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Perfect scones, perfect weekend

Rick and I are off on a little sojourn. We never get away together so we are really looking forward to it.

I leave you with this recipe for the perfect scone. The recipe comes from USA Weekend food columnist Pam Anderson (not be confused with the other Pam Anderson of some renown). The key step is to freeze your butter and then grate it into the flour mixture. Perfect scones, every time. I like mine with currants in it but it is also good with a little bit of almond extract and chopped dried cherries.

And cutting them into little heart shapes doesn’t hurt either. Picture above ~~stolen~~ courtesy of my Niece because I forgot my camera.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen
1/2 cup raisins (or dried currants)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 large egg

Directions:

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Grate butter into flour mixture on the large holes of a box grater; use your fingers to work in butter (mixture should resemble coarse meal), then stir in raisins.
In a small bowl, whisk sour cream and egg until smooth.
Using a fork, stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until large dough clumps form. Use your hands to press the dough against the bowl into a ball. (The dough will be sticky in places, and there may not seem to be enough liquid at first, but as you press, the dough will come together.)
Place on a lightly floured surface and pat into a 7- to 8-inch circle about 3/4-inch thick. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp. of sugar. Use a sharp knife to cut into 8 triangles; place on a cookie sheet (preferably lined with parchment paper), about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature.

You’re my best friend

There are friends that come and go in your lifetime – people you connect with because you share a common interest, job, situation – and they slip away. Not forgotten or any less liked – you just move on. Then there are friends that you have for a lifetime.

I am so blessed in that I have four beautiful, funny, smart, supportive friends that are absolutely stuck with me because they are my sisters. There is just a bond there – a collection of memories, dna, philosophies, recipes and, let’s face it – shared physical characteristics, that keeps up together. Even though we can get on each other’s last nerve. Shared worries, shared joys. We are stuck with each other and would have it no other way.

Blessed, indeed.

I also have a cousin – who actually came into our family by marriage about 20-some odd years ago but I’ve known her since I was three years old. We met her family in Argentina in the early 60’s and our families’ paths crossed a number of times until finally she just married my cousin and formally (and legally) became one of us. Claudia has sat with us, when my parents were in intensive care for one reason or another, and we just told the nurses – yes she was one of the sisters – she had just as much right as us to be there. She held our hands, calmed up, cheered us on. She is wickedly funny too. And beautiful like you would not believe. I really feel it was destined she would be part of our family. Another blessing.

And there are those that don’t have to stick with you just because you are related (and may have recriminating information about you…) but are just as treasured. My friend Rhonda – my best friend – who answers my questions before I even ask them, who I can call at 2:00am to ask ‘what was the name of the actor that played the second Steven Carrington in Dynasty" and won’t hang up on me, who knows how much I really weigh, and how many glasses of wine I really drink (and doesn’t hold it against me), who knows, just by looking at me, what kind of mood I am in. Another blessing.

This post was meant to be about postcards and I haven’t been able to work in a word about them.

The cards above were sent to me by my niece’s best friend, Becca. That’s where I was going. What is a best friend but someone that knows your AUNT loves vintage postcards and sends them to her. And not only that but finds (and BIDS) on one with her family name. Becca is Sara’s treasured, and lifelong friend. I would like to co-op her as my friend – she is brainy, funny, insightful and obviously has a generous spirit.

Anyhoo – I wonder if we are distantly related to these people:

Do you do that? Look for things you know will bring a little spark to someone else’s life? That is what a friend does.

What to do, what to do

What is she up to now.

I wanted to go back a post and talk about this habit of buying materials and never quite doing anything with them. I have an entire closet full of things – bits of paper, glitter, fancy hole punches, ribbons, assorted buttons and embellishments.

I also have this vague idea that I will make something out of it all – someday. Some mythical day when I have a proper studio set up, spare time, creative inspiration. So basically – never. I don’t think the stars are going to be so perfectly aligned.

So I obviously need a plan. A to do list. I saw, on another blog, a list of all the projects the author wanted to accomplish. Out there for all the world to see and keep her on task. I love that idea. So I am going to make a list and post it permanently on my sidebar. Cross things off as they are accomplished. Let’s see if that lights a fire under me.

So, for those that are curious – the crystal beads were for cellphone charms and the bit or origami paper for a kimono wrapping paper theme.

The first thing on my to do list is to create the list. Check back in a day or two and see what I have come up with.

Hearts and split stitches

Here’s an example of me just buying stuff because I have a vague notion of what I want to do with it. Somewhere, out in the universe, I saw a tassel made with a cinnabar heart and of course other than the fact it had a heart like this I can’t remember anything else about it. Just that it was really pretty and I thought I could make one like it.

Maybe I’ll stumble across it again.

Still working on the macro settings with the new camera – I wanted the heart to be in sharp focus, not the lace.

I’m making some headway with the tea cozy. I really like using a split stitch for outlining. I get a smoother looking line, especially around the curves with it.

All the tutorials that say the satin stitch takes some practice – totally true. I’m thinking "how hard can it be.." but it’s hard to get a nice, even edge. Lucky for me the petals on the flowers are thin and pretty forgiving.

I wish I had seen Danielle’s comment before I got started about embroidering through a thin backing since I’m going to be making a tea cozy anyway. Well hopefully the threads hopping from one flower to the next won’t show too much.

You can see how well the transfer pencil works – or doesn’t work. Not a nice crisp line to follow, is it?

Well I better get back to it – while I’m still motivated. Like I thought it’s a lot more fun to use multiple colors.

Embroidery

Remember way back when and the world’s ugliest tea pot – I never finished my tea cozy embroidery project (I see you all rolling your eyes and thinking ‘when has she EVER finished something…’) because I made a poor choice in my fabric selection. I was thinking I needed a loose weave so the embroidery part would be easier. But it was too loose and not stable enough to effectively embroider.

Plus, let’s face it, my embroidery skills ~~were~~ are very rusty and the stitches are very wobbly. I also made a tactical error in thinking I wanted all yellow stitches on a white background which gets really boring. Fast.

So I decided to start over – still planning on the end result being a tea cozy for the poor, maligned tea pot.

New design, new colors. New fabric. I found the design on www.needlecrafter.com. Seriously – a treasure trove of designs. For free! I bought a transfer pencil and painstakingly drew over the design. I set my iron to the highest temperature and pressed away on my newly purchase embroidery linen.

And nothing. It didn’t transfer at ALL. Okay. So I got an old white napkin and tried again but it’s too faint. So I’ll try retracing and trying again. Embroidery should not be this hard.

I will persevere though – the colors are too pretty not to.

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