There is not a Wikipedia link I can give you to connect you with the meaning of Berteleda. Though unknown and foreign to most of the world, Bertaleda is a word that contains a great deal of meaning and feeling to my family and close family friends.
Bertaleda is the name given to a big wooden cabin on the Smith River in Crescent City, California. It has been in my family since 1923. My grandma still tells stories about playing in the crystal clear river when she was a little girl in the summer time. I have seen countless pictures of my grandpa as a teenager holding 6 feet long fish that he caught on the Smith River in the little blue boat that I still row in today.
MFK Fisher intelligently states that there are three basic needs; food, security and love. Bertaleda is the place where these needs are not only satisfied, but experienced and enjoyed from day to day. My summer trip to the river is a week out of the year, usually in August, for pure fun and reflection.
Fishing, hiking, biking, watching movies, rafting and lounging by the river are all common activities of Bertaleda goers. The food however, is what I look forward to the most as our trip to Bertaleda approaches. I find myself surrounded by fresh vegetation, clean drinking water from the river, freshly caught fish and best of all, an endless supply of juicy, sweet blackberries.
Another quote from MFK Fisher’s, “A Thing Shared,” that I could really relate to is, “I saw food as something beautiful to be shared with people instead of a thrice daily necessity.” This phrase sums up the feelings I have circulating through my head as I pick buckets of blackberries for the night’s cobbler.
I put on my long pants and a sweatshirt despite the 90 degree heat and mist myself with OFF bug repellent and I am ready to brave the blackberry bush thorns. When I pick berries, I don’t just take the surface berries. No, those just won’t do. I reach all the way in and get the juiciest and sweetest berries of them all. Sometimes I run into the problem of a tall, unreachable bush. That doesn’t stop me. Instead, my dad pulls out the big red tractor, I jump in the tractor bucket, and he raises me up to just the right height to pick those top ripest berries. They are so ripe, that they fall off the bush even with the lightest touch. When my dad lowers me from the tractor, I give him the best one, I take the second best and I then throw the rest of the handful in the “cobbler bucket.”
At dusk, I come back into the house with some minor thorn scrapes and blue fingers and I hand over the big bucket of perfect berries to Karen, my family friend, the official cobbler baker. She soon prepares the cobbler:
Berry Cobbler
Bertaleda is the name given to a big wooden cabin on the Smith River in Crescent City, California. It has been in my family since 1923. My grandma still tells stories about playing in the crystal clear river when she was a little girl in the summer time. I have seen countless pictures of my grandpa as a teenager holding 6 feet long fish that he caught on the Smith River in the little blue boat that I still row in today.
MFK Fisher intelligently states that there are three basic needs; food, security and love. Bertaleda is the place where these needs are not only satisfied, but experienced and enjoyed from day to day. My summer trip to the river is a week out of the year, usually in August, for pure fun and reflection.
Fishing, hiking, biking, watching movies, rafting and lounging by the river are all common activities of Bertaleda goers. The food however, is what I look forward to the most as our trip to Bertaleda approaches. I find myself surrounded by fresh vegetation, clean drinking water from the river, freshly caught fish and best of all, an endless supply of juicy, sweet blackberries.
Another quote from MFK Fisher’s, “A Thing Shared,” that I could really relate to is, “I saw food as something beautiful to be shared with people instead of a thrice daily necessity.” This phrase sums up the feelings I have circulating through my head as I pick buckets of blackberries for the night’s cobbler.
I put on my long pants and a sweatshirt despite the 90 degree heat and mist myself with OFF bug repellent and I am ready to brave the blackberry bush thorns. When I pick berries, I don’t just take the surface berries. No, those just won’t do. I reach all the way in and get the juiciest and sweetest berries of them all. Sometimes I run into the problem of a tall, unreachable bush. That doesn’t stop me. Instead, my dad pulls out the big red tractor, I jump in the tractor bucket, and he raises me up to just the right height to pick those top ripest berries. They are so ripe, that they fall off the bush even with the lightest touch. When my dad lowers me from the tractor, I give him the best one, I take the second best and I then throw the rest of the handful in the “cobbler bucket.”
At dusk, I come back into the house with some minor thorn scrapes and blue fingers and I hand over the big bucket of perfect berries to Karen, my family friend, the official cobbler baker. She soon prepares the cobbler:
Berry Cobbler
- Fill a 9" x 13" pan 2/3 full of fresh blackberries (more berries are fine!)
- Mix 1/4 cup Bisquick and 2 Tbs. sugar with the berries.
- Sprinkle a little cinnamon over the top.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.
- Mix: 2 cups Bisquick2 Tbs. softened butter2 Tbs. sugar1/2 cup milk
- After berries have baked remove from oven and add biscuit mixture in 8-10 bloobs
- Return to oven and bake an additional 20 minutes at 400 degrees.
It’s a simple recipe with very satisfying results. After our big family dinner comes the best part- cobbler and creamy vanilla ice cream. We set up an efficient assembly line, complete with cobbler, bowls, ice cream, spoons and napkins. Sitting at the table with all my family and friends, I organize a perfect bite of berries, crust and ice cream on my spoon. It tastes amazing every time. We all let out the sound that Rachel Ray from The Food Network is so famous for, “hmmmm, YUM!” Well worth the minor scrapes and blue fingers!
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