Strawberries

Henri Bonnet smiling as he eats strawberries at the British Embassy Birthday Party, 1951

-Life Magazine

With June comes strawberries, lord of the berry kingdom.  The family unit decided to take a page from my mother's book and we are making strawberry shortcake for dinner.  It will not be a side dish.  No way.  Like Jennifer Grey's character in the movie "Dirty Dancing" stated, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner."  So tonight, strawberries will have the limelight on our dinner table, the one and only dish.

My favorite strawberry story dates back to my Uncle John's younger days growing up in the small Delaware town of Houston (pronounced how-ston, not hue-ston).  My grandfather and grandmother had quite the strawberry patch and Uncle John had been delegated the prime picker.  It was his duty to pick a certain number of quarts one day, but his strawberry picking task happen to fall on the same day of a little league game.  

Knowing that he would be late to the game if he picked the strawberries, he decided to fill the quart baskets with loose hay and straw and then he strategically placed large strawberries on top of the debris, creating the ruse that he had picked all of the quarts. he left them out and fled the scene of the crime to the baseball field.

It was about the third inning into the game when John saw his father Chester approaching the field.  His heart sank.  He knew the charade had been detected and his goose was cooked.

Of course, he was removed from the game and had to return to his home to complete his strawberry chores.  I am certain there is a moral in this story, but I entrust that task to the reader to discover.

So tonight, we here at the home of L & I raise our forks high with pierced berries and toast Uncle John and his half-hearted attempt to trick a family that loves strawberries.  It simply can not be done.

Son and wife do it the right way with whole milk, sugar, and biscuits.

I eat mine with high fiber, whole wheat sandwich thins and skim milk.

I am such a weenie.