Blueberries From Heaven . . . or What the Fairy Left

"You ought to have seen what I saw on my way
To the village, through Mortensons pasture today!
Blueberries as big as the end of your thumb.
Real sky blue, and heavy and ready to drum
In the cavernous pail of the first one to come!"
~Blueberries, by Robert Frost

We all know what today is, it's Tuesdays With Dorie day! The one day a week that oodles and oodles of us baking aficionados get together and bake one of Dorie's delicious recipes from her now world famous book, "Baking, from my home to yours." This weeks choice was Traditional Madeleines on pages 166-168, as chosen by Smells Like Home by Tara . I've always loved Madeleines and would so loved to have made that recipe and I was really hoping to be able to access a Madeleine pan, but alas . . . I was not able to do so. No worries though, as the powers that be foresaw that problem, and provided an alternate option. If we were unable to procure the correct pan, we were allowed to go back and bake one of the past recipes, perhaps one that we had not already worked with.



So, what do you do when you don't have a Madeleine pan and a little fairy drops some blueberries on your doorstep????

Why you bake Orange Blueberry Muffins of course!!! And . . . that's just what I did! They came in mighty handy too as we had guests overnight on Friday night and muffins make great breakfasts for people on the run as we all were on Saturday morning as we popped off to France!

I love the technique that Dorie uses in her recipes of rubbing the sugar and citrus fruit zests together. It smells magnificent, and I could stand there all day and rubbing and sniffing. It's almost addictive. If I could find a way to do so, I would bottle it and dab it behind my ears and elbows each morning, but alas . . . I am sadly lacking in the proficiency to become a perfumier. (Is that a word??? It is now!)



Coming from Eastern Canada, the home of wild blueberries, I am well versed in making things with blueberries, and blueberry muffins are no stranger to me . . . but I had never actually made Orange Blueberry Muffins, lemon normally being the flavour I would have put with blueberries. Orange was something different, but sounding delicious all the same.

What can you say about making muffins??? All muffin recipes are basically the same. You whisk together the dry ingredients. You beat together the wet . . . and then you stir the two together, without over mixing, so that the resultant muffins are tender instead of tough. This recipe was no exception. I ended up with more batter than could be held in my 12 cup pan though and so baked several in my friand pan. They also cooked alot quicker than the recipe stated as when I opened the door to sprinkle some demerara sugar on top of them after the ten minutes suggested, my muffins were already too far gone to be able to do that with successfully. Oh well . . . this was probably as a result of having a smaller pan than Dorie's, obviously.

They did turn out lovely and tender . . . and chock full of blueberries. Not too sweet, and with a lovely texture, they were pleasing on all levels and everyone gobbled them up with glee. I never had a chance to try them split and toasted as per Dorie's suggestion, but I know that I will make these again so perhaps next time . . .



*Orange Blueberry Muffins*
Makes 12 regular sized muffins

grated zest and juice of 1 orange
about 3/4 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
3 TBS honey
1 stick (8 TBS) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup blueberries, fresh preferably, or frozen (not thawed)
Decorating sugar for topping (optional)

Getting ready: Centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400*F/200*C. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Pour the orange juice into a large glass measuring cup or a bowl and pour in enough buttermilk to make 1 cup. whisk in the eggs, honey and melted butter.

In a large bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of orange strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don't worry about being thorough - the batter will be lumpy and bubbly, and that's just the way it should be. Stir in the blueberries. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes. If you want to top the muffins with decorating sugar, sprinkle on the sugar after the muffins have baked for 10 minutes. When fully baked, the tops of the muffins will be golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the centre of the muffins will come out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from it's mold.

Serving: The muffins are great warm or at room temperature and they're particularly great split, toasted and spread with butter or jam.

Storing: Like all muffins these are best eaten the day they are made. If you want to keep them, wrap them airtight and pop them into the freezer, where they'll keep for up to 2 months; rewarm in a 350*F/180*C oven, if you'd like or split and toast them.



Next week's recipe will be Pecan Honey Sticky Buns on pages 51-53, as chosen by Madame Chow of Madame Chow’s Kitchen . OH yum! Can you imagine how good those will be. Anything with the words Pecan, Honey and Sticky all in one sentence has to be decadently moreish! This could be dangerous!!!

Vive La France!

One of the great things about living in the Southeast of England is that we are not very far from the coast, and in particular, the ferries or the tunnel to France. We can leave home early in the morning and be sitting in a cafe in France just a few hours later, and then be back home later on in the day before the sun goes down if we so choose. So it was on Saturday, when Todd, myself and some dear friends of ours, Julie, Paul and their daughter JoJo took a lovely day trip to France. (Julie is a great friend, and the author of Tulips Kitchen )

We left Oak Cottage at the crack of dawn,about 6:30 am and were on the 8 am ferry crossing over from Dover. I always get sea sick. It is a curse I have had to live with my whole life, but thanks to the aid of some sea sick medication and a smooth crossing that was not a problem. (Seriously, I get sick on a swing, so it's always a real worry of mine. I would dearly love to go on a cruise at some point, but am afraid that I'd spend the whole time with my head in the loo!)



We had decided we were going to spend the day in a lovely little town called Boulogne. Boulogne is a popular destination for British day travellers and it is the most important fishing port in France according to what I have read about it. Todd and I had been there once before with some other good friends and were keen to visit it again. The last time we had been there it had been bucketing down and this time, whilst not raining cats and dogs, it was raining again. We British are a hardy lot though and a little rain never keeps us from enjoying anything and after finding a place to park, we went off on foot to explore whatever we could.



It's a very quaint town with lots of cobbled streets and little byways. On one of them we found a little antiquities shop which was very charming and compelling. We just had to go inside to have a look, even though we all knew that none of us would be able to afford anything in it, nor would we have wanted to carry it around all day. I love exploring these dark little shops. They always have a unique smell and atmosphere.



One of the places we really wanted to explore was the ramparts, or the upper town that is contained within a wall. You can walk along the wall and have spectacular view of the town if you like or you can explore all the little cobbled streets and avenues which lay tucked inside the walls. We chose the latter and it really was charming. I'd say, for the most part, it is also pedestrianized which is really nice for wanderers.



We were feeling a bit peckish by then and decided to find a place for lunch and found this one street within the ramparts that was nothing but little cafe style restaurants. A lot of them had nothing but seafood on offer. Todd and I are both allergic to shellfish so we tried to pick one that had a good variety of everything on offer. We found a lovely one about halfway up the street. It would have been nice to sit outside but with the rain and drizzle we sat inside. We all had lovely meals. Todd had a steak and chips, Paul had salmon and chips, Julie had mussels and chips and JoJo had chicken and chips. I chose an open faced tarte (or sandwich) with salad and chips. What is it about us British and our chips??? Actually they call them frites in France and French Fries in North America so perhaps the French invented them. Whatever . . . all our meals were delicious and it was lovely to think that we were sitting there in a cafe in France eating lunch, while whispers of French language tickled our ears and French musique softly played in the background. About halfway through our meal the sun came out and we were able to enjoy the rest of the day in warmth and sunshine. It was lovely!



We found a delightful little shop that was full of beautiful little curiosities. It was an art gallery and there were some really interesting pieces in there but there were also lots of other wonderful little trinkets and crafts to look at and dream about. A whole area was devoted to nothing but chickens and I fell in love with a particular one . . . I say that loosely as I fell in love with the whole shop, but this particular one caught my eye. It was a little stuffed one that had the word Cuisine embroidered across it's girth. (Yes, it's the one at the top of this post. )I was so surprised to arrive home and find that Julie and her family had bought it for me as a keepsake of the day spent together. Thanks Julie, that was ever so sweet of you and I shall cherish it always!



