We picked twelve cups of blackberries the other day while we had visitors here and turned it into blackberry coffee cake. This recipe used 3-1/2 cups of blackberries so I also made two loaves of blackberry bread
and the most popular blackberry cobbler that got eaten so fast I never got a photo of it. And I still have blackberries leftover. All these recipes are from a very old cookbook of mine called Wild & Free Blackberries that I've had since around the mid-1990's.
And this is definitely the time of year that this little cookbook is sitting out on my kitchen counter. We picked them at our local golf course because Bruce sees how plentiful they are when he plays golf and he has been eager to get us out there to pick and we finally did.
Our visitors have returned home now but they had three children who LOVED picking blackberries and also LOVED eating them. They were children of Bruce's nephew who was here with his wife and his mom who is Bruce's sister.
We did all the usual tourist attractions like we always do; the Public Market and got a salmon for dinner; spent a day at Alki beach; rode the water taxi from West Seattle to the waterfront; we visited our local West Seattle Junction; the parents got a "date night" at the popular Westward while we babysat; etc. etc. You might recognize that these are the same visitors who came in March when I posted my Waffle Party recipe. They had so much fun in March that the whole family came this time.
And we did have another waffle party during this visit, too. That recipe is so popular around here. We've made that waffle recipe twice this summer. We had a family reunion on my side of the family in July that was a two day event with the second day being a Sunday morning Waffle Party brunch.
The grandkids even made special Waffle Party flags to put around the house for decor. They were here visiting for the whole month of July.
The two day family reunion involved around 20 people each day with three of my six siblings here.
The first night we had a recipe of my dad's of barbecued pot roast when everyone gathered to see each other for the first time.
There were several people here who traveled a long distance like my sister and her husband from Washington D.C, my brother from Spokane and Nick and the grandkids from Spain. I also had a niece here who has been studying and traveling in Europe all last year so we haven't seen her in awhile and a new one year-old in the family now. There is always so many exciting things in people's lives to get caught up on.
Our granddaughter had the idea to have a talent show during the reunion so we did and it was quite a success. She made the program and I emailed the family to encourage people to sign up. We ended up with ten acts so we were extremely pleased with the turnout. My granddaughter did a flamenco dance that she learned in Spain.
I played my ukulele and also did a duet with my granddaughter and niece who also both play ukulele;
we had a juggling act;
a couple of card trick acts; a skateboard trick act; a guitar performance to name a few.
It turned out to be VERY entertaining. The audience was also fun, interactive and loved every minute of it.
It also happened to be our grandson's seventh birthday on this day so we had a little birthday celebration for him and he was thrilled to have so many people celebrating him.
I haven't posted in awhile because we had five birthdays in July and it was a very busy month. But we were thrilled to have the grandkids here to celebrate with us which made it extra special. Nick's birthday was first. He has had a lot of business to take care of during his stay with one being selling his house that he has been renting while living in Spain. So, we were over there checking out his house on his birthday and decided to celebrate his birthday at a favorite spot in Gig Harbor called Anthony's. I've posted a lot of celebration from here like last year for our anniversary when we did the gondola ride in Gig Harbor. We all took the ferry over and since it was the third day of their visit from Spain, we were all in a very festive mood.
The next day, we celebrated our granddaughter's ninth birthday so I let her make her favorite chocolate cake just the way she likes it.
My birthday was next so I opted for a family dinner at my favorite Salty's where I get my complimentary birthday cake.
Lauren was next and she choose to have a homemade pasta dinner on her birthday with tiramisu cake that is one of my favorite recipes.
It was also our 44th wedding anniversary last month and Nick was in Portland visiting friends so we brought the grandkids with us to one of our favorite places in our neighborhood called La Rustica. Celebrating with them is the best celebration we could have.
July has been a whirlwind of activity and one of the best Julys we've ever had. The last of our visitors have left now and we are wondering what to do with ourselves! Just kidding. We plan to enjoy the rest of these lovely summer days and soak in all that we've experienced the past few weeks. And once again, I am feeling so grateful for having the family that I have to share all these moments with. Throw in a few good recipes to serve them and it's even better because you get to watch their faces light up when they take that first bite. So, here's another recipe to add to the list that is guaranteed to light up a few more faces.
Serves 12
2-1/4 cups flour, divided
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup butter (1 cube), cut in small pieces
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
3-1/2 cup blackberries
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
1. In a food processor, mix together 2 cups flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
2. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is crumbly. Pour into a bowl.
4. Pour egg mixture over flour mixture and mix until moistened.
5. Spread batter into a greased 8" X 12" baking pan and distribute berries on top of batter. (I used a 9" X 9" pan and baked it 15 minutes longer.)
6. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, 1/4 cup flour, butter and pecans; mix with a fork until crumbly.
8. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. (Or bake for 60 minutes if using a square pan.)
Comments
Post a Comment