We had a very fun July 4th weekend over here in Santa Cruz. The weather was ultra cooperative, bright, sunny, and warm. So we did what any good American/Brazilian/German would do: BBQ! Yes, we had a
very traditional steak BBQ, which came out quite nicely, seasoned with some of my last bits of Taos seasoning from when I lived in Santa Fe, NM. And we finished our traditional BBQ with a not so traditional dessert: trifle!
Trifle? What the heck is that, you might ask. Well, lets just say what would you do if you had about 9 boxes of hand-picked ollalieberries? I say: make trifle, and let the chips fall where they may! So, where does one get so many berries? (and for those of you who may be un-versed in the world of berries,
olallaberries are a hybrid of many berries, including blackberries and raspberries) Well, just up the road about 20 miles from our house at the Swanton Berry Farms. Yes, we are surrounded by farmland over here, and one of the bonuses is getting out to hand pick berries, be they the aforementioned olalieberries, or strawberries. So we joyously packed up the kids and us (and Claudia's friend Uli who is visiting from Germany) and headed off to pick as many berries as we could.
As a trip down memory lane, one of the highlights for me, Mary, Bob, Barb, and anyone else I am forgetting during our summers in New Hampshire was our trips out by rowboat (River Road house) or by bike (River Road house and Lake Sunapee house) to search for hidden berry patches here and there. And we found lots and lots, and it was truly amazing. Now, multiply the number of berries you have ever eaten on a wild berry hunt by around 35, and you get an idea of what we found at the ollalieberry u-pick place.
Interestingly, the hybrid plants produced some berries that were more raspberry-esque, and some more blackberry-esque. So we had the added bonus of intriquing taste tests as we made our way around the u-pick place. By the end of it, and this is really amazing, me and the boys were just TOO FULL to eat any more berries! Imagine, if you could, that scenario!
So, back at the ranch I decided to make an olallieberry Trifle, and was successful, although I went very light on the added Calvados (you can also use Sherry, etc., but I like Calvados).
Other weekend highlights included me and the boys going to our very first minor league baseball game and watching the San Jose Giants, (yes, you read that right) play ball. Felix and I lasted through the 8th inning, and Max stayed all the way through with a friend who was also at the game. He enjoyed fireworks, and generally was very happy to be there. Next up? San Francisco Giants on July 24 (free tix from a friend who has season tix). Oh, and Felix's favorite part was the orange monkey mascot.
Rounding off the weekend we had a day at the beach, where we bravely got into our wetsuits and got pummmeled by the waves as we laughed our way to some good fun in the surf with our boogie boards.
So our perfect weekend passed too quickly as they generally do, but our newest family tradition began this weekend with berry picking and trifle.
