Category: berries

Beat the Blues with Berry Picking

Published on by Melissa TrainerLeave a comment

Sunshine, open spaces, and fresh air are often the best antidote for a case of “the blues”.

Blueberry open spacesWell, at least that was my theory last Saturday when my husband and I decided to take a spontaneous trip to pick blueberries at Mountain View Blueberry Farm.

Located in Snohomish River Valley, this lovely nine acre farm dates back to the 1940s and boasts nine different varieties of plump and gorgeous blueberries. When we were there Saturday, we were greeted by their gracious staff, asked to wash and sanitize our hands at the hand washing stations, and given the green light to follow the pathways out to the berry fields. Lucky for us, the Blue Crops, which are big plump berries, were available for picking and in short time we filled two 10 pound buckets with the beauties!

While plucking, we enjoyed watching and listening to the families and children picking in adjacent and socially distant rows. One little guy gleefully told his mom she could make a “bazillion dollars” with all these berries and another child clearly wasn’t ready to leave when it was time to pack up and trek back out to the car!

Blueberry pie 2020Our day trip was short and sweet and in the end we carted home a hefty haul of blueberries that are now washed and stashed in the freezer. That said, before I froze all the berries for winter baking, I did bake a beautiful blueberry pie for dessert that night.

Served with scoops of vanilla ice cream, it was indeed the best medicine for battling any blues!

 

 

The RV Eater: Local in Alaska.

Published on by Melissa TrainerLeave a comment

Kelp pickles. Kachemak Bay Sea Salt. Haskap Jam. Halibut. Sliced sourdough.

These are just a few of the local foods I scavenged and savored on a recent RV trip to Alaska. While traveling from Anchorage to Seward and then down to Homer, I poked around shops, farmers markets, bakeries, restaurants and harbors to hunt down these off the grid goodies made by small local and dedicated artisans.

My husband and I have been camping for decades now and one of my side shows while doing so has been to hunt down local specialty items while we are out on the highways and byways. For many years I had a mobile kitchen in our family travel trailer which took our family of five far and wide through the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. This week we had a fully equipped kitchen in a Minnie Winnie which we rented from Great Alaskan Holidays in Anchorage.

While cruising through the Land of the Midnight Sun this week, I stocked my pantry with a spontaneous array of local goods. It was a delightful way to bring the flavors of Alaska to the Dixie plates on the campground dinner table.

The kelp pickles, made in Sitka from local seaweed and seasoned with the iconic bread and butter pickling spices, were ridiculously good. Pickle rings were added to smoked cheese bratwurst carted up from Seattle. They were also tucked on smoked salmon canapés, resulting in a very Scandinavian inspired hors d’oeuvre.

The sliced sourdough was from The Bakery in Girdwood and sadly didn’t last long in my mobile kitchen. Light and flavorful, the bread made great sandwiches and was enhanced even further with sunflower sprouts from the Saturday Homer Farmers Market. It was the bread of choice for breakfast and lunch.

The Alder smoked Kachemak Bay Sea Salt also from the Homer farmers market added a lively touch sprinkled over the evening salad.

Haskap Jam from Alaska Berries was scored at the visitor center in scenic town of Kenai. No one at the center could tell me much about the blue jam but back at the Heritage RV Park it was great on my morning granola with yogurt and berries. Eaten seaside while being warmed by the sun was simplicity at its best.