Winter Blueberry Cobbler Bread

 "Baking is sort of like magic......you start of with all this disparate stuff, such as butter and eggs, and what you end up with is totally different.An also delicious." -Marian Keyes (1963-) (Irish fiction writer)

 BLUEBERRY COBBLE COFFEE BREAD ( 2017)
This is a reverse coffee cake cobbler, with the blueberries at the top. They sink into the batter as it bakes. Creates this lovely blueberry-ness that is really divine.

 This recipe makes an 8 inch pan. To make a 13x9 pan just double recipe. I prefer the larger recipe since then you have leftovers after the first day.

 1 ¾ cup  flour      ½ cup sugar     Pinch salt                                                               

 1 ½ tsp baking powder

¾ cup milk, plus a little extra

1/3 cup melted butter

    TOPPING: 2-3cups blueberries   ( I didn't measure. I just spread by hand)                        1/3 cup sugar          Drizzle of  vanilla extract

 OVEN should be on at 350 to preheat.

 Mix Everything but topping ingredients. Don't over mix.

 Spread into greased pan. Spray with pam if you want. I slathered margarine all over the innards of the pan . 

 Sprinkle with blueberries, and 1/3 cup sugar, and drizzle with vanilla. This is the topping portion . If you don't use sugar  it is too tart. You may want to just sprinkle with a tablespoon of sugar or even sweetener, if you prefer.

 Bake about 45 minutes for smaller pan, and about 50 minutes for larger pan. Give or take.  

 Check often to make sure cake portion is baked. I use a sharp steak knife to slide down between the knobs of batter to see if it is done.

 You can also use other fruit….frozen is fine…like blackberries, if you wish. I've often wondered what it would be like , say, with peaches, or saskatoons. Something a little different.

 This is so easy to do you can whip it up when you need something scrumptious for those family gatherings where no one knows what they like.   Or for a church potluck. Or , better yet, for the neighbour next door, or a good friend over for coffee. I also carve it up in wedges to serve with homemade soup. 

 "BAKING is too precise for me. I bake with a pinch of this or that." -Eva Longoria (1975-) (Actress)

 Photographs: 2017. M McConachie Woods

3 Weeks till Spring.....the Cats are out of the bag...(so to speak)

 "The world is mud-lucious and puddle-wonderful."
                               -E.E. Cummings (1894-1962)

 Three weeks till spring. The hummers hover. The cats loll.

 The hummer drinks. Keeps an eye on you-know who.

 You know who gets bored. He snores. Hummer hums away into the wild blue yonder.

 Leftover snow. Has its grip on us. 

 Smokey from the hill licks. Frozen water. He likes  leftover snow. 

 Yet the hills are alive.With something. Always looking for a yeti.....

 "All winter long I dream of my garden.On the first day of spring I dig my fingers deep into the soft earth. I can feel its energy and my spirits soar." -Helen Hayes (1900-1993) (Actress)

Late winter fog still drifts.A reminder that winter still  has its claws.

 Hummer sits on a flushed branch . Taunting  you know who.

 You know who watches. And marvels. Hummer is  fast and brave.

 "I am sick of four walls and a ceiling. I have need of the sky. I have business with the grass." -Richard Hovey (1864-1900)(poet, playwright, translator)

"I have gathered you all here." Says Cordelia. She looks like a cloud. Or an angel.

 And you know who ,and the others, listen in rapt attention.

 But then it is time to nap. With just enough afternoon  sun in which to bask.

Sun hangs low. But not as low , as in deepest darkest winter.

 Lion Cat peers out from his hiding place.

 Snow melt has begun.  Cats are on the rise. Spring in their eyes.....

 "My favourite weather is bird chirping weather." 
               -T. Guillemets (Quote Anthologist)

PHOTOGRAPHS: 2017 M McConachie Woods, C. River, B.C.

Snow lurks like Zombies.....but the thaw is on.

 "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"
                                                      -Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

 So the Thaw is on. For now. I hope it has decided to not come back.  All the birds seem to think so. They chatter like banshees all day long now.  And the piles of snow keep their distance. For now. They are like Zombies lurking at the sides of the road.....

 Hummers started coming more regularly to  feeders at the end of the snow.

 Mountains were at their best.

 "We build statues of snow and weep to see them melt."
           -Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)

  Braving the  last of the snow.  Fierce little things. Afraid of nothing.

 We were trapped.  In full view of the mountains who just taunted us with their snow and fluff.

 But snow on the  roads began to melt. Zombie piles began to form.

 Trees began to bend under melting snow. In fact ,there are quite a few trees that have broken in half, or stripped branches. I haven't been able to check all the perennials but  some are toast. (That means planting NEW STUFF. Yay!)

 "Life is only a flicker of melted ice....." 
                             -Dejan Stojanovic (The Sun watches the Sun)

 Birds tweet more in the snow.  A lot more. Deafening.

 More and more each day.  Spring is coming. The Melt is on.

  Thrush sings like he just can't get enough of it.

 And the roads melt.And the Snow Zombies lie in wait.

 "If Snow melts down to water, does it remember being snow?"
                                 -Jennifer McMahon ( 1968-) 

 I'd like to think it remembers being snow.  I certainly will. Bring on Spring......

 "No winter lasts forever, no Spring skips its turn..." 
   -Hall Borland (1900-1978) (wrote outdoor books, and was wrote for the New York Times)

Photographs: M . McConachie Woods (2017) Campbell River, B.C., Canada