We Found Our Thrill on Blueberry Hill

I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill
On Blueberry Hill, when I found you
The moon stood still on Blueberry Hill
And lingered until my dreams came true

The wind in the willow played
Love’s sweet melody
But all of those vows you made
Were never to be

Though we’re apart, you’re part of me still
For you were my thrill on Blueberry Hill

The wind in the willow played
Love’s sweet melody
But all of those vows we made
Were never to be

Though we’re apart, you’re part of me still
For you were my thrill on Blueberry Hill

Ok, so maybe there was no moon in sight, and it was at least 98 degrees. And maybe there was no wind and definitely no willows. Maybe it was stifling hot, and… we came home together and lived happily ever after. So, really, our Blueberry Hill experience was nothing like that of Fats Domino at all. Still a catchy song. 

Saturday, Seth and I made our way over to Blueberry Hill- a u-pick blueberry farm nestled in a small community called Bellevue just north of Haughton, Louisiana, to celebrate Sunday being National Pick Blueberries Day. Now, obviously, this is a lesser known of the national holidays, so we weren’t fighting off any crowds. In fact, this is actually the end of blueberry season here in Louisiana, so the berries were slim pickin’s anyway. Nevertheless, we enjoyed ourselves and even got a Jeep ride out of it.

We were greeted by an elderly gentlemen who was out mowing grass between the rows. He instructed us to grab a couple pails and head on out to gather our bounty. He even loaned us his golf cart and hinted to rows that might still be fruitful.

Because we arrived late in the day, we only had 45 minutes or so until closing time. I can assure you that was plenty of time, because we were drowning in sweat just 10 minutes into our picking session. TMI. I apologize, but that’s real life.

As you can see above, we only gathered about a half pail before we had to call it a day. The nice gentlemen who owns the establishment weighed our berries, we picked out a couple of drinks to go, and ended our blueberry picking trip having paid less than $6. That’s a successful Saturday afternoon date, folks.

National Blueberry Muffin Day

Did you know today, Monday, July 11th, is National Blueberry Muffin Day? If you don’t keep up with obscure national holidays, chances are you didn’t and that’s ok. We obscure national holiday observers will overlook your lack of obscure national holiday pride and take pity on you and all the really awesome food holidays you’re missing out on.

In celebration of this glorious day, I whipped up a new (to me) blueberry muffin recipe. This recipe comes from one of my all-time favorite cookbooks – Southern Living’s Comfort Food: A Delicious Trip Down Memory Lane. Somewhere along the way, during our multiple moves in the last few years, this particular cookbook suffered some water damage. Thankfully, it survived, and I’ve learned to adapt to reading over the wrinkles.

Blueberry Sweet Muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 large egg

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

2 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in the center of mixture.

Stir together milk, oil, and egg; add to dry ingredients, stirring just until hoisted. Fold in blueberries. Spoon into greased or paper-lined muffin pans, filling two-thirds full. Sprinkle batter with 2 tablespoons sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until muffins are golden. Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire racks.

I hope you all had a marvelous Monday. Until next time…

Happy travels, folks!

Jubliant Jennifer