Grand 2016 Scone Bake-Off

When DH and I were first married he would order a scone any time they were available at a bakery...in fact he still does.  I tried them occasionally but always found them dry and tasteless.  I even tried on several occasions to bake them myself but they too were dry and tasteless...

When we were in Seaside someone told DH about a wonderful small bakery (the Sea Level)  in the neighboring town of Cannon Beach so early one morning we drove there and ordered scones..  Much to my amazement they were moist, flaky and absolutely delicious.  I had to recant every single derogatory thing I've ever said about scones.

On my return home I vowed to be able to bake just such scones...  I started with this recipe and they were indeed as delicious as the ones in Cannon Beach..

  This recipe was.. "the World's Best Scones! From Scotland to the Savoy"  I used raisins and walnuts in this batch.  The bakery's scones had just a bit of rosemary in them and since mine is so lovely now I added some fresh from the garden....

I believe part of their success was due to a few extra tips   I found as I was researching recipes.  All recipes cautioned about overworking the dough but I did find specific instructions on handling the dough with a bench scraper and gently folding it.  The second tip was freezing the butter and grating it into the flour mixture.  And the final tip was once the dough was cut and on a baking sheet to stick it in the freezer for 30 minutes before baking to achieve a better rise.  These tips seemed to help.

Of course DH has graciously offered to be the official taste tester and I have gathered the following list of scone recipes to begin with.

Apple Cinnamon Scones
English Royalty Chocolate/Orange Scones
Poppy Seed Lemon Scones
Chef John's Pumpkin Scones
Chocolate Hazelnut Ricotta Scones

Meanwhile Morris patiently waits
for a scone to leap off the pan into
his mouth..

I figure that this is a worthwhile winter project.  If anyone has a favorite scone recipe that I should try....do indeed send it to me.  I will keep you posted as I progress and maybe even get DH to share his thoughts.

Anniversary Project Progress

To recap just a bit on how I got this far... I did this on the linen center part of an old tablecloth with this lovely hand crocheted edging.  But when I laid it on a backing my "Inner Allie" said the needle work absolutely needed to be integrated with the backing... I bought this blue fabric for the backing and I love the moire taffeta but HATED the color.  It was a country blue and just dead against the piece.  I put it away for almost a year and finally resigned myself to the fabric and then at the retreat I saw Cathy Kizarian walking around with another color of moire taffeta and it was soooooooooooooo perfect...big hug again to Cathy for trading her color for mine.

Now to integrate the piece and the backing I decided to use the elements from this motif...









And that is just what I did in the mornings at Seaside, Oregon...by the window watching the tide come in and go out. This is what it is going to look like with the indentations filled.

Now my "Inner Allie" just kept pushing me along... and of course she a simple binding will just never do... so I gathered some more trims to use along the bound edge...  I must admit that my quilts have improved immensely with her as my inspiration and inner voice.

 

Now a little history on that roll of trim... In 2002 we were in New Zealand and someone told me about a sari fabric store in Auckland that had good prices on trims.  I bought quite a lot of lovely trims, all of which I used years ago.  But I never could find the right spot for this and I had a whole roll because it was a close-out price and I was beginning to think I was going to have to be buried with it ...and as you can see it is perfect here.... only had to wait fourteen years...

 

This sampler I did the year we were married was the inspiration for this project.  My original plan had been to add this phrase and our names and the year of our marriage with tiny petit point cross stitch to the piece... With my vision problems that is now an impossibility so I had to come up with another plan.

I am going to transfer the original text from the sampler to fabric and applique it.  Haven't figured out the details but I'll make it work somehow.

Home again

 

Home again.  We have made this trip four years in a row with our friends and it is always a joy and before we left we reserved our condo for next year.  We share a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo with kitchen.

Both Cristina and I love to cook so we ate well, plus enjoyed the ocean and played a lot of bridge. 
This picture was taken at Multnomah  Falls on the way home.
The weather was spectacular which was rare for the Oregon coast in late fall.

Our condo was right on the beach and the view was breathtaking..  I never tired of watching the tides roll in and out.  My favorite thing each year is to rise when it is still dark and watch the morning colors unfold.

