no slouch, just slump, and a summer blog break

July 4, 2013July 3, 2013 ~ jama ~ 33 Comments

Happy Independence Day!

Funny, I hadn’t planned on slump — but this sometimes happens when your husband’s no slouch.

The other day, I jotted down a grocery list for Len. Nothing out of the ordinary:

bananas
blueberries
2 vine-ripened tomatoes
cucumber
2 mangoes

I usually don’t specify an amount for the blueberries cause it’s always the same — a pint basket for my morning cereal.

Sure, my penmanship is nothing to brag about.

Still.

I got oodles and oodles of blueberries. A big bag, nay, an avalanche of blueberries. He couldn’t understand why I’d want “6” blueberries. So he bought 6 quarts.

Maybe he thought I was planning to bake 6 giant pies for 6 starving yeti?!

Me: !!!?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*&*#@(#!!!!

He showed me the list. I’d written “blueberries,” plain as day. So what if the “b” was slightly separated from the rest of the word? I’m one of those people who writes in “print-script.” I never connect all my letters in strict cursive form. He knows this. Yet he still thought my “b” was a “6.”

6 lueberries

Me: 6 lueberries? 6 lueberries?!

Oy. (Might I add that the stem on my “b” was straight up, not curved to the right?)

He was looking more yeti-like with each passing second.

Only one thing to do: make blueberry pancakes and blueberry muffins and blueberry bread and blueberry slump.

No, I’m not complaining. After all, he did fill the order. When it comes to grocery shopping, Len’s no slouch. Good thing it wasn’t watermelons. 😀

* * *

NEW ENGLAND BLUEBERRY SLUMP
(makes b 6 servings)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Blueberry Mixture

3 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Crust

1 cup sifted flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter, melted
Half and half, cream, or vanilla ice cream, as desired

1. Combine blueberry mixture ingredients in 1-1/2 quart casserole. Cover and bake in hot oven (400 degrees F) for 15 minutes. Uncover and stir well.

2. While berries are heating, prepare crust. Sift together flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in shortening with pastry blender until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add milk and stir only enough to moisten dry ingredients. Drop by small spoonfuls onto blueberry mixture, covering fruit completely. Drizzle butter over top and sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.

3. Return to hot oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until topping is cooked and browned. Serve warm with half and half, cream, or vanilla ice cream.

4. After you’ve had your fill, hug your resident yeti and practice your penmanship.

(Adapted from The Old Fashioned Cookbook by Jan McBride Carlton, Weathervane Books, 1975.)

* * *

Time to sign off for my annual summer blog break. I plan to read, write, dawdle, eat, rest, tidy up, think, walk, organize, explore, landscape, play the piano, and (gasp!) migrate all my data from my ancient PC desktop to a new iMac (any tips?).

Have a bang-up 4th of July — partying, parading, and picnicking!!

And enjoy your summer. See you in August! 🙂

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friday feast: it’s always better with butter

June 28, 2013September 17, 2017 ~ jama ~ 51 Comments

” If you have extraordinary bread and extraordinary butter, it’s hard to beat bread and butter.” ~ Jacques Pepin

Ah, butter! Slather it on a slice of warm crusty bread, watch a pat slippy slide down a stack of fluffy pancakes, feel it grease the corners of your mouth as you bite into a cob of corn.

Rich, smooth, creamy yellow — butter kisses your toast and ensures you will rise and shine. Ninety-nine percent of my cookie batters start off with creaming softened butter with sugar, beating till it’s nice and fluffy and ready for vanilla and eggs. There simply is no substitute: butter always promises superior flavor.

Fresh-bread-brown-butter — (Click for No-Knead City Bread recipe with Brown Butter Spread via Always . . . Leave Room for Dessert!)

Elizabeth Alexander’s soul-nourishing poem, “Butter,” makes me think about my parents. My mother loves butter, but my father won’t touch it. If you dare offer her margarine, be prepared for a haughty, “I want real butter.”

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bow wow wowing at gemini studio art

June 13, 2013June 12, 2013 ~ jama ~ 13 Comments

Yes, I’ve gone to the dogs again.

Recently sniffed out Stephen Fowler’s wonderful illustrations at Gemini Studio Art. His current collection contains 1000+ designs inspired by the many dogs in his old Wrigleyville, Chicago, neighborhood, his former day job designing labels for whiskey and tequila bottles, and his fascination for big graphic artwork, vintage/urban design and advertising posters. Pretty fetching, I say.

More of my faves with food-related themes:

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