Sunday night I got a wild idea that I would go pick blackberries and bake a pie! Where did that Idea come from? Well, we had this great baking book and it’s blackberry season.

Kristin and I received a Baking Illustrated cook book as a wedding gift from some of Kristin’s cooking group friends. From what I understand Baking Illustrated is the holy grail of baking books. It was a very nice gift but, it has been almost three years since the wedding and neither one of us have attempted any of the recipes yet. Kristin is an amazing cook but, she is self-admittedly not a baker. I have heard it said that - cooking is an art, while baking is a science. In the back of my mind I would love to be able to bake. Not that I think the baking itself would be that fun but I love to eat the results. And hopefully I would learn to enjoy the work.

It is Blackberry season here in the Northwest right now. Blackberries grow like weeds everywhere. Most people think of blackberries as annoying sticker bushes that take over every untended piece of soil. And they are, but they also produce copious amounts of sweet berries.

So I set off from our apartment with my bowl in hand without really knowing where any blackberry bushes were. It didn’t take long to find them. Only half a block from our place is a little park that is overrun with blackberries. There were plenty to pick from. I filled my bowl in less then 20 minutes of foraging. I busted out the Baking Illustrated book and started reading. They do an amazing job of explaining the details of baking; what really is happening between the ingredients - and it really is a science. I found it very interesting. I made my store run to buy all my ingredients. Then I was off to the races washing berries, mixing dough, rolling out crust, mixing berries, and baking! It was a fun adventure and the results were a big success if I don’t say so myself.

Go bake a pie - it’s fun!