Blueberry & Citrus Pancakes
A couple of week ago we went blueberry picking in Silvan, Victoria. It was fabulous! So fun and I definitely ate my fair share whilst picking. I was like Violet from Willy Wonka (the original, not that god-awful remake) literally turning violet from all the berries I gobbled up! I adore blueberries, I just think they are so versatile. They can be sweet of course, added to smoothies, cakes, muffins, and these blueberry & citrus pancakes. And they can also be savoury which I love! I love throwing them into salads or enjoying them on a cheese platter. So if I love them so much, why don't I grow them myself? Well I do..kinda.
I have one blueberries plant, I have nursed it since I bought it. I managed to grow a whole nine blueberries this year. Yep, about an eighth of a punnet! I was carefully and patiently waiting for the perfect time to pluck them from their branch and use them oh-so carefully in the most perfect recipe. It would be a travesty to waste them! I announced one Sunday morning in the garden,
"Isaac, I think the blueberries are ready!"
"Awesome! Let's pick them when we get home and we can have them in something for dessert"
"Perfect, I can't wait to try them!"
And off we went about our day, brainstorming the best way to use our precious nine blueberries.
A couple of hours later, we arrive home. We quickly head out to the backyard to collect our harvest. I look down at the bush, and to my horror THERE ARE NO BLUEBERRIES! Well, I was SO unimpressed. What had happened to them? It wasn't birds, they were covered! Something has lifted the netting and perfectly plucked those berries from their stems and left without a trace. Sounded like an act of precision to me. Sounded like the work of a human.
But WHO would pick our baby blueberries?!
I quickly got on the phone to my parents.
"Did you guys come over here and eat my blueberries?!"
"Bahahaha you've got to be joking! We wouldn't take nine blueberries!"
So who would snatch them? Nobody ever comes into our backyard..except...the kids next door..
They climb over the fence to collect their balls they've hit over (without permission from their parents I might add). Maybe it was them but..maybe it wasn't.
The mystery remained.
About a week later after succumbing to buying a punnet of blueberries to make dessert instead. I overheard the two kids climbing onto the fence. I could see and hear them from the kitchen window so I didn't really worry about it, I just kept washing dishes (yes, I really do not have a dishwasher). And then I hear in a crying, pleading voice "but I want more of those berrrrrrrrrrrriessssss"
*drops plate in dish waster*
WHAT?! You ate my berries?! The kids next door pinched my berries?!
So as they were chatting on the fence, I went out and said hello to them, threw their ball back to them (the reason they were on the fence in the first place) and asked if they had come over last week. They had, to collect their ball and to pet the cats because they were sleeping. And then, "and we like those blueberries over there but you have none left".
And there it was - the confession.
"oh yeah, they only grow a few a year because it's a small plant but I have some blueberries cupcakes inside, you can have one of those instead?"
"yes please!"
Off I trotted inside to package up some cupcakes (because I'll take any chance to give a child a healthy treat!). So I wasn't going mad and the birds hadn't grown hands to lift the netting. After all that it was just the kids, being healthy and eating berries. Although I was still upset that I didn't get to taste my homegrown blueberries, I was glad these kids knew what they were and were smart enough to pick and enjoy them. Anyway, there's plenty of worse things going on in the world than kids eating blueberries...
They could've gone for the lemon tree!
- 2 cups Organic self-raising flour
- 1 1/2 cups Full cream milk (or milk of choice)
- 2 Eggs
- 3 tbs Butter, melted
- 1/4 cup Lemon juice
- 1 tbs Rapadura Sugar
- Zest of one lemon or orange
- A pinch Salt
- 1 1/2 cups Blueberries
