Strawberries in the Rain

Have you ever picked strawberries while dancing in the rain? This memory takes me back to Indiana where I picked my first berries, blue, black and red. Mother Nature made a growl that day as we plucked one for the bucket and one for our mouths. "Not supposed to be here" kept echoing sing song from my baby sister April. So racing against time to both that seemed a bottomless pit, we laughed and ate to our hearts content. Slurping rain and berry juice off our chins we realized that you can only get wet once, so we stayed there in the puddles of our youth till darkness and Mom beckoned us home. Today I taste those wet and wild strawberries in every shortcake I make. Strawberry fields forever.

Summer For Me

It is obvious to me that summer is here. The fact that I am turning once again to my dessert recipes. I realized for the first time that I am a summer dessert person. In the winter I love braised vegetables and cauldren pots of meats, chou croute, lamb shanks and stews, but summer finds me with delighting with the thought of nectarine crumbles, blueberry fools, strawberry shorcakes and raspberry ice creams. I stop at the farmers markets and search out "you pick" signs like they were an offering from above, and when I am out in an orchard or bending down to pick the one for the basket or the one for me I know I'm in heaven. Share with me your favorite summer recipe and lets go and find a field "ripe for the pickin'". We can cook and taste summer together.