Berries with Hibiscus-Infused Whipped Cream

I'm not always great at multitasking.  Okay, if I'm honest, I'm never great at multitasking. But I love to believe I am.

One minute I'm full of hubris about simultaneously doing some laundry, engaging Max in a toddler alphabet game, cooking some dinner, running the ice cream maker, and perhaps slipping in a quick phone call.  And then time passes, and I've forgotten that I was actually doing laundry.  And now it is smelling a bit moldy and the clothes in the dryer are now wrinkled.  I have no idea what letter we are on in our alphabet game, and I've left things in the oven for too long.  Or over-whip the cream, as was the case the first time I made this hibiscus whipped cream.

I've always found it hard to be in the moment, I never feel I'm experiencing things quite right. I can be at the beach, and instead of feeling the coarseness of the sand as I dig my fingers into it or the chilliness of the salt water on my toes, I'm on my phone - absorbed in some reading or writing.  I know I should be doing this whole "mindfulness" thing, but that just doesn't work for me.

So juggling multiple things at once feels natural for me.  Even if I often fail spectacularly at them.  It is that rare, fortuitous occasion in which success happens that keeps me going at this multitasking endeavor.  Plus, I'm stubborn.

But even a stubborn person knows when to let it go.  So this time, I made sure to devote most of my attention to the task at hand.  And instead of playing an alphabet game with the tot, I tried teaching him to say "hibiscus," a rather amusing word coming from him.  And this time, things worked out.     

I would like to say that this will be a permanent change in behavior.  But I can assuredly say that isn't the case.  Because I'm stubborn like that.

Here we used the whipped cream to top some gorgeous blueberries and strawberries that were picked up at the farmer's market.  For more strawberry dessert ideas, Cooking Light put together this slideshow.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups whipping cream, divided
3 tablespoons dried hibiscus leaves
pinch salt
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar

strawberries, sliced
blueberries

Instructions
For the hibiscus cream:  In a small pot over low heat, warm 1 cup cream and hibiscus leaves.   Take off heat and cover, letting the leaves steep in the cream for 20 minutes. strain and chill the mixture.  Once the hibiscus cream has chilled and is nice and cold, add the mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer and add in another 1/2 cup of whipping cream.  Add a pinch of salt and the sugar and use the whisk attachment to the whip the mixture until stiff peaks form.  Serve with the berries.