The best cobbler EVER!

As the title hints at, yes, I have found a to die for Blackberry Cobbler recipe.

Let's call it:

Hilary's Blackberry Cobbler

1 cup flour
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbs cold butter
1/4 cup boiling water
2 tbs cornstartch
1/4 cup cold water
1 tbs lemon juice
4 cups fresh cleaned blackberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, line a baking sheet with aluminum foil
in a large bowl mix the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 1/4 cup boiling water just until the mixture is evenly moist.
In a separate bowl dissolve the cornstarch in cold water. Mix in remaining 1 cup sugar, lemon juice and blackberries. Transfer to a cast rion skillet, and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Drop dough into the skillet by spoonfulls. place skillet on the foil linned baking sheet.
Bake 25 minuted until the dough is golden brown


But whatever. That's too much work. So what I did was:

Mix all the ingredients as it says. But I don't have a cast iron skillet so I put the sugar berry mix into a pyrex dish and did not cook it, as it will cook in the oven anyways. It was recommended that you double the dough recipe, which I did. I would also cut the sugar down a bit, maybe 1 cup total. Also if you double the dough you have to cook it for longer. It took about 35 minutes

Update

Well in response to the many inquiries I received, today I went back to see what was in the duffle bag. It was GONE. I'm so happy because the last thing I want to do was get close to it!

This last week, I met up with Theresa who is visiting en route to Taiwan to teach English. We had a very nice long walk around the sea wall, through stanley park on some trails, and around and around the west end. Add it all up we probably did close to 20 Km! We topped the day off with sushi and met up with her Vancouverite friend who did not know a single landmark in Vancouver. Lost Lagoon-nope, Denman- nope. Georgia-nope. Second beach-nope. Needless to say meeting up with this person was exceedingly difficult!

I also went to the BCCOM show and shine on Sunday. It was amazing! I didn't expect such a huge show, or such crowds. Good job Shannon. I watched Jim Byrnes play, which was awesome, and then I sat 3 feet away from him as he chilled between sets. Darren scored a table on an patio with the perfect view of the stage and the loner guy who danced the entire time by himself! Clearly this guy was feeling the music. Unfortunately his girlfriend wasn't feeling it when he pulled her up infront of the crowd for a little bump n'grind. ewww. We also met Otto from Norway, a businessman here for a month. Very nice man, we enjoyed talking to him. I think he just didn't know what to make of the North American bike culture.

gluttony

Doesn't anyone know how to make pies anymore?

Screw selling books, I should sell pies! Everyone should learn how to make pies, it's so easy. Well maybe instead of doing canning for Xmas, I'll make frozen pies. I'll go for the tri-fector for Shannon, Blackberry pie with goat cheese and post-its.

My secret dream is to own a goat farm and make expensive cheese. Good to know there is another goat cheese fiend out there, I'll need a taste tester.

ever feel like you're in a movie?

Well for some reason I haven't been able to upload pictures onto my blog for a while. Sarah had the same problem a while ago- I assumed it was something she was doing, apparently not!

I was trying to upload a picture of blackberries. The fruit not the tech-gadget. There is maybe a week or so left in this years blackberry season. Get outside and pick some! It has always been a little scary picking blackberries as there are tons of coyotes in the ravine. However this year apparently there is a cougar in the ravine as well. I find it hard to believe. It was sighted a few weeks ago- apparently. Although today I thought I found a body...

I pick behind queen's park hospital, not actually in the ravine, but along the edge of it. In some spots there are trails that go down into the ravine. I was near one of these when I saw what I thought was the upper half of a person in a little clearing in the middle of the blackberry bushes. After a few deep breaths for courage, I took a closer look. It was a rather large duffel bag that was stuffed full. I have no idea what's in there, I was too scared to look. But I figured if there was some poor soul stuffed in the duffel bag it would probably smell. Who knows. If it's still there next time maybe I'll give it a kick or something. In movies duffel bags either contain bodies or unmarked american money...

If your curious I'm making blackberry jam and pies.

shameless self promotion

I have a huge book donation. The freecycle website has come through again for me. I just picked up about 200 books from 2 people on Agnes street. Since I don't drive this presented a problem! I borrowed a really good granny cart from Nana (it actually collapses small enough to fit in a grocery bag.) So I was able to lug all those books home. The strange thing is that some guy actually follwoed me the entire way uphill from Agens at St. Mary's all the way through the park, down pathways, all the way to ginger drive! Freak alert! (some middle aged guy) The books were so heavy if he'd offered to pull my cart I might have said yes!!

I am hoping for a good month of sales, as August is a huge month for textbook sales. With some luck I might get the bloody cruise paid for! So remember if you have any books to donate, let me know! Now that I have a sexy cart, I might just be able to pick-up! Thanks to Dad, Judy, Cathy, Sarah and Whitney for their donations. Actually I can't remember if Sarah has actually given me any books, but she should!!! hahaha!

¢ ¢

This is what I learned today:

press ALT and then type 0162
and that's how to get a ¢ sign!!!!
I have always wondered how! Tell everyone you know

millions of apples, apples for free

hey!
Do you know how to can applesauce?
Neither do I.

I have been looking online for recipe but all the ones I found say that you have to strain the apple mush. I don't want to (mostly because I don't want to buy a strainer.) I don't actually like applesauce- especially since I'm allergic to apples, but I promised Nana I would make her some in exchange for the apples. So if anyone has a kick-ass recipe, let me know. Thanks!