Strawberries in December?

The answer is "yes"!

Strawberries are a winter crop in Japan, grown in green houses of course. Their peak season isn't until February/March, and by then you are so sick of mikans you are willing to pay any price to get your hands on some. This early on in December, paying $6 for a pack of 8 strawberries is a bit much (thankfully the price goes down as they become more abundant.) But if you happen to be shopping at the end of the day, and you see some on sale for under $3 and you are already a bit tired of mikans because there is a huge box on your stair case, I can think of no good reason not to buy them.

And what better way to eat them than in a parfait with crumbled cookies and "Maple-Cookie" ice cream.

The strawberries also found their way into some breakfast smoothies as well, which were undoubtedly more nutritious, and only slightly less delicious.