Summer is a tricky thing in San Francisco. A morning in July here often feels like a morning in February, much to the consternation of shivering tourist. We grab what sun we can two days here, three days there, until the fog rolls in and we're grabbing our sweaters and pashminas instead, shrugging our pasty shoulders all the while. If one never leaves the City, one has but few clues as to what life is like on the hot, sticky Outside. And I like that just fine.

I always know it's summer when I see berries flooding the markets. I grab baskets of them-- strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, snozberries-- and challenge myself to eat them all before they rot in my fridge, which happened last year, much to my shame. I decorate my cereal with them, never quite looking as well-placed as on the cereal boxes I never buy. I pretend I'm putting them in the wood chipper as I drop them into my blender to make smoothies. I sprinkle them over ice cream. I eat them out of hand.

If I want to put a little effort (and I do mean little) into doing something with berries, this year, I'm making berry pudding, one of the easiest and reasonably healthiest desserts around. If I were forced to give this dish human form, I would vote for Betty White. Rose Nyland-sweet, Sue Ann Nivens-tart, and just about as quick and clever as all Miss White's snappy answers on The Match Game. Put a little whipped cream on her and she's good to go. She's always good to go.

This is a recipe that is wonderfully simple in both preparation and outlook. Berries in, berries out. I was going to say it was easy- breezy but, unless eating raw fruits has a certain effect on your G.I. tract, it is merely easy. The only real time involved is the time the berries and bread must spend in the refrigerator, getting to know each other.

Berry Pudding

Many of the recipes I've read for Berry Pudding call for the berries to be cooked with sugar. I strongly object. Not to the sugar, mind you, but to cooking the berries. One might as well be using frozen fruit, and that, my friends, is a capital "C" crime in my book-- at least in high season.

I might suggest letting your berries ripen a bit before making them into pudding. They will thank you for it.

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1/2 cup strawberries, chopped
1/2 cup blueberries, whole
1/2 cup raspberries, whole
1/2 cup blackberries, whole
2 tablespoons sugar, taste the berries to determine their sweetness before adding sugar. Adjust accordingly.
8 one half-inch slices of white bread, brioche, or other neutral starchy vehicle, cut to the shape of whatever molds one is using.
A splash of complementary booze (blackberry brandy, Cointreau, etc.) Complementary as in "will complement the flavor of the berries", not complimentary, as in "free". Of course, if your alcohol is both complementary and complimentary, I say bravo to you.
A pinch of salt

Preparation:

1. Wash berries well, but gently. Chop strawberries to the approximate size of the other berries. Place all berries into large bowl and sprinkle with sugar, salt, and booze. Let sit for five or so minutes.

2. After the berries have macerated a bit, lightly crush them. I feel I was a bit too excited when it came time to inflict harm upon mine. Stir.

3. Cover the bottoms of your molds with your most attractive bits of berry, since this will be the top of the dessert when it is unmolded. Place one piece of bread on top. Add more berries, a second layer of bread, then more berries.

4. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, pressing gently down upon the filled molds to remove any major air gaps.

5. Refrigerate for at least four hours or overnight.

6. To unmold, gently run the tip of a sharp knife between the outer edge of the filling and the inner edge of the mold. Hopefully, you have been clever enough to have removed the plastic wrap before doing so. Place serving plate over the top of the mold, invert, and gently giggle the pudding free of its form. Repeat with the remaining puddings, if you are serving them all at once.

7. Top with whipped cream, ice cream, or bacon. Whatever makes you happy.

Summer is a great time for cold fizzy refreshments. And drinks made with champagne, prosecco, or sparkling wine always seem the most elegant. Sangria Blanca -- a Spanish sparkling wine drink infused with fruit -- is just this type of libation (I love that word). And, with berries and mint, it's really the perfect tonic for a hot summer day.

Although I adore Sangria Blanca now, it took a while for this love to bloom. For years I resisted sparkling sangrias. When offered one, I turned up my nose, thinking it was a cousin of the lowly wine cooler. This isn't to say I never liked wine coolers. In high school, I drank my fair share (but don’t tell my mom). They were sweeter and more drinkable than the Bud Light and Lucky Lager served at Friday night parties in my small San Diego County town and always seemed to be on hand. My girlfriends and I would down our California Coolers (does anyone else remember those?), feeling quite urbane. Later, when I was a little older and "wiser," I learned to disdain coolers in much the same way a six-year old feels too mature to watch Sesame Street any longer. It was only when I was in my 30s that I returned to sparkling wine concoctions. By this time, I was secure enough to admit I really loved their refreshing and slightly fruity taste and so started experimenting.