There was even a candy shop that had the biggest Chupa pops that I have ever seen! They were at least 6 to 8 inches in diameter. I think that was Jo Jo's favourite shop! We stood outside and inhaled the sweet sugary smells that emanated from out the doorway and reminisced about being children and how wonderful a shop like that would have been to us.



(All day I kept thinking of my sister Cindy and how wonderful it would be to explore the city with her and how we would have spent most of the day talking to each other in cheesy French accents. It would have been so much fun! Eh Ewe (Hugh) is dat ewe (you)! . . . it's a family thing . . . )



We kept exploring and walking around until my feet began to protest. We had been looking for an outdoor market and only managed to find one too late, when all the stalls had been shut down and they were cleaning the streets. Never mind . . . just leaves us something to go back for another time.

One thing we always do when we go over to France is to go to the huge hypermart shopping centre and do some grocery shopping. I am not sure if things are all that much cheaper there anymore or not, but there is a plethora of different things to buy and you can get huge jars of Dijon mustard and really good French Mayonnaise and flour, not to mention lovely cheeses, meats and . . . croissants and pastries. We had a drink first and a pastry before Julie and I explored the Carre Four. Todd stayed in the cafe with a drink and his magazine, Paul and JoJo went off to explore something else and Julie and I did a Wilma and Betty in a foodies paradise!! I got some lovely smoked garlic. The garlic in France is lovely. Much nicer that anything we can get in a store over here. I'm not sure why that is.



Returning to England the car was full of the smells of garlic and cheese and buttery croissants. We'd all had a wonderful day and as tired as we were and as sore as our feet were, I think we were all feeling pretty good. The best part of the day was getting to spend it in the company of some really special people, and to share the childish enthusiasm of JoJo as she explored everything. Getting to see it all through the eyes of a child is something that Todd and I very rarely get to experience so it was really wonderful!

Jess was really glad to see us arriving home as she'd spent a pretty lonely day back here at Oak Cottage. She's ever so good. She never messes or anything, and it's always so nice to be greeted with her wildly wagging tale and lots of licks. Nobody can make you feel more welcomed home than a loving dog! I think we all agreed that we had had a pretty wonderful day. I'd do it again tomorrow if I could. Thanks Julie and Paul for bringing us along on your adventure, and thanks Jo Jo for being such a great kid and making an enjoyable experience even better!

What do you make for dinner late on a Sunday afternoon, when you have forgotten to take anything out of the freezer and you have some lovely fresh olive oil and garlic at hand? Why Crispy patates avec des oueffs et garlique! Hmmm..... tasty fried potatoes and eggs. *smile*



*Crispy Potatoes and Eggs for Two*
Serves 2

Sometimes a simple supper is best of all and you can't get much simpler than this . . . lovely par boiled potatoes fried until crispy and golden in a mixture of olive oil and butter which has been heated with garlic and sage giving it all a wonderful flavour. Pop in two eggs and you have a meal fit for a king and a queen! Just perfect for two! You could of course make it for more but I would suggest using two skillets then!

a little over 1 pound of mealy potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
2 TBS olive oil
1 ounce butter
2 fat garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
3 sprigs of fresh sage
2 large free range organic eggs
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Put the potato chunks into a pan of lightly salted water and bring to a boil. Cook only until they are just barely cooked through, but not falling apart. About ten minutes. Drain well.

Put the olive oil, garlic and sage into a large nonstick skillet along with the butter. Heat until the butter melts and begins to sizzle. Add the potatoes and saute them over fairly high heat at first. Once they start to look golden reduce the heat and leave them cooking to get crusty, turning them carefully from time to time to make sure they brown well all over. Take care not to break them up too much, although just a little bit gives you lovely crunchy golden bits, which is taste wonderful.

Once you get them all nicely browned season them well with some sea salt and cracked black pepper and clear two big spaces amongst the potatoes that you can drop the two eggs into. Break an egg into each space and sprinkle them with some salt. Pop on a lid and let cook over medium low heat just for a few minutes to set the whites. Serve at once.

