Garden Hats and Lavender Lemon Scones

  

Some day I will have a beautiful tea party under a pavilion on a green, green lawn.  Everyone will dress in white for croquet and wear elaborately decorated garden hats that will drive the bees to distraction while a quartet softly plays Vivaldi in the background.  I even have a set of delicately blossomed "Butterfly Garden" dishware that my Aunt Mary Ann gave me for just such an occasion.  In the meantime I will perfect my scone recipe...

Sweet Lavender Lemon Scones

3 cups all-purpose flour… plus more to dust surfaces
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp dried lavender buds
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/4" cubes
1 cup, plus 2 tbsp buttermilk
2 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups lemon curd


Preheat oven to 425°F.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Whisk flour, sugar baking powder, lavender, salt and baking soda together in a large bowl.
Add the butter, rub it in with your fingers until the mixture is pebbley.
Whisk 1 cup of the buttermilk, zest, and vanilla in a small bowl.
Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients.
Stir until dough forms.
Transfer to a lightly floured surface, and knead until the dough just barely holds together.  Five or six flips should do it.
Pat out into a 10”x6" rectangle.
Cut dough in half lengthwise. Then cut each half crosswise into 4 squares. ..Cut each square diagonally in half into 2 triangles…see...you did need geometry after all.
Divide up between the two baking sheets.
Brush the tops of the scones with 2 tbsp buttermilk.
Sprinkle liberally with sugar.
Bake until scones are golden and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 13-15 minutes.
Transfer to wire racks; let cool.
Serve warm or at room temperature with lemon curd.

Day-after Holiday Blues

I think all major holidays should automatically be followed by an additional day off to give everyone a chance to recuperate!  This is a great restorative soup for when you are a little worn out and feeling punky from too much egg salad and chocolate.  It is a vegetarian recipe, but if you happen to have a leftover ham bone you can throw it in.  If you do add the bone, remove the soup from heat after the potatoes are done and let it rest on the stove for an hour or so.  Remove the bone...add the roasted garlic and 1/2 and 1/2 and blend.

Roasted Garlic, Potato and Onion Soup

~To dispel negativity in the home…after everyone has gone to bed, cut an onion in half and leave it cut side up on the dining table.  In the morning place the onion and negativity in a paper bag and bury it far from the home.

4 heads of garlic

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup butter

2 sweet onions, sliced thinly

1 tbsp thyme, chopped

4 cups vegetable broth

2 cups potatoes, unpeeled and cubed

1cup half and half

salt

pepper

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Brush 4 12” pieces of aluminum foil with the olive oil.

Wrap a piece of foil around each head of garlic.

Bake until the garlic is golden brown and tender, 30-40 minutes.

Allow to cool, squeeze garlic between fingertips to release cloves.

Resist the temptation to eat the roasted garlic.

Melt the butter in a heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat.

Add the onions and thyme and cook until onions soften about 5 minutes.

Add the vegetable broth and potatoes…reduce heat to a simmer.

Continue simmering until the potatoes are very tender, about 20 minutes.

Add the roasted garlic.

Puree soup with a hand blender until smooth.

Add the half and half and return to a simmer.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

How to...Cocktails on the Down Low

      Cocktails can sometimes be a little tricky to drink and serve in public places.  If it is a pre-symphony “wine and cheese on the lawn” kind of thing then you will be fine and the sounds of your martini shaker will draw envious oohs and ahhs from neighboring picnickers.    If your alcohol consumption needs to be low key, I recommend an old favorite drive- in movie theater trick…premix your cocktails at home and then transfer them into empty plastic soda bottles.

     Novices…please be sure and match the alleged soda color to your cocktail color.  Drinking a Mint Peach Fizz out of a Diet Pepsi bottle is an amateur mistake and will surely catch the attention of some rule spouting junior security guard.   Dark camo green ginger ale bottles are perfect for just about everything.    Also please use 12 oz containers or smaller…chugging Cosmos out of a 2 liter bottle is wrong on too many white-trashy levels to count.

Ginger Lime Cosmopolitan 1 lime, quartered 1 1/2 tbsp sugar 1/2 cup