Strawberries- a guest post by Robin Loretta Hrubik

( First let me introduce the post.  Robin wrote a small book of memories

for me on my 40th birthday.  She was going to be on a tour of Europe over

the weeks before and after my birthday- so she wrote me a collection of

essays, made up a marvelous treasure hunt for Jordan and me to follow, and

put together a campaign of birthday wishes from almost everyone who knew

me and orchestrated a birthday party at a friend’s home- it was amazing

how very much she was there without actually being there.

This is the entry she wrote about strawberries and our childhood.)

Who doesn’t love them?

Maybe my small patch will produce while I’m in Europe.

Stop over and pick a handful, wipe off the dirt and pop a sun-kissed warm berry

into your mouth and close your eyes to remember…

those delectable teeny-tiny seed covered WILD strawberries that grew

on the bank on the other side of the dirt road.

 

We were children of the Earth more so in those days.  We  probably had ” chores”

WORK- that four letter word- assignments awaiting us.  But oh, when those

berries were ripe- we Picked!  Such work it was- adults were too impatient to spend

precious time at such a labor-intensive job.  Yet to us it was a gift straight from heaven.

Smell the sweet breeze- the delicate scent of slightly crushed berry mixed with grassy,

earthy aromas and the hot pungent waves of hot tar and auto exhaust. 

We tuned out everything to focus on our worthy task and reward to come.

When we had finally picked” enough”, we would run to the house and prepare our feast.

Between the bank and the house something must have happened to our handfuls of

berries.  I always felt we had more outside and somehow lost Large amounts by the time

we were ready to add the sugar and mash, mash, mash!

Who can forget that tart/sweet full flavor of  those few spoonfuls of wild  berries?

We savored them quickly- by now someone had come upon us and assessed our

childishness (they said stupidness)   and broke into our play/work.

All of a sudden we saw (we were forced to see) the kitchen as it really was-

dirt tracked on the floor,

water splashed and dripping,

berry stems and leaves scattered,

sugar spilt everywhere-

our hands sticky

our faces smeared.

But we had had our adventure, our fun!

They couldn’t take it away!

Thank you, Lord, for not allowing us to be “caught” until we had finished our

moment of “be-ing”.

 

And thank you Lord, for this book of memories I can still share with my sister,

it helps deal with the loss of her for so many years.

Here is the quick recipe for Almost strawberry pie!

This is quick to put together, but you need some of the ingredients to already

be prepared.  First wash and cut up a pint of strawberries and lightly sugar them

(about 1 TBSP per pint of berries).  Then stir 1/3 cup of strawberry frozen jam- I

use the recipe on the pectin package- into the berries.  This works better than

a glaze and adds sweetness, color and flavor.

Finally, you need several pieces of pastry, sprinkled with sugar , baked ahead and

cut into pie shaped pieces.  I usually do this with any left over pie dough and store

it in the freezer for just this purpose.  Put them all together on a plate, add whipped

cream and you have a little bit of summer delight sitting on the table in front of you!