It's strawberry season in Louisiana, and I love it! It's the one thing I actually buy "along side the road" ... a flat (like 12 pints?) of yummy sweet redness for $14. And, yes, I'm making homemade shortcake to go with our strawberries as a special dessert tonight! And, of course, as I decide this, my mind is filled with memories of my childhood. One of the rare but traditional meals at 1324 was having JUST strawberry shortcake for dinner. I've come to find out that the Moyer version of strawberry shortcake is quite peculiar compared to others, most specifically the Daspit variety. We Moyers cut a nice size of hot, homemade rich shortcake, plop it in a large shallow bowl, spoon bite-size strawberries on top, and pour cold milk over it all. After cutting the shortcake with the side of your spoon, the trick is to get the right ratio of strawberries, cake and milk in every bite. Of course, when strawberry shortcake is all that's on the menu for dinner, seconds and thirds abound. Oh, those were the days.
"What," you say, "no cool whip?" Well, that's what Doug asks. He doesn't buy the milk-over-cake thing, and refuses to try it. His version is more of the "typical" (I guess?) ... angel food cake, cool whip, and strawberries on top. I know, Moyers, I know, but this is what happens when you merge two cultures together. ;) Now, the real competition begins tonight. Who will pass on their strawberry shortcake version to the next generation of Moyer-Daspits? Just to play fair, there's cool whip in the frig for Doug. However, the original Moyer shortcake recipe will be present....none of that store-bought angel food cake stuff. *shuddering*
Oh, and no, we can't just have strawberry shortcake for dinner, Doug has this thing about always having vegetables for dinner. Dang it. I love him.
Your posts about food make me chuckle! It's so true that we clearly grew up in some kind of "food bubble" in PA. The farther away from home I get, the more people (Beth included sometimes) look at me like I'm crazy when I talk about stuff like pouring milk on strawberry shortcake. If I start in with scrapple, whoopie pies, shoo-fly anything, or creamed chipped beef I may as well be speaking in Martian! We just didn't know how good we had it!
ReplyDeleteyummy! i'm now craving strawberries.
ReplyDeleteCrystal, milk on strawberry shortcake???!!! And all these years I thought you liked the angel food, strawbeery, cool whip combo. Milk, I can;t believe it!!!
ReplyDeleteStrawberries and shortcake(the Moyer kind) are a big hit at our house. Some of my kids just like the shortcake all by itself. So I got to make sure I have plenty of it. Crystal, do you think strawberries will still be in season when we are in PA in June? I sure hope so - I could eat a couple bowlfuls right now and I just had supper!!
ReplyDeleteYour sister, Karen
Tell doug to get a life! He needs to try the milk. And Yes You can eat strawberries and shortcake for dinner. Ask him how many times he ate brownies and popcorn at my house on sunday evenings for dinner!
ReplyDeleteLove you guys,
Melissa
I prefer mine with pound cake and then the strawberries and whip cream. Just fix Doug his veggies to go along with the strawberry shortcake! YUM!
ReplyDeleteDo you have English roots in the Moyer clan? Your PA version sounds awfully British...though here they would use cream (unsweetened and not whipped) to pour on it. Cream is a very big deal here -- there are several types...some for cooking, some for pouring, some for spooning, and some for whipping.
ReplyDeleteYou don't think you could convince Doug with some strawberry/broccoli shortcake while you and the boys had the regular meal version??? ;)
i bought some strawberries. they are huge. i couldn't believe it. they were delicious too. can't wait to go home and have some more. :)
ReplyDeleteSo, for the record, Doug actually read my post and agreed that the Moyer version of shortcake IS better than angel food, but I don't think he's caving on the cool whip thing.
ReplyDeleteAs for the next generation, Doug wasn't here for dinner to coax them into his version, so they were served Moyer-style. Zach ate it all up! Sam wasn't so sure -- I think he would have liked it just with cake and not strawberries, although he likes strawberries by themselves. Hmmm...
LOL, Christina, I just have to adapt to the culture around me. :)
ReplyDeletei agree with doug about the whole veggies for dinner thing. always gotta have a veggie. brussel sprouts anyone? yum.
ReplyDeleteWhat is it with the Daspit boys and veggies??? I know another one who INSISTS on vegetables at every meal - and corn doesn't count! But I'd bet he'd like that shortcake...
ReplyDeleteoh my word. if you just scan down this online convo based on the comments, it's really quite humourous. can't we all just get along...strawberry shortcake is strawberry shortcake...all varieties welcome in my stomach. can you tell i'm procrastinating writing a doctrine II paper...
ReplyDeleteah blogger is ghetto now...that comment was me...em;)
ReplyDeleteOK, I gotta tell ya Crystal...being for PA I still could never quite get into the whole soggy shortcake thing, but since strawberry season in PA is in June I would always pray that they would make it till the 22nd and if I got lucky that was my birthday cake. I think sometimes my mom would spend a fortune if she could find them just to make my day:)
ReplyDelete