We just sort of finished moving. There is still more than one giant box to unpack, and piles of odds and ends to make room for in the kitchen. The floor is evenly spread with brightly colored plastic cookie cutters and a generous smattering of caraway seeds (Man, toddlers are useless movers.) After planning, executing, packing,and moving in about a week - including finding renters for our old house and deciding on a new place to live, (My best pals have no idea how close we came to pitching a tent on their couch.) somehow, we're here. And now, after I sit down and sip this tea, I may even do something about that mess.
This move brought to my attention an unfortunate personal quality, that thankfully I have Paul to counterbalance. I'm a bit of a horder. I do not like to get rid of things. As soon as I take a bag of clothes to the thrift store I find the perfect outfit for that old shirt. And when we moved I came across three separate plastic bags of increasing agedness that contained fridge stuff. No, thankfully not the contents of long ago refrigerators, but the precious paraphenalia of the fridge door from the last three places I had lived thrown with haste into a grocery bag just before we moved. Three times. And I never unpacked one of them. I just let the freshly pertinent detritus build up on a new fridge only to eventually become a new plastic bag full of precious trash.
I found a Christmas card from ten years ago, and a rubber magnet from Kingman, AZ (Don't worry, I kept those.) There's the picture of P-Diddy and his maltese in matching tuxedoes, and the clipped out advertisement for the animal psychologist featuring a photograph of a cheerful woman on a couch surrounded by well-adjusted animals (not just dogs and cats either, there's a horse, and a hamster, and a tortoise.) (I threw those last two treasures away, but man, I'm going to be pissed if I need them tomorrow.)
And amongst these important scraps, I found a yellowed recipe clipped from the Culinary SOS column from who knows how many L.A. Times ago for strawberry scones from Clementine Bakery in Century City.
I thought these would be perfect for an impromptu Valentines Day tea party. Invite over some people you love. See now, aren't you happy I don't throw anything away?
Strawberry Scones
Also, you could replace the strawberries and lemon zest with dried cherries and sliced almonds and add a teaspoon of almond extract to the cream. Or really add anything you fancy in a scone, this is my new favorite basic recipe. It's so easy, and results in a light, crumbly, slightly sweet treat.
2 1/3 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 c. sugar
2 t. baking powder
pinch salt
1 stick (earth balance) butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces and frozen
2/3 c. dried strawberries
1 t. lemon zest
3/4 c. soy creamer
1. In a food processor, mix the flour, the sugar, the baking powder, salt, and butter, until the butter is in small pieces. Scrape the batter into a bowl and stir in the strawberries and lemon zest.
2. Pour in the cream and incorporate with a spatula. With your hands, mix the dough by bringing the bottom to the top and working between fingers. Do not overwork.
3. Turn it out onto a floured surface. Press the crumbly dough together and flatten to five-eighths-inches thick. Cut into 12 scones using a 2 1/2 -inch diameter cutter. Freeze and bake as needed.
4. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the scones 2 to 3 inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. If you feel fancy, you can brush the tops with more cream and sprinkle with large grain sugar. Bake until golden, about 30 to 35 minutes, depending on whether the dough is frozen. Cool a minute or two before removing from the baking sheet.
