Strawberry Picking at Reesor's

Last weekend we decided to go strawberry picking at Reesor's again, which was the closest farm to us. This is our third year at Reesor's and although we've tried other farms, we love the strawberries here the most and the best part about this farm is that the strawberry fields are right there in front of you when you park, unlike other farms where you have to walk at least 10-15 minutes to even get to the strawberry patch. This year the strawberries were the perfect ripeness and we enlisted the help of my mom since it was getting difficult for  me to bend down and do the picking.

And of course Evelyn did no picking but much eating! And held the basket for a while before it got too heavy. Luckily grandma is a pro at picking fruits so we were done so much sooner than I thought! It was a gorgeous summer day and Evelyn looked so cute in her little strawberry outfit... I'm so glad she got to wear it at least once before she outgrew it. Unfortunately I couldn't fit into any of my strawberry themed outfits anymore but it was so much fun to see her in this getup. 

Later, after sorting through the strawberries, I saved some to bake some strawberry cheesecake muffins using a recipe I found online. They turned out alright I guess, but for my first time making muffins I'm not sure why I had to pick such a complicated recipe (I had to make the filling, topping and muffin batter all separately) and not to mention it was a gluten-free recipe too (we don't eat gluten-free) so I had to make adjustments here and there and I was too lazy to use the kitchen scale (or more like it fell on the floor recently due to my MIL not putting it away properly so I was doubtful that it was gonna be accurate anyway...) Halfway through mixing the batter I realized I might have really fucked up as the batter looked way too dry... I was so upset I didn't even bother decorating the muffins (I was supposed to put half a strawberry on top as a garnish). I also ended up with a lot of leftover toppings and 18 muffins instead of the supposed yield of 11-12 muffins (possibly also because I was afraid to overfill them). But somehow they turned out really delicious and not too sweet (because I cut down on the amount of sugar as well), and I owe it all to the flavour and ripeness of the strawberries themselves.

I ended up making smoothies and a milkshake with the fresh strawberries too and man, the flavour was so good it was like I was eating strawberry syrup but it just came from the strawberries! Unfortunately (or fortunately?) Evelyn didn't really care for my muffins... (maybe cuz she's too used to strawberry Pocky) but she loved eating the fresh ones. The only downside is that they don't keep for more than a week so now they're all gone and I'm missing them already! Definitely worth the admission we paid and as Fred says, we like the experience of being able to pick our own. 

Somehow this post ended up being longer than I intended, but strawberry picking is turning into a yearly family tradition now and I really hope we get to continue it for the years to come! I am a complete newbie when it comes to baking but it really is wonderful to use fresh fruits when they're in season at peak ripeness. Hoping I will have time to make some blueberry themed things in the future too when that time comes. Summers are so short here that I really am trying my best to make the most of it! That's all for this post, until next time!!