Berry Bounty

Recently, we had our cousins JYah and S over for a Belgian waffle brunch. JYah, you'll recall, was the angel who tracked down the authentic Belgian recipe and brought back the necessary pearl sugar in her suitcase so we figured the least we could do was make the waffles for her.

Anyway, because these waffles are so sweet and rich that they are not improved by the addition of butter and maple syrup (even the real stuff), instead we had Fatted Calf bacon and summer berries to round out the meal.

Did I mention that one of the reasons I love California is for the length of its berry season? In Western New York, where I lived for 20+ years, strawberry season is two weeks in the middle of June. Yes, they are delicious, but the season is so tragically short!

At the Berkeley Farmer's Market we have had ripe strawberries of one variety or another since mid-April. Now that summer is truly under way, the sweetest blackberries and tiny, tart raspberries are showing up, too. These came from Swanton Berry Farm. The blackberries were so ripe that they actually squirted when pierced with a fork and the raspberries were sweet and tart at the same time. The strawberries were small and so ripe that they tops pulled easily out.

So, we feasted thanks to Fatted Calf, Swanton Berry Farm and, of course, JYah!