Remember to Check Anyway

Remember how I said in a previous post that I wanted to pick more blackberries to make blackberry syrup to freeze to make icecream later in the year when the blackberries are all gone? Well, I procrastinated. It's getting hotter and many of the blackberries I see alongside the road are starting to look overripe and dull. Last weekend, I figured if I was going to pick blackberries I should do it. I was feeling lazy, so I asked Don if he would go to the hedgerow behind our apartment building and look to see if there are enough good blackberries to pick six pints. He said there wasn't any point looking since there weren't and that the blackberry season was over. He didn't check and I didn't check either.

Then yesterday, I got home about a half hour earlier than usual and since I was already outside, I thought I'd stop by and check - and there were plenty of blackberries still to pick. I have a lazy husband!!! I can't blame him - I didn't want to go out into the smoky air last weekend either. Anyway, I went to the apartment, dumped my bag, changed, grabbed a container and went out to pick. They certainly are past their prime. There weren't as many "shiny" blackberries - they looked sort of dull - and many of them tasted slightly overripe - like cough syrup. I started at the point in the hedgerow closest to the road and was starting to get really disappointed in what was there. I almost gave up, but as I went further away from the road - there were plenty more to pick. It was just more work - slower going and being more picky than about a month ago when I'd fill my container in about 15 minutes. I picked for about 45 minutes and got about 7 pints. It was slow going because some of the nicer blackberries were sheltered in the inside of the bush and my hand was getting really scratched up trying to reach into the thicket to pick them.

Here they are:

I made the syrup, bagged them in ziploc bags and froze them.

I have enough to make 4 batches of icecream and I still have one left from the last time I made this. I was tempted earlier to go again and pick enough to make another batch of these, but I think I want to try other kinds of icecream as well. If I still feel like it this weekend and there are enough, I might. But if I don't, that will be okay too. This is the sort of time when I wish that we lived in a house and had a chest-freezer. I would want to pick, process and freeze bunches of things.

A friend gave us some pears - I am waiting for them to ripen a bit more. I found a delicious looking recipe for a pear-ginger icecream. Doesn't that sound wonderful? Enough about icecream - I seem to get obsessed about icecream once I start!!!

Yesterday was a good day food-wise. Here is what I ate:

BREAKFAST

Homemade granola and millk

LUNCH

Whole Rice and Wheat Medley w. Veggie Burger; Carrots + Hummus

DINNER

Veggie soup w. bread; Sweet Potato Baked "Fries"
Also had some blackberries and some dark chocolate for dessert