Feast, Strawberry stress-cooking

Have you ever been strawberry-picking? It is hard, hot work, but dang, if it isn't satisfying. I went to a pick-your-own farm with two friends who also liked the idea of saying the "fruits of our labor" while talking about the fruit we labored to get. Yeah, I'm not saying we're great at making food-related jokes. I'm saying we're awesome at it.

After helping a different friend move out of DC and into Maryland on a bright, beautiful Saturday morning, my friend Jenn and I picked up our other friend Atyya, and we headed out to the farm. It was a really sweaty day for me, hauling furniture and then wandering through a strawberry patch for a nice long time. It was totally worth it though, because I ended up with about 11 pounds of glorious red berries.

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YES. I SAID ELEVEN POUNDS.

Remember that deal we made about you reading this blog and not judging me? Well, I don't either, but that seems like a pretty good pact to make right now, so, go ahead. Promise not to judge me for the massive quantities of fruit (and other things) I buy and then post a bunch of recipes about. Do it. I'll wait . . . Done? Good. I mean, I'm doing it for your benefit too, you know. Because now you're gonna know how to make strawberry jam. And strawberry milk. And strawberry mascarpone yogurt pie. And strawberry balsamic vinaigrette. And buttermilk biscuits (to go with the jam, of course!).

I like big baking and/or cooking projects when I'm stressed, so this enormous amount of fruit really came at a great time for me. I like to be able to focus my mind on something that has a discrete beginning, middle, and end. le sigh I guess it's a control thing--blah blah my life is disordered and chaotic at the moment blah. I'm sure none of you know anything about that. You're excellent delegators with incredibly detailed life plans and stable careers. How do you do it? I think you should reward yourself by making one of the strawberry-filled recipes I'll be posting this week. But hey, if you're in the same kind of situation as me--a little overwhelmed by life's twists and turns, and anxious (but excited!) about your next steps in life--I think you'll this week's recipes too. Enjoy!