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I have numerous childhood memories that I have to call partial memories. One of these such memories revolves around blueberry picking. When we were young our family did a fair amount of adventuring and also did a lot of food growing and collecting.

We had a large garden that was probably the size of a football field or maybe 5 or 6 fields. It’s hard to know where the truth actually lies these days. Ginger and I spent most of our summer days amongst the rows of veggies, helping with weeding but primarily sampling the goods.

One late summer day I recall the family loading up into my dads big’old red Ford. There was my mom and dad, ginger and I and likely a plethora of buckets, we were heading up into the mountains to pick blueberries. We weren’t just off to the local farm, we had actually set out to forage for wild berries.

I’ll be honest with you here, I may have been fudging the details in the beginning of this story. In fact, I have no memory of how we got into the mountains, if we were really on a blueberry picking mission or if we just stumbled upon a patch of wild berries while hiking. What I do clearly remember is that I was pretty sure that picking wild blueberries was a terrible idea!

Although I was young, I did know one thing. Bears like berries. Especially wild mountain blueberries. We were basically sitting ducks, collecting buckets of bear food and then stealing it from them!! We really were asking for trouble, am I right here or what?
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I had some berry picking tactics that I hoped would ensure that I wasn’t caught by a bear. I’ll share them with you just in case you plan on doing a little mountain blueberry picking sometime soon.

1. Always pick berries with someone who feels responsible for you. Ever heard of sibling rivalry? Don’t choose your older brother or sister, think parent or grandparent. They will likely try to protect you.
2. If you find a rustling berry laden bush, make sure that you check all side of the bush before you just assume that it is your uncle Pete picking berries on the other side of the bush.
3. And my final tip, always be the closest person to the car. Even if it means that you will not be getting the biggest juiciest berries. None of that matters if you are the one being eaten by a bear.

On that very helpful note let’s get down to the business of eating blueberries. Whether your berries came from a farm or were stolen from some mountain bears, what are you going to do with them? Maybe a little cobbler? I adapted this Martha Stewart recipe by adding a tablespoon of fresh rosemary to the cobbler topping.

During the summer months, I don’t make many trips to the grocery store. So much of my usual wintertime shopping list is available at local farm stands or the farmers market. My standing grocery list is most likely a couple of scribbles about picking up limes and lemons, milk for coffee, a couple of whole grains or pasta and frozen treats. You’ve got to have plenty of ice cream in the summer!

We are big fans of pickled things around here, so we’re never without a jar or two of some combination of vinegar and vegetable. I think they make the perfect snack when I am in need of a little something. The salty tang of a couple of pickles really hits the spot when I’m hungry. But once the pickling cucumbers and other veggies of that persuasion start showing up at the market, I take pickle production in-house. The recipes I am sharing today give you a couple of options for easy cucumber pickles that have become favorites around here.

While you certainly can commit to the big batch of pickles, one of my favorite things about this recipe is that there is no cooking involved. No commitment to 20 pounds of cucumbers and no boiling caldron and steamy kitchen in the summer heat wave. Instead, we’re talking about a couple of pounds of cucumbers and a little time at the cutting board. And as the reward, the cool crisp crunch of refrigerator pickles just shouts of summertime.

These recipes are a great starting point for any kind of spice combination you can muster. Feeling spicy, throw in a few slices of jalapeno or a dried chile pepper. Is garlic your thing? You may have noticed that it’s not mine, but go ahead and throw some in! Don’t have fresh dill? Dried dill weed or dill seeds will add a similar flavor. And don’t stop there, you can mix and match flavors to come up with all kinds of options.

Both of these recipes make enough to fill one quart jar, which makes them perfectly sharable at summertime get-togethers.  However, you can easily double them once you decide which one is your favorite! Enjoy!

SPICY REFRIGERATOR PICKLES

4 to 5 pickling cucumber
5 fresh dill sprigs
½ cup white vinegar
1 ¼ cups water
1 tablespoon pickling salt
½ teaspoon white sugar
½ teaspoon dill seed
½ teaspoon mustard seed
½ teaspoon hot pepper flakes
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1 teaspoon black peppercorns

Scrub cucumbers and trim off ends. Cut into quarters length-wise and place in a clean 1-quart jar, along with the sprigs of dill.

Top with the vinegar and water, then measure in the spices. Cover the jar and gently shake to combine the liquids and spices. Refrigerate for at least three days before eating. Will keep well for one month.

SWEET PICKLES WITH ONIONS

1 pound pickling cucumbers
1 small onion, sliced
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon celery seed
1 cup white sugar
½ cup cider vinegar
½ teaspoon yellow mustard seed

Scrub cucumbers and peel onion. Trim ends off the cucumbers and cut into ½ inch slices. Cut onion into ¼ inch slices. Layer cucumbers and onion slices in a colander with salt and allow to drain for about 30 minutes. Toss gently and allow any excess liquid to drain from the colander.

