Strawberries came in pretty early and may leave a bit early, too.

This recipe comes from a friend. I am not a fan of the "blend the butter into the flour until it looks like peas" method of making biscuits. What size peas I always wonder. This recipe is made in a flash and the biscuits are luscious and freeze beautifully.

As for strawberries, core them, wash them in cold water, slice or quarter them if they are enormous, put them in a big stainless steel or glass bowl and add some sugar. Toss them and let the berries macerate until they give up some juice. If you wait a while, you will get even more juice, which you can freeze in small Mason jars and use with the tasteless strawberries you will be having in February and March.

As for the strawberry ice cream, how can we not make that recipe? Owning an ice cream maker (you can get one for around $30) may sound silly, until you taste your own ice cream.

Biscuits

From Gourmet, 1987 (although it may have come from James Beard, too, I'm told)

Yield: 12-16 biscuits

Preheat oven 425 degrees

4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons baking powder

6 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups heavy cream

extra flour for patting out dough and for cookie cutter

milk to trickle on biscuits

In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Pour in heavy cream, and with (preferably) a wooden spoon, mix slightly until it turns into wet dough. Flour your counter or a cutting board and drop dough onto it. Knead six to eight times. Pat into square or circle to about 1-inch thickness. Using a 3-inch-diameter (approximate size) cookie cutter you've dipped first in flour, place biscuits onto an ungreased baking sheet (if you don't yet have silicone lines, now might be the time to buy them; they will change your baking lives).

Place pan(s) into oven and bake for 13 to 15 minutes, until biscuits are golden brown. Place pan on wire racks. When cool enough, put the biscuits themselves on the wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. They are as good a day or two after they are baked. I will see if they are as good when they have been frozen.

Strawberry Sour Cream

Sherbet

From Moosewood Restaurant Book of Dessert (Clarkson Potter, New York, 1997)

Yield: About 1 quart

1 pint fresh strawberries

three-quarters cup sugar

1 cup sour cream (regular or non-fat yogurt or non-fat sour cream will also work)

one-half teaspoon vanilla

In a food processor or blender puree the strawberries until smooth. Add sugar and whirl for another minute. For the best flavor, refrigerate for about an hour. Stir the sour cream and vanilla into the strawberries and whisk well until smooth.

Transfer to an ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer's direction. Store in the freezer in a covered container until ready to serve.

Note: This sherbet can be served straight out of the ice cream maker, but it keeps well in the freezer, too. If your freezer is particularly cold, let the sherbet soften a little, at room temperature or in the refrigerator before scooping it.

Nibbles

A couple of weeks ago, friends and I decided to go to Lobster Landing in Clinton, which we had been told about but had not tried. A few minutes before my friends arrived at my house in Old Lyme, I took an ibuprofen for a little twinge in my back. Unfortunately, I took an Ambien instead. We left for Clinton; I slept all the way to the restaurant. I ate my yummy lobster roll, slept on the way back, I made sundaes for us and then they left. I slept until 1:30 a.m.

Two days later, I picked up another friend in New Haven and I suggested we stop for lobster rolls at Lobster Landing, just to make sure I was awake the previous Saturday afternoon. It was absolutely the best lobster roll I ever tasted. Both times. Lots of hot lobster and lots of butter on a just-toasted hot dog roll.

Lobster Landing

152 Commerce St.

Clinton, CT 06413

860-669-2005