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For those of you looking for your comments I found them in my mail box. Go figure! Glad to know you are out there! Mom, still can't find yours. You'll probably have to drive over and tell me in person...

Blueberry Coffee Cake Recipe

Actually, the best thing about this recipe is that it can be made with any fruit you have on hand. I have strawberries, peaches, and a blueberry/strawberry combo. The combo was my favorite. The more flavors and textures I can pack in a dish the better! My mom works at a library and is the moderator for a book club. Edie brought this to share with the group. In turn, one day our favorite librarian arrived for a visit with a blueberry coffee cake, one of the books about Harold's purple crayon adventures, and an activity to complete the experience. A traveling story hour.

Edie's Coffee Cake

Cake-

2 C flour

1 C sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

-combine and form well in middle

2 eggs

1 C sour cream (I used soured milk plus a couple tbsp butter as I was out of yogurt which is what I usually use as I never have sour cream on hand!)

1/2 C butter (I used oil)

-mix and pour in well. stir to combine. Don't over stir. Try to explain this to my counter fairy!

2-3 C fruit fresh, frozen, or even canned

- stir in fruit and spread in 9x13 pan.

Topping-

2/3 C flour

1 C sugar

1 stick butter

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 C chopped nuts

-stir to combine and sprinkle over cake

Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes (350 for glass)

Dressing my collection-what to do while the coffee cake bakes

Back to the Blueberry Coffee Cake. It takes about 25 minutes to bake. This is plenty of time for a refashion plus the removal of a sliver.


I already mentioned collections help me keep things organized. This is no less the truth with my most valuable group of items. Matt's most recent request for the kids is that they have matching shirts for when we are out in public so we can keep them in sight more easily. The lodge is log structure built by the CCC back in the 30's from which the rangers run programs for campers and store artifacts. A small gift shop also has a home here. Postcards to commemorate the black bears at the dumpster are usually the extent of our purchase. This year we threw caution to the wind and got the kids matching t shirts. The sizes are never quite right with such a range in sizes so I knew if the baby was going to fit in I would have to make some adjustments.

Cut me some slack as this is my first tutorial- and I use that word very loosely!

T shirt to Romper Tutorial-

Here is what you need.

1 over-size T shirt

1 romper that fits

1 old onesie or snap tape

chalk

scissors

Lay the romper that fits over the T shirt and mark with chalk. Make sure you leave about 1/2'' for the seam

Cut off the excess and sew up the side seams. Don't sew the crotch. I used my serger, but a sewing machine will work just fine. I also serged the crotch edge. Make a narrow hem the width of whatever snap you are using. This hem will give the snap its stability when you are yanking them apart when the baby has a blowout

Center the snap tape on the cut edge and sew. It is kind of necessary that both tapes are centered so the snaps match. Mine has a few puckers, but I am okay with that. Babies move around a lot and most people try to stay away from the business end of a baby anyway.

Here is the finished product. Just in time to go get the cake out of the oven!

And the moment you have so patiently waited for.... The cake!

and the sliver...

Madame Blueberry, I presume

Cass Lake is so far north the Mississippi River is little more than a trickle when it runs through it. The soil is sandy with plenty of old growth pine. In the shade of these towering trees you find tiny blue fruits not much bigger than a cherry pit. They don't have much flavor and you can get them commercially grown for 99 cents a pint in season, but wild blueberries are fun to hunt. That and the thrill of foraging for pancake additives may be their only redeeming factor. If my dad didn't have such an affinity and the kids didn't get a kick out of it I'm pretty sure I could have smiled at them and walked away. As it was, it was much more work than that. But then again, that is why the name of this blog is "Pursuing the Prize". If I had already attained what would be the point?!

I had collected a nice amount and Maliah had entrusted into my safe keeping her share when my helpful and well meaning 2 1/2 year old upset the blueberry bowl. Much thought was lost deciding whether gathering the miniscule berries and separating them from the forest floor debris was harder than just picking more from nearby plants. This, I've found, is one of the benefits of 6 kids. Delegation. That is Max's willing hand in the picture.

We ended up with about 2 cups of blueberries after we used some in our pancakes. They are much better for this purpose than store bought blueberries as they fit "inside" the pancake batter and therefore don't burn on the pan. To make our coffee cake extra nutritious I used my new wheat grinder-love this!- to add some freshly ground goodness replacing the usual all-purpose refined flour. Also pictured is one of my new stainless steel measuring cups. I have worn all the markings off my plastic cups. As the different sets I own are of various depths and widths I can't tell 1/3 from 1/2 unless they are side-by-side which would mean I would have to dig through the toy box to locate them all at the same time. Anyway, I am sure these new tools will revolutionize my kitchen.