Following is the result of one of these experiments: my recipe for Sangria Blanca. I use cava, a Northern Spanish sparkling wine, although any type of bubbly will do. The great thing about this recipe is that you don't need to break the bank. Although a nice champagne wouldn't hurt the outcome, it seems an extravagant addition for a drink that includes fruity soda, thereby drowning out any nuances you would gain. A moderately-priced cava is my bottle of choice, although you could also use sparkling wine or prosecco. Just don't use anything you wouldn't drink plain. Served with some ripe berries, a sprig of mint, and ice, it's the perfect way to cool off on a hot summer day in Spain, San Diego, or the Bay Area.

For a discussion on red wine sangria, see Sangria, the Ultimate Summer Refresher.

Sangria Blanca

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:
1 bottle chilled cava or other sparkling wine
1 cup fruity soda, Passion Fruit and Mango Juice Squeeze or Orangina
2 Tbsp brandy
2 Tbsp sugar
½ cup raspberries
½ cup sliced strawberries
Mint leaves
Ice

Preparation:
1. Clean berries and slice the strawberries. Set aside.
2. In a large punch bowl or pitcher, combine the sugar and brandy until the sugar dissolves.
3. Add the cava, or other sparkling wine, along with the soda.
4. Add the berries and ice.
5. Serve with mint leaves as garnish.

I've never understood how a fruit as delightful and sweet as a raspberry could have inspired the term "blowing a raspberry." How could such a sweet and luscious plump red berry get such bad rap? Out of curiosity, I looked up the term. From what I can tell, it all started sometime in the late 1800s when some witty Brits thought the sound they produced when making derisive spitting noises sounded like flatulence. As "raspberry tart" rhymes with "fart" (a word that never ceases to incite giggles with my daughters and I'm sure was hilariously funny back then as well) the term was born. Makes no sense to me, but apparently it's part of a British rhyming tradition. As my family is originally from New York City, I'm more able to understand the reasons behind why someone would blow a raspberry (or give a Bronx cheer) than the etymology behind it.

So what does this all have to do with shortcake and berries? Well, not much other than I adore raspberries and have been contemplating how wonderful they are, particularly now, when they're in season and reasonably affordable. My mind also has a tendency to wander into etymological corners -- a trait I once assumed was charming, but now fear makes people nod off -- and this is where it led me as I stared at a beautiful mountain of raspberries in Whole Foods the other day.

Now that raspberries are in season, I want to gorge myself on them, sucking up their potent antioxidants and sweet juiciness. Earlier this year, I stopped buying raspberries (and all berries) when they're out of season because they're usually grown in Mexico, often with the help of strong pesticides that end up killing off song bird populations. Out of a sense of environmental responsibility and guilt, my family and I have gone a long hard winter without berries and we are ripe (excuse the pun) for indulging ourselves.

To celebrate raspberry season, I decided to indulge in a dessert where the raspberries are fresh and uncooked. I wanted to pay tribute to their sweet unadulterated plumpness, and so paired them with a slightly-sweet (but not too sweet) shortcake with whipped cream. As I love the flavor of almonds with raspberries, I added some nuts to the shortcake. The result was everything I had hoped for: a fresh burst of raspberry flavor atop buttery shortcakes, finished off with pillowy whipped cream and a hint of almond crunchiness. It was really the antithesis of a Bronx cheer.

Raspberry Almond Shortcake

Serves: 6

Ingredients for shortcakes:
2 ½ cups flour
½ cup sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
¼ cup chopped toasted almonds
6 Tbsp cold butter
1 cup whole milk
½ tsp almond extract

Ingredients for topping:
4 cups raspberries
½ cup sugar
½ tsp lemon juice
2 cups whipping cream
½ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Toasted almond slivers for garnish

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and almonds in a large bowl. Whisk to mix thoroughly.

3. Cut in the butter (you can either do this by hand with a pastry cutter or with your fingers. If you have a food processor, just pulse about ten times).

4. Add the almond extract to the milk and then add to the flour mixture.

5. Gently incorporate the milk into the flour. Be sure not to over mix as doing so will make the flour rubbery. If the mixture remains too wet to properly handle, add a little more flour until you can pat the dough firmly into a round disk.

6. Cut with a biscuit cutter (if you don't have one, you can use a jar or ramekin) and place onto a baking dish or large cast iron pan.

7. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

8. Mix berries, sugar and lemon juice in a bowl and set aside for at least 10 minutes.

9. Beat cream with powdered sugar and vanilla until whipped (but not too long or you'll have butter).

10. When ready to serve, slice each shortcake in half. Top the bottom with a healthy dollop of whipped cream and then cover with berries. Top with more whipped cream and lay the top of the shortcake against the berries. Serve.

Lemon Buttermilk shortcake alternative:
1. Substitute buttermilk for the milk.
2. Remove the almonds and almond extract.
3. Add 1 Tbsp lemon zest.

Strawberry shortcake alternative:
1. Use strawberries instead of raspberries.
2. Use the buttermilk shortcake alternative for the pastry.

Although the calendar says it's only May, it feels more like July this week. My kids are begging to go to the pool every day and I'm craving ice cream. Strawberry ice cream to be specific. Strawberries are in full season in all their sweet glory and what better way to stave off the heat than to indulge in icy cream and fresh berries.

I have often made strawberry ice cream using heavy cream, berries, sugar and not much else. Although these desserts have been creamy and sweet, they were a bit lacking. Without eggs, ice cream just doesn't have the full body and character I'm looking for in my dessert. I have hunted for years for the perfect strawberry ice cream recipe, but most use between 6 and 9 egg yolks. Now I love egg custards (and ice cream made with eggs is essentially just frozen custard), but the more eggs included in a custard, the richer the flavor. Although this can often be a very good thing -- such as with vanilla, pecan or chocolate ice creams -- the richness of too many eggs in custard can detract from the natural sweetness of any fruit you add to it, flattening the flavors. Plus eggs are high in cholesterol and fat, so if I can, I try to avoid them in abundance. What I wanted was a lighter strawberry ice cream with the depth of flavor eggs provide, without overshadowing the strawberries and casting them out of the limelight (or raising my LDL levels).

I recently read a NY Times article that used a pudding recipe for ice cream. The problem is that it uses 8 egg yolks (yes, 8!). I remembered that my pudding recipe is thick and creamy and only uses a couple of eggs, which seemed much more reasonable. I decided to tweak it a little, however, using strawberries instead of chocolate. I also added one extra egg yolk to help bind the ice cream as I was worried the strawberries -- which naturally have a lot of water in them -- would make the custard runny. Heavy cream also seemed a better choice than the whole milk I use in my pudding as this is ice cream we're making, not ice milk. My final alteration was to include some lemon juice and zest to help brighten the strawberry flavors. Finally I plopped everything into the beautiful ice cream maker my husband's aunt bought us a few years ago (thank you Aunt Susie!) with excellent results. The final product had a deep strawberry taste, a rich and creamy texture, and a more complex flavor than the plain cream strawberry ice cream I've made for years. It also allowed the strawberries to star, unlike some custard ice creams I've tried. And best of all, it helped cool us off during this heat wave.

Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream

Makes 4 - 8 servings

Ingredients
3 cups of fresh strawberries (cleaned, hulled and chopped)
½ cup plus 3 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Zest from one medium lemon
3 large egg yolks
3 Tbsp corn starch
Dash of salt
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation
1. Puree 2 cups of the strawberries with 3 Tbsp sugar and the lemon juice. Cut up the third cup of berries, mix them with the 4th tablespoon of sugar, and set aside.

2. Heat the heavy cream on medium-low until it starts to steam with small bubbles around the edge. Turn off the heat.
3. Whisk egg yolks with ½ cup sugar in a bowl until the mixture is a light yellow color.
4. Add the lemon zest, corn starch, and salt to the egg mixture and whisk thoroughly, making sure there are no lumps.
5. Add about a half cup of the warmed cream to the egg mixture, whisking vigorously to temper the eggs.
6. Add the egg mixture to the cream and incorporate thoroughly.
7. Cook on medium-low just until the mixture starts to bubble. Be sure to frequently stir or the mixture will start to burn at the bottom. I used a whisk, but a spatula would also work.
8. When the mixture becomes thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, turn off the heat and add the strawberry puree.
9. Stir in the vanilla.
10. Chill in an ice bath.
11. Cover with plastic wrap, being sure to let it sit directly on top of the pudding to avoid a skin forming.
12. Refrigerate until fully cooled.
13. Place mixture in your ice cream maker, along with the last cup of berries you set aside in Step 1, and then let it do its thing for about twenty minutes.
14. Place in a container and place in the freezer. Stir every hour or so until firm so it evenly freezes.
15. Serve.

Tips:
1. If you do not have an ice cream maker, you can still make homemade ice cream. David Lebovitz shows you how to make ice cream without a machine.

2. This recipe would also be great using peaches, nectarines, plums, or any other type of berry.

Teaching kids to eat and drink healthfully requires much more than admonitions. After carting away the vending machines and abolishing the Big Gulps, we can't leave the kids empty-handed. Rachelle Boucher from Generation Chefs is working hard to fill the void. From the popular Pizza Smack-Downs at COPIA to her weekly cooking classes (free to high school students) in the beautifully outfitted kitchen at the Marin Youth Center (MYC a.k.a. "Mike") she's bringing fresh, whole, homemade food generously flavored with reaffirming messages and lots of common sense to a wide and diverse group of kids.


A visit to one of her cooking classes reveals her consummate skill in converting teens to the cause of healthy eating. Endowed with humor, warmth, and endless energy, she's a master of choreographing 25 wary bundles of apathy and hormones into productive teams of excited, skilled, fruit-and vegetable-loving cooks.

Rachelle hefts up 20 pounds of refined sugar so the kids can see how much the average American teenager consumes every six weeks.

Her class this past week highlighted our favorite fruit of the season--strawberries--along with one very shiny, red bike blender. The lesson for the day involved putting down sugary drinks and sipping fruit smoothies instead. In addition to fresh strawberries, melons, and bananas, the teen chefs could choose from a colorful array of juices, frozen fruit, yogurts, and natural flavorings. Most importantly, they learned that not a single grain of added sugar was needed to create a delicious drink.

A rainbow of sweet goodness just before the pedal action.

Mike Graham-Squire from the Youth Leadership Institute joined the class to show the teens how to select ingredients, calculate food costs, determine servings sizes and overall yield, and--most importantly of all--operate the bike blender. As representatives of schools and local community organizations, the kids were also learning how smoothies can be a healthful, interactive, and effective fundraising tool at large events.

From the Country of Marin's Nutrition Wellness Program, nutritionist Ellen Szakal taught the class how to read product labels to determine the number of teaspoons of sugar in each serving. A chart listing their favorite snacks and a hands--on exercise counting out a disconcertingly large pile of sugar cubes helped them understand just how much unnecessary sugar they were consuming each day.

It's a skill adults could use, too.

Calculating How Much Sugar Is In A Container
Looking at the Nutrition Facts label on the side of the package, find the number of grams of sugar. Then divide that number by 4. For example, ingesting 65 grams of sugar in a 20-ounce drink bottle (considered 1 serving) means swallowing 17 individual teaspoons of sugar.

So much youthful energy, it takes extra hands to hold the jar still.

Berkeley-based Juice Peddler sells kits for retrofitting bikes to become human-powered blenders. From the first-generation's endearingly clunky tricycle platform and antique hand-drill to the fifth-generation's sleek, high-density polyethylene design, the company has been at the forefront of DIY bike blender technology.

The kids took turns pedaling their fruit concoctions and proudly shared tastes of their icy treats with other teams. Lined up for judging, the smoothies created a rainbow of delicious fun: Monkey Melons, Fruit-A-Palooza, Pink Panther, Go Mango, Fruit-A-Licious, and Pink-A-Licous Strawberry.

I'm glad I didn't have to judge, as it would have been a tough call to pick just one winner.

Sammy and Brittney confer on the formulation of their team's smoothie.

Pinkalicious Strawberry Smoothie
The members of Team Pinkalicious decided to celebrate the happy coincidence of their clothing colors with an appropriately hued smoothie.

Serves: 6

Ingredients
10 ounces strawberries, hulled
1 banana, chopped
1 cup frozen berry medley
1/2 cup yogurt
1/4 cup orange mango juice concentrate

Preparation
1. Place all ingredients in the jar of a blender.
2. Blend until completely mixed.
3. Serve immediately.

Minted Strawberry Agua Fresca
Another excellent recipe from Generation Chefs that highlights the current season's bumper crop.

Serves: 6

Ingredients
2 cups ice cubes
3 cups strawberries, hulled
2 small mint leaves, optional
1 1/2 cups cold water
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice
3 tablespoons sugar, or to taste
6 whole strawberries, split 3/4 up from the point, for garnish
6 mint sprigs, for garnish

Preparation
1. Place all ingredients in a blender in the order listed.
2. Blend until completely mixed. Taste and adjust for sweetness or tartness as desired.
3. Pour into chilled glasses, garnish with mint sprigs, and slide a berry onto the rim of each glass.