The potatoes taste so lovely with the egg yolks mixed in like a delicious golden sauce.

Choosing Love

"With love, no harm can come. Do not forget, ever, the light that is shining ahead of you, calling on you to look ever upwards. Be guided and guarded in all your ways by the spirit of light." ~Translated from an old book of Gaelic wisdom and lore.

I have always felt that one cannot go far wrong in life, if they use the motivating factor of love to guide all their steps and actions. That means that everything you do or say is done out of love and compassion for your fellow beings. It's not always easy. Some people are downright prickly and hard to love! Still others have a wall built around them that is pretty hard to penetrate. It is always worth it though . . . always . . . the dividends and rewards paid out in blessings received being priceless and beyond measure.



Love . . . it is the greatest of human values, a direct gift from God, the most powerful and potent life enhancing human energy and quite possibly where we are able to derive the most meaning in life.

I choose each day to love and face the world as a lover. Naive? perhaps. Symplistic? undoubtedly. Sensible? absolutely. Worth it? You betcha!!! Loving others is a choice we make and let's face it . . . it beats any alternative out there!



We had a lovely day in France yesterday. It started out rainy but ended up sunny and warm. I haven't had time to have a good look at my photos yet or edit them, but by tommorrow I should be well and truly ready to tell you all about it! It was a long day to be sure, as we left here at about 6:00 am and did not get home until going on for 9;00 last evening. (I'm sure Jess was quite wanting to shoot us!) My feet were protesting and I was more than ready for bed, but we had a wonderful day with some great friends in a beautiful place. Tune in tommorrow for more details.



I'm not sure what these flowers are that I have posted the pictures of this morning, but they grow throughout my garden in a variety of colours, each one more breathtaking and beautiful than the last. I took these photos the other day after an early morning rain.

Obviously I didn't cook yesterday but on Friday I managed to rustle up this delicious meal for Todd and myself. Simple and very easy to put together, this is a winner on all counts.



*Chicken, Stuffed with Peppers and Goats Cheese*
served with a tasty potato crush
Serves 2

Simple, but packed with flavour, this dish is great for an imtimate meal a deux. It's also very easily multiplied to serve more however.

3 plump cloves of garlic, peeled
2 TBS chopped fresh flatleaf parsley
2 TBS olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I use free range organic)
100g goats cheese (I use capricorn) cut into 6 rounds
3 strips of roasted peppers in oil, drain well and cut each in half
fresh thyme sprigs
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
10 ounces of new potatoes, the small ones
85g packed of wild rocked, washed, picked over and tough stems removed

Pre-heat the oven to 100*C/400*F. Lightly oil a baking dish and set aside.

Bring a little pot of water to the simmer and add the garlic cloves. Simmer for 4 to 5 minutes. This helps to take some of the harshness out of the garlic, giving it a somewhat mellower flavour. Drain well and then chop finely. Mix together with the chopped parsley and the olive oil. Set aside.

Make 3 deep slits, diagonally, in each chicken breast and then set them into the baking dish. Take half of the garlic mixture, reserving the rest for later, and spread it over the chicken, pressing it into the slits.

Cut each round of cheese in half diagonally and sandwich a piece of the peppers inside two half along with a piece of thyme, making six goats cheese sandwiches. Stuff one sandwich into each slit in the chicken. Sprinkle liberally with salt and black pepper and then pop into the oven to bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until bubbly and the juices of the chicken run clear, without overcooking.

While the chicken is cooking put your potatoes into a pot of lightly salted boiling water. Cook for about 15 minutes until tender. Drain well and then return to the pan. Crush lightly with a fork. Stir in the rocket and let sit for a few seconds until it begins to wilt somewhat. Stir the remaining garlic oil mixture in, along with some salt and black pepper. Divide between two warm plates along side of one of the chicken breasts. Drizzle any juices from the chicken over all and serve.

