Wednesday, August 03, 2005

My Blueberries!


Gelatin Cheesecake with Blueberry Sauce

Guess how many blueberries I was able to pick from my balcony garden this summer? 3.5. No, not thirty-five. Three point five. And the “point five” was the real tiny berry which was about half a size of a regular one.

What can I make out of the 3 and 1/2 blueberries? I couldn’t think of anything but using them for garnishing. So this is what I did. I made a gelatin cheesecake and garnished it with a small slice of lemon, mint leaf and fresh blueberries from my balcony garden!
(Yes, you guessed right --- the blueberry sauce is from the store, not home-made.)

The gelatin cheesecake was just so-so, and the graham-cracker crust at the bottom fell off while transferring the cake to this plate. But, dear readers, to my biggest surprise, the fresh blueberries tasted WONDERFUL, even the half-size one, too!!!

Since the blueberries I bought at the Sunday Market a while back tasted pretty tart, I expected mine to be the same, too. After all, the hot and humid climate here in Kochi cannot be so great for blueberries, and I didn’t do anything special to my blueberry plant… except watering it every day. So, I didn't expect much. My blueberries, however, tasted so sweet and flavorful, not like those I bought at the market at all !! Oh how wonderful it would be if I could pick more of such good tasting blueberries next year?!

You might think I'm overreacting, but for me, fresh blueberries always meant something expensive, being imported from abroad. And probably because they were picked before completely ripe, they were usually a little tart. These days locally grown blueberries are available, but as I wrote above, they are still expensive and not very tasty. Being able to pick such expensive, foreign berries from my own balcony garden, when they are completely ripe and tasty, is almost like a dream come true for me.

Next year, I might be able to make fresh blueberry shake at home!! :D


Oh I can hardly wait.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Obachan;
Congratulations on your blueberry success!!!!!! What a triumph....Next year you will have even more to enjoy....Success is always sweet , isn't it?  

Posted by Carlyn

Anonymous said...

Obachan
I know what you mean. Some foods are just romanticized because they are foreign, exotic, unavailable, and beause of all those qualities, down right classy. They evoke an image and a dream of a different context. This is what unagi, or any of the other japanese foods that you describe, do for me.

I remember when I was little, the cakes and baked goods that have any type of berries in them sounded particularly delicious. It was because I read Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and imagined that I was picking berries with Tom Sawyer and his friends. All this I read in Manadrin translation of the the American classic--under the covers, with a flashlight, there I was, 8 years old, hoping that one day I would pick fresh berries by hand, or sip tea in England (like Sherlock Holmes did).

For blueberries, there are everywhere here in the US. I love putting them in pancakes. The blueberries just melt into little pockets of jam inside of the pancake, and it is very special indeed. Healthy tasting too.
 

Posted by joanna

Anonymous said...

I would've popped them straight into my mouth without thinking. I wouldn't have thought of using them as decoration.  

Posted by Rabbit Sim

Anonymous said...

Obachan,

Its so cool that you can plant your very own blueberries!! Over here in Malaysia we can only buy from the supermarkets. And even then its mostly sour ones and quite expensive.

The cheesecake looks really good by the way!

Cheers,
-Makan Kings- 

Posted by Makan Kings

Anonymous said...

Obachan,
What a lovely surprise for you to be able to taste such yummy berries you grew yourself! :) The cheesecake with berries looks very good! I just baked some blueberry cupcakes  over the weekend, and they were pretty good. :) Here's the recipe if you're interested in trying them sometime when you have a nice crop of berries. All the best in growing many more blueberries next year!! 

Posted by Ave Qute

Anonymous said...

Obachan,

Congratualtions! It must be so delightful to pick your own berries and eat them. I think maybe next year i will try to grow blueberries myself. Hmmm...I have to agree the ones you grow and pick are always the best. I hope you can pick a lot more! 

Posted by milgwimper

Anonymous said...

> carlyn --- Yep, sweet indeed ; )

> Joanna --- Oh, Huckleberry Finn! I loved that story : ) Also many Japanese at my age have real romanticized image of the brown bread they eat in Switzerland. That’s because of the TV animation, “Heidi” by Hayao Miyazaki who made "Spritited Away" and "My Neighbor Totoro."
Fresh blueberry pancake is my absolute favorite. Maybe next year… : )

> Rabbit Sim --- Well, I felt that I HAD TO take a photo of them, and wanted them to look as nice as possible.

> Makan Kings --- Oh are they expensive over there, too? Too bad.

> Ave Qute --- Your blueberry cupcakes look so yummy! Thanks for sharing the recipe. Oh there are so many things I want to try with fresh blueberries next year! :D

> milgwimper --- Thanks. I’ll think of a way to attract more bees to my blueberry plant next year.  

Posted by obachan

Anonymous said...

oh i love blue berries. how about cheese cake with tutti frutti sauce, with extra peach and mango ? 

Posted by Patrick Leong

Anonymous said...

That sounds gorgeous!! Send me one, please! 

Posted by obachan

Anonymous said...

Heidi?
Brown Bread of Switzerland?
I saw so many japanese cartoons when I was little that I don't remember which was which.
One was with a little girl in it, (an orphan--as usually it was the case) had to start her life all over on a bank of a river. She had to built a hut, craft utensils, make furniture, make a broom, catch trout in the river, make soup from the fallen leaves and vegetables on the ground, fall in love with a boy somewhere, learn how to read and write (with the help of a sparrow, I believe), and all, etc, etc. Basically, become a domestic goddess and a master craftsman builder at the age of 8. It was the greatest house that I wanted to live in. Martha Stewart, ha, would have seem totally incompetant against this little girl!




 

Posted by joanna

Anonymous said...

That must be "The Story of Perrine." Original story was "En Famille" by Hector Malot. Yeah, I really wanted to live in a hut by the river like she did. 

Posted by obachan

Anonymous said...

Hi Obachan,

Congratulations on your success. How much space does your blueberry bush take up on your balcony? I would like to grow one, but I don't have much space. I already have a koi pond and a park bench out there. LOL! 

Posted by Reid

Anonymous said...

3.5 blueberries is 3.5 more than I've ever grown. You certainly did them justice though. What a beautiful stage you created for their debut! 

Posted by AugustusGloop

Anonymous said...

> Reid --- In that case, I recommend the kind I have in my balcony garden, “sunshine blue .” Mine is about the same height as the one in the pic, I guess.

> AugustusGloop --- Oh, thank you! Yeah, definitely the cake was a stage for their debut :D  

Posted by obachan

Anonymous said...

Obachan, I hope you'll have enough berries for garnish AND sauce next year... The cake looks really nice :) 

Posted by keiko

Anonymous said...

Way to go, Obachan! This reminds me of some of the small harvests I've gotten from my garden this year, but no matter how little you get, it's always exciting to harvest something. I'm glad the blueberries turned out so sweet, too. :) 

Posted by Winslow

Anonymous said...

> keiko --- Thanks. I was inspired by some of your food photos and tried the "drops on the plate," but it wasn't really successful... ;P

> Winslow --- Yep, it was really exciting :)  

Posted by obachan