happy mess

Sugared berries and bittersweet memories mingle with meringues and whipped cream in a dessert that celebrates tousled, summer ease.

- LEAH ESKIN

STRAWBERRIES arrive in early summer, as did my girl, the one with the strawberry curls. She's always considered the fruit as family. My blue-eyed boy takes after the other side, which he first explained by grabbing a pancake, stuffing it into his toothless mouth and grinning blueberry blue.

We might have spent our summer afternoons picking berries, had we lived near dirt. Condo-dwellers on Chicago's north side, we foraged instead in the grocery aisle and farmers market. We chopped the berries into snacks or dropped them into muffins and once, on a whim, swirled them into fragrant pink and blue finger paint, which made a delightful mess. Then we packed the buckets and berries and bathing suits and jumped in the lake.