Blueberry Pie by Dad

  My dad made a pie! He has made this recipe for years and years and it has never disappointed. Just a pure blueberry taste. No fancy modern flavor combination, just a classic pie recipe that you can always use. So when i asked him to be the baker on a post, since he is the man who taught me to bake, he of course said yes. His choice on exactly what to make, I just kept bothering him during baking going, wait don't move your hands at all and would photograph. Luckily he is very used to it, always helping to hold up a reflector or shake some powdered sugar for a photo.

 All of the family always loves his crusts for pies, so flaky and never tough. When I finally sat down to carefully watch him make it and loon at the recipe, one thing shocked me. There is NO butter in the crust! It is shortening. My first response was 'Dad! What are you doing?!?!?' no butter in the whole recipe, oh dear I thought, but it is amazing tasting. So give it a try, the shortening works for this recipe.

I had him handwrite the recipe, so I would have a copy forever and it would truly make it his 'post.' Well, I just told him write it very legibly. So if you have any questions about it, I'll type it out if you guys can't read it or something, but it seems legible to me.

 That you all for caring so much and leaving such nice comments and emails about the many changes my life has been going through lately. Everything has gotten a whole lot better and I'm happy now. When I tried to bake and take photos during that kinda awful week everything would come of awful. I made a couple pies but the crusts would just crumble when I rolled them out even when I would use the same recipe that had always come out perfect before. I could even be bothered to take photos of the process or end result, I was only baking because my family would ask for something or fruit was going bad and I didn't want to waste. Your mood really does really effect the end result of baking, you could try to make the recipe exactly like it says but if your heart is not in it, it doesn't come out right. At least for me. Luckily things are good, fingers crossed it will last, and so there will be many more frequent posts to come. 

 

These are all film photos, obviously from the borders, which I included on purpose. Sometimes a cut of frame at the top, the rough black edges that slightly curve, I just love that aspect of film. So just the black is on purpose for anyone going, doesn't this girl know the crop tool? But its a bit more cinematic, no?

Blueberry Preserves & Blueberry Cupcakes with Honey Buttercream

Two recipes in one post. Blueberry extravangaza.

Ever since my first jar of Bonne Maman Blueberry Preserves, I have wanted to make my own. That magical little jar with the check top is so fresh & tasty, like it came straight from the farm. So when blueberries went on sale, I knew it was time to venture into preserve making. 

Only blueberries and sugar, and you can even add less sugar if you want because blueberries are sweet all by themselves. 

Hey its me! I made the bread too, it was sometype of molasses oatmeal bread or something. It was not my favorite ever, a bit too dry, so not worth giving you the recipe. I think the bread machine recipes are all a bit wonky because most that I have tried all come out too dry. I'll have to research some good recipes and let you in on the secret. 

The tray I made too, not the cutest thing ever with the two big boards at the bottom for bracing it, but good for a quick project. Just cut two pieces of wood, the same size obviously, to however large you want it, nail them to two pieces at the bottom then add some door handles on the sides or top. I have plans to make a proper serving tray, maybe painted and everything, once I can find some wood I think would be perfect. But I also want to make a table and a little shelf, but all in time, I always have so many things I want to make.

On to the cupcakes. 

The cake on this is really soft and try to bake it until it is just set, not browned around the edges at all. When I found this recipe I thought, gosh the blueberries are just going to sink to the bottom of the cup like they did in my muffins. The recipe said to freeze the fresh berries but I still doubted that it would actually work. But alas it worked really amazing and now it's not just blueberry bottom cupcakes, the are scattered throughout the cupcake and even some still stayed at the top of the cake, so nice! It didn't affect the taste at all either, it still tastes like a fresh blueberry cupcake and not like when you use frozen ones it of the bag that get all mushy and dye the whole cupcake purply. 

Try to get out just the juicy parts of the preserves, putting the whole or crushed berries on top of the cupcakes looks too lumpy. 

Is there anyone in San Francisco that knows of a good... cheap..., place to get 120 film developed? When I lived in Sacramento I could get it done for 4$ a roll and could pick it up in less than an hour. I haven't seem to have found anyplace in the city, everyone I have looked up online wants about 8$ or more a roll and take pays to get developed. Let me in on your secret spots so I can keep using my old Kiev. I miss the big square negative. In school I used that camera a lot and one of my teachers said she was surprised I liked it so much because the square was so hard for her to compose in. I think it is so much easier than a rectangle! Whenever I do a vertical it just looks so long or the rectangle just seems so have extra bits on the side that aren't necessary. I would love to shoot with the mamiya 645afd, which I would check out at the beginning of the school year and hoard until I was forced to give of back. If you have the money and love film that was one ofthe best cameras I have ever shot with. It is big, clunky and heavy but so entirely worth it. I could somehow handle light with that camera that I jut can't do with digital. Even shooting worst, no brand, high saturation film I had, the photos would come out amazing. I always seriously consider saving up for that camera rather than a 5D, even though it is so much less practical, professionally speaking. And that would mean saving up for digital back for it which seems like 10 grand that would never happen for me. I can still dream.

Now back to a cupcake work week, which I am actually looking forward to. After a drama relationship ending weekend, which has left me broken, I'm need to get back to baking so I can put my mind on something.

Have a good week everyone!

Recipe from here

Blueberry Buttermilk Scones

Blueberry season. I wish I lived somewhere where I could go pick blueberries. I remember picking blackberries as a kid when I was in Michigan. I loved getting my little fingers deeply stained and see my Great Grandpa snacking on the berries while picking, saying 'Well, they want you to sample!' And my Dad not eating a single one until they had been properly weighted and bought.

Maybe I can pick berries near me. I went last summer to some little patch of farms about an hour away, but it was not magical at all. The berries were all sundried, of the ones you could find, it was swarming with people and in the blistering sun with little shade. I will have to do some research but I don't think I will find my little countryside berry picking dreamland here. If only my 'We have to go to Michigan this summer' to my Mom almost everyday, didn't work. She said maybe in November.....

So my dough came out sticky, very sticky. I ended up having to use a lot more flour than it called for. But luckily it did not make them dry or hard or anything that could have happened.