Three Teenagers and a Buckle
It only took 6 hours and two teenage hissy fits , one each from the two teenagers I was not legally responsible for (although she was the cause), for my first adventure with berry picking to be completed and I could finally attempt to make a fruit buckle.
Two weeks ago, I had a lovely dinner with two of my cousins at Oliver at Bonacini, where I quite enjoyed, as part of their Summerlicous special, a Rhubarb Buckle. I was not quite sure what a buckle was so it became my mission to recreate this delicious treat only with a more holistic spin.
For the record, a buckle is a layer of cake cover with a layer of fruit and baked with a crumble topping. A crisp is just baked fruits with a crumble top, a cobbler is bake fruit with a biscuit top and a betty is baked fruit with a bread crumb topping. Any one of these provides a lovely excuse for berry picking.
I was actually surprised that an 18 year old boy and two nearly 17 year old girls would consider this suitable entertainment considering how much time all three spend attempting to be counter culture rebels. But other than the afore mentioned hissy fits, conveniently occurring at the beginning and end of our trip and one very short lived berry fight, they were extremely congenial and helpful.
Our adventure took us to a beautiful Mennonite farm in Leaksdale, Ontario, just north of Uxbridge, which has both pick-u-own raspberries and black currants, chemical-free. A pint of raspberries can be purchased for $3.00, which is quite a deal considering those little plastic containers we all buy throughout the year are $3.99. They even charged me less since I had not quite filled the pints up to the top. How often does that happen?
It actually only took us about 2 ½ hours to complete our task but once done, the kids thought we should keep going. We drove to Port Perry to have dinner by the lake which two of us quite enjoyed. Hissy fit number two was in full progress when we arrived so my niece and her friend sat dinner out with her trying to coax him back to good humour after she (“he was suppose to block it”) threw a booklet at his face. It reminded me of the day trips my mother would take us on, including the crying and bouts of temper, and it is a great comfort that to know such simple pleasures still exist.
As for the buckle, delicious! The kids enjoyed it, too. Check it out for yourself.
