Of berries and buckets

Partridgeberries are one of my favorite berries, certainly among my top five. Tart and tangy, they're a quintessential Newfoundland treat. (In your part of the globe, you may know them as lingonberries or cowberries.)

Not only do partridgeberries carry a lovely deep-red color, but they smell fantastic when heated. Sincerely, conjuring that smell in your kitchen is one of those must-do experiences, worth adding to your bucket list.

Speaking of buckets, every year, I harbor intentions of marching across the barrens to pluck bucketfuls of partridgeberries, right after the first frost, which is prime picking time. But I rarely follow through, and fall back on picking my berries from the grocery-store freezer.

Whichever way you get them, here's how to turn 'em into sauce:

• dump 2 or 3 cups of berries into small saucepan
• add water (a few Tbsps)
• place on stovetop at low-medium heat
• stir intermittently, dialing back heat (as necessary) to keep a slow bubble
• remove from heat once sauce has thickened to desired degree (many of the berries will have broken up)
• add sugar/sweetener (to taste).

Berry sauce is best served warm, as a topping on frozen yoghurt, for example. If your sauce is thick enough, you can spoon it onto toast, like you would jam.

As for my bucket list, I'm going to add "actually get out on the barrens come berry season". Maybe next year.  :‍-‍)

The great guacamole experiment: the reveal

Based on examining a few recipes, I came up with this:

Spicy Guacamole

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe avocado
• 1 plum tomato (diced)
• 3 Tbsp tomato salsa
• 1 clove garlic (minced)
• 1 Tbsp onion (minced)
• 1 Tbsp lime juice
• pepper (a few turns of the grinder)

Directions:

1. Mash avocado in shallow bowl.
2. Stir in remaining ingredients.

And Bam!, it's ready to devour.

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Leftovers should be refrigerated, in a container with a tight lid. Because most everything's fresh, this won't likely last too many days. (Not a problem in this particular household.)

Note, too, from last post's photo, that I used Herdez brand salsa. It's one of Fred's faves and contains almost no icky additives. But use whichever salsa that tickles you — mild, medium or flaming hot.

Now that I've prepared guacamole, it seems even easier than I'd thought. Certainly, the avacado was easy to mash.

And this guacamole was economical. Cost worked out to about $1.50 total, or 19 cents per oz. That's less than half the cost of pre-packaged stuff at the local grocery.

Oh, thanks go out to Andree, who forwarded her guacamole recipe via Comment. I'm going to try that version soon.h

Anyhow, looks like no excuses for this family from here on. Zero reasons to buy factory guacamole any more.

Tip: Juice from a fresh lime is best here. Besides unbeatable taste, the smell is amazing. It transported me straight back to the beaches of west coast Mexico, icy beer firmly in hand.