Strawberries! Is there anyone who doesn't love them? I like to eat them the same way I did as a kid - mashed up with sugar until they are as liquidy as possible, then eat them with shortcake made with bisquick and then cool whip on top. My wife skips the shortcake and instead wants ice cream.In fact, as I am writing this, she is going to the store to buy some. We actually have some ice cream in the freezer, but it's not the right kind. She wants the fancy kind where you can see the flecks of vanilla bean in there. You know the kind?
If you think shortcake is some dry strawberries sliced on top of one of those yellow spongy cakes, you have no idea what real strawberry shortcake is. I come from roots in southern Illinois and I have several generations of strawberry shortcake making in my genes.
My dad talks about how his mom (my grandma) used to go to the school potlucks in Olmsted, Illinois (way down near Cairo) and she would make strawberry shortcake in a roaster pan (with shortcake layered with strawberries all the way to the top). And that pan would be empty before they went home.
And in those days, they raised the strawberries right on their property behind their house. Well, we don't raise strawberries in our backyard. But Michelle and Bailey did get to go down to Taylorville to pick strawberries with my parents this morning. (I was at work, don't you feel sorry for me). But I do get to help eat them!
Would love to hear your strawberry memories...
David Otis Edwards
Springfield, Illinois
David, your wife is RIGHT. Only a fool eats the cake. Ice cream is the only way to go with strawberries and whipped cream.
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