Strawberry trends

Reds more rich than roses, sparking with water like fresh dewdrops in the morning rays; in the center of Asterius’ work table sat a woven basket brimming with freshly washed strawberries. The hours of effort that went into picking the eight pounds of strawberries was no amount of trouble compared to the dilemma facing him now. 

What to do with them? 

He could picture himself making and bottling a hefty batch to sell—but what flavor? Almonds and strawberries were a classic mix, the nutty taste of the milk would compliment the berries. Cashews on the other hand had a rich, creamy flavor that would taste like dessert. Macadamia milk would make for a very fruity mix, maybe a little risky but it could be a huge hit. 

Another idea haunted him and dipped into a territory he'd eyed for so long, but never found the courage to enter. 

Social media…

Not just any, but to make videos of cute drinks. He had a batch of whipped pistachio milk with a lovely green tint, putting that on top of cashew milk, maybe mixing in ice to thicken it…the color combination would be adorable. A thought struck him then and he scrambled over to the cupboard.

Asterius’ eyes glittered extra bright as he held up the object he'd been searching for: cute glass with strawberry decals around the base. 

That settled it.

He quickly got a batch of cashews soaking and chopping strawberries. Once he had a few quartered, he tossed them into a small pot with a few tablespoons of sugar, splash of water, then set it on low heat. Before long he had a simple, chunky strawberry-syrup mixture cooling in a bowl. With that settled he could turn back to draining the cashews. They went into his blender with fresh water and more of the chopped strawberries to create the last ingredient; a beautiful batch of strawberry cashew milk.

Now, what he was most worried about. Cooking was easy! But filming…

While everything cooled, Asterius bustled about setting up a bright, clear shot for his drink pouring. It took swapping out different plates, tablecloths, even a skirt with a cute pattern, before he settled on the set up. His camera tripod faced a well placed piece of paper atop a classic red gingham tablecloth. The lighting was a little too harsh to come off as natural, but he wasn't sure how to help that for now. 

Finally, the time was upon him. Asterius stood before his phone, all three ingredients lined up off camera in two more cute glasses, with the strawberry compote in a small ramekin. 

He wasted as much time as possible fidgeting with the set up, moving things slightly, fussing over order of ingredients, just standing and nervously tapping his hooves together. At some point he had to admit he couldn't stall anymore. Asterius took a deep breath, then pressed record on his phone. As soon as he picked up the ramekin he could tell his hooves were shaking and he cursed himself for it, but he didn’t think any amount of waiting would calm his nerves. 

First, he tipped the strawberries in, silently thankful none of them fell outside the glass. The hard part, really, was forcing himself to move slowly and not rush to dump everything in at once. With the ramekin set aside, he moved onto a pair of tongs he’d kept sitting by a bowl of ice cubes. One at a time, he dropped them in the glass. The chime of each cube hitting the glass made him feel strangely more confident. It’s just preparing a drink, why was he so worried? 

Next was the real fun: he tipped the cashew milk into the glass, and watched with a growing smile as the off-white cream color mixed with the strawberries. The bottom of the drink swirled pink where the two met, just like he had hoped. Finally, he filled the last remaining space in the glass with the thicker pistachio milk, the mixture sitting on top rather than mixing like the strawberries had. Not that it bothered him—the effect was exactly what he had hoped for. A pastel mix of pink, cream, and green, with a pop of color where the strawberries were visible at the bottom. 

He lingered on the finished product for a minute longer before ending the recording. 

As soon as it was off, Asterius jumped up and down in place, clapping his hooves together in excitement. All he had to do was edit a few things, and he could post it! There was one very important thing he had to do first, however, the thing he’d always wanted to do when watching drink videos: reach over and try the concoction for himself. 

Sweet, creamy, fruity, and the further he tipped the glass back the more he got to taste the bright strawberry flavor of the compote. It only fueled his excitement to use the rest of the harvest.

At the same moment the wheels started turning in his mind, he looked back to where the basket of strawberries was and—

Where. The basket of strawberries had been.

And where a basket of two content mamoo’s sat looking at him. 

Pluto and Nebula held his gaze, surely aware of the crime they’d just committed. 

Asterius sighed and shook his head. “They were pretty tasty looking. I don’t blame you. At least I have more,” he said with a small laugh. “I guess I’m going to be doing a lot of strawberry picking this season.”