Dessert by George, photograph by Bianca Dorso.

I don't know about you, but when I need a little cheer-me-up, say for instance on a cloudy Saturday like today, I wash all my handkerchiefs and tea towels, put Dan Fogelberg or Don Henley on the iPod, and do some ironing.  Believe me, there's nothing like a freshly washed and ironed stack of handkerchiefs to make you feel cared for and ready for whatever the world has in store, unless it's a night spent in a bed with crisp ironed pillow cases and sheets still faint with the aroma of lavendar water, but let's not get crazy.

Yes, I know you have Esther or Corazon to do all your ironing.  Of course you do.  
 
Then after a little ironing -- so satisfying, so good for you -- there's tea, and your lovely pressed tea towel at the ready and how about a lovely dessert for you and an old friend?  Here's my new favorite recipe:

Klondike Slim a Bear 100 Calorie Patty with Frozen Mixed Fruit Melange 

Directions:
1.  Unwrap a Klondike Patty for you and your guest and put each on a plate.  Looks a little small and inadequate, doesn't it.  But wait.  Presentation is Everything. 
2.  Empty a bag of Trader Joe's Frozen Fresh Mixed Fruit into a microwave bowl and nuke it til it's almost hot. (2 minutes, approx.)
3.  Pour it over top of those little Klondikes.
4.  Sprinkle a little sugar on top as desired for extra decadence.
5.  Serve immediately.

I made these for me and Bianca because it was all I had in the freezer, and she enjoyed hers so much she took a picture.  Made them for her father the next night and he loved his too.  He's 99, but still, he knows a good thing when it comes his way.

In these difficult times, we have to cling to a few luxuries. 

CREDITS: Spode plate in the Blue Italian pattern, introduced ca. 1816; Dessert spoon International Sterling's Wild Rose, ca. 1920s; Pen Pilot G-2; and Knife engraved with the name (on reverse) and coat of arms of the Fifth Avenue Hotel which opened on the corner of Fifth and 23rd at Madison Square in Manhattan in 1859 and was demolished in 1908. 

Presidents Lincoln, Grant and Arthur, as well as Edward Prince of Wales and his brother-in-law the Duke of Argyll all stayed at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, where Republican party political boss Thomas Collier Platt held court and wielded power in the 1890s.  On November 27, 1904 both the Governor and Platt spent the day at the hotel without speaking, in a tense stand-off regarding a state senatorship [New York Times].  Not that there's anything familiar sounding about that situation.