Blueberries for all

Out to somis, ca today. underwood family farms has a "you pick" blueberry farm.

we headed out and after an hour and a half we arrived. cute little farm animal area, fruit store, tractor rides and rows upon rows of blueberry bushes. we came back with 4 quarts of blueberries and then headed out down memory lane to Italia deli where I worked in high school. eggplant parmigiana sandwich on a hard roll, turkey and cheese on a soft, salame and cheese for hudson and grace and prosciutto and cheese for our friend visiting from italy - cecy!

The smells of yeasty italian bread and onions brought back so many memories as I squeezed into the all too familiar business of this tiny deli. i remember coming home smelling like an onion - not attractive.

Then to the health nut in calabasas for the dressing i remember as a child - after a driveby of the home i grew up in - so many innocent memories of being a child. and how everything looked so much smaller! how things change. fun to move in and out of memories.

coming home with loads of blueberries only means blueberry pie - 2. fun to make.

tonight allen and I saw "letters to juliet" and we both were pierced by all our dreams to experience life on a winery or place where we work the land, live differently, spend our days differently.

we will continue to dream until the lord shows us an open door - to go, go and live our dreams - get out of being "stuck" in how do we do it and move into living it. I long for that for allen. for me. for our children.

On to blueberry pie recipes.

First Pie:
Graham cracker crust
1 1/2 cups graham crackers crushed (cuisinart is your friend)
1/4 cup melted butter
1/8 cup water
*mix and pat into a pie dish

Blueberries
3-4 cups blueberries
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
7 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp water
2 tbsp lemon
*mix dry, add wet ingredients, add to the top of blueberries and pour into pie

350F for 50-60min

Second Pie:
adapted from "Polly's Perfect Blueberry Pie"
Crust:
2 cups sifted all purpose flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 - 2/3 cup vegetable oil
3-4 tbsp milk

Blueberries:
1 quart fresh berries
3 tbsp cornstarch
3/4 cup sugar
Dash freshly grated nutment
1 tsp lemon juice
4 tsp butter

Into a 9-inch pie plate, sift together the flour, sugar, and the salt. In a glass measuring cup, whisk together 1/2 cup salad oil and 3 tablespoons milk with a fork. Pour that over the flour mixture in pie plate and mix with a fork until all flour is evenly dampened. If it is still too dry to work with your hands, mix a little more oil with a little milk and add to flour mixture.

With your hands press the dough evenly against the bottom and up the sides of the pie pan, allowing the excess to fall on the counter. (This will be the top crumble crust and is about 1/3 of the total crust mixture.) Sweep it into your hand and reserve in a small bowl. Crimp the edges of the bottom crust or use a fork dipped in milk to flatten the crust along the rim.

Berry pie filling:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

To the washed berries add cornstarch, sugar, and freshly grated nutmeg. Stir gently.

Place the berry mixture in the bottom crust and sprinkle lemon juice over it. Then with an ordinary teaspoon, place little 1/2 teaspoons soft butter evenly over the top of the berry filling.

Crumble the reserved crust on top of the pie.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. Check it after 30 minutes. If crust is getting golden but pie filling is not quite congealed, tent the pie with aluminum foil to keep crust from getting too brown.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.