And the winner is . . .

Sorry to have kept you in suspense all day today, but with work, and then physiotherapy late this afternoon, I've only just now had a chance to draw the winning name of the cookbook giveaway! I'm so excited. I really hate to have to pick only one of you, but I only have one cookbook to give away!!!




All the names have been handwritten out by myself and put into a crystal bowl. Who will the winner be?? Oh, how I wish it could be all of you! Todd is pacing back and forth, his fingers just itching to get into the bowl and ruffle the papers around.



Oh Goodness me! Can it be??? It is!!! It's you Tracy! Congratulations Tracy of Pink Purl !!! Your prize will soon be winging it's way across the English Channel to Norway! I hope you enjoy it!

Sorry I could not give a prize to everyone, but never fear . . . knowing me, it won't be too long before I pull something else out of my treasure box to give away to another lucky reader one day soon!

Friday Show and Tell and A Miracle Story

"You meet your friend, your face brightens-you have struck gold. "
~kassia Byzantine

I always used to love "show and tell" when I was at school, and there's nothing I like more than being able to share something special with you, my readers. This is a photograph of me when I was in Grade one. I am the second girl from the left hand side, and I was six years old at the time. It was at the end of the year school closing exercises and the four of us in this photo were receiving awards from our teacher Miss Bezeck. I know that I have probably spelt her name wrong, but that's how it sounds!

The girl on the far right end was Eileen. She and I became friends in kindergarten and stayed friends right on up to the end of Grade 5 (age 10). After that I moved, one of the drawbacks of being in a Military family, and we lost touch. Eileen had always been the prettiest and smartest girl in the class when we were at school. I had always admired her. Her mom introduced me to exotic cooking, in the form of French Toast. I had never had it before or ever even heard of it, when Eileen described it to me one day at school. Apparently they had it every Friday for lunch, and she very generously offered to bring me home with her one Friday, for a feast of it. I don't think she remembered to tell her mom though, as I remember her mom as being quite surprised when she turned up with me in tow. Nevermind though, I did get to taste it and have been in love with French Toast ever since!

I had admired her so much through the years, although we had lost touch with each other, so much so, that, when I gave birth to my oldest daughter, I named her Eileen, after this special childhood friend of mine, who had made such a wonderful impression on me. Amazingly enough, we were able to get in touch with each other again just a few years ago through the magic of the internet and Classmates.com. It was so wonderful to be in touch again with an old school chum, and we were doubly blessed when she flew over here to visit a sister of her's that was actually living over here at the time. She was able to travel down by train from her sister's home to Oak Cottage, and spend a couple of days here. We had not seen each other for over 41 years.

What a wonderful reunion that was! I think we drove Todd batty with all the chat . . . I don't think we shut up once. It was so wonderful catching up with all that had happened to each other in the intervening years and remembering special times together as children. We were able to go through our grade 5 class photo, and between the two of us, we managed to name and shame almost every child in the photo! We have stayed in touch ever since!





The girl next to her in the photo is the Dukeshire girl. Sadly, I cannot remember her first name, but she did live only about three houses down from me, and I can remember playing in her garage with all the neighborhood children from time to time, and getting up to all sorts in there. They had an old refrigerator stored in their garage, and I can remember being expressly warned by my mother not to play in it!

"You know everything about the other. You are comfortable. There are no secrets."
~Jennifer Aniston

The girl right next to me on the far left, was my greatest childhood friend, Susan Warburton. We were inseparable from the day we met each other at school, in kindergarten, until the heart breaking day when her dad got transferred to Germany at the end of Grade 4. My mother always called us Mutt and Jeff, as Susan was always clearly head and shoulders taller than myself. We shared everything together . . . childhood dreams and plans, adventures, mishaps and misfortunes . . . everything. We literally spent every moment we could with each other and were a part of each other's families. We could not have loved each other any more if we had been sisters, and in a way we were.

