The perfect plan

My clothes and I are not getting along. I expect them to do their job — look alert, zip and button.

They expect to do nothing but lounge in the closet. When it comes to basic duties, like zip and button, they downright refuse.

As their employer, I find this attitude unreasonable. Where's the imagination? The broad thinking? The stretch? Not, apparently, in my wardrobe.

I could submit to something truly humiliating, like volunteering for that TV show where they throw away all your clothes. Or worse, shopping.

Instead, I've joined a plan. It's fun, sort of. You write down everything you eat.

There's a friendly computer program that offers encouragement like: Have some fruit! And: Try soup! It converts the dishes into points and the points into goals and the goals into … something. I lose interest after I list all the delicious things I plan to consume.

Like dessert, an important part of any food plan. Recently I put together a lovely bowl of raspberries. After a taste, I decided they could be sweetened by a soak in simple syrup and sweet white wine. And softened with a swirl of creme fraiche.

And perked up with a scoop of ice cream and a couple of tender almond cookies, glazed with jam. The final composition glowed pretty and pink and pleasing.

I'm quite certain it will meet with the approval of my plan because a) it's fruit and b) it's soup.My plan is to enjoy every bite. After all, revenge is a dish best served cold.

Dessert soup

Prep: 15 minutes
Chill: Overnight
Servings: 8

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups sugar
18 ounces raspberries
1 small (375 milliliter) bottle white dessert wine, such as Sauternes or muscat
1/2 cup creme fraiche