Strawberries are flooding the markets...and they are tasting good..sweet and juicy.  Prices are
right and I bought a quart of them tonight.  After a busy day doing house stuff I decided there would
be no cooking...a rotisserie chicken and some rice leftovers from last night would be our meal..plus
a green salad with tomatoes..oil, vinegar (that's not cooking, so..it fell into the "I'm not cooking"
file).  But dessert...the color of the strawberries is that deep deep red that means they ( you hope)
are really natually sweet.  Upon washing one of them and taking a bite, my suspicions were confirmed.
How about succulent?  How about the perfect texture as well?  So since I didn't challenge myself for
dinner tonight, I thought an old school Staten Island (I'm sure everywhere else as well) Strawberry
Shortcake would be in order.  Now, food police simma down..I know this is NOT a shortcake..you use
a "dessert shell", those circular little sponge cakes in the strawberry case that come in a package of
6 or 8.  A true shortcake is made with a biscuit,,,I know, I know.  But my Mom never did that...it was always
the dessert shell shortcake for us...when I started going out with my wife (also a Staten Islander), she
made them the same way. 
First rinse the quart of strawberries, then slice them and place them into a bowl.  When the berries
are not too sweet, you would add more sugar...for these sweet little jewels, I added 3 tsp. of cane
sugar, blend, and let them sit at room temperature for 1 1/2 hours.  This magic happens with sugar
and berries, they release their juice which is sweetened by the sugar. 
In an ice cold stainless steel bowl, add 2 tbs. of sugar and 1 tsp. of GOOD vanilla..okay, if I've said
this before, it could always stand to be repeated.  The only vanilla to use is real vanilla.  The amount
of times you really are using vanilla should not let make the bad decision to buy the cheaper imitation
version.  A little goes a long way, and the better vanilla, the less you have to use.  It's distilled from
vanilla beans in an old fashioned process which extracts all the goodness from the pod.  Imitation
vanilla is a chemical compound created in a laboratory and is about 3 times cheaper than the real
thing..and taste for taste...Imitation vanilla tastes exactly like the label says...IMITATION.  It's fake.
Let's move on  (are you hanging your head in disgust with yourself for buying that ill-produced bottle?
Pick yourself up and buy a good bottle of it...you'll get all your cooking self-esteem back and walk
proudly back into your kitchen).  Now to that bowl of vanilla and sugar add one pint of heavy cream.
Ok, food lecture again (I'm on a roll tonight)..no light cream, no half and half...It's heavy cream... the
Food Gods created heavy cream with the ability to get beaten up like Jake LaMotta and turn into one
of the most loved foods on Earth...whipped cream.  Beat this until it forms stiff peaks, and then stop.
or, you will have butter with sugar in it.  Let this chill for 1 hour.
Assembly time...for six of these "shortcakes", add 2 tbs of the juice to the middle of each shell. Then
fill with strawberries, just enough in each to come to the top of the shell. If there is any other juice left,
pour it equally over the shells.  Top each with a nice big ol'dollop of the whipped cream.  If you have this,
raw sugar, like Maui Sugar, or Sugar in the Raw...also called Turbinado or Demerara..a large amber
colored sugar crystal...top each cake with a strawberry slice and a sprinkle of the raw sugar.  It makes
it sparkle and adds a little crunch to the cake.  Serve immediately.  Because everything is fresh, it starts
to lose some of it's flavor and texture if it sits for a while. 
Have a nice night, and enjoy something sweet!!