First of all, let me tell you, once again, that I am far, far from perfect. Now, I could pretend that the mistake in Lois Porter’s recipe for macaroni salad was her mistake, but that would be untrue. Or I could pretend that I made that mistake to keep you on your toes. The truth is I made a big mistake leaving out a word: in the ingredient list it says, “2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni.” I left out the word “cooked.”

Lois’ recipe was perfect — cooked macaroni and uncooked macaroni are not the same. As I said, Lois is more perfect than I am, even if there is really no such phrase, “unperfect.”

Now let’s get back to the fact that the recipe below is, I think, more perfect. I have been playing for more than a year to find ways to use a new flavor found by the Callebaut chocolate company called a ruby chip. It is a deep pink and looks like any chocolate chip, but it tastes nothing like a chocolate chip. Instead it has floral notes, and, when you taste it, you look for its essence.

Priscilla Martel, my human food encyclopedia, asked if I’d like to share the cost of an enormous cache. But I had a difficult time finding a way to use them where its flavor could shine. Over the past month or so I played around with a recipe for banana bread, leaving out the banana and pure vanilla extract. I added ruby chips, fresh fruit and buttermilk. I made it with fresh strawberries twice, once with fresh raspberries. I may try it with plums.

If you can’t get ruby chips, try regular chocolate chips or maybe cinnamon and adding back the pure vanilla extract instead of the almond.

A New Tea Cake

Yield: Three loaves, each of which will feed 10 and freeze beautifully.

4 cups all-purpose flour

1½ cup sugar

1½ tablespoons baking soda

1½ teaspoons salt

2½ cups toasted pecans, coarsely chopped

12 ounces ruby chips tossed in with 2 tablespoons flour (other chips will work)

½ cup sour cream

4 large eggs, beaten

2 teaspoon pure almond extract

1 cup buttermilk

12 ounces butter (1½ sticks), melted and cooled

1 pint fresh strawberries or raspberries, coarsely chopped

Adjust oven rack to middle position, heat oven to 350 degrees and use spray Pam on the bottom of the three 8-ounce loaf pans.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, pecans and chips in a large bowl. Toss the fruit with about 2 tablespoons flour and, using your hands, add the fruit.

In another bowl, add sour cream, eggs, extract, buttermilk and butter. Fold into the dry ingredients and add the mixture fairly equally into the prepared pans. Bake loaves for about 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in pan about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Try not to eat it until it is cool. Better even a few days later. Yummy if toasted and topped with just a little butter.

Lee White lives in Groton and can be reached at leeawhite@aol.com.