Berries Galore

My order of preference for berries is: 1. Raspberries 2. Strawberries 3. Blueberries and 4. Blackberries.

Raspberries, along with my spaghetti, are my favourite food. If I were to be confined to a desert island and was only allowed one food to bring, I’d choose raspberries without missing a beat. I love spaghetti too but on a hot desert island I think raspberries are a more practical choice. My favourite way to eat raspberries is on their own, something I do pretty much every single morning of the year. This past May, there were lots of specials on raspberries at my grocery store (2 for $5, and once 3 for $6) and I bought the special every time. It was great because I then had a few days where I could eat the entire package of raspberries. Barbara Kingsolver is one of my favourite writers but a few years ago I was reading a book of her essays - Small Wonder - and I came across this passage where she was talking about the importance of eating local and in season fruits and vegetables. She told this anecdote about being invited to a friend's house in New York in the month of January and how the friend was excitedly telling Barbara on the phone about the amazing raspberry dessert she had planned for her. Barbara's response (which I hope/think she kept to herself) was: "Fresh raspberries? in January?" I know eating local and in season is better but raspberries are one thing I won't stop eating... even in January! Plus, what I more took away from that story was how the friend was just trying to make Barbara a nice dessert and she had to use it as an example of how shocked she was that her friend wanted raspberries out of season.

I also like raspberries with chocolate cake or other chocolate desserts. Café Figaro in Montreal has an amazing raspberry mousse cake – so good! A good friend of mine (who was actually my student when I taught English in Paris and then we became friends) F. and her husband S. live outside Paris in this nice little town called Perreux-sur-Marne, right on the Marne river. F. invited me and our other friend G. (also an English student/turned friend) to her house a few times and cooked us an amazing lunch. Prior to eating, we sat around and S. served us raspberry kir royales (a classic kir royale is champagne with creme de cassis (blackcurrant liqueur) but you can substitute the creme de cassis for raspberry or blackberry or peach liqueur; a classic kir is white wine instead of champagne) using S.'s mom's own creme de framboise. It was delicious and they knew I liked it so much that the next summer when I saw them again they gave me a bottle of it to take back to Toronto. After our kir royales and our lunch, we went for a long walk along the Marne, which is a really pretty greeney colour. Those two times we went for lunch at her house are among my favourite memories from France.

Strawberries not only taste delicious but are also my favourite berry to have in non-edible forms. For example, I have little dessert plates that I bought in Tokyo that have strawberries around the edges, I have a hand knit strawberry pot/kettle holder, and some strawberry stationery. I also want to eventually get a poster with strawberries on it to hang on my wall. I always love going to N.'s house in Toronto because he has the best, most lovely and most comforting and calming kitchen in the world. During the summer, N. and his family often go strawberry picking, and if I'm lucky enough to go over soon after they came back, we get to sit around in his kitchen and eat the freshly picked strawberries. N. puts the leftovers in his freezer and when he opened it to show me, it was nice to see a freezer filled to the brim with bright red strawberries. I have vague (but fun) memories of going strawberry picking as a kid and I really should make more of an effort to go in the summers.

Once a long time ago, E. told me she smiled whenever she ate blueberries. When I reminded her of this a few years ago, she denied ever saying that. Whether I got her mixed up with someone else, or she has since changed her mind doesn't matter, because now whenever I eat blueberries I think about someone smiling, which in turn causes me to smile. I like blueberries on their own; however, I particularly like to eat blueberries in baked goods. Of all the berries, I think blueberries are best for baking. I love to bake blueberry cobbler (see picture below) -delicious on its own or with vanilla ice cream- and blueberry muffins. I've never baked but like to eat blueberry pie, and blueberry buns. When I was a kid my dad and I used to go get bagels at this place near our house on Sunday mornings and in addition to bagels, this place made these really good blueberry buns. I looked forward all week to eating them. In addition to blueberry baked desserts, I adore chocolate covered blueberries. Unfortunately, Peet's Coffee and Tea (a coffee shop originally started in California, but also located in some other states) - home to the most amazing chocolate covered blueberries on the planet (I think their secret is that the chocolate is dark blue and is blueberry flavoured, as opposed to just dark chocolate) - does not have any locations in Toronto/Montreal or all of Canada for that matter. Well actually, I should amend that to "fortunately" because whenever I am in California and am able to go to Peet's, I go through a package in 2 days. So it is good I do not have unlimited access to them. L. worked at Peet's for a while in 2006 and got me hooked on them, and five years later I am still obsessed.

Blackberries are too tart for me to eat them on their own. Instead, I like to eat blackberries in two ways. First, by adding two to a glass of champagne. It is very good and the blackberries add just the right little something. Second, I enjoy eating blackberry lemon cake. Back in Austin, I used to sometimes get a piece of delicious blackberry lemon cake at Wholefoods. I've found a recipe online and plan to make it sometime.

Berries are wonderful! In addition to everything I wrote above, I love how berries are very good for you. Overall, they are a winning food!