Blueberry Lemon Crumble

After the end of a long winter and cool spring, I grow anxious for fresh fruits and vegetables. Perhaps it's all the months of opening canned vegetables or using frozen fruits, but I reach a point every year where I cave and buy the overpriced fresh fruit in the grocery store. The "fresh" fruit hasn't found its way into a can or the freezer yet, but it lacks the flavor and texture of its seasonal counterparts. In some ways, it's like I'm setting myself up for disappointment—a very expensive disappointment.

If only fruits and vegetables could be in season every month of the year.

Well, I've grown anxious. The temperatures outside are occasionally running into the nineties and I'm left sitting next to the air conditioner wishing for a red watermelon. After buying a cheap, but ultimately terrible carton of berries at the market, I've given in. I bought frozen blueberries, citrus fruit, and green beans in a can. It may not be fresh, but it certainly doesn't lack in flavor.

Right now, that's just what I need.

Fruit desserts are quintessential to summer evenings. After a hot, humid day, they make for a cool, light pick-me-up to satisfy my sweet tooth without the richness or heaviness a chocolate cake can bring. When I made this crumble, I enjoyed it hot from the oven on a cool rainy morning and chilled after the hot sun invited itself into my living room.

Until I can raid the farmer's markets, frozen fruit will just have to work for me.

Blueberry Lemon Crumble is a simple dessert combining sweet blueberries with tart lemon. The blueberries are sprinkled with an oatmeal crumble topping before roasting in the oven until fragrant and bubbly. If you listen closely, you can hear the blueberries sing. This makes for a lovely accompaniment to a cool summer meal.

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Rhubarb Ginger Muffins

This past weekend was spent packing up my belongings. Taking clothing out of the closet, folding it in baskets, and dearly hoping that it doesn't wrinkle. Pulling the baking supplies off the shelves, wrapping them in layers of paper towels and coffee filters, and placing them in boxes marked with the word glass in thick black marker. I wondered what's important enough to bring along or trivial enough to leave behind. I wondered if I've chosen correctly. It's strange to see my life packed up into cardboard boxes (and stranger still to see them fit neatly into the back of my car).

It's moving day.

Moving has always been such a bittersweet process for me. It's one of life's true adventures. New cities, new countries, new stories, and new friends are all out there, waiting to be discovered. The thought is exhilarating enough for the butterflies to awaken and whirl and twirl around my stomach. I'm attracted to the idea of moving, of cutting ties and embracing something fresh with open arms. The spirit of moving is looking the unknown in the eye, shaking his hand, and greeting him with a hello.

By the same token, moving is hard. I don't want to have to say goodbye to the place I call home, to the city I've grown familiar with, or to the people I love. Though I wish all my goodbyes could be see you later's, the truth is that sometimes they aren't. People or places get left behind; they fade away into oblivion, into memories, despite best efforts to clutch tightly onto them. I've moved a dozen times in the last five years. I've left so many things behind.

This time I haven't moved very far—only half a state and three hours away. For the first time in my life, I'm living alone. My belongings are unpacked, finding refuge in closets and cupboards. I feel optimistic. My adventure no longer sits on the horizon, to be gazed at with all the longing emotion of a fading sun. It's here and now. It's today.

As I sit here on this new-to-me couch, with my feet propped up on a borrowed coffee table, I wonder how long it will take for this new place to become home.

These Rhubarb Ginger Muffins were a whim on a Tuesday afternoon. Whole wheat ginger muffins meet a wonderfully tart rhubarb and lemon jam, blending bold flavors seamlessly. Just before baking, the muffin batter is topped with a spoonful of jam. Due to the weight, the jam falls directly into the center of the muffin while baking, making these muffins self-filling and giving them an unique appearance. I was surprised by how taken I was with these muffins; they easily fall into my nearest and dearest favorites.

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Blackberry Lemonade

I've disappeared for the last few days to enjoy the long labor day weekend. Spent with family and friends, it was good to step away from the kitchen and step outside for a change. The weekend weather couldn't be any more beautiful, with a sun that wouldn't stop shining, bringing warmth to the last few days of t-shirt weather.

Winter comes quickly to the plains of North Dakota.

The past couple days I've tried to breathe in the last few days of summer. To hold it in my lungs before the brisk fall air snatches it away, leaving me breathless. With the sun setting earlier each evening and a cool breeze blowing in at dusk, fall is slowly creeping its way back into its rightful time slot. I wish I could hold tightly on to summer, to the warm weather and sunlit nights. But, like a child clinging tightly on to a balloon, sooner or later the string slips from grasp and the balloon floats away high into the clouds before disappearing from sight completely.

I can't prevent fall from coming any more than you can, but I can keep summer alive for a few more days with this blackberry lemonade.

As a bit of a side note, I want to share a different kind of story with you.

I spent Saturday in Minot, ND. Recently devastated by record flooding (imagine homes up to the roofs in water), it is a town in a state of rebuild. It may be a small town of only 40,000 people, but the people have some of the biggest hearts I've ever seen, including actor Josh Duhamel who calls Minot his hometown. Josh, hearing the news of the devastation, brought none other than his wife Fergie and the Black Eyed Peas to play a benefit concert in Minot, with all proceeds going towards the flood victims. At $100 a ticket, corporate sponsorships, and a sold out venue, over $1.2 million dollars were raised for the cause.

I'm telling you this because I think it's important to know what kind of people your favorite artists and actors truly are. I want to share what the generosity of a few people—Josh Duhamel and the Black Eyed Peas—can do for the spirits and pocketbooks of a flood ravaged community. No one expected to see the Black Eyed Peas in Minot in a million years, much less playing a full concert (and I don't think anyone ever anticipated will.i.am rapping about how awesome North Dakota is).

These people have earned my respect and I hope, by sharing this with you, they can earn yours too.

This Blackberry Lemonade is sweet the second it hits your tongue, but tart the moment you swallow. Both the lemon and blackberries work together to create this balanced drink where both flavors shine equally. The lemonade is as refreshing as its color is bold. I hope this blackberry lemonade can help prolong the final weeks of summer for you, too.

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