Fresh Blueberries, Here!

A friend of Joel's went to the Blueberry farms of New Jersey for what is an annual trek for him. He goes over with a truck and returns with over 100 pounds of blueberries. These are sold in 10 pound boxes. Joel bought two of these from him and we spent some time washing, de-stemming and bagging them for the freezer.




We weighed out a pound per bag, then tried to squeeze the air out before sealing up the bags. That also meant trying to get the berries as dry as possible before bagging.
 


These are really tasty, fresh fruits. Joel loves to bake blueberries into pancakes and other bakery delights. Sophie was more interested in waiting for one of these little round blue things to fall on the kitchen floor so she could bat it around or chase it.

 

But for the moment, we have plenty of berries to carry us through the coming months.

New Year's Traditional Dinner! Pork and Sauerkraut

Photo: The Sad Spud

Spotted today at the local acme; and no, I did not set this up.

Being with Friends

Joel and I met up with our friend Marc/Buzzcut for a very nice dinner last night. Marc moved to Philly from Portland OR, and has been here for a couple of years. He and I have a few friends in common from my travels/book gigs, whom we discussed warmly, and he and Joel talked tech. We also had a great discussion about travelling and the fact that likely 90% of the country never goes abroad. (The would have be me up to a few years ago!)

Dinner was at The 1729 (formally the Lamb Tavern) in Springfield, a fair place that has been aroud as long as its name implies. I had veal parm, Joel and Marc took on the home made meat loaf. We are all satisfied by meal's end, then sat around and chatted for another hour. It was pleasurable to get to interact with a friend outside the confines of work for a change.

Marc gets extra points in that Sophie cat likes him. And me, I really want a ride on his BMW Motorcycle.

Ben and Jerry's commomerates VT Gay Marriage with...

(But where's the Bride Bride Berry?)