First, I must apologize for the long pause between posts. I was sick all last month and am just getting back on my feet. I’m more than ready to read great picture books, offer a review, and bake. Onward, folks, onward!
So, let’s talk bridges. They’re connectors, and they’re fascinating. Bridges can be beautiful, simplistic, majestic, rickety, and/or powerful! Throw a train on one of those bridges and my boys are captivated. That is why I am reviewing HERE TO THERE AND ME TO YOU by Cheryl Keely and illustrated by Celia Karmpien (Sleeping Bear Press).
This book takes us through a lyrical journey about all types of bridges — literal bridges, such as wooden covered, moveable, those joining neighborhoods, and others connecting countries. Then there are figurative bridges, such as backbends, rainbows, and the bridges we make holding hands. The simple flowing text warms the heart and takes us on a journey from one page to the next. On many of the book’s pages, there are notes about the various illustrated bridges, so your little fact junky can get immersed in details about where the most famous suspension bridge is and why it’s painted orange, for example.
I loved the factual concept of this book tied in with the underlying message about building bridges between me and you and you over there and you way over there. Let’s stay connected.
If this book were a pie, it would be a blueberry blackberry pie. But not just any blueberry blackberry pie. My youngest (currently a 7-year-old) said, “Mom, you need to make a dough bridge over the blueberry blackberry ocean. You’ve got to.” And to that I said with my best Barney Stinson impersonation, “Challenge accepted!”
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Blueberry Blackberry Pie
(Use the crust recipe in my previous blog post.)
4 cups blueberries
2 cups blackberries
1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
This one is easy! Preheat oven to 450 degrees. For this pie, I dumped all the above ingredients into a saucepan; stir often while it simmers on medium heat for about 10 minutes. Then pour it into an unbaked crust. Top the crust with a lattice or fully cover (make sure to add vent holes). Bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees, then turn down the oven to 350 and bake for 40 more minutes. Let cool and serve.