Picking Blackberries

This week Andy and I took a walk in the woods near our house. Since we’re in the thick of blackberry season (pun intended), I was hoping we’d find some blackberries on the wild bushes that grow on the side of the road.

They were just starting to ripen. Many of them were an unripe magenta hue, and even more still remained colorless. Picking them was tricky, since the bushes were covered with thorns, and they also happened to grow along the side of a rather steep ravine.

My hands were scratched and covered with berry stains, but I was able to enjoy some of the fruits of my labor. I haven’t yet decided what to do with them, but I’m pondering making blackberry crumbles.

Don’t you love how blackberries can look so much like molecules?

Pinch me. Is it real?

So it finally (and completely unpredictably) happened: I got a job writing about what I love most — food.

I am so incredibly excited!!!

Starting the week after next, I’ll be one of the editors at YumSugar, a food blog connected to the online women’s network Sugar Inc. I’m still definitely going to weigh in on restaurants (something I won’t be doing in my professional blogging space), home-cooked meals and other musings here, but you’ll also be able to read me on YumSugar under the byline “YumSugar” from now on.

Bring it on!

More to come…

Hello everyone, just wanted to let you know that I am still alive and haven’t forgotten about amuses bouche and the rest of you all. In the past month I’ve had a really bad cold, a fever and some really painful neck problems — but I promise I have some good eats coming soon!

Cialde

Emporio Rulli’s Cialde

My friend Jen and I are both in love with food, so logically we would have seen the same Italian holiday special on the Food Network. It led us to the cialde at Emporio Rulli this past weekend.

Emporio Rulli in Larkspur is (as of 2004, when the special was filmed) the only place in the United States where one can find these cialde, or delicate wafers. They are filled with crushed almonds and sugar, and stamped with a pastoral scene from the town of Montecatini, Tuscany, where the wafer press originates. The wafers taste faintly reminiscent of caramelized sugar and pair perfectly with coffee or espresso.

Tomorrow — look out for my post on Pizzeria Picco!

Coming Soon: My Thanksgiving

My Thanksgiving post will be coming shortly.  Stay tuned!

In the meantime, whet your appetite with this amuse-bouche.