The index card of fatherly wisdom, episode II

Don't worry. My font of fatherly wisdom still spans only two principles and four words (not counting the corollary), which are easily memorized to guide you through life's great adventure. But I do have some wisdom to pass along from another father I know slightly, James Ryan, another soccer dad whose son played with Brad for a year. Jim is also an alumnus of the UVA Law School, where he was a professor before being appointed as the Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Jim gave a speech on "good questions" at the 2016 commencement in which he posited that

there are five truly essential questions that you should regularly ask yourself and others. My claim is that, if you get in the habit of asking these questions, you have a very good chance of being both successful and happy, and you will be in a good position to answer “I did” to the bonus question at the end.

After Jim's speech went viral, he expanded on the ideas in his 2017 book Wait, What?: And Life's Other Essential Questions. It's a quick, entertaining read filled with funny, interesting stories demonstrating how the five essential questions work in practice. I highly recommend the book, though you can get away with just watching the speech if you're interested. Which you should be, because I think the questions make a lot of sense, and you can't go wrong with fatherly wisdom that fits onto a 3x5-inch index card. Anyway, here are the five essential questions, with the bonus question, which is taken from "Late Fragment," a poem by Raymond Carver:

[9/15/17 UPDATE: Jim Ryan has been elected as the ninth president of the University of Virginia! This is an Aaron Judge sized home run for UVA.]


So this year I took Mom on my "huckleberry party" and we picked enough wild blackberries in the neighborhood for about half a crumble, which I supplemented with three of the peaches we had left over from Mom's Carter Mountain run. This year, I tried a new recipe that was actually written to use spelt flour, which is a real bonus, though you should be able to use whatever kind of flour you like and have on hand. It's a really easy recipe, and I think we all liked it even better than last year's wild blackberry crumble.

Wild Blackberry Crumble #2

Adapted from Super Natural Every Day (2011) by Heidi Swanson via 101 Cookbooks

I used wild blackberries and peaches in this crumble, but you can use whatever fruit is in season. For example, the original recipe calls for raspberries, strawberries, and sweet cherries, since they are "often found in neighboring baskets at farmers' markets in early summer."

Topping
85 grams (~¾ cup) spelt or whole-wheat pastry flour; or ½ cup brown rice flour + ¼ cup oat flour
70 grams (~⅓ cup) brown sugar
45 grams (~½ cup) rolled oats
2 tablespoons pecan or walnut pieces or poppy seeds
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
70 grams (~⅓ cup) unsalted butter, melted

Fruit filling
50 grams (¼ cup) brown sugar
1 tablespoon (10 grams) cornstarch
500 grams (~18 ounces) mixed fresh fruit, cut into bite-sized chunks if necessary (see note) 
33 grams (¼ cup) dried cherries or currants (optional)
3–4 tablespoons fruity red wine, such as Beaujolais, or brandy

    1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 375 degrees. Butter or spray an 8-inch square baking dish or a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate.
    2. For the topping: In a medium bowl, mix everything but the butter together with a fork. Add the butter and stir with the fork until all the ingredients are evenly moistened. Form the mixture into three patties, and freeze for at least 10 minutes.
    3. For the fruit filling: In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and cornstarch with the fork. Add the fruit and toss gently with a silicone spatula until evenly coated. Wait 3 minutes, add the wine or brandy, and toss gently again.
    4. Scrape the filling into the baking dish. Crumble the topping over the filling, leaving some bigger pieces. Bake until the topping is golden brown and the fruit juices are bubbling up around the topping, about 30 to 35 minutes. Cool for about 20 minutes, then serve. Makes 8 servings.