Berry Picking and Family Time

We decided (ok, well I decided) that the family needed to go berry picking yesterday. And because marionberries are my all time favorites, we went to a place called Thompson Farms and I believe we were in Boring. This place was amazing - it had strawberries, marionberries (blackberries were also hiding along the fence line and I had to compare the differences between blackberries and marionberries - not much, except the berry shape and the tangy taste the marionberries have), peaches, onions, etc. I knew Jude would love it because I often find him picking blueberries out of our yard. Everyone had a great time - here are some photos. Jude inspecting his berry. He is still clean at this point.

This picture not only gets Jude picking his berry, but his always messed up hair. I promise, I come this mane down every evening, but it truly is a fruitless effort.

Samuel decided these berries were finger lickin' good. He turned out to be a pretty good berry picker.
And here is how Jude ended up - we meandered through the strawberry field on our way out (they were $1/pound - what a steal!!) and just set Jude down and let him pick.

Colin and Jude carefully selecting the right location.
Samuel with the beginning of his berry mustache - it got much worse.
Samuel wanted to stand on this table - makes for a cute picture.

Even though I still can't stand the thought of sweets, I had all those beautiful berries, so I made a marionberry pie (normally one of my favorite desserts ever) from scratch. And for once, this pie actually turned out - crust and everything!! I used Mario Batali's Mom's recipe, oddly enough. It was in the current issue of Food and Wine magazine. And as a side note, did you all know that Gweneth Paltrow and Mario are travelling around Spain and eating for a show on PBS? I'm not sure Gwennie ever really eats - I'd be interested to witness it.