THE HEDGEHOG BLOG

My mother was a very good cook and baker, although she didn't think she was, and, in fact, hated cooking. She used a lot of the shortcuts that were a part of life in the fifties, but I have memories of hundreds and hundreds of good meals.

One of my favorite desserts was strawberry shortcake. To this day, you can't get me to try it if it's served using sponge cake. That's not right. I grew up eating strawberry shortcake which, if not exactly on shortcake, was served on biscuits. As I recall, they were "scratch" or maybe "Bisquick" until the tubes came out, which were a great help. We didn't whip up heavy cream by hand, but maybe by mixer. That I don't remember. I've never bought "Cool Whip", and won't have it in my house. I don't think I've ever tasted it.

We had access to fresh fruit and farm stands; there was even a guy who for a summer or three drove through our neighborhood with stuff from his farm. And Mom loved strawberries. They were summer to us. And strawberry shortcake was a favorite dessert and a company dessert.

So one day, Mrs. Bean was having lunch with us. Marie Bean was my sister's third grade teacher and a friend of Mom's. I can't remember - this might have been during the summer; we went out to Chris and Marie's house in Avon regularly, they'd visit us. We had an eat-in kitchen, and while I don't remember what we had for lunch, I do remember dessert. You see, one of the new things in our house was Reddi-wip; the stuff in the pressurized can. I don't know when it first came out, but I remember it was new to us in the sixties. And Mom had made her star turn dessert for Mrs. Bean. And as they chatted, Mom was preparing dessert, turned to say something to Marie and...we found out just how well Reddi-wip covered things. It covered the counter, the walls, the cabinets. Simply, Mom had her finger on the nozzle of the can and had forgotten to remove it. I am not sure, but tend to remember that none of it landed on the strawberries.

We didn't let Mom forget this for a long time. I am still very VERY fussy about strawberry shortcake. I'm still fussy about biscuits and about whipped cream and good desserts.

Happy birthday, Mom. I miss you so very, very much.

JOANNE SHECHTER

July 23, 1926 - January 13, 2011

:: HOME :: GET EMAIL UPDATES :: International Rescue Committee :: Brady Campaign to END GUN VIOLENCE :: Americans for Responsible Solutions :: David Zinn, artist :: Wendy Goldberg :: Kiva - microlending :: SQUISHIES!!!! :: Sluggo! Ann Arbor's Foremost two dimensional resident :: Mr. Monkey! :: Give Free books! :: Flying Spaghetti Monster! :: Matthew Shepard Foundation :: THE BLUE CARD :: Kickstarter :: EMAIL ::

2011-07-22 11:13 PM The Strawberry Shortcake Story Previous Entry :: Next Entry Read/Post Comments (2) Share on Facebook	My mother was a very good cook and baker, although she didn't think she was, and, in fact, hated cooking. She used a lot of the shortcuts that were a part of life in the fifties, but I have memories of hundreds and hundreds of good meals. One of my favorite desserts was strawberry shortcake. To this day, you can't get me to try it if it's served using sponge cake. That's not right. I grew up eating strawberry shortcake which, if not exactly on shortcake, was served on biscuits. As I recall, they were "scratch" or maybe "Bisquick" until the tubes came out, which were a great help. We didn't whip up heavy cream by hand, but maybe by mixer. That I don't remember. I've never bought "Cool Whip", and won't have it in my house. I don't think I've ever tasted it. We had access to fresh fruit and farm stands; there was even a guy who for a summer or three drove through our neighborhood with stuff from his farm. And Mom loved strawberries. They were summer to us. And strawberry shortcake was a favorite dessert and a company dessert. So one day, Mrs. Bean was having lunch with us. Marie Bean was my sister's third grade teacher and a friend of Mom's. I can't remember - this might have been during the summer; we went out to Chris and Marie's house in Avon regularly, they'd visit us. We had an eat-in kitchen, and while I don't remember what we had for lunch, I do remember dessert. You see, one of the new things in our house was Reddi-wip; the stuff in the pressurized can. I don't know when it first came out, but I remember it was new to us in the sixties. And Mom had made her star turn dessert for Mrs. Bean. And as they chatted, Mom was preparing dessert, turned to say something to Marie and...we found out just how well Reddi-wip covered things. It covered the counter, the walls, the cabinets. Simply, Mom had her finger on the nozzle of the can and had forgotten to remove it. I am not sure, but tend to remember that none of it landed on the strawberries. We didn't let Mom forget this for a long time. I am still very VERY fussy about strawberry shortcake. I'm still fussy about biscuits and about whipped cream and good desserts. Happy birthday, Mom. I miss you so very, very much. JOANNE SHECHTER July 23, 1926 - January 13, 2011 Read/Post Comments (2) Previous Entry :: Next Entry Back to Top
:: HOME :: GET EMAIL UPDATES :: International Rescue Committee :: Brady Campaign to END GUN VIOLENCE :: Americans for Responsible Solutions :: David Zinn, artist :: Wendy Goldberg :: Kiva - microlending :: SQUISHIES!!!! :: Sluggo! Ann Arbor's Foremost two dimensional resident :: Mr. Monkey! :: Give Free books! :: Flying Spaghetti Monster! :: Matthew Shepard Foundation :: THE BLUE CARD :: Kickstarter :: EMAIL ::