Strawberry Shortcake

This Strawberry Shortcake recipe has been passed to Sandra Osbourn from her grandmother. Osbourn believes her grandmother got the recipe from a Crisco cookbook in the 1920s or 30s. 3 cups sifted flour 4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 2 tablespoons sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 3/4 cup shortening scant cup of milk 1 quart strawberries 1 cup heavy cream 1/2 cup sugar Heat oven to 425 degrees. Sift dry ingredients together. Cut in shortening using two knives or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.

Dear Lynne: I stopped at a country store to buy local strawberries. I bought some fresh onions as well. As I checked out, I joked about making a dish of onions and fresh strawberries. Many times since I have wondered if I could actually make that dish. What do you think, Lynne? -- Peggy from Craftsbury, Vt. Dear Peggy: Absolutely you could do a dish with onions and strawberries. Sweet strawberries and balsamic vinegar are a great match, so why not add onions and do a fresh chutney?

Great Hagerstown Hamfest Vendors, electronics flea market, amateur radio speakers, door prizes.  Volunteer examiner exams at 1 p.m. Food sold. Proceeds benefit the nonprofit Antietam Radio Association. 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. today. Washington County Agricultural Education Center, 7313 Sharpsburg Pike, Boonsboro. $5; free for ages 12 and younger. Call 301-791-5841 or email k2ava@myactv.net . All Camaro, Firebird Show The show will benefit Friends Fur Life, a no-kill animal shelter and rescue based in Berkeley Springs, W.Va.

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - When you've tasted strawberries picked fresh from the field or sampled milk straight from the cow, it's hard to buy anything but locally grown food. That's Sandra Osbourn's philosophy on food and cooking. Growing up on a farm in Jefferson County, W.Va., Osbourn learned how to cook based on the food that her family raised. Osbourn, 66, who lives in Shepherdstown with her husband and her mother, is a regular at local farmers markets. Even when she lived in Washington, D.C., she made it a point to frequent the farmers markets at Dupont Circle and in Georgetown.

julieg@herald-mail.com It turns out today's youth - or the parents buying them Christmas gifts - really do love the '80s. Care Bears, My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake and Transformers are hot Christmas gifts this year, according to Toys 'R Us in Halfway and the National Retail Federation. As far as Daniel Snyder is concerned, they're right. The number-one item on Snyder's Christmas wish list isn't an improved offensive line for the Washington Redskins but a Transformer Unicron.

alician@herald-mail.com WILLIAMSPORT - "I need 'the works,'" echoed Betty Gantz, 18, a dietary aide at Homewood at Williamsport. Gantz took orders at the dessert table at Homewood's Strawberry Festival on Saturday, May 1, from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., while her co-workers whipped up shortcake, ice cream and strawberry glaze topped with whipped cream - the crowd-pleaser known as "the works. " Anne Whitman, director of marketing and sales at Homewood, said, in addition to the sweet concoction, the festival offers a hearty supply of strawberry ice cream, strawberry shortcake and fresh strawberries.

alician@herald-mail.com RINGGOLD - The Ringgold Ruritan Strawberry Festival is the place for serious strawberry fans. While some strawberry festivals offer strawberries as a bonus following craft-browsing and game-playing, the Ringgold Ruritan makes fresh-picked berries the main event. Nearly 400 people made their way to the annual strawberry festival inside the Ringgold Ruritan building on Saturday, June 11. Ed McKee, for one, was not looking for beanbag tosses or vending booths.

ROHRERSVILLE R.W. Davis stood wringing his hands in the shade of a tree at Rohrersville Ruritan Park. He was livid. For more than 30 years, the Rohrersville Ruritan has hosted its annual strawberry festival fundraiser, featuring strawberry shortcake and homemade strawberry ice cream. At Saturday's event, due to regulations conveyed by the Washington County Health Department, the club was not serving its traditional homemade ice cream, Davis said. "I drove down here for some homemade ice cream," said Davis, 75, of Halfway.

Robert Null used to satisfy his hankering for strawberries by growing his own. But he ran into some problems. "I wasn't getting a good crop. The birds would eat them up," Null said. "I'd even cover them with netting, but the birds would still get 'em. " Finally, Null, 71, of Boonsboro, gave up. "I decided to buy 'em. It's easier," he said. Saturday, Null discovered a sort of strawberry oasis where he could indulge his appetite for the juicy, sweet-smelling fruit at the Ringgold Ruritan's Ringgold Strawberry Festival.

1. Fore! for the show Old Opera House presents "The Fox on the Fairway" at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2:30 p.m. Sundays through Sunday, May 13, at Old Opera House, 204 N. George St., Charles Town, W.Va. Posh country club, bad golf and improprieties abound in "The Fox on the Fairway. " Tickets cost $8 to $17. Call 304-725-4420. 2. Berry much fun Strawberry Festival will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 5, at Homewood at Williamsport, U.S. 11, near Williamsport.

