Today was something else. It started off amazing, and it ended not so much.
Yesterday I drove from Boston to Burlington, Vermont. Joe's away in Napa working at his winery, so I thought it would be fun to spend some time with my family for a few days. The drive was long, but once I hit Stowe, the clouds cleared and it was a gorgeous day in Vermont. Green, green grass; amazing blue skies and mountains lining the landscape. It was one of those days when I wonder why I don't live in VT (then I remember the aweful winter weather very quickly). After a nice visit with my family, I went to bed.
I didn't wake up till 10:00. That's something of a miracle as I barely ever sleep in. In fact, I never sleep through the night. Last night was different though, I went to bed around 11:00 and woke up at 10:00. I felt great, and amazingly the weather was still nice. I decided to go blueberry picking.
Berry picking in Charlotte, Vermont is something I've been doing with my family forever. It's something of a zen experience for me; I truly love picking blueberries. We either go to Pelky's or Charlotte Berry Farm. Today I decided to go to Charlotte Berry Farm. There were both raspberries and blueberries available to pick, and they also sell honey. It was a beautiful day, and there were lots of dark blueberries. After four pounds of blueberries in my bucket (and one pound in my stomach); I decided it was time to go home and make cobbler.
I'm fortunate because my parents have rhubarb growing in their backyard. I picked 4 stalks and I decided to use the fresh berries in addition to the cherries. Dorie's cobbler recipe was very simple. You simply add some sugar, cornstarch and ginger to the fruit and mix it. Then you make the cobbler topping; which is essentially a biscuit-like topping. Once that's made, you put your fruit mixture in the baking dish and top it with 20 cobbler balls. Then you bake it…well, you bake it as long as smoke and fire isn't billowing out of your oven!
Yes, that's right. Smoke and fire before I even put anything in the oven. Something went very wrong in my parents (aweful) GE oven. They have had nothing but problems with it since they bought it about 4 years ago. My parents keep their oven very clean. There was nothing inside of it, but it just started smoking and then flames shot out of it. This incident was the last straw for my dad. He pulled the oven out from under the countertop, and said they're never using it again.
That being said, the cobbler was never baked. It's now wrapped in the freezer for my mom to bake off once they get a new oven!
Frustrating end to the day? Yes, but at least I was able to share this day with my family! When my mom finally bakes the cobbler off, I'll report back. I'm sure it'll be great.
Here's a picture of the fruit for the cobbler:
The cobbler assembled and ready to bake:
The world's worst oven, may it rest in peace (with flame and smoke marks!):
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14 comments on "TWD Cherry Blueberry Rhubarb Cobbler"
Sad! It does sound like it went in the downhill sort of way - smoke and fire in the oven is no good at all. I hope you get to bake this soon!
well, it sounds great with the berry addition, and plus, at least it wasn't YOUR oven (if that hlps)
wish them luck for me - it sucks not to have an oven.
Uh oh! That looks like my oven. Maybe the it doesn't happen to kinda dirty ones;) Well at least your mom has something yummy to bake up once she gets a new oven.
I had an oven like that once - a Jennair. I was sooo glad to get rid of it. I now own two of the worlds best ovens, four actually. What a difference! But something bad really makes you appreciate something good.
Good gravy, at least my oven issues were repairable!!! I hope your parents had a good warranty on their oven too!
I've never picked fresh fruit, it looks super fun.
Great lookin' cobbler. :o)
And you're sure the smoke and fire weren't part of the showmanship of the recipe? ;-)
I love berry picking, but this year I missed strawberry season. I had an oven fire similar to what happened to you and had to replace the coil at the bottom. I hope you won't be ovenless for long.
Fresh picked blueberries, cherries and garden grown rhubarb...
Your parents have quite a treat ahead of them when the replace their oven!
That oven looks suspiciously like my horrible oven...is it making the trip up I-95 to torture you too? The berry picking pictures were great, though.
wow--that's scary about the oven! a cobbler with fresh picked rhubarb and berries would surely have been delicious!
Good idea to take a picture of the fruit for the intended cobbler - I just ate mine. Berry picking in Vermont - it could be a line to a Blossom Dearie song. Lovely pics!
Wow...your cobbler still looks great in the pre-baking photos and so sorry to hear about the oven. At least the cobbler wasn't in there it might have become a flame broiled cobbler instead.
Hope that no one was hurt in the process.
I look forward to your post next week and really hope for no flaming ovens!
Oh, too bad about not baking the cobbler! Your berry-picking expedition sounds idyllic. Maybe it's just as well the nasty oven gave up the ghost--let's hope the new one is better behaved.
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