Shortcake

Servings: 12 2 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder 1/4 cup sugar plus extra for whipping cream 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 cup cold butter, cut in small pieces 1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons whipping cream 6 peaches 2 pints raspberries or boysenberries 1. Mix flour, salt, baking powder, 3 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon in large mixing bowl or food processor. Cut in butter until size of small peas. Add 3/4 cup whipping cream and mix just until stiff.

Note: New York chef Larry Forgione says that when James Beard first tasted Forgione's strawberry shortcake, the food guru pronounced: "There can be no dessert better, only fancier. " After tasting Forgione's shortcake for ourselves, we had to agree. Most of us said we'd never tasted a better shortcake. The secret: hard-boiled egg yolk mixed into the dough. The recipe comes from Forgione's cookbook "An American Place" (William Morrow: 1996, $30), which was chosen as one of our favorite cookbooks of 1996.

I'm visiting with my mother, and she is trying to describe the dimensions of the strawberry patch they had back on the farm in Nebraska. Big enough that you could pick enough berries to make strawberry shortcake for 25. One of the hired hands just loved strawberry shortcake, she remembers. He'd ask my grandmother, "Mrs. Jones, could we have strawberry shortcake for dinner?" "If you pick 'em," she'd answer. It must have been a sweet relief from harder work, picking strawberries in that patch under that unwavering blue sky, filling a deep basket with those crimson berries.

The leg-pulling on "MasterChef" -- while always entertaining -- hit a new low when chef Gordon Ramsay punked hometown favorite Felix Fang. Felix, who needs to cut back on the breathless, plush-lipped histrionics, was on the chopping block along with Scott Little after a dessert debacle. It's unlikely that anyone, not even Scott, thought Felix would be going home. That was, until the chef launched into what appears to be his routine sendoff for departing players: "Felix, it's time to say goodbye…to Scott.

I see Darryl Strawberry is at home collecting his 4 mil while his teammates carry the ball. He shouldn't have called his book "Straw," he should have called it "Shortcake." DON KUMFERMAN Ridgecrest

For dedicated gardeners, here are suggestions from the California Assn. of Nurserymen on what to do in the garden this week: * Prepare your planting beds for roses, fruit and shade trees, cane berries and deciduous shrubs now available in bare-root form. * Think strawberry shortcake and fresh strawberry jam. Plant bare-root strawberries now for spring harvest. Consider planting in a raised bed, hanging basket, a barrel or an attractive strawberry jar.

Alice B. Toklas wrote that it was impossible to gauge how many persons a recipe would serve. You'd have to know what they'd been doing, what else they'd eaten--in other words, just how hungry they were. Similarly, we tend to consider menus and environments as faits accomplis , forgetting that they take on different looks depending on our sensibilities and the time of day.

The leg-pulling on "MasterChef" -- while always entertaining -- hit a new low when chef Gordon Ramsay punked hometown favorite Felix Fang. Felix, who needs to cut back on the breathless, plush-lipped histrionics, was on the chopping block along with Scott Little after a dessert debacle. It's unlikely that anyone, not even Scott, thought Felix would be going home. That was, until the chef launched into what appears to be his routine sendoff for departing players: "Felix, it's time to say goodbye…to Scott.

For the past five years, softball fans in north Orange County wondered if the world's newest pitching machine was being test marketed in their neighborhood under the brand name "Michele Granger." When they first saw her, the pixie look and curly chestnut ponytails were just camouflage for a 50-m.p.h. fastball. Rest assured, Placentia's Bob-ette Leagues had never witnessed anything like it.

"Oh, strawberries don't taste as they used to," wrote John Steinbeck in "East of Eden. " Never mind that the chapter was set a century ago; many foodies believe that industrial varieties and practices have degraded the flavor of modern strawberries. This spring we have an opportunity to test that hypothesis, as Harry's Berries has resumed growing the Chandler variety, a longtime favorite at farmers markets for its tender, juicy flesh and classic strawberry flavor. "It reminds me of what strawberries used to taste like when I was a kid," says Kris Gean, 32, scion of the Harry's Berries dynasty.

I'm visiting with my mother, and she is trying to describe the dimensions of the strawberry patch they had back on the farm in Nebraska. Big enough that you could pick enough berries to make strawberry shortcake for 25. One of the hired hands just loved strawberry shortcake, she remembers. He'd ask my grandmother, "Mrs. Jones, could we have strawberry shortcake for dinner?" "If you pick 'em," she'd answer. It must have been a sweet relief from harder work, picking strawberries in that patch under that unwavering blue sky, filling a deep basket with those crimson berries.

"Oh, strawberries don't taste as they used to," wrote John Steinbeck in "East of Eden. " Never mind that the chapter was set a century ago; many foodies believe that industrial varieties and practices have degraded the flavor of modern strawberries. This spring we have an opportunity to test that hypothesis, as Harry's Berries has resumed growing the Chandler variety, a longtime favorite at farmers markets for its tender, juicy flesh and classic strawberry flavor. "It reminds me of what strawberries used to taste like when I was a kid," says Kris Gean, 32, scion of the Harry's Berries dynasty.

  Orange-flavored shortcakes with strawberries and cream Total time: 40 minutes Servings: 6 Note: From Russ Parsons. Coarse sugar can be found at baking and cooking supply stores and well-stocked markets. Shortcakes 2 cups flour 3 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 tablespoon baking powder 3/4 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon grated orange zest (about 1 large orange) 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes 2 hard-boiled egg yolks 3/4 cup heavy cream, plus extra for brushing Coarse sugar for dusting (granulated sugar can be substituted)

This is Beverly Hills?, I wondered, oh so many years ago when a friend took me to lunch in a sweet little house with a fireplace on South Beverly Drive. Chez Mimi later moved to Santa Monica, and Urth Caffé now dispenses soy lattes and iced green tea from that rose-covered cottage. Back then (and now), South Beverly Drive didn't seem fancy at all, more like a small-town Main Street where you'd find shops selling nightgowns and one-piece swimming suits, baseball cards and birthday gifts.

DEAR SOS: Strawberry season is my favorite time of the year. I am especially fond of the shortcake served at the Daily Grill, which I think is the best I've found in this city. Do you think the restaurant would part with the recipe? --RUTH * DEAR RUTH: Here's the recipe. It's surprisingly easy to make.