Meanwhile, combine the remaining ingredients in a small pot and heat until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Pack drained cucumbers in a jar, the top with brine. Cover and refrigerate for at least three days before eating. Will keep well in the fridge for a month.

Choose your own adventure books were a favourite of mine as a child. Every time Ginger and I went to the library you could find me scouring the rows of books in search of a new one to take home. I would read the books over and over again, reading all the different stories and endings that I could create. That being said, it should come as no surprise that I love dinners that allow for a certain about of customization. Tacos are on the top of my, choose your own dinner, adventure list. All you need is a shell, from there the option are limitless.

As the weather warms, I prefer a fresh and spicy fish taco. They always start off with a soft corn shell and white fish coated in a spicy, sweet rub. Extra toppings depend greatly on what is in the kitchen but I usually like to get a few special additions. Some of my favourite toppings are pickled red onions, lime white sauce, guacamole and lime soaked shredded cabbage.

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But my most favourite topping of all is hot sauce. I often arrange a small army of hot sauce bottles in the middle of the table and experiment with different mixes, two dashes of Cholua and one lazy pour of Lizano. Frank’s and its vinegary tang is often the winner of the taste wars.

And that’s how I roll my summer time taco. Oh, but how could I forget about the margarita on the side?

*On a side note Ginger and I are so honoured to have been included on Instagrams suggested user page. Check us out @thealbrecht, we would love to have you follow along!

I am calling it Summer Chop Madness, but it seems like most meals around here involve some kind of chopped salad. I’ve been busy shopping at the farmer’s market, as well as my favorite family farm and the best way to use the great selection of fresh veg is with giant salads. I should also mention the crazy heat that we’ve been sweltering in, as I am sure it has had a part in this. On a hot summer evening, a cool salad bowl is just what I want to eat. We’re not talking about a leafy green number – these salads have enough heft to carry a meal. Wedges of newly dug potatoes, handfuls of the best green beans and no end of cucumbers. But more on that later. With all of this talk of salad, I feel I am within my right to bake cake or two.

I have no favorite summer fruit. I cannot be pinned down to just one top pick. I love them all in their turn – the few weeks when each one has a little window of perfection before giving way to the next one on the list. For us, cherries have been enjoying their time to shine. While I can’t get enough of a just-warm cherry clafoutis, like this one, I do have a new cherry recipe to add to the mix this year. I found this amazing recipe for a cherry picnic cake just about the time cherry season was starting. I’ve been baking it on a weekly basis ever since. And now that we are nearing the tail end of our season, I am finally getting around to sharing it with you.

After my first time baking this cake, I spent several evenings standing at the kitchen sink with a dark apron and a box full of cherries to be pitted. You see, this recipe is just as happy with fresh fruit as it is with frozen. I imagine myself pulling this cake out of the oven on a grey winter day, when the smudge of a juicy cherry will make a slice of pound cake seem like the sweetest treat. And all of my cherry pitting efforts will be well rewarded in that moment.

But for now, I’ll be serving thick slices of this cake in the garden or packed up for a picnic. It travels so well and you know you won’t go wrong when you finish off a meal with this treat.

This cake turned out perfectly the first time I made it, so I haven’t changed a thing from the original recipe. I did make one swap, toasted walnuts for the pecans called for in the original recipe. Go with your favorite flavor on that one. And while a 6-inch cake pan may not be in your cupboard, I made do with a 6-inch soufflé dish the first time around. Since then, I added a pan to my collection. I know it is going to be well used!

CHERRY PICNIC CAKE

Recipe by Tara O’Brady via Herriott Grace

Makes 2, 6-inch round cakes

For the cake

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (256 g) cake flour

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

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1 1/3 cups (275 g) granulated sugar, plus extra for sprinkling if not using the glaze

4 large eggs

Seeds scraped from a vanilla bean or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 tablespoons thick yogurt or sour cream (not nonfat)

1/2 cup chopped, toasted pecans or walnuts

1 cup pitted dark cherries, fresh or frozen

For the glaze (optional, but recommended)

1 1/4 cups (142 g) confectioner’s sugar, sifted

1/4 cup heavy cream

A pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 300°F and position a rack in the middle of the oven. Butter two 6-inch round cake pans and line both the bottom and sides with parchment. Butter generously.

Sift flour and salt together in a bowl, set aside.

Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and cream on the medium-high setting for 8 minutes. Scrape down the bowl regularly. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla. Turn the mixer down to low, mix in the flour in two additions, alternating with the yogurt until just combined. Do not overmix. Fold in the nuts with a spatula. Spread one-quarter of the batter between the prepared pans, then scatter with a few of the cherries. Continue to layer dollops of batter with cherries until finished. Smooth the tops with a spatula, then sprinkle with granulated sugar if you are not planning to glaze the cakes later.

