Growing up in an Army Brat I never truly payed attention to what that meant for my mom.
Now that I am an Army Wife, I tend to have a bit more...perspective into the life of a military spouse. And let me tell you, I'm not liking it too much these day. But that's only because we are trying to get into a deployment groove before the actual deployment. It's complicated.
One of the things that I've learned to take in stride and not stress over is the anniversary celebration.
The Hubble and I are coming up on our 9 year anniversary in September but we won't be able to spend it together. Now, we've been lucky. We've spent more anniversaries together, at this point, than we have apart.
Year 1 (2003): Apart. He was in Missouri for Army training, I was living in New Mexico.
Year 2 (2004): Apart (but just barely). He had to be in Arizona on the day so I flew out to El Paso, Texas. We saw each other the night before.
Year 3 (2005): Together. We figured the third time must have been the charm.
Year 4 (2006): Together. We thought it would be apart but he was sent home from deployment early.
Year 5 (2007): Together. We were new parents by this point though.
Year 6 (2008): Together.
Year 7 (2009): Together. He was deployed but scheduled his R&R 9 months into the deployment so he could come home for that day.
Year 8 (2010): Together. He was in training in Missouri again but this time I moved with him.
Now here we are at Year 9. We will spend it apart because I'm in Texas and he's in Florida. Then Year 10 will also be spent apart because he'll be in Afghanistan and I...won't be. Ha!
I'm thankful that we've had the opportunity to share so many together.
When he came home for R&R during the last deployment for our anniversary, we decided to take a weekend trip to San Antonio. While we were there, we were looking in the phone book for somewhere to go eat. I found out that San Antonio has a Melting Pot there! I had heard so much about it and wanted to try it!
In true The Hubble fashion, he thought it sounded "suspicious." He was definitely skeptical but reluctantly went with me.
Not even halfway through our meal he was a convert. He thought it was the most awesome restaurant! Since then, he's been the brainchild of fondue parties and he even decided we needed to take some good friends to the one here in Austin.
We took these friends to The Melting Pot a couple years ago actually. But S ordered this drink from the bar (I always get wine there). She ordered a Blackberry Sage Lemonade. Say what???
I know! I did a double take there too!
I tried her drink that night and have not forgotten the flavor combination since then.
I've always wanted to use this flavor combination but never had an opportunity...until I was introduced to Abby Dodge's #BakeTogether.
Basically, Abby posts a recipe and an idea. You take those and you run with them! Go back to the original post and provide a link to your blog post so Abby can feature it on the roundup.
I jumped over in the first couple days of July and realized I had just missed the June Sorbet.
But wait! Abby says on Twitter. She's running behind this month so go forth and make sorbet!
It hit me in that moment! Blackberry Sage Lemonade Sorbet! Perfect!!!
She said "Let there be sorbet!"
And there was.
It was perfect in every way.
It was sweet, tart and fresh from the herbs.
My niece said it tasted like Summer.
My mom couldn't get over the "interesting" flavor and just kept eating it.
My sister didn't even speak in between spoonfuls.
I think this was definitely a success.
And SO easy to make!!!
The only thing I would change would be to strain the blackberry puree through a sieve. The seeds were annoying to me, but my family didn't seem to mind.
Anyway. I think I've rambled enough. Let's make a sorbet...old school style because I don't have an ice cream maker!
You are going to start by boiling some sugar and water together in a medium saucepan.
Toss your fresh blackberries in a food processor and process them until they are fully pureed.
Then (after straining out the seeds???) pour the puree, the lemon juice and the sage into the saucepan. Let cook another few minutes then remove from heat. Allow to cool completely. Also, make sure you taste it at this point to be sure it tastes exactly how you want it.
Then pour it into a 13x9 inch baking dish. Place that dish in the freezer (make sure it's level and undisturbed). Every 30 minutes, take a table fork and run it through the mixture. The sides should start freezing after the first 30 minutes. You will have to do this about 4 times. The freezing time takes about 2 hours. When the mixture is fully frozen...
Scoop it out of the dish and serve it to your family and friends. Or if you don't want to share, serve some to yourself and sit on the back porch with a spoon and a good book. Either way you have it...enjoy!!!
Blackberry Sage Lemonade Sorbet
Adapted from Abby Dodge
Printer Friendly Version
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup water
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 12 ounces fresh blackberries, rinsed and well dried
- 3 1/2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon fresh sage, roughly chopped
Directions:
- In a medium saucepan, place the water and sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves.
- (At this point, if you don't want seeds, push the mixture through a fine metal sieve. If you want NO chunks, do this after step 3 so as to also remove the sage chunks)
- Pour the puree into the sugar water mixture. Add the lemon juice and sage. Cook, stirring about another minute. Remove from heat and let cool completely.
- Place mixture in a 13x9 inch baking dish and place in freezer, make sure the space is level and secure.
- Let freeze about 2 hours, or until mixture is thoroughly frozen; scraping and stirring the mixture with a table fork every 30 minutes.
- Serve and enjoy!
If you are interested in the ice cream maker directions. Please head over to Abby's post. And feel free to join in while you are over there!