When your neighbor gives you a pint of fresh Maine wild blueberries, by gosh you make something with them! I was looking at an old issue of Tea Time Magazine when she brought them over and I literally turned the page and found a recipe for a Blueberry Buckle. The great and powerful internets told me: “A buckle is a single-layer cake that includes fruit mixed into the batter and is topped with a streusel. As it bakes, the cake rises around the fruit, creating a “buckled” appearance.”

And before we get started, I don’t have the recipe electronically. It’s such an old magazine (2011) that they don’t even offer it on their website. You can find many versions of a buckle on the google machine. But I am providing you with a scanned PDF file of the recipe I used if you should want to bake it yourself.

The recipe requires many bowls and measuring instruments, but I did okay I think. It’s quite tasty and just look at those lovely, little bundles of blue mixed into the cake! The recipe called for two cups of blueberries, but I only added about 1 1/2 cups of the smaller wild berries. I feared it would be a pile of blue mush if I had added all of them. I think that was a good call.

I enjoyed a tray of said buckle with some small lemon pie bites out on the deck. I used my Irish lace tablecloth and enjoyed the flowers in full form surrounding me on the deck as July comes to a close.

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My Burleigh Blue Calico teacup, teapot, and small pitcher came out to play. The tiered tray is from the Brooklyn Teacup where they had a tray set using one plate from the Blue Calico pattern. I need a single blue calico plate now.

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My tea of choice was an English Breakfast Tea gifted to me by the same neighbor for watering her plants while they were away in England. The gift set came with three different types of loose teas in adorable Alice in Wonderland tins. A thoughtful gift from a thoughtful neighbor. And the tea was lovely with the treats as well. My vintage teacup that I picked up for a song in an antique store here in Maine kept it all humble.

An Irish lace linen napkin and some snips of blooms from my hydrangea tree plopped into the pitcher completed the scene.

August can be hot here, so I’m enjoying every day that is below 80º with no humidity. A fire out on the deck in the evening, a trip to the coast on a Monday to avoid the weekend crowds, and summer reading in an Adirondack chair are favorite activities.

Cheers!