lisa and aaron

just before leaving on our lac le jeune trip, i made 5 dozen cookies for lisa and aaron's wedding favours. i made my usual sugar cookie recipe, but i added a whole vanilla bean to the mixture. it was quite rainy that week and it took more than 24 hours for the royal icing to dry! yikes!my dining room table was covered in cookies! and the smell drove me nuts it was so nice, and i made just under 6 dozen (extras just incase of breakage during travelling, packaging, or me making a mistake with the monogramme).
congratulations lisa and aaron!

here's the cookies looking all pretty on the plates! lisa and aaron's photographer was david truss. i couldn't find a website or blog for him... but a nice shot, hey?!

i found my thrills...

on friday i took the kids berry picking at a couple of our secret locations and brought back many blackberries and many wild blueberries. sunday was grandparents' day and so we had most of the family over for a summer bbq party, and that means pie! i love making pie, and my favourite is apple. but apples are still coming (mostly) from new zealand (which is way too far for an apple to travel if you ask me) and the bc and washington ones still too expensive, so it wasn't an option. our neighbour loves blueberries, they were to attend the bbq as well, and we did just pick a whole bushel-full of them! i also made some cupcakes, but they were a disaster but i'll probably blog about those anyway. maybe.
i'd already recently made a blueberry pie so i thought i'd give another recipe a try. i chose to make martha's 4th of july blueberry pie. yes, i know it's not the 4th of july which is why i made a simple lattice top and not stars. i'm thinking i'll make some crazy top for my next pie, which will be apple most likely, close to thanksgiving which is only about 5 weeks away.
the kids helped me make this one, and i'm killing myself for not taking any pictures of them in their aprons all covered in flour!
* next time i'll add less lemon juice as it was too tart. but really, i may not make this one again because the retro pie recipe is much better and uses less berries- you could make 2 1/2 pies with the amount of berries in this one!!! 4th of july blueberry pie
martha stewart's baking handbook
all purpose flour, for dusting
your favourite pie crust for a double 9" shell- chilled in the fridge (i really should blog mine for you, lol)
8 cups fresh blueberries, picked over (about 4 pints)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tbsp unsalted butter, but into small pieces
1 large egg yolk
1 tbsp heavy cream
roll out one disk of dough to a 12 inch round, fit into a 9" glass pie plate, pressing it into the edges. chill pie shell until firm, about 30 mins.
place blueberries in a large bowl; with your hands, crush about 1/2 cup of the berries, letting them fall into the bowl as you work. add the sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice; stir to combine. spoon mixture into chilled pie shell, mounding berries slightly in the centre. dot with butter. remove the remainder dough from the refrigerator and roll out and either cut shapes or strips to make the top.
in a small bowl, whisk together egg yolk and cream. brush the entire surface of rim and lattice with egg wash, being careful not to let it pool. freeze or refrigerate pie until firm, about 30 minutes. meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, with the rack int he lower third.
place pie on a parchment-lined baking sheet. bake until the crust begins to turn golden, about 20minutes. reduce oven temperature to 350F. continue baking, rotating sheet halfway through, until the crust is deep golden brown and the juices are bubbling and have thickened, 40-50 minutes more. transfer pie to a wire rack to cool completely. the pie is best eaten the day it is bake, but it can be kept at room temperature, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for up to 2 days.

lac le jeune

lac le jeune is located just north of merritt, and south of kamloops, with an elevation (of 1,280 metres) higher than the toll booth on the coquihalla (elevation: 1140 metres). the bc parks website describes the campsite as, "Nestled among an open stand of lodgepole pine, spruce and fir, Lac Le Jeune Park appeals to campers and anglers seeking an easily-accessible getaway spot." yes, very easy to get to, but because of the pine beetle infestation, many of the lodge-pole pines are long gone, which made hanging a tarp quite the challenge.
there was this really long wheelchair accessable wharf for fishing, that's even visible on google maps! we spent a few hours trying to catch fish......with no success. ah well... there's always next year.
we could hear the loons calling eachother all evening and morning, but the only wildlife we saw was these cows:even though it was totally freezing up there this past long weekend, we had a great time. derek's brother and his wife, shawn and shelley, came with us for the adventure. i think earlier in the season, this place would be great to camp!this is probably the best shot i took: