. . . a cool tool . . .

. . . i had only an hour

to make quick work

of eight pounds of strawberries . . .

{it was the "middle" hour of church. i bet you take a break sometimes, too!}

. . . good thing my gadget savvy friend

gifted me this little helper . . .

{thanks, gadget savvy friend!}

. . . this is the strawberry end . . .

{the other end is for scooping seeds out of jalapenos/other peppers.

in other words ~ it's for wimps. we eat the whole thing ~ seeds, veins and all!}

. . . anyway ~ you just pluck the leaves off . . .

. . . then using a twisting motion ~

make strawberry balls . . .

{which sounds like something you better not google}

. . . leaving cute little hollowed out berries . . .

. . . which, when paired with

•slices of costco pound cake,

•kirklands vanilla ice cream, and

•land o' lakes aerosol whipped cream

makes pretty darn good strawberry shortcake . . .

{also ~ one-stop shopping}

. . . good enough that after i served it

to a hungry bunch

of 16- and 17-year-olds last month ~

they requested it again this month . . .

. . . in unrelated culinary frustrations

from easter sunday . . .

. . . the photo on the front of this cookbook

is false advertising . . .

. . . my lion house rolls

look nothing like the picture . . .

. . . help! . . .

. . . why do the tops get all bubbly/wrinkly

when i butter them after baking? . . .

{also ~ why do i feel the need to cram in the extra bits of dough at odd angles?}

. . . all you bread makers ~ please chime in . . .

{re: bubbles/wrinkles ~ not the extra bits of dough}