Wordle Fun With Bento

Berry Picking Woes

Saturday, Chris and I decided to go berry picking. Our last round of blueberries is going quickly and the blackberries were supposed to be ripe. As we got closer to the berry farm, it started to rain. It's been 85+ degrees lately so we were pretty happy we could pick with a little rain to keep it cool.

It was a nice, light rain shower as we moved through our first row of blackberry bushes. There were a ton of berries on them, but few of them were ripe. As we moved through the second row, the shower turned into a full-on thunderstorm. Soon after that we decided to find some shelter. Luckily, there was a large tent just before the blackberry patch. We stood in there while the storm worked its way through the area. Here's me so drenched that my brown shirt and green shorts look black.

Chris was soaked everywhere but his bottom. He had to show off one of the lovely blackberries he found. The situation was pretty darned funny and we were laughing that we were spending an early Saturday morning drenched in the berry fields.
Despite the storm, we pushed on. As soon as it lightened back up to a shower again, we trudged up the puddle filled gravel road to pick blueberries instead. We figured we'd give the blackberries another week or so to ripen.

The rain stayed with us as we picked and despite the late hour and mostly picked out bushes, we got about half a bucket. Then the wind picked up from the north and it was COLD! The temperature dropped to about 65 degrees and we were already soaked. That's when we decided to call it a day. Hopefully we'll be able to get back to the berry farm this weekend or next and fill the freezer up before fall.

The exciting total of our picking: 1 pound of blackberries, 3 pounds of blueberries.

Helpful Kids

Even on vacation we try to be frugal and earth conscious. We took as few disposables and as little trash as possible. I hope that we keep getting better at that. The down side is that it creates a little more work as there is food to be cooked and dishes to be washed. Throughout our trip, the kids did an excellent job of helping out with these tasks.

The first morning was a bacon and eggs morning. Camen fried up enough bacon for 9 people and I put together the egg scramble.
The other kids all worked together to wash, dry, and put away the breakfast dishes. It was fun to watch them work together. Uncle Mark helped too.
The kids took turns doing the fun cooking tasks and the less fun cleaning tasks all weekend with very little complaint.
Yummy!

Camen's Fish Story

Camen has caught many fish over the last few years. This year is special. He actually took the fish from lake to stomach by himself this year.



Saturday morning Grandpa Mike, Uncle Nick, Aunt Nkenge and I took Camen on an early morning fishing trip on Stockton Lake. Go figure, he's the only one who reeled in a fish large enough to keep. It was a nice little white bass.

We told Camen that we'd teach him to clean his own fish so he could cook it up and eat it. Nick and I were finally able to teach him late that evening. With a few pointers, Camen came up with a couple of mostly intact fish filets. He did a really good job for his first time.
After Camen was done filleting his fish, Nick and I took a look at what the fish had been eating. Unfortunately, the stomach and intestine contents gave us no clue of what to fish with the next morning to catch more fish. We took the rest of the fish with us to use as bait.

When we got back from our Sunday morning trip, Camen had forgotten to make his fish fillets for breakfast. While I was working on making up the bento boxes for the trip back, I walked Camen through dredging his fillets in cornmeal and frying them. He fried the first one in olive oil, then tried some of the bacon fat from breakfast. I think he liked them both as the fish was gone in no time flat. I actually got to try a nibble and he had seasoned them nicely with salt and pepper.

I suspect this isn't the last time Camen cleans and eats a fish.