ones with blueberries on the brain, since the food blogs have been teeming lately with lovely blueberry delights (even this one, see?). Here are a few of my favorites posts -- those that are in the running for using up the remaining 8 lbs. of blueberries in my refrigerator: blueberry gelato from Coconut & Lime
Happy 4th of July, Slashfood readers! In honor of today's holiday, I bring you a patriotic dessert from blogger/photographer Lelonopo for you to really feast your eyes on. She's created a blueberry and raspberry treat that isn't as aggressively red, white and blue as that famous flag cake, but is still appealingly thematic for the day.
I hope that everyone has a wonderful day today, filled with delicious food, awe-inspiring fireworks and safe, happy times. We look forward to seeing pictures of all the tasty things you created today, so make sure to take photos and upload them to the Slashfood Flickr pool!
Rob Kasper and a bunch of Baltimore food bloggers get together and try miracle fruit. It makes the tart taste sweet and the bitter taste absolutely delectable.
Whole grain crackers are easy to make at home and are far better than the ones you buy in a box.
Ever have trouble figuring out which wine will go with dinner? Then it's time to check out "Wines That Love." Their labels are printed with images of foods with which they go well.
One of the things that says summer to me, more than hot weather, flip flops and the guys with coolers selling water bottles at stoplights and freeway exits is the ability to go fruit picking. I can't remember a single summer since I was 9 years old when I didn't find myself in a field of blueberry bushes, or carefully inserting myself further and further into a thorny blackberry bramble looking for the big, sweet berries.
The first few years I lived on the east coast, I planned a trip back to Portland that always happened to fall neatly during blueberry season (my mother's birthday coincides with ripe Pacific Northwest blueberries). Then last summer I headed to visit my parents in May and realized that if I didn't take matters into my own hands, I would miss out on picking. I started doing some research and found two farms that I absolutely love. This weekend, I'll be heading out to Mood's Farm Market near Mullica Hill, NJ to pick sweet cherries and early blueberries. I'm also planning a trip to Linvilla Orchards for raspberries in the very near future.
One of the things that helped me narrow down my u-pick choices was a guide that Metro Kids magazine (a Delaware Valley publication) put together last summer. They broke it down by state and so have a South Jersey guide, a Pennsylvania guide and a Delaware guide. When I'm in Portland, we always head out to Sauvie Island for all our u-pick needs.
I don't have much in the way of u-pick resources for the rest of the country, so I'm going to ask the rest of you to fill in the blanks. Where do you u-pick?
I've never been one for cocktails with a lot of fruit flavor. The sweetness of many of these drinks gets to me after a while.
But this one sounds both refreshing and strong (though not too strong) and seems like a perfect drink for spring. It's the Blueberry Smash. You have to muddle blueberries and mint leaves. I'm not sure I've ever muddled anything, but it's one of my favorite words. Muddle! Full recipe after the jump.
Over the weekend, I ate the best pancakes of my life. I headed to CT with friends, and we had pancakes BOTH mornings. Sunday morning, I tasted the most delicious blueberry pancakes that you can imagine -- the taste and fluffiness were beyond what I thought a pancake could achieve. So I was already on a pancake high when I returned to the internet Sunday night to find TWO WHOLE blog posts on fruit pancakes. It made me even more excited to start experimenting with these types of recipes at home. Here are some from around the web that look particularly tasty:.jpg)
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a 
On the Fourth, I went with my parents and my boyfriend to pick blueberries, and we came home with 20 lbs. of them. Apparently, we're not the only ones with blueberries on the brain, since the food blogs have been teeming lately with lovely blueberry delights (even this one, 
I've never been one for cocktails with a lot of fruit flavor. The sweetness of many of these drinks gets to me after a while. 
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