Bake the cakes for about 60 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking. They are done when a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes before unmolding. Return the cakes to the cool rack and allow to cool, right side up, until completely cool.

If you are making the glaze, whisk together all ingredients until smooth. The glaze should be soft enough to drizzle nicely from a spoon. If more liquid is needed, add more cream one teaspoon at a time. Spoon the glaze over both cakes and allow to set for at least one hour before cutting.

These cakes keep nicely at room temperature for a few days and will look lovely under a cake dome or loosely covered in plastic.

Two cars, eight friends, one road, endless adventures to be had. I can say with a fair amount of certainty that I don’t have much experience with road trips. I have been on all of about two in my lifetime. Neither of which took more than a few days. When I found out a few weeks ago that I would be going on a road trip with 7 other people I really wasn’t sure how the whole thing would play out, but we had an amazing time exploring and taking photos.

Here are a few excerpts from my eight-day road trip through Alberta.

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Having a food blog, it is a fair assumption that I spend a good deal of time cooking and in the pursuit of many things related to food. It’s true. My interest in the kitchen is far more than simply getting meals put together, it colors the way I approach my eating life. Reading cookbooks, finding farms and markets to shop at and trying my fair share of new recipes all play a part in that. But my interest in food sometimes takes me far outside of the kitchen as well.  So I thought I would share a little about some of the things I do when I’m not in the kitchen.

Weekends are one of the best times to make time for cooking adventures. We are coming up fast on preserving season, in fact, I’ve already just started pitting and freezing some of the first cherries of the year. Standing at the kitchen sink with my with my favorite podcast, I can make reasonably quick progress on pitting cherries. But this doesn’t happen every weekend, sometimes we just pack up and head out of the house for the day to explore.

We’re lucky enough to live in a part of Washington state where adventures can be found in all directions. Head west 30 minutes and we’ve arrived at the Columbia Gorge with plenty of water, trains and stunning views. In the opposite direction, mountains and trees offer a distinct change of scenery and that is where we went last weekend. Out on the road, we have opportunities to find new places to eat, shop for antique treasures and props or pack a picnic to eat out of the back of the car.

On our way into the mountains last weekend, we stopped at scenic overlooks and a happy little creek where I scrambled down the rocky bank to check out the water. A thicket of thimbleberries edged the creek, still in bloom. The mountain water ran cold but I waded in, despite the warning call of “Leeches!” from my traveling crew. I picked a path through the stream and on the other side, I found a little stand of columbine flowers blooming.

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Generally, I pack up some food for our roadtrip adventures. Travelling with a small child keeps me mindful of necessities, such as food and proximity to the next bathroom. Sometimes our fare is as simple as some dried fruit or nuts. Now the summer weather definitely has me in a picnic state of mind. This time of year, I might pack up a baguette with some butter, a few cherries and some chocolate and call it a meal. Eaten outdoors in the sunshine, there isn’t much better!

On this particular day, our travels took us through a tiny town called Lostine and past the Lostine Tavern that had recently opened up. Apparently, Lostine is officially designated as a city, but with a population of 213 at the 2010 census, I am just not sure how that adds up. But no matter, the Lostine Tavern was a real treat for lunch as we made our hungry way through the hills of Oregon. Billed as a casual farm to table pub, the tavern has a growing menu of great food options with many locally sourced items. And with dessert options like strawberry and rhubarb bars, chocolate layer cake and cowboy cookies, I’m certainly stopping by again soon!

Wherever your journeys take you this weekend, have a great one!

Not all picnics are created equal, and that’s a good thing. My personal philosophy around picnics is that anything not eaten around the primary table in my house classifies as a picnic. This means that winters are filled with couch picnics and the summer with patio picnics.

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It’s early evening in the garden. The sun is low on the horizon and the warmth of the day is beginning to fade. For some reason, this is the time of day when dozens of dragonflies make an appearance in the sky about my yard. I see them here every year in the summer. They dip and zoom through the air as they search for food, or whatever it is they are swarming over. This is about the time I turn on my new garden lights.

There are a couple of new additions to the garden this year, plantings of zucchini, cucumber, nasturtium and cheery overhead lights. I’ve devised a plan to hang strands of lights, zigzagging back and forth across the garden on the same stakes I put up for the plants. Since we are often our relaxing in the garden in the dusky evening, I think the lights are going to be a great addition to our enjoyment of the space.

