What’s so funny? Memories of ‘monster’ Fourth of July strawberry shortcake inspire giggles

My mind can be like a swallow chasing bugs, flitting from task to topic before I can remember which mental insect sent me into the garage and for what.

For instance, if you’d have been near my office a few days ago, when I was planning ahead for the July 4 holiday, you would have heard me in the midst of a sudden laughter meltdown.

While musing about Independence Day festivities, I’d absentmindedly rolled backwards a bit in my office chair, and the wheels ran over something.

I immediately heard sounds very similar to fireworks being shot off several blocks away — like the illegal ones heard in a forested Cambria neighborhood recently.

Right after I looked down near my feet, my giggle fest erupted like a Roman candle … not only because the noise wasn’t from any sort of threat, but because the cause was so ridiculously unlikely.

My chair had rolled over bubble wrap. You’d have been snickering, too.

Bubble wrap inspires giggles

Genuine, innocent hilarity like that is priceless, especially in a world that seems to be painfully short of it.

The experience reminded me how wonderful laughter is, how relaxing, how uplifting, how healing, and sadly, how rare.

Yes, I know that non-biodegradable packing material is an environmental menace, but I do cherish lovely memories about it.

Children of all ages just can’t resist a sheet of the stuff. They keep on bursting those bubbles, and their joy is contagious.

I have priceless memories of my now-late husband Richard gleefully popping away with our kids and grandkids, each of them with looks of manic enjoyment on their faces.

Then there was a last-minute holiday purchase we made a few years ago. We looked at the big roll of 12-inch-wide bubble wrap and said in unison, “Why not?”

Our laughter then was so infectious and welcome. So was the mirth and merriment on Christmas morning.

The bubble popping was indeed the star of the holiday, but the many other uses the girls found for the 100 feet of bubble wrap kept all of us amused for hours.

Picture wrapping your little sister up like a mummy, putting her over your shoulder and marching around the room, giggling uproariously.

Remembering Fourth of July strawberry shortcake

I’ve been blessed with many other unlikely giggle triggers during my life , especially when I’ve been able to share them with someone else as silly and chortle-prone as I am.

The subject line on a recent email had me chuckling all by myself.

The topic, Sheet-Pan Strawberry Shortcake, wasn’t funny, but the goofy memories it dredged up were.

We know from experience that making a shortcake that big can be complicated, and serving it is guaranteed to be messy.

But the taste? It’s paradise on a plate.

For years, our bakery provided a monster strawberry shortcake to Cambria’s Fourth of July picnic in Shamel Park.

The oversized cake completely filled an extra-wide, 8-foot-long door that Richard had coated and wrapped so it was food safe.

We assembled the dessert on two layers of split and buttered sourdough biscuits we’d made using the natural liquid starter we nurtured daily in a five-gallon bucket.

The bushels of strawberries in the dessert had been macerated in a blend of sugar, orange juice, vanilla extract, a sprinkle of orange rind and a dash of balsamic vinegar.

We whipped gallons of lightly sugared heavy cream in a 60-quart Hobart mixer that was taller than I am.

When the shortcake was complete, it was the equivalent of nearly a dozen 24-inch by 18-inch sheet cakes.

Was it heavy? You betcha, buttercup.

It took several strong young men to carry the assembled dessert from the bakery to the nearby back doors of the delivery van, through which the shortcake-laden door barely fit.

After a careful drive to Shamel Park, the guys unloaded the shortcake and painstakingly carried it through the crowd and over the uneven lawn to the picnic table from which it would be served.

It never lasted long.

So, what about the recent email’s subject line made me laugh?

I remembered how, after the guys slowly slid the shortcake into the back of the van, our second-in-command baker David Mercer climbed in the driver’s seat.

Looking back at the shortcake with a deadpan-serious look on his face, he announced, “Now I know what it would be like to drive a hearse!”

Cambria Independence Day event filled with fun

Alas, I lack the oven, the mixer, the room and the personal energy to recreate that shortcake for Cambria’s 2023 Independence Day festivities.

But it amazes me how, decades later, so many people still remember it and kindly take the time to tell me they miss it.

There’ll be plenty to keep people busy at this year’s July 4 event, from old-timey kids’ games, relay races and raffles to food, drinks and live music. The crowning glory, of course, is the fireworks show.

That pyrotechnic display has been reconfigured to compensate for the Central Coast’s unpredictable weather, which often results in foggy or windy conditions at the shoreline.

There are similar Independence Day celebrations planned throughout San Luis Obispo County.

Fourth of July celebrations in Cayucos, Pismo Beach and Paso Robles also include fireworks.

Whether you head to one of those community events or just enjoy a family barbecue in your own backyard, I hope your July 4 is filled with safe fun and hearty holiday hilarity.

Because laughter is always good, even if you have to run over some bubble wrap to get it.

For more information about the annual American Legion Fourth of July celebration at Shamel Park, go to facebook.com/events/shamel-park/celebrate-july-4th-in-cambria/467229270687062.