My Rotary meeting always starts with the group singing 2 songs, “Smile” and “America the Beautiful”. We’re dorks…and proud of it.
Most of you are familiar with song #2, but “Smile” goes like this:
“Smile, and the world smiles with you
Sing A Song!
Don’t be weary just be cheery
All day long!
Whenever your trials, your troubles and your cares,
Seem to be more, than you can really bear
Just smile, and the world smiles with you
Sing A Song!”
Since the shelter in place order, we’ve been meeting via Zoom which, you may know, only allows one voice to be heard clearly at a time so our first attempts at virtual singing as a group met with some…challenges.
We have one member of our club who has a strong, booming voice and a good musical ear so it was determined that he would play the tune and sing at his home while the rest of us sang, muted, along with him. That’s been our “sing a long” for the past month and its worked well.
Last week, one or two of our members, who perhaps don’t have quite as good an ear for music, forgot to mute themselves. Our songs that morning were….Hmmmm….challenged.
And the tears came.
This has been a tough week for me. Not because of any specific disaster or challenge, but the day to day questions we all face and the isolation have been weighing heavy. I love my husband and really enjoy the extra time we’ve had together because of the SIP order, my clients have been more than understanding about the need to do business via phone and web conference, and our weekly virtual dinners on Sunday nights have kept the faces of many that we hold dear close to us. Virtually close, that is.
So why the waterworks?
Singing out loud in front of others—not in your immediate family—takes bravery. Even when you sing as a professional, butterflies still flutter as you step up to the microphone. Carly Simon, with all her number one hits and spectacular ketchup commercial, was famously uncomfortable performing live. Stage fright is real and is the main reason the most robust public amateur singing doesn’t happen until several pints have been drained, refilled, and drained again.
Hearing those voices singing off key jreally hit me in my heart. The level of camaraderie, comfort and enthusiasm we experience together….in the same room….with bacon….cannot be duplicated over Zoom.
I miss my peeps.
So my husband and I are putting a gate into the fence that circles our backyard. As restrictions are eased, our plan is to semi-fill our backyard with groups small enough to properly distance and keep everyone healthy, and large enough to fill our hearts. Guests who aren’t comfortable entering our home, will be able to enter from the street.
Soon we will be dusting off the BBQ, smoker, and Paella pan and enjoying the conversation and comfort of friends. In…fricken…person.
It’s time to prepare. The weather is warming just about everywhere and the out of doors is waiting. If you don’t already have it, order yourself some folding chairs and a table or two (Target and Costco have a wonderful 6 foot foldable table for about $50–capable of serving food.). If your budget is tight, a piece of plywood on two saw horses will do just fine when covered with an inexpensive plastic tablecloth I will be offering up some suitable outdoor picnic style recipes that can be served on your patio, deck or lawn, or packed up and taken to a local park—once they are open for business.
For today, I offer you a lovely Strawberry Shortcake recipe I found recently in Cooks Illustrated. The proportions of this recipe are for 2, for those of you who are #alonetogether, but can easily be adapted for larger groups.
Stay strong, and sing a song. Loudly, and off key.
Keep calm and wash your hands.
Strawberry Shortcakes
Equipment
- Potato Masher
- Food processor or pastry cutter
Ingredients
Fruit
- 10 Oz (2 cups) strawberries, hulled, divided
- 5 Tsps Sugar
Shortcakes
- ⅔ cup Flour
- 2 Tbsp Sugar, divided
- 1 Tsp Baking powder
- ⅛ Tsp Table salt
- 4 Tbsp Unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch pieces and chilled
- 1 Large Egg, lightly beaten, plus 1 large white, lightly beaten
Whipped Cream
- ⅓ Cup Heavy cream, chilled
- 1 Tsp Sugar
- ¼ Tsp Vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Fruit
- Crush ¾ cup strawberries in a medium bowl with potato masher. Slice remaining 1¼ cups strawberries.
- Stir sugar and diced strawberries into crushed strawberries. Set aside until sugar has dissolved and strawberries are juicy, at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours
For the Shortcakes
- Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees F. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Process flour, 5 teaspoons sugar, baking powder, and salt in food processor until combined, about 5 seconds. Scatter butter over top and pulse until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal, about 15 pulses. transfer mixture to medium bowl.
- In separate bowl, whisk whole egg and half-and-half together, then stir into flour mixture with rubber spatula until large clumps form.
- Turn the dough and any floury bits onto lightly floured counter and knead lightly until dough comes together (do not overwork dough).
- Divide dough into 2 even pieces; then, using your well-floured hands, shape each piece into 2½-inch round, about 1 inch thick.
- Arrange shortcakes on prepared sheet.. Brush tops with egg white and sprinkle evenly with remaining 1 teaspoon sugar.
- Bake shortcakes until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Transfer shortcakes to wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes.
For the Whipped Cream
- While shortcakes cool, using handheld mixer set at medium-low seed, beat cream, sugar, and vanilla in medium bowl until foamy, about 1 minute. Increase speed to high and beat until soft peaks form, 1 to 3 minutes.
- To assemble, split each shortcake in half and place bottoms on individual serving plates. Spoon strawberries over each shortcake bottom, dollop with shipped cream, and cap with shortcake tops. Serve immediately. (We opted for no whipped cream and they were delish!)
I’m having strawberry shortcake for dinner tonight!! Thank you!
Ps I know it had to be my husband who a) forgot to mute and b) sang off key. Bless that man!!
Awesome, Becky! Please let me know how it goes for you. I hope you enjoy! And no, I don’t think it was your husband. Although with 90 people on the call it was hard to tell exactly, but I noticed at least one who was unmuted. So sweet.