Given the great wisdom that (along with ear hair) age has brought me, I have learned to hope for little and to expect even less. And even then I am usually disappointed.

Nevertheless, charged by my betters with expressing a hope for 2008, I take chin in hand and consider.

World peace? Unrealistic.

Middle East peace? Somehow even less realistic than world peace.

Peace with the neighbor who thinks I should mow and rake more often? Attainable, but pointless. Even to me.

Hmm. Here's something both worth hoping for and surely achievable in our lifetime: A way to take crisp but yieldingly substantial Rice Krispies Bars and somehow add the healthful benefits of antioxidants, in which the bars — although they have numerous vitamins and minerals — apparently are sorely lacking.

What antioxidant-rich foodstuff might one employ?

Pomegranates? Kale? Pinto beans? All admirable, but somewhat off the mark. Blueberries? Coffee?

Semisweet chocolate! And not as a frosting, as the short-sighted might suggest, but as an intrinsic binder, health-improvingly available in every morsel of Rice Krispies Bar.

Now that I think of it, it is the work of a moment (and an idiot) to come up with the very thing. Why wait until 2008? Merry Christmas!

Life-Giving Rice Krispies Bars
1 c. (6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp. butter/margarine (not "spread")
4 c. miniature marshmallows
6 c. Rice Krispies

Lightly grease a 9- by 13-inch pan. Melt the chocolate in a large saucepan over very low heat. Stir in the butter until it is melted. Add the marshmallows and stir over very low heat until no marshmallows show. Remove from heat. Stir in the cereal until the mixture is uniform. Turn into the prepared pan, pressing and spreading evenly. Cool slightly, cut into bars and consume until fully healthy.