My garden seems to be doing a very good job at reflecting life this year. Parts of it are planned and organized with neat straight rows and even spacing. I’ve been working towards the best way to create green “walls” around the garden with pole beans, towering tomatoes and colorful dahlias. It’s taken a few years, but I think I’m getting this figured out! Other plants are randomly taking over the pathways, like the lettuce stalk that went to seed last summer, tossing hundreds of seeds out amongst the gravel. Turns out that I am getting some really lovely heads of lettuce from this random seed placement. Same story with the arugula that has been growing so rapidly that I’ve resorted to sharing bags of it with friends to keep up with its growth.

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The lettuce and arugula have been a wonderful start to the season. Along with those volunteer crops, I have been tending to an early salad garden with generous plantings of kale, mizuna, pretty speckled lettuces and my favorite French breakfast radishes. My salad bowl is a pretty delicious place this time of year.

I am also giving the English peas another shot this year. I swore I wasn’t going to waste precious garden space on them again after last year’s dismal showing. The plants came up only to fall to some terrible pea pestilence before any pods reached maturity. But it’s funny what a winter’s worth of grey will do to my resolve. So with a new variety of seeds and a little crop rotation, my fingers are crossed for a better outcome this year.

Where ever you are this season, I hope a little spot of green – farmer’s market, community garden, herb pot in the window or acres of vegetables – crosses your path this summer.

I have had cake on my brain for some time now. The craving goes back to early summer of last year. You see, the summer months around here tend to be birthday ladened months filled with one cake after another starting in April and not ending until September or October. Usually not a year will go by without a slice of cake in May for my Dad, two slices in June, one for Ginger and one for Scott, another slice for me in July and one for my Mom in August… you get the picture.

Perhaps there was some sort of sugar or flour shortage last year but I’m pretty sure that I didn’t get a single slice of cake all summer long and that has left me with a serious cake depletion. To make maters worse, it seems like everyone on the internet is making the most amazing looking layer cakes. I have been saving a list of all the cakes that look totally amazing that I NEED to make and of course eat. Below is a collection of some of my top picks and links to the original photos and recipes.

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This is a story about breakfast, but not my breakfast. This is the breakfast I have been making for my husband ever since I spotted this recipe early this year in the January issue of Bon Appétit. First, I should tell you that I don’t usually worry about making breakfast for anyone during the week. We are more of a fend-for-yourself household in the mornings. Sean has a coffee routine he follows with almost religious fervour. He doesn’t deal in big productions, simplicity is the story of his morning. I prefer to take my breakfast to work to eat when I have a little more of an appetite. And I take a big enough bowl of fruits and grains to fill me up for the morning.

Enter this delicious oat bar. It is like a granola bar, only better and packed with oats, nuts and seeds. Mix and match ingredients to add in favorites or suit specific tastes. It is already gluten free, but can be vegan or nut free if needed. Bake up a loaf and prepare for a week of easy and portable breakfasts. We might not be eating breakfast together, but we have been baking this morning treat together just about every Sunday for the last several months.

But don’t limit this bar to just breakfast. It packed up perfectly for winter adventures for months around here. Paired with the sweetest winter citrus, it made for a great snack out in the snow. I can’t help but think it will be equally at home packed up for a summer adventure or stashed away as a ready-made camping snack. Tuck a slice into the back pocket of a cycling jersey or feast on a quick bite after a run. And if dessert is needed, pair a slice with some ice cream or fresh fruit. There is not stopping this oat bar.

I feel like I must make mention of the dates in this recipe. Sean takes a pretty tough stance on dates, they just are not his favorite. So the first few times I made this recipe, I kept that little detail from him. Trickery in cookery? Why yes, sometimes we must all resort to it. And in this case it was a success. He now knows that there are dates in the bar, but still is a big fan. I hope you’ll give them a shot!

Breakfast Oat Bars

Adapted from Bon Appetit

Mix and match your favorite nuts and seeds in this bar. Swap out the almonds for walnuts, cashews or other favorites. Coconut also makes a tasty addition.

6 large Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
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½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or coconut oil
2 cups old-fashioned oats
½ cup almonds or other nuts
½ cup shelled sunflower seeds
½ cup pepitas
2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Lightly coat a glass loaf pan with oil, then line with parchment paper, leaving the edges out of the pan. (See picture above.) Heat oven to 350.

Combine dates, maple syrup and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to medium high and cook to soften, about 10 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and mash the dates until they combine into a thick paste. Add butter and stir to melt and combine. Set aside to cool for a minute or two.

Stir oats, almonds, sunflower seeds, pepitas and sesame seeds in a large bowl. Add the date mixture to the bowl and stir to evenly coat. Spoon mixture into prepared loaf pan. Tightly pack the oat mixture into the pan with a spatula. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until dark golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool for five minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pan to ensure the bar does not stick as it cools. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and leave the loaf in its pan until it is cool, even overnight.

Wrap tightly and slice when ready to use. Keeps for a week of delicious snacks.