Look at all the blueberries! Check out my favorite coffee mug. My oldest painted it for me for Christmas last year. I seldom drink a hot cup of coffee. Without fail as soon as I pour my attentions are directed elsewhere. But even a half-cup of lukewarm fuel is divine consumed from this vessel! That is the hand of my counter fairy with her wand. I can't work in the kitchen without her fluttering about assisting.

Check back later for the recipe and what-to-do while your coffee cake bakes!

Pilgrimage

Generations before I was born my great-grandfather first made a trek north into the Chippewa National Forest setting precedent for how future family recreational time would be spent. As a child this yearly pilgrimage was truly primitive experienced with a soggy sleeping bag in a saggy tent. As our family grew so did our number of tents. In the heyday we had 3 tents for sleeping and 1 for eating. We would descend like a band of gypsies and the forest

would grow quiet all the animals having fled for their lives!

It was a time to hone survival skills. I recall the year we were required to daily learn to tie a knot. Lest we forget, before we could breakfast we repeated the old and added the a knot-of-the-day. Another year we were each issued our own pocket knife complete with our name engraved in the side. The first-aid kit was quickly depleted. Not sure if that was before or after Dad made us throwing knives. We would play "around the world" on propped up log ends or "splits". The latter being an ingenius game wherein you faced your opponent feet shoulder width apart and took turns throwing your knife into the ground. One would remove the knife from where the opposing player made it stick and place their foot in its spot. This went on until one player did the "splits. In our family this game was customarily played barefoot. So went the activities...

The last time I tented Madigan was an only child. That was 9 years and 5 kids ago. Matt likes a camper. I have to admit it is nice to pull your potty along behind when you are traveling with small children or pregnant women, something Matt knows quite a bit about. It does disrupt my delicate sensibilities thinking that my offspring don't know what "real" camping is. However, I'm getting used to not having to boil wash water for dishes or babies and not spending wakeful nights fretting about who will sleep in front of the tent door in case the black bears come calling.

On themes, favorites, and collections

My dad likes blueberries. We picked him a pint of wild ones last week in northern Minnesota. (more on this tomorrow!) We made and delivered a coffeecake to him today because he claims to like them so. If you are not someone that broadcasts their favorite things you may want to reconsider. It really is something of a public service enabling others to easily minister or gift you in a manner you will surely take pleasure.

I'm a themer/collector myself. I think it helps keep life more organized. I love teaching using themed unit studies. That's the way my brain works and I figure it will work for at least one of my offspring! Unfortunately my brain wasn't engaged when I gave each of my first two babies a 3 foot Christmas tree complete with a themed ornament collection to be added to annually. Four additions later we are not only running out of display space I am becoming hard pressed to present appropriate distinct themes. My kids names are even themed. You may think it is obvious as they all start with the letter "M". But I carry it to a whole new level of crazy by making up rules about the number of syllables and letters each name must contain. And I suppose you could call them a collection in and of themselves since once you have 3 of any one thing you can call it a collection.

I also collect Talaveras Sunflower pottery from Mexico, sewing machines in their tables, and turtles. All these collections have pretty much reached critical mass as I continue to make room for my growing collection of human beings. To keep a collection from overtaking your life I here are a few tips.

1. Make your collection exact. I only collect land turtles that don't have faces. (this automatically weeds out any more living things I would have to feed)

2. Make your collection hard to locate or get your hands on. Some time back I was making a yearly trek to Mexico when I visited my grandparents and I would drag back trunk loads of Talaveras. Staying home has curtailed this collection, with a little help of destructive little people.

3. Make a collection the goal of which is to eventually take care of itself so well that it moves out of your home! Get back to me in 20 years and we can chat about how well that is working out for me...

One word about choosing your favorite or collection you plan of sharing with others. Think before you speak. I once made an offhand comment to my mother about collecting polar bears for Christmas decorations. It is hard to bow out gracefully once the gifts start pouring in. I may have just come up with a Christmas collection for Merritt...

Notice the pottery keeping company with the dust bunnies above the cabinets.

And so it begins...

I have been toying with the idea of a blog for quite some time. I truly enjoy reading about the endeavors of others and figure I must have at least as much to say as anyone else. Probably more truth be told. I interned at a magazine in my college days which removed the romantic notions that one must actually know something about something in order to get published. I once wrote a travel article on taking holiday to the Canary Islands without ever leaving my desk on a foggy day in London. The fact that this was before "googling" makes the feat ever the more note worthy.

So, I begin as I intend to end. I will be sharing our day to day as we are in hot pursuit of the prize when at the end of the race I might hear, "Well done thou good and faithful servant". Life isn't always perfect, but that is what makes things noteworthy. Let the games begin!