"FRUITS OF OUR LABOR": Part 1

"WHAT IS UP........CHERRY CRACK."

So maybe, just maybe….“Life IS a bowl of cherries.”

Summer 2008 marked for us the “Year of the Produce.” We thoroughly enjoyed our seasoned Fruit Trees & the Veggie Garden we planted for the first time back in May.

We plucked approx. 25 pounds of Cherries off our cute cute CUTE little Cherry Tree! This little tree resides in our gated front yard. Justin, however, discovered this summer that we also have another type of cherry tree, a Rainier Cherry Tree, in our backyard! It was the first time, in 4 years, that we actually noticed there were cherries on this tree (it must have not produced in the past four yrs. for some reason or we just always missed the cherries each year since the tree is not easily visible when we’re in our backyard??) Anyway. So it’s safe to say that i basically I went ape shit with the Cherry Crisp this Summer. I’m surprised Justin didn’t get freaked out by me during my slight obsessive case of “the cherry”. It was a 3-week episode (mind you I am really not exaggerating here with this!) where I may as well had been repeating out loud robotically in one-word sentences with a blank stare “Must. Pit. Cherries. Do. Not. Rest. Must. Pit. Cherries. Must. Make. 100. Batches. Of. Cherry. Crisp.” I spent so many flipping hours picking and pitting so many flipping cherries that I seriously pulled a muscle in my back. OH MY GOD. can you say lame! Or maybe retarded should be the word!? i don’t know but I do know it sounds ridiculous! **Beginning of Self Defense Notation: Now I feel I must explain this – that the position I kept myself in to pit all those damn cherries, as I did in my obsessive way, with my neck bent down for several hours for several days, FOR several weeks apparently did not set well with my already previously irritated right shoulder blade muscle! **End of Self Defense Notation ☺**

Now the other part of this going ape shit on the cherries involved the transformation of Jennifer Clark into…well…..that really swell quintessential homemaker we all know & love so much. One day mid-summer, I sent in my homemade Cherry Crisp to both of our offices as well as personally delivered batches to each and every one of our 5 close neighbors, and I did so in my June friggin’ Cleaver fashion, just smiling away as I approached each of their front doors & rang their bell. Shit, the only thing missing that day was that bright white 1950’s “Twinkle & TING!” from my big infamous all-teeth smile! Justin looked at me when I walked back into the house from completing all my “deliveries” that day and in the same way he pointed out to me 2 yrs. ago in December that I was on “Christmas Crack” and back this May that I was on “Garden Crack”….well he said it again, but stressing this time each and every word in his statement: “WHAT IS UP CHERRRYYYYYY……CRACK.”

In fact, during this cherry obsession of mine when Justin would say to me, as he often does, “Shhhhhhhut Your Pie Hole.” I suggested he may want to change that to “Shhhhhut Your Cherry Crisp Hole” ☺ At least for the time being, since I did make a bakery’s worth of the crap. That’s all I was making, baking and eating in June & July.

Now, if interested, here is the recipe for any of those who actually read this flippin’ blog of ours (wink). Mark your calendar next summer and whip up some of this stuff. Not to toot my own horn - but Toot Toot, it is good!

RECIPE: Cherry Crisp
Filling:
* 4 cups pitted sour cherries
* 1 1/2 cups white sugar * 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Topping:
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 cup old-fashioned oats
* 1 cup brown sugar
* 1 cup of butter (which is 2 sticks)

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine cherries, 1 1/2 cups white sugar, and 4 tablespoons flour. Pour into 9x13 inch baking dish. In a medium bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, oats, and brown sugar. Cut in butter and shortening until crumbly. Sprinkle over cherries.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until topping is golden brown.