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Just when you think life is the pits...

I think I've discovered the only good thing to come of our record-breaking moisture. All that precip has led to my best bumper crop of cherries from the tree in the northeast corner of our backyard. I picked about 40 cups of them this afternoon, gave two bags away to friends, baked a pie with a golden, flaky lattice crust, and still have a giant mixing bowl full for snacking.

And the tree looks like it hasn't been touched. I bet I could pick at least three or four batches as big as the one I gathered today.

Anyone have favorite cherry recipes? Please share. If you want cherries for yourself, I'll share. Just come on over; we'll have the ladder ready.

I thought about taking pictures. But Tim was simply too exhausted from disaster coverage to deal with me playing Martha Stewart needing visuals. He'll probably have more opportunities to shoot the fruit. I don't think I will be able to wait until tomorrow to cut into the pie, though. Especially since I just pulled it from the oven, it's piping hot, and a la mode's screaming at me from the freezer.

Take my word for it. The dessert's beautiful, the cherries are plump and red, and the tree branches droop with the weight of a continuing bounty. Pictures are nice.

But sometimes you just have to be there.

“When I sound the fairy call, gather here in silent meeting,
Chin to knee on the orchard wall, cooled with dew and cherries eating.
Merry, merry, take a cherry, mine are sounder, mine are rounder,
Mine are sweeter for the eater, when the dews fall, and you'll be fairies all.”
-- Emily Dickinson

Comments

AnneR said…
I won second place in a pie contest at the Foundation several years ago using a friend's tried and true cherry pie recipe. It's probably not that different from others but one ingredient some others don't use is almond extract--to quote your beloved Rachael Ray, yum-O!!
8:32 PM
Amy said…
Betty Crocker's Cookbook - cherry pie with almond extract! That's what I used! Making pie is really quite easy. The filling ingredients were five cups of cherries, pitted (duh), 1 1/2 cups of sugar, two tablespoons of tapioca, 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract. Stir together, let sit 15 minutes to get syrupy, spoon in a pie crust. Voila.
5:34 AM
Amy said…
Well...and bake for 50 minutes. Minor detail omitted.
5:44 AM
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