Yesterday my mom, aunt, another aunt, two cousins and I jumped on a ferry to the island. My mom’s aunts live in Half Moon Bay, near Sechelt, and we were also able to visit to my grandmother (my mom’s mom) who is no longer with us, but who rests in a quaint family site. We spent the afternoon having tea, and lunch (which included my family’s famous pickled beets), while reminiscing with my great aunts over old photo albums. I miss my grandma, and my mom misses her mom, however, being with the great aunts felt like being at Grandma’s again. I love the old decorations, the antique tea cups, and the feeling of being at a grandparents. My mom’s aunt said she can just call her momma now too. It was a really great afternoon with family, finding out about our heritage (my mother’s family actually has First Nations in their bloodline, and some of her family has gained First Nations Status.) Looking at photos from the early 1900s, in the photo albums we were looking at, you can really tell some of her relatives were of native descent. This is interesting to me, because I’ve just begun my PDP for teaching, and we are now being made more aware of Indigenous education, and teaching First Nations children in the education system.

{my awesome fishing teacup}

{one of the old photographs, my moms grandma as a baby at their home in old North Van, circa 1910}

Her house had a beautiful view of the water, and just outside her balcony was a large apple tree. She said she wasn’t able to pick the higher ones, so my two cousins and I decided we would try and get some down (without the crabby neighbour downstairs making too much of a fuss.) We knocked down quite a few, and filled up an entire paper grocery bag full. They are currently sitting on the counter in the kitchen, what they will be baked into is still yet to be determined.. though I’m thinking some sort of pie most likely. They aren’t very crisp apples, pretty soft. Good for baking.

 {Melis and I gathering up the apples}

{Our bushel of apples! Quite impressive, thanks to my cousins climbing skill ;) }

Once we were finished picking apples, my great aunt told us there were a ton of blackberries down the trail beside her house – so off we went to pick some. My cousin Melis went full force with another branch to get right in there, while Andrea and I stayed on the outskirts of the bushes – FYI sandals and a dress are not great blackberry picking clothes.

{Basket of berries}

{Walking back to the house with our berries}

I actually made these bars before I left to go to Europe, but I was having problems uploading the photos. Now I’ve got it all fixed – so I thought I would share it.

My family is sort of a square family – in the sense that they were all great bakers (perhaps where I get it from..) and squares and bars are kind of their thing, along with canning of course (salmon, beets, pickles.) My grandma made matrimonial squares (date squares,) nanaimo bars, lemon squares etc. and they were good. My aunts and cousins and I have tried to re-make her recipes, and we’re pretty close I think.

These can be made with any berry really, I was thinking of making them again this week with the blackberries, and maybe some of Adam’s mom’s rhubarb. Perfect for back-to-school lunches.

Blackberry Crumb Bars

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 egg
• Zest and juice of a lemon
• 4-5 cups fresh berries of your choice (blackberry, blueberry, raspberry etc)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch

What to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 9×13″ pan.

2. In a food processor, add 1 cup sugar, flour, and baking powder. Add in lemon zest, and butter and egg. Pulse until well blended, dough will be crumbly and resemble small pea-sized pieces. Pat half of this dough into the pan gently.

3. In another bowl, stir together the rest of the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the berries. Sprinkle the blackberry (or whichever berry you chose) mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

4. Bake for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

These tasted even better once refrigerated, but feel free to dig in while their still warm! Best if kept in the fridge, or freeze.

Every Tuesday Adam and I go to dinner at his parents house. I usually like to bring something for dessert, and it’s most often a new recipe that I want to try out on them. I don’t think they mind being the taste-testers ;) It also gets me off the hook once a week for cooking dinner, which I appreciate =) It gives me time to make things like this, or catch up on my homework that I should probably be doing. The weather was not great this morning, as it was raining and the sky was blanketed in heavy grey clouds. But luckily for me, the clouds began to disappear just in time to snap some photos. I dunno about you, but the time change, having that extra hour, actually made me feel more sleepy? I know we get an extra hour of sleep, but somehow it has just messed me up. Hopefully by this weekend I’ll feel back to normal. Until then, we have this crumble.

Adam’s mom actually makes a really yummy fruit crumble, or crisp, Ta-may-to, toe-ma-toe. However you wish to call it. I haven’t made a fruit crumble/crisp for a while, and it seems to be fitting for a fall dessert. It can be served warm with ice cream, whipped cream, or just on its own.

