Do you like blueberries? Of course, why wouldn’t you? They are delicious, they are tiny. They pop between your teeth in a very satisfying way. They are wonderful in muffins and smoothies! Also, don’t forget these little fellas in a fruit salad! They are packed with vitamins and antioxidants and all the good things. They are the only naturally occurring blue food (don’t come at me with blue cheese - that is just MOLD). Sure they can leave an unsightly stain, and often they are more purple than blue, but all in all, blueberries sit on the “good” side of the ledger.
In these days of pandemics (like seriously, remember how we’re in a global pandemic-- that is some apocalyptic garbage right there); rising seawater levels (do NOT even ask me about the Antarctic Doomsday Glacier); and the distressing continuation of “NCIS” (look it up - it’s still on the air); we need to hang on to the tiny, good things that make life worth living. Blueberries are one of these (only, don’t hang on too tight, because, like I said before, they stain).
Here’s the thing, though, most of the blueberries you can get in the grocery store are fine. They get the job done, but they are a little bit tasteless and their texture can be a less than satisfying.
Well, I have news for you… there is a better, more delicious alternative and that is the regular blueberry’s slightly smaller, way tastier and much less respectful cousin, the wild blueberry. Yes, they might crash a wedding and french kiss the groom, but what can you do, they’re WILD. These guys are little, but they are packed with infinitely more sweet flavour and antioxidants than their chubbier, more tasteless cousins (no body shaming, cultivated blueberries, nothing wrong with being rounder, but you have to admit, you’re kinda tasteless compared to your cigarette-smoking, hickey-having wild cousin).
Anyway, when you have the chance, buy wild blueberries. You can usually find them in the frozen food aisle if you can’t get them fresh. They come from the east coast (Maine for the Americans, Nova Scotia for the Canadians). They’ve been hard to find lately - SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES — but it’s worth keeping an eye out. They are wonderful.
Small note - just reread this post and it kind of sounds like ad copy. I am in no way paid by Wild Blueberry to shill their product, I just really like them!
Tell me your wild blueberry story in the comments below!
Right before the pandemic stopped everything, I went out for drinks with some lovely work ladies. My friend Lisa was planning a big ski trip to France. She casually began telling me about the precautions she and her partner took vis a vis avalanches. Guys, it was blood chilling. There was talk of GPS locators and shovels… it’s all to dig a person out of a literal AVALANCHE of suffocating, icy snow. The odds of this happening in an avalanche-prone area every time you push off down the slope are not small. People do this on purpose. It’s bananas. Anyway, this article is interesting.
Of course, out here, Jaccard knew, things could always go wrong. Like many experienced skiers of the alpine backcountry, he took precautions. Poised on the ridgeline, Jaccard made a mental checklist of the equipment he carried: shovel, collapsible probe, walkie-talkie. In his red canvas backpack he had stowed an airbag that, with the yank of a ripcord, could inflate during an avalanche, propelling him to the surface of the cascading river of snow. If he found himself buried, Jaccard's radio transceiver—known in French as a détecteur de victimes d'avalanche, or DVA—was designed to help rescuers locate him.
This article on New York real estate is a JOURNEY. I enjoy the author’s thought process and am extremely thankful that I don’t have to rent an apartment in New York…
It’s the height of the pandemic, and I’m looking for an apartment for the first time in 17 years. Some things never change: Finding a place in Lower Manhattan is hard if you’re not fabulously wealthy.
I am always agog at how creative and amazing people can be.
Artist Shay Rose (aka Crescent Shay) used over 2,000 pennies in her latest handmade garment: a shimmering cocktail dress with cross-back straps and a bottom fringe.
Pre-order my book!
It comes out March 29th.
It’s got mystery and history and friendship and romance and archives, and wineries and jewellers and Paris and croissants and Josephine Baker and Mata Hari and a sex story about Napoleon III that is ABSOLUTELY TRUE.
“Debut novelist Tector captures European life and her characters beautifully as she interweaves the perspectives of four women seeking fulfillment and success in this satisfying adventure. Keep an eye on this author.” —Booklist
KEEP AN EYE ON ME!
Apparently pre-orders are very important. You can call your local indy bookstore and ask them the buy it for you. If you want to tell them to order a couple of extras, that would be great too :)
If you’re an Amazon or Barnes+Noble or an Indigo person, those guys also carry it. You can find the direct links to all those shops here at my website.
I wrote a whole screed about the “Freedom Convoy” that has invaded my city, is flouting the law, frightening citizens and both infuriating and depressing me. It was a bummer and I deleted it. Here’s this instead.
You can follow me on Twitter here and Instagram here and now check out my website (I’m reposting my old Belgian blog Beer+Waffles there, if you want to take a trip down memory lane! )
We picked wild blueberries at our campsite on Lac Poisson. There were many mosquitoes, but we persisted. Once we picked enough for a blueberry pie, which is a lot of picking because — as you point out — wild blueberries are very small. We baked the blueberry pie over an open campfire in a cast iron Dutch oven. It took some time. (Yes, it was a tent in the woods, no electricity, no cookstove, no indoor plumbing, just a dark, cool lake. Later we built a cabin. It didn’t have any of those things either. Nevertheless we loved it there. A tangent.) Back to blueberries. We put the completed pie on a convenient stump outside the tent to cool and went for a swim. When we came back, a happy raccoon was enjoying our pie. There were still mosquitoes. You are correct. Wild blueberries are the most delicious of all possible fruits.
We picked wild blueberries at our campsite on Lac Poisson. There were many mosquitoes, but we persisted. Once we picked enough for a blueberry pie, which is a lot of picking because — as you point out — wild blueberries are very small. We baked the blueberry pie over an open campfire in a cast iron Dutch oven. It took some time. (Yes, it was a tent in the woods, no electricity, no cookstove, no indoor plumbing, just a dark, cool lake. Later we built a cabin. It didn’t have any of those things either. Nevertheless we loved it there. A tangent.) Back to blueberries. We put the completed pie on a convenient stump outside the tent to cool and went for a swim. When we came back, a happy raccoon was enjoying our pie. There were still mosquitoes. You are correct. Wild blueberries are the most delicious of all possible fruits.