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October 4, 2010, a Monday
Uinta National Forest, Utah, USA
— Photographed fog

J's Blueberry Bars

Bottom Layer and Crumb Topping

  • 2/3 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp dried lemon peel
  • dash of salt
  • 1-1/3 sticks butter (about 10 tablespoons)
  • 1 egg

Fruit Layer

  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1 tbs cornstarch
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 16 oz. package frozen blueberries, thawed ahead of time

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
  2. Spray an 8 x 8 square cake pan with non-stick spray.
  3. In a medium bowl, stir together all the dry ingredients for the bottom layer and crumb topping (2/3 cup sugar, baking powder, lemon peel, salt, and flour). Add the egg and butter. Use a fork or pastry cutter to cut in until the mixture is crumbly. Pat half of the crumbs into the prepared pan, pressing them down into a more compact layer. Reserve the other half for the topping itself.
  4. In another bowl, stir together the 1/2 cup sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice. Add the blueberries, gently coating them. Pour the blueberry mixture in the pan, distributing it evenly.
  5. Add the remaining crumb topping over the blueberry layer. Do not press the mixture down this time.
  6. Bake in preheated oven for 45-60 minutes. Check occasionally near the end of the cooking time. The crumb topping should be only slightly brown.
  7. Cool completely and cut into bars.
We got up around our normal time and there was light rain. I had my normal breakfast then filled out an application online to renew my passport. Our HP laser printer took a long time to print the resulting PDF file (more than two hours with no pages out), and I processed three images for the blog while waiting. I gave up on the HP and switched to our Epson Artisan 800, and that printed the pages immediately. I discovered that I made an error with one piece of information, so I got to fill out another form online from scratch. :(

I had lunch around 12:10 then talked w/J about the travel plans for South Africa. A short thunderstorm went by around 12:45 and was accompanied by heavy rain. I adjusted the travel plans to take into account J's input and also so we'd have accomodations in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park then emailed KZN Wildlife to see if accommodations were available in Hluhluwe and Imfolozi Game Reserves when we'd like to be there. J made a batch of her Blueberry Bars. I printed out shipping labels for items that I had eBayed. The rain had stopped.

We had dinner around 5:30 of leftover pasta with broccoli (me) and corn (J). We had some of J's Blueberry Bars for dessert — mmm.

We left in the Jeep around 6:05 and it was 45°F (7°C).

The sky was still mostly cloudy and the heavy rain had knocked off most of the leaves from the aspens. We went up over Guardsman Pass and then headed down Big Cottonwood Canyon. We stopped to photograph some low-hanging clouds (fog?) mingling with the trees on the mountainsides. My favorite image is with a cloud mingling with a solid patch of evergreens (below).


We returned to the RV around 7:35. I downloaded and downselected the images I took then we had some more of J's Blueberry Bars for dessert — mmm. They were even better after having a chance to cool more. I packed up the items that I had sold on eBay, then I contacted the seller of the APECS MARPAT Trousers on eBay to request a refund.