This weekend we visited the Vancouver Bakers Market for the first time and tried a whole bunch of delicious baking. We’ll definitely be going back for seconds. I also picked up these cute little ceramic serving dishes from Anthropologie and wanted to break them in. Adam suggested shepards pie, and I think that will be making an appearance for dinner one night soon. I just watched Jamie Oliver’s new show Meals in Minutes, in which everything he makes looks delicous, and he made a chicken pie with puff pastry that I think I will have to try out too. I’ve had a package of puff pastry in the freezer since Thanksgiving. Jamie says the store bought stuff is just as good as homemade, and that he wouldn’t take the time to make it at home. So, if it’s good enough for Jamie Oliver it’s good enough for me!

I forgot to add soem flour to the berries before topping them with the ‘crumble’ but when I scooped it out it was perfectly thickened on its own. So there, no sugar, no flour added and simply delicious.

I used a mix of blackberries that we picked in the summer and froze, along with some raspberries and strawberries. You can use any mix of berries to make this very easy and pleasing dessert. I think nectarines and blackberries would be delicious. Or an apple crumble!

Mixed Berry Crumble

Ingredients:

1/2 or 1 cup each frozen blackberries, raspberries and sliced strawberries

1 cup rolled oats, not quick oats

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup organic cane sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 stick of butter, chilled and cut into pieces

dash of cinnamon

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degress.

In two smaller baking dishes, or a few ramekins, divide the berry mixture in the bottom. Place baking dishes on a cookie sheet. This will help if the berry mixture bubbles over while baking, which it most likely will.

In another bowl, combine chilled butter, oats, cinnamon, whole wheat flour and sugars. Combine with pastry cutter, or a fork until the butter is mashed into the oats and sugar to make a crumble-like texture.

Spread half of the crumble mixture over top of the berries in each dish, or dishes.

Place cookie sheet with baking dishes in oven, bake for 30-35 minutes until berries bubble and crumble is browned.

Allow to sit on the counter for a few minutes before serving so berry mixture thickens up. Serve warm, and maybe with a big scoop of ice cream on top.

The other weekend Adam and I ventured out to the country!

Or, as country as you can get around Vancouver. Krause Berry Farms, one of the many local farms in the lower maindland, held a Farmer’s Festival. Krause Berry Farms is part of the Langely Circle Farm Tour. Seeing as how it should be about that time, you know, when the weather is warm and the sun is shining, it would probably have been a great weekend to hold a festival. Unfortunately, we still have yet to experience a real summer in Vancouver this year. Sure, we have been teased with the glimpses of sun shining from above, but most often it disappears again for several days until it returns.

We didn’t mind though. I also didn’t mind having to wear my jacket in the middle of July, if it meant that I got to eat some delicious baked goods. You see, Krause Berry Farms does not just offer local produce and fruit, but It  also has a fully functioning bakery and cafe where it showcases all its delicious products.

When we first arrived they were giving out samples of homemade strawberry jam. It was so fresh and delicious. They also had the JRFM crew on site, and children could take part in building a large LEGO strawberry, visit the petting zoo and even go on a horse ride.

They are also famous for their sky high custard pies! They have a large viewing window into their bakeries so you can see how it is made. Adam and I chose to bring home a double crusted blackberry pie for dessert that night~ It was so so good. They also sell frozen pie dough so you can bake you own creation at home, or, better yet, frozen whole pies to pop into the oven for a deliciously easy dessert! Among other goodies, they sell ice cream and frozen berries! We bought some frozen raspberries for our morning oatmeal. We also sampled some yummy fudge!

We could not leave witohut eating one of the cute little doughnuts! At least, I couldn’t. They are mini blueberry and strawberry doughnuts, with a thin icing glaze on top. Only 99 cents for an unglazed one, and $1.99 for glazed. Definitely worth the extra .99 cents.

Of course we had to eat dessert first. I don’t know how that happened.. After, we ventured onto the ‘Porch’ where they serve food and beverages. We tried the Corn Pizza, which sort of resembled a sheperd’s pie style pizza, a thin crust loaded with corn and topped with both mozzarella and cheddar cheese. We washed it down with a fresh strawberry smoothie.

It was lots of fun to go to the Farmer’s Fest. We will definitely be going back once some more berries are in season, and hopefulyl when it is sunnier! And perhaps definitely for another of those doughnuts too….

The farm offers a U-Pick area for all the fresh berries in season! Remember to bring your own empty ice cream bucket to fill up! If you don’t bring one, you are able to purchase a bucket from the farm to use for all your picking needs! You can also shop for their vegetables.

Kraus Berry Farms are open to visit, and if you did not get a chance to attend Farm Festival 2011, be sure to check it out next year!

Next purchase: Mini Doughnut Pan.