Your guests will be thrilled by Rosalie’s Chilled Strawberry Soup, and you’ll be excited by how easy it is to prepare.
BY ROLASIE HARRINGTON
My granddaughter Emma wrote me the sweetest Mother’s Day note: “I wish I didn’t have to go to school so I could spend more time together,” she she said. “I miss looking for sea glass the most.”
Now pinned to the fridge along with my various diets restricting various foods, her words stand out as a reminder of what is important to me. Long before Emma, now fifteen, was old enough to walk the beach and look for sea glass, we would scavenge together. She would be in her three wheel stroller and I would be pushing. She would spot various articles. pointing so I could fetch, and I collected them in her little bucket. This was during my care giving years, when I would spend days babysitting so mom could work. We would have treasure hunts on the beach, with Emma directing me, issuing commands such as “find the yellow thing I just saw,” or, “get that shiny thing over there.” After all the gathering we often made mobiles and hung them on trees in the yard. When Emma was a little older we started searching for sea glass. We both loved the hard to find blue and purple glass and we adored the pieces of pottery that were even scarcer. I occupied myself when she was still napping, sewing the sea glass into a sheer fabric, doubling it to create a pocket of sorts. It took the whole summer to collect enough glass so a window in her bedroom could be covered in the biggest of these curtains. It was magical to see the sun reflecting on the little jewels of glass. Emma loved it.
When her younger sister Maddie was old enough, the three of us often went to Gloucester where we had a special place for finding sea glass and pottery. Our collection of pottery shards grew large enough for me to make a back splash behind the sink in my little bathroom outside the kitchen when we moved in a decade ago. The sink is a tiny French porcelain vessel that I have been “schlepping” around for years that finally found a home. The faucets are Italian which most people don’t know how to use and the bathroom occasionally has a little puddle after a guest visits. Italians generally achieve the best in aesthetics with their designs, but functionality is a different matter. The shards of pottery at the back of the sink provide a lasting memory of a wonderful period with my beautiful granddaughters.
In the front hall of their new house there is a giant jar of sea glass and these days it hardly gets added to. Boys and bikinis have replaced the search for the precious glass and pottery. I recently asked Emma if she remembered the curtain that I made her. She was embarrassed to tell me that she eventually cut the pieces out of the curtain. Apparently, she had a creative urge to reinvent the pieces. They probably ended up in that giant jar in the front hall, but she did remember the curtain fondly.
Last weekend, an old friend invited me to walk the beach at her club in Magnolia. I arrived a little earlier and decided to take a short walk on my own, which always involves looking down, watching for surprises. Lo and behold, the first piece of sea glass I found was the rare blue, and my pulse quickened with the excitement of discovery. I recalled one day that I was looking for pottery in Gloucester, behind the restaurants on Rocky Neck. I figured that many a broken plate had been discarded in this area as it had long been occupied by restaurants. It was low tide, one of my clogs got stuck in the mud, and as I tried to free myself from what seemed like quick sand I fell and was covered with mud. A well dressed gentlemen whose house was right on the water’s edge where I was searching was leaving for work and spotted me struggling. “Don’t I know you?” Yes, he had eaten at my restaurant many times. He went into his house and brought out a clean towel. After he helped me get my balance from the “quick sand” we chatted a little more. It was quite the experience and one I shared with my granddaughters, who were happy I’m sure that they were not with me on this most embarrassing adventure.
My walk on the beach in Magnolia ended when I spotted my friend, Barbara, arriving. We sat and had a picnic and shared stories that we have told over and over. Barbara loves the one about the day that her daughter Nancy was born, fifty years ago. As it happens, she came to my house for lunch and I made her gnocchi. That night she went into labor and she claimed that the gnocchi, which she said were like “bullets,” had contributed to her going into labor early. It was my first attempt at making them, but they weren’t that bad, as I recalled. The stories get better with “exaggeration,” which my family considers to be one of my greatest skills. “Exaggerator” was also my horse in the Kentucky Derby last month. He almost came in, but that’s another story – which I’m happy to share.
My son asked if we could take care of Emma and Maddie recently while they went to “the Derby” for the week end. We gladly accepted because we love being with the girls who are growing up too fast, making such opportunities rare. I encouraged them to have a party and before you could say “they’re off” they had neatened up the house, texted invites to a bunch of friends, we had gone to the store for snacks, I made brownies and twelve wonderful polite beautiful kids arrived for a party. Todd and I sat in the TV room and watched our favorite show and listened to the sounds of kids a couple of rooms away, having a good time.
Chilled Strawberry Soup
— Wash, clean and cut up a quart of strawberries.
— Place them in a heavy pot and cover them with red wine and sprinkle a cup of sugar over them. Don’t worry about the alcohol in the wine, as it will burn off when the soup is simmering. If there is any sparkling wine or rose opened and you would like to finish up the bottle, this is fine, too.
— Bring the soup to a simmer and watch carefully as it will make a mess if it spills over. If you like cinnamon you can sprinkle a little on the simmering soup.
— After about fifteen minutes the berries will be cooked. Allow the soup to cool, then puree in the food processor and stir in any combination: a pint of Half and Half or yogurt mixed with sour cream, whole milk or heavy cream. It all works.
— Add three tbsp. of chopped mint.
— Chill and serve with an edible flower and a mint leaf for a pretty garnish.