Perfection in Red

Grocery stores and fruitstands here are now offering big beautiful strawberries. Most of the berries come from Italy and Spain. Strawberries from Germany aren’t yet ripe enough for the market. That will take a few more weeks. In the meantime, strawberries will be everywhere: on menus, in pastry, in marmalade and jam. Fortunately, I never get tired of strawberries, nor peaches. So I will probably be treating myself to a basket of strawberries at least twice a week until the season is over. I would love to have a strawberry pie like I grew up with, but the German’s don’t offer that exact luxury. Instead, they have some other strawberry cakes that are OK, but I have to admit that I haven’t eaten one in at least five years. I always come away disappointed. But a basket of fresh, red berries never leaves me disappointed. The real, unadulterated thing. It’s amazing that Mother Nature developed such a perfect, irresistible fruit!