Because I had some blueberries...

I have never really cared much for the taste of blueberries. I have always wanted to like them. They just seem a bit too bland. Maybe I have never really had good blueberries, I don't know. I do know that blueberries are considered to be a "superfood" because they are packed with antioxidants and blah-blah-blah. 

Anyway, I have recently discovered that I love blueberries when they are served atop a fresh, homemade, French yogurt cake, slathered with fluffy clouds of whipped cream. And also when they are served like this:

A grilled pork chop topped with blueberry-wine sauce is a pretty yummy way to serve blueberries! The sauce is enhanced with balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, lemon juice, and thyme. It really perked up those pork chops! Maybe I need to do a bit more experimenting with blueberries.

"Food is one of my favorite parts of the day."

Megan posted this to Facebook a while back, but it seems highly relevant here: "Things You Can Learn About Eating From Jennifer Lawrence."

Good advice!

Creamed Eggs on Toast

My parents raised chickens for years. It was a great way for them to supplement the diets of their large family. Dad took great care of his chickens, we children were only a little bit helpful with feeding the flock and gathering the eggs, and Mom cooked. Boy, did she cook! As you can imagine, we ate eggs and chicken often. Nothing is quite so good as a real, free-range, farm-fresh egg. Those chickens dined on prepared feed and grain and they were allowed to run free and forage for greens and insects. They also received table scraps. All of that combined meant that those eggs were full of flavor and nutrition. One of the dishes that Mom made often was creamed eggs on toast. It's still a family favorite and is one of the dishes I consider to be comfort food. Today, as I prepared that dish for my own midday meal, I was remembering my childhood and all those chickens. 

This dish is so simple to prepare that you don't even need a recipe. Simply make a white sauce, and when it has thickened, stir in chopped, hard-cooked egg and a bit of salt. I'm sure this dish would be great with the addition of some crisp bacon or herbs, but as comfort food goes, I prefer to prepare it as I enjoyed it in my childhood.

Here is a tip: When chopping several hard-cooked eggs, use a potato masher. You'll get the job done in no time!

La Maison Berthillon

On the subject of ice cream, check out the best ice cream shop in the world: La Maison Berthillon. It's on Île St. Louis in Paris, very near Notre Dame de Paris, and I've never actually been there, because I've heard the lines are horrendous. But there are a million distributors on the island, and the one I went to last time had 54 flavors, so I really don't feel like I'm missing much. Here's a list of their ice cream and sorbet flavors in French (note: links open to PDF files), and here's a partial list in English:

Ice cream:

• Whiskey coffee
• Cinnamon 
• Salted caramel
• Ginger caramel
• Mint leaf
• Foie gras
• Grand-Marnier
• Almond milk
• Lavender
• Candied chestnut ("with just a touch of rum")
• Honey nougat
• Gingerbread
• Pine nut praline
• Black licorice
• Speculos (Biscoff)
• Earl Grey Tea

Sorbet:

• Apricot
• Pineapple
• Roasted pineapple with fresh basil
• Exotic cocktail
• Extra bitter chocolate
• Cocoa with whiskey
• Black currant
• Wild strawberry
• Black cherry
• Raspberry rose
• Passion fruit
• Red currant
• Mandarin orange
• Lychee 
• Wild blackberry
• Blueberry
• Melon
• Blood orange
• Vine-ripened peach
• Peach and mint leaf
• Pear
• Rhubarb
• Green apple
• Lemon thyme
• Lemon verbena and mint
• Black currant yogurt

If I lived in Paris, I would eat there every day. So far I've tried mint leaf, one of the chocolates, cinnamon (best flavor in the universe) and extra bitter chocolate, which was so dark it was black and so rich I thought I would never need chocolate again (I was wrong). If I had the money for train fare, this is where I would go right now.

If I Can't Have AC, I Will Have Ice Cream

This has been making the rounds for a couple years, I think, but I only tried it just now and OMG YOU GUYS, YOU CAN MAKE ICE CREAM WITH JUST BANANAS. Look!

Not the best picture in the world, so you'll have to take my word for it. It has exactly the texture of soft-serve ice cream, and absolutely does not taste like it's just made from bananas. Actually the banana flavor is very subtle, which means that you can add any other flavors you want. The stuff I made in the picture is strawberry/chocolate/peanut butter. Here's how you do it:

1. Freeze some bananas. I recommend peeling them and chopping them into four or five bits, then freezing the bits on a cookie sheet until they're frozen solid, then dumping them into a freezer bag. Or, if you're like me and have very limited freezer space, stack them in a Tupperware container, separated by silicone mats or parchment paper.
2. Freeze other fruit if you want to make other kinds of ice cream.
3. Put all your ingredients in a blender or food processor and mix until it turns into ice cream. My mixer isn't actually powerful enough to accomplish this, so I have to add a couple tablespoons of milk. But if you can do without, you get more ice creamy ice cream.
4. Eat immediately, before it melts in your 90 degree apartment. That will take about twelve seconds, so go! Now! Fast!

I would recommend adding some sugar and vanilla extract as a base, then whatever else you want, before or after blending. Some ideas:

• Strawberries + cocoa powder and/or peanut butter
• Cherries + almond extract + cocoa powder
• Cocoa powder + brownie + toasted walnuts/pecans (Georgia Mud Fudge!)
• Cocoa powder, toasted almonds, marshmallow
• Strawberries + pineapple + chocolate syrup (banana split!)
• Caramel sauce
• Frozen cheesecake (to blend in)
• Peanut butter + marshmallows (fluffer nutter!)

This is my new favorite thing. My potassium levels are going to be awesome.