Life In One Day

I've got some great stuff coming up for you gentle readers, but before I get out the scanner, I thought I'd share some photos of my time in Kansas and a few from my return to New York.

First, the dead frog in Mother and Father of Ken's pool:

I call this series "Hose Beast:"

Boomer really likes to drink water from the hose. McKenna always says that hose water is the best.

He also likes to plop his 70+ pound self in the middle of the kitchen floor:

Piper, smiling for the camera:

Boo, mad that she got some attention:

Because I did a lot of shopping and also have extremely generous relatives who give great birthday gifts, Mother of Ken had to mail four boxes of stuff to me. They arrived today:

My new apple peeler poked out of the box in transit. I hope that no one was harmed:

After spending most of the morning unpacking the boxes and putting everything away, I made a blueberry crisp from a recipe that I got at Penzey's in Kansas City. Penzey's is a dream come true for people who love food. I had never been to the store before, but I love their products. I bought some double strength vanilla and some Vietnamese Cassia cinnamon, which I used in this recipe.

I began by putting one cup of blueberries in a ramekin:

The ingredients for the topping are oats, flour, brown sugar, lemon juice, salt, cinnamon, and butter:

I mixed all of the topping ingredients together with a fork:

Then topped the blueberries with the mixture:

Here it is just out of the oven:

This was really good, but next time, I think I'll add some flour to the blueberries so that the filling isn't so soupy.

Here's the recipe, courtesy of Penzey's:

(Note: I added oats to mine and also only made a single serving--the whole recipe makes six servings.)

4 c. blueberries

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. brown sugar, firmly packed

1/4 c. butter

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse the blueberries and then place in a 9 inch square pan or six individual ramekins. In a roomy bowl, combine the lemon juice, flour, brown sugar, butter, salt, and cinnamon. Stir the ingredients together with a fork and sprinkle topping over the blueberries and bake for 25-30 minutes.