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| Fruit Kabobs |
A child’s strawberry-picking memories should be filled with
flitting butterflies, green grasshoppers and frilly summer frocks.
However, it brings back other recollections for me.
It would all start off happily enough, running down the rows
of the farm, laughing and giggling - utilizing the pick two, eat one method of
harvest.
But, eventually I would succumb to the heat, realizing it
was sweaty gritty work in disguise.
Blinded by the brightness, I would look for my mother, and realize
I had no idea where she was.
I believe that this experience caused recurring dreams of
being abandoned at Grandma’s, or in a department store.
Though, those probably had root in reality as well.
Childhood trauma aside, the only thing better than eating berries
warm from the vine, was in strawberry shortcake.
Mom would make biscuits from scratch that were perfect for slathering
in butter and soaking up all that super-sugary berry juice - creating a
deliciously rustic Strawberry Charlotte (whipped cream on top).
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| Berries ready for grilling |
In my gluten-free salute to those flavors, I concentrated the
intensity of the berries by grilling, put an extra sweet on the side, and added
a counterpoint with blue cheese.
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| Grilled berries, blue cheese and honeycomb |
It’s not my mother’s strawberry shortcake.