Late tonight as the L train was jerking along in the tunnel between 1st Avenue in Manhattan and Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn we spotted a person amidst the crowded train who represents both a childhood hero and the dish we were craving as we inched along underground.

But before she was spotted we learned that she had lived near the L-train's path for over 30 years and until recently the train was guaranteed to always have only seven passengers. She said this loudly, as though to indict all other passengers on the crowded car. It wasn't until 20 minutes into a ride that should have taken five minutes that we finally spotted the body, er, costume attached to the voice. This is when we gained a renewed respect for this long-time resident. This elderly woman’s Strawberry Shortcake costume took tonight’s L-train fashion cake, overriding all the train-riding hipsters and fashionista aboard.

And this was no 99 cent shop costume made of a plastic pinafore. It was obvious that our "Strawberry" had constructed the outfit on her own. Her bright red curly locks poked out from behind the pink fleece kerchief she had fashioned. And she was wrapped from neck to waist in a pink and red polk-a-dot scarf. Her pink tights sagged slightly in her white Keds and in her hand she clutch a bag with a trinket-sized buddy, Apple Dumpling, dangling from the strap. We sniffed the air, hoping to catch a whiff of that delicious artificial strawberry scent but only smelled the McDonalds meal that a different passenger had packed for the marathon train ride.