Amazingly enough, even after she moved away, we never lost touch with each other. We faithfully wrote to each other all the way through junior high and high school, through one more move with my family and several more moves with hers. When I got married the first time, she was able to come and spend about a week with my family and I prior to the wedding, and if I could have had more than one bridesmaid, she would have been my choice as the other one. My dad couldn't afford more than one though and so my sister got charged with the duty, and Susan was there simply as a good friend.

We managed to stay in touch pretty much for another ten years after that, and when my ex husband and I were posted to London, Ontario in the early 1980's, we ended up living not very far from each other and we were able to visit with each other several times then. I had a young and growing family though, and somehow we managed to lose touch with each other after that. My heart was never very far from hers though, and I have thought of her often through the years and wondered how she was doing and where she was now.



"Think of your friend as a precious piece of Ming jade, or a rare ruby-something you can't afford to break or lose."
~Mary Ann Plunkett

Two days ago, on a whim, I put her name into the google search. Nothing came up. I was quite dissappointed. I then decided to put her married name into it. I was amazed when, just a few clicks later, I was actually looking at a recent photograph of her on the staff pages of a small Canadian Hospital! She still looked the same, albeit a few years older! My heart sang as I jotted off a short e-mail to hospital contact address on the page, and my fingers were crossed as I clicked send. A short time later I received an answer, telling me that they would forward my information on to her.

I did not hear anything at all yesterday and my heart sank a bit, thinking that, perhaps, she didn't want to know. Then, miracle of all miracles, when I opened my e-mail this morning there was a wonderful e-mail sitting in my box from her, and my eyes filled with tears as I read the words she had written. All the years dropped away, and I was again in touch with the best friend of my childhood. We share a history that is shared with nobody else, memories and experiences that nobody else on this earth has, and I feel as if I have been given the greatest gift ever I could have been given. I have struck gold . . .

"We are born into our families, but we earn our friendships."
~Rebecca Stefoff



Todd and I are off to France tommorrow for the day with some friends and so I won't be posting as we are leaving here quite early in the morning. I'll be back on Sunday, hopefully with some pictures of our day spent and some remembrances of a great time spent together!

Chicken is such a versatile meat. It lends itself to many flavours and means of presentation. Here's a delicious recipe that was always a favourite with my kids. You know kids and pizza . . . the two go together like peas and carrots, and so it is with this chicken!





*Pizza Chicken Melts*
Serves 4

Quick and easy to do and as wild as your imagination will allow you to go. You can vary the toppings as you wish. Add peppers and olives, perhaps a bit of chorizo. Use a really spicy pasta sauce if you like, or a mild and plain one. It's really all up to you as to how much or how little flavours you want to add to this one. My children always liked the ham and pineapple version!

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
olive oil
1 cup tomato pasta sauce (you can choose whichever one is your favourite. I like a puttanesca)
1 cup of grated cheddar cheese
1 cup of grated mozzarella cheese
4 slices of streaky bacon, cooked until almost crisp and crumbled
4 slices of baked ham, cut into slivers
1 small tin of pineapple chunks, drained
2 TBS grated Parmesan Cheese

Heat a grill pan or a skillet over medium high heat. Add a bit of olive oil to the skillet, or brush the grill pan with some. Season your chicken breasts well on both sides with some salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add them to the pan and grill them for about 4 to 5 minutes on each side, until just barely done.

Heat the grill on your oven to high. (broiler) Place the cooked chicken breasts in a baking dish. Spoon the pasta sauce evenly over each one. Top with equal amounts of the cheddar and the mozzarella cheeses. Sprinkle the bacon, ham and the pineapple evenly over all. Finally sprinkle with a dusting of Parmesan Cheese.

Bang the pan under the grill, about 5 to 6 inches from the heat source and grill them for several minutes, until the cheese is all melted and bubbly and it is all heated through. Remove from the oven and let sit for a few minutes before serving.