Late Summer Fruit Round-Up and a Recipe of My Own

I haven't done a round-up in a long time, so it seemed like the thing to do on a lazy summer day.

Well, maybe not so lazy. I'm spending the weekend in Wells, Maine, and the first thing I did when I got here was go blueberry-picking . . . which gradually turned into blackberrying as I found more and more of these tiny blackberries:

Got up early this morning, did the whole yoga then yogurt thing, then headed off to the Maine Diner just up the road. See my review here at Yelp.

After that, we went to Kennybunkport to look at the shops and not buy anything (well, I don't buy anything, but my mom bought some jewelry). Came back to the campsite and immediately replaced my lemon-limeade with a new batch, this time adding some freshly squeezed green grape juice. Here's the recipe for that:

Grapeade

32 oz. of cold water
juice of one lemon
juice of one lime
juice of one cup of green grapes (squeeze them through a sieve)
3 tsp. of real maple syrup or to taste

Strain the juices through a sieve into a bowl and stir in the maple syrup. Add to the water and refrigerate.

After making my drink, I went out and found another horde of blackberries, so I'm thinking that I'll have to do something with them. Burgundy pie? Blackberry cheesecake? Jam? Tart? I'm not sure what i should do, so I've been looking around the blogosphere for some inspiration. Here's what I found:

Smitten Kitchen has a recipe for a lime yogurt cake with blackberry sauce that sounds really good. The blog's author suggests that the recipe can be adapted for different citrus and fruits -- lemon cake with blueberry sauce, for example. I'm thinking an orange cake with chocolate sauce or frosting for Halloween (yes, I'm already thinking about it).

It's been a hot, humid and dry (as in not rainy) summer. Need to stay hydrated! I'd like to try this blackberry limeade recipe from 101 Cookbooks.

Gin and I have a real love-hate relationship. I love the taste of gin, hate the insta-migraine it produces. I can usually get away with one gin drink as long as I don't drink any more or anything else. Anyway, I think a blackberry gin cocktail might be a good use for my rather tart, wild berries.

This recipe for a blackberry tart with walnut crust uses fresh blackberries. It might not be the best choice for sthe berries I picked, but I'm feeling nostalgic about living in FL, and thi is from a Florida gal, so I thought I'd send y'all her way.

Here's another blogger who will call y'all y'all: The Pioneer Woman Cooks a blackberry cheesecake. Not sure it's the recipe I'd use for a cheesecake (shouldn't cheesecake be made with marscapone?) but I like her style, and sometimes that matters more than picky details.

But I'm a picky, detail-oriented person (Virgo) and I've always been sweet on Michael Chiarello anyway. Here's his marscapone cheesecake. The link has more links to several other cheesecake recipes.

Oh, shut up! A Georgia peach pound cake? Go on!

Okay, so technically not a Northeastern fruit, but the lemon is an icon of summer fruitery. I bring you Chef Chuck's Lemon Ricotta Pie -- which looks like the closest thing to heaven that I've seen in a long time.

But what about savory summer fruit recipes? Do we have to reserve all this fruity goodness for dessert? I'd like to enjoy it all meal long. Any recipe that uses bacon, cheese, mushrooms and plums (all faves) wins. . . guess this is it.

And then there is the fig. God, I love the fig. So ancient. So pagan. So good with goat cheese. Thank you, Tartelette, for reminding me of my true religion: Goat Cheese Custards with Fig and Balsamic Syrup. Amen. Blessed be. Namaste.

The Earth bloomed with fruit and there was much rejoicing. Yay.

Yeah, I've been drinking. Why?