After Much Anticipation...

Summer's warmth has truly wrapped us in her damp embrace this week, with air so wet it feels as if you could literally wring the water out of it with your bare hands. Today was blessedly cloudy and foggy, the hot sun shrouded behind a soggy, gray cloak. No rain yet, though I know it's coming.

Early this morning...and by early I mean 8 o'clock, it is still summer after all...we headed out in the drizzly dampness, to Hokum Rock Farm for some seriously serious blueberry picking. They were open today from 8-10 a.m. or until picked out, indicating to me that they suspected that they could indeed be picked out well before then. We arrived around 8:30, a small army of seven eager pickers, fierce competition for any berry picking family, I think. The parking lot was already full, as was the over-flow section. We managed to squeeze into a spot near the edge and hurried towards the netted-in enclosure that contained several perfect rows of berry bushes. As we picked our way down the line we found plenty of ripe berries, some small, some large, that dropped easily from their stems into our waiting blue pint-sized baskets. Our fingers (and shirts) stained, and trays heavy, we headed towards the check out area.

All told, we picked twenty pints of the berries, for a grand total $60. Hopefully we will be able to use them up. If I lived here year-round, I would definitely freeze some, but as it is, we will have to preserve the berries in jams and sauces and eat the rest up in baked goods, on our cereals and just by themselves...in THREE days. I think that tomorrow will be spent in the kitchen putting up a large quantity of them so we can bring them back to Southern California and have a taste of Cape Cod summer waiting in the pantry.

I tried a new blueberry muffin recipe right when we got home, as we were hungry from our efforts (and our lack of breakfast). It called for brown sugar, but I think not quite enough. Next time, I will probably add a bit more. They were, however, perfectly tender and bursting with freshly-picked berries. On second thought, our two dozen muffins were gone not much after they came out of the oven. So perhaps they were sweet enough after all? I'll let you decide. One hour, farm to table...the way I wish I could eat all the time.

Hokum Rock Brown Sugar Blueberry Muffins

2 C flour

3 T brown sugar

3 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

1 egg

1 C milk

1 stick butter, melted

1 C fresh blueberries

turbinado (raw) sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the egg, milk and melted butter. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients at once, mixing just until combined. Carefully fold in blueberries and spoon evenly into greased muffin tin. Sprinkle heavily (about 1 large pinch each) with turbinado (raw) or white sugar.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through. Serve warm, with butter.