John Herbst remembers the early Ringgold Ruritan Strawberry Festivals more than 50 years ago. A charter member of the club, Herbst, 89, and his wife Betty, 90, used to take their children with them to the old schoolhouse to make homemade strawberry ice cream. Right up through last year, Herbst dipped ice cream at the fundraiser. This year, he decided to pass on the scoop. “I finished it. My son does it now,” he said. The elder Herbsts owned and operated Smithsburg's Misty Meadow Farms.

You'd think strawberries would take center stage at a festival named in their honor, but Saturday's 20th Annual Strawberry Fest literally went to the dogs.  For at least two hours of the festival at Lions Community Park in Mercersburg, all eyes were transfixed on the “Westminster Kennel Club-esque” ring of the Fun Dog Show.  Master of Ceremonies Thomas B. Riford, president and chief executive officer of the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau, kept the crowd entertained with his doggy quips.

Great Hagerstown Hamfest Vendors, electronics flea market, amateur radio speakers, door prizes.  Volunteer examiner exams at 1 p.m. Food sold. Proceeds benefit the nonprofit Antietam Radio Association. 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. today. Washington County Agricultural Education Center, 7313 Sharpsburg Pike, Boonsboro. $5; free for ages 12 and younger. Call 301-791-5841 or email k2ava@myactv.net . All Camaro, Firebird Show The show will benefit Friends Fur Life, a no-kill animal shelter and rescue based in Berkeley Springs, W.Va.

1. Fore! for the show Old Opera House presents "The Fox on the Fairway" at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2:30 p.m. Sundays through Sunday, May 13, at Old Opera House, 204 N. George St., Charles Town, W.Va. Posh country club, bad golf and improprieties abound in "The Fox on the Fairway. " Tickets cost $8 to $17. Call 304-725-4420. 2. Berry much fun Strawberry Festival will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 5, at Homewood at Williamsport, U.S. 11, near Williamsport.

Patti Benner has fond memories of time spent on the grounds of Rohrersville Ruritan Community Park. As a child growing up near Brownsville, Benner, 50, of Sharpsburg, frolicked with family at annual reunions there. Trolling the Ruritan carnival was a highlight of her summer. The Strawberry Festival Saturday at the park took her back to those days of wide-open spaces and old-fashioned food and fun. "I always looked forward to coming out here back then, so I wanted to come out and see what was going on now," Benner said.

Robert Null used to satisfy his hankering for strawberries by growing his own. But he ran into some problems. "I wasn't getting a good crop. The birds would eat them up," Null said. "I'd even cover them with netting, but the birds would still get 'em. " Finally, Null, 71, of Boonsboro, gave up. "I decided to buy 'em. It's easier," he said. Saturday, Null discovered a sort of strawberry oasis where he could indulge his appetite for the juicy, sweet-smelling fruit at the Ringgold Ruritan's Ringgold Strawberry Festival.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- Nothing goes down better on a sweltering summer day than a big scoop of ice cream. Better yet is several scoops of ice cream. And the best of all is eating as many scoops of ice cream as you can. Close to 300 people found that ultimate pleasure Saturday as six local ice cream vendors scooped up 25 flavorful offerings at the Greater Chambersburg Chamber Foundation's inaugural Scoop-a-Palooza. Adults paid $6 and children ages 12 and younger paid $3.50 for the opportunity to try a wide variety of flavors such as black raspberry, peach cobbler, chocolate eclair, blueberry cobbler, chocolate peanut butter buckeye, brownie bliss, strawberry cheesecake, cotton candy explosion, black forest and more.

Dear Lynne: Our big family loves light desserts, not rich and heavy ones. Do you have anything with strawberries that is not strawberry shortcake and isn't time-consuming? -- Jimmi Dear Jimmi: I am assuming you don't mean "lite" desserts, as in those made with artificial whips, and fake "low-fat" or sugar substitutes. Obviously, I've got a bias at work here. Those treats aren't. They never truly satisfy. Instead, see what you think of a sweet pizza. A flaky pie pastry is rolled very thin (so each slice is truly light)

Dear Lynne: I stopped at a country store to buy local strawberries. I bought some fresh onions as well. As I checked out, I joked about making a dish of onions and fresh strawberries. Many times since I have wondered if I could actually make that dish. What do you think, Lynne? -- Peggy from Craftsbury, Vt. Dear Peggy: Absolutely you could do a dish with onions and strawberries. Sweet strawberries and balsamic vinegar are a great match, so why not add onions and do a fresh chutney?

WILLIAMSPORT -- Ninety-year-old Dortha Wolford and several of her family members sampled strawberry treats and listened to music Sunday during Williamsport Retirement Village's annual strawberry social. The retirement village, which has about 90 residents in its nursing home, hosts the strawberry social each year about this time -- during the peak of the local strawberry season, said Jordyn Shifler, the retirement village's director of communications. Sunday's social drew hundreds of residents, their family members and people from the community despite the threat of rain.