Cherry-Blueberry Cloud Pie

Fourth of July is shaping up in Colorado to be a different beast this year. It seems our entire state is either on fire, in the throes of being extinguished or being monitored for new starts from the severe heat, lightning strikes and wind. We’ve been front and center in the national news for a few weeks now with a smorgasbord of fires fighting for center stage.

I personally live across the street from Open Space which creeps up and into the foothills. In January about four years ago we noted billowing smoke a fair bit north of us however the whims of wild winds changed the direction in an instant and when I sauntered out to see if I could see the fire on the mountains miles away, I was greeted by a glowing orange halo over the last homes on our street to the north and a policeman on foot giving me 15 minutes to leave. It quickly turned into a game show gone bad, as I was home alone with two small children, three dogs, a non industrial luxury car and a brain gone blank about what to harvest from our seemingly enormous home. It is very frightening and with the conditions of this summer all are on edge knowing one well placed lightning strike and our Colorado landscape which is now tinder with respond furiously.

It’s no surprise most cities have canceled public fireworks displays and personal fireworks are forbidden by law with promised penalties to be steep if caught. We generally do not attend mass public fireworks displays but have a distant vantage point from high in our house to see a number of cities’ displays from home. It still seems odd that no fireworks will be filling the skies with their shrill whistle and explosions this year. For me, I turn to the food of the day for setting a festive mood since it is a holiday surrounded by food tradition just not as widely recognized or maybe more individually personal than holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Boxing Day or Easter.

Our temps are still in the mid to high 90’s spiking into the 100’s every few days. The concept of eating anything with substance or weight or warmth seems a tall task right now. I rifled through my mother’s gargantuan recipe files, loaned to me over the winter (and under threat of being reclaimed) feeling sure there was something cool and unique to be found there and indeed I was right.