Strawberry shortcake has always fascinated me.  The perfect blend of a juicy, ripe summer fruit, fresh cream, and a dense scone or light cake, it can be made the easy way with mainly store bought ingredients, or the cream and cake components can be lovingly prepared by hand.  In either case, I am happy to indulge in the perfection that is fruit, cake and cream. Strawberry Shortcake is also the name of an elfin-like being, a child-like creature with unnaturally red hair, obsessed with strawberries the size of her head, living in a forest cottage and occasionally accompanied by other dessert-themed friends with unusual hair colors such as Blueberry Muffin.  As a child, I loved how the dolls each smelled of their assigned fruit.  Lemon Meringue was tangy, while Orange Blossom was citrus and sweet.  I was also fascinated by the fact that Strawberry Shortcake had a pink cat with patchwork on its side, as if it was an animated stuffed animal. I loved the confluence of food and play then, and I still do.  Today I have given away my dolls, but I still have a collection of San-X stationary picturing such visual treats as Nyan Nyan Nyanko, little kittens who frolic in food, and the Happy Cheese Family, whose members are each a different type of cheese and who regularly cannibalize each other to make fondue.  I also love those little erasers made to look like food.  Not surprisingly, strawberry shortcake looks great in rubber. Strawberry Shortcake (based on recipe from Denyse at Allrecipes.com) INGREDIENTS: 3 pints fresh strawberries 1/2 cup white sugar 2¼ cups all-purpose flour 4 teaspoons baking powder 2 tablespoons white sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup shortening or softened butter 1 egg 2/3 cup milk 2 cups whipped...