I absolutely LOVE cherries. Artificial cherry flavour has a bad reputation, but it’s my absolute favourite fake flavour (lollipops, jello, popsicles). I love fresh cherries even more than fake ones and nothing says summer to me more than cherries. Growing up in Vancouver meant that summertimes were made for road-tripping it down to the Okanagan Valley to pick fruit at all the U-Pick orchards.
Sometimes my whole extended family would go on a camping trip together, but my favourite times were when it was just the four of us, me, my mom and dad, and Kevin. We’d pack a tent, bring some buckets and live the fruit picking life for a couple of weeks. No TV, no phones (smart phones didn’t exist back then!), just the stars, the barbecue and massive fruit orchards.
My dad would insist on driving around to all the orchards to find the best u-pick price. My mom would be more concerned about the quality of fruit and whether or not pesticides were used. Kevin and I would just be itching to get out of the van. Fruit picking is a lot of fun and a lot of hard work. Still, we were pretty quick about the whole thing – the ladder would come out, trees would be climbed, fruit would be picked. On our way home, our little van would be packed to the brim full of peaches, cherries and apricots. After the long and winding drive, we’d invite our family and friends over to help themselves to the free fruit stand we’d set up in our backyard. Those trips were always my favourite part of summer.
Sadly, I haven’t gone to pick cherries in a long time now. Happily though, my Whole Foods carries locally sourced BC cherries. I partnered up with them today to bring you this post and a giveaway! Whole Foods is giving away a $50 gift card to one lovely reader.
To enter: please leave a comment below with your favourite childhood summer food memory. Giveaway ends on July 22nd at 12AM PST. Open to US or Canadian residents only. Winner will be chosen by a random number generator. Good luck!
UPDATE: Yay! Cindy M, get ready to go shopping because you just won a $50 Whole Foods gift card! Congrats!
Easy Pistachio Cherry Tart Recipe
makes 9 tarts
- 1/2 sheet store bought puff pastry, thawed
- 1/4 cup ricotta
- 2 tablespoons cream cheese
- 2 tablespoons honey, or to taste
- 14 cherries, halved and pitted
- 2 tablespoons chopped pistachios
Cut the puff pastry into 9 equal pieces and poke all over with fork so they don’t puff too much in the oven. Bake according to the package. While the puff is baking, whip together the ricotta, cream cheese and honey until fluffy and smooth. Adjust to taste. When the puff is ready, cool and if needed, flatten slightly so the cherries have a nice level plane to sit on. When cool, spread with ricotta mix, top with cherry halves and chopped pistachios. Enjoy!
My favorite childhood food memory is catching shrimp with my grandpa in Galveston. I twisted, turned, and knotted the net a million times, but my Poppie was always patient with me and let me go again. We’d then take the shrimp upstairs and my Nina would fry them up with the fish my Poppie caught earlier that morning and she would serve them up with some homemade tartar sauce. So good.
I loved eating watermelon on the back patio with my family!
My dad would always make malted milk pancakes. Often, they were underdone in the center, but this didn’t matter to me. They were still delicious.
My Dad always made raspberry sorbet during the summer. I loved it!
My favorite summertime food was definitely blueberry pancakes made with freshly picked blueberries.
making hand-churned raspberry ice cream with my grandpa. :)
My favorite was eating watermelon at barbecues. It’s not summer until there’s a huge watermelon that gets shared!
These look Delicious!! My favorite childhood memory has to do with cherrie and family as well. The first thing I learned to cook were pies with my grandmother and we wou;d always make cherry pies because they were my dad’s favorite. I always will remeber her little counter top radio playing the oldies and me standing on a stool barley tall enough to see over the counter. I got so excited that I got to help stir the filling. Good times. :)
I loved when the ice cream truck came down our street. We’d hear the familiar jingle and scramble to find some coins in the house then chase the truck down before he drove too far into the next neighborhood. Those chocolate eclairs, weird baseball mitt things (with the baseball bubble gum), and rainbow sno-cones were the best ever on a hot day :-)
My mom making us homemade popsicles!