And when I say we played a lot of bridge I mean a LOT of bridge...from mid day to late night every day... You can't blame not winning on bad cards in this situation. Every person in this picture sitting in the same direction is playing exactly the same hand of cards (hence the term duplicate).  You just have to play it better.  There is dealing machine that deals out the hand before each event starts.  We played mostly in team events with our friends.  DH is very competitive and loves this.  Not me but I do it because I love him...  No big win like last year but we held our own.

 
We were only gone a week but returned to fall in all its glory.

And finally things are looking up for egg production.
One hen looked like this when we left but when we came home she was sporting an exquisite comb and elegant wattle.....sure sign of maturity...

I did do some ribbon embroidery on the base for the anniversary piece and excited now to forge ahead... more when I get some photos...  So glad to be home ...as always..

And tomorrow is squash soup and scones.

Butter, flour, sour cream and memories...

Here I am once again spending about 4 hours declaring my undying love and devotion by baking sour cream rolls for my DH.  I realized today that I've had that rolling pin for 60 years.  I can't even remember why I cut the handles off but I did.  I've had many other fancy wood and marble ones over the years but this old maple one is by far my favorite.

When DH comes home I'll get a huge hug with one arm while he is grabbing for a roll with the other.  I've blog often about this recipe of his mother's.  I've often been tempted to alter it a bit with cinnamon, cardamom, icing or nuts but that seems sacrilegious.  The only change I've made is that I use butter instead of shortening.

I had the kindest, sweetest, most loving mother-in-law in the world. I adored her and so did everyone who knew her..   Every single time I make sour cream rolls I feel her presence at my side.

She often took a bus from Glendive Montana to Spokane to visit us....a long grueling trip.  She came in the door, took off her coat, put on her apron and started the dough for sour cream rolls for her "Ronnie."  She was not known for being a particularly good cook but the sour cream rolls were her claim to fame and she learned to bake them from her mother... The next time my granddaughter is here we're going to bake them together....  I did this watercolor and recipe for her descendants. My own sour cream rolls never quite measured up in my husband's eyes, but once that Mary was gone, my sour cream rolls were looking better every year.....

My favorite story about Mary is: While taking communion one Sunday, Mary found the host dry and impossible to swallow. She wrapped it in a tissue, took it home and agonized what to do with the holy bread. Finally she put it in a tree for the birds. A shocked friend scolded her for being sacrilegious. This weighed heavily on Mary so she went to confess her sin. To her relief the priest's response was "Mary, you did good!"  Sometimes I like to remember the people who have so special in my life and she was definitely one.

CQI Retreat in Kansas City

Arrived home yesterday from the CQI retreat and had a fabulous time.  It has been several years since I had attended a retreat and it was fun to meet new people and even more fun to connect with friends from past retreats... But the biggest treat was to have Lisa Boni as my roommate.  We have been online friends for years and years but somehow have missed being at the same events at the same time... I admire her work so much and she is definitely a sister in spirit.. We had 4 days to talk nonstop and work side by side.

Another friend who goes back to the very first retreat I attended was Connie Kalina.... She has taught herself to make bobbin lace and I couldn't wait to see it in progress.  Here she is giving a lesson to Carol Kramer..   It is an incredibly complex process and the end result is so delicate.

Since I had last seen Connie, she and her husband have taken up mountain climbing and have hiked several over
14,000 feet.

She gave me this small lace frame which I shall treasure and use in a most special project.

The thread is gossamer thin and the pattern is achieved by manipulating  the bobbins again and again in a very specific order.  Much too complex for me but I immensely admire that she was willing to learn.











Another treat was meeting Nancy Taber and giving the button I painted of her dog Brandy.. who is now deceased....  Most of the time special projects just go out in the mail so is was joyful for me to actually hand it to her and see her face light up.

I presented a slide program on making fabric books and had the cottage, corset, Morris and other books with me.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it. 

And an extra bit of serendipity was finding the perfect fabric to use as a base for the anniversary project.  I had a terrible time finding a moire taffeta that would coordinate even when I went to the garment district in LA with Susie a couple years ago.  I finally found a blue online but I was never happy with it... But when the stash dash was going on I saw Cathy Kizarian carrying this pastel green piece of moire that was perfect match and the right size. Being such a sweet person she gave it to me.  The blue was just too intense.   I had pretty much stalled on the project but excited now to finish.  We are leaving for Seaside Oregon on Monday and it is going with me...  Now I have to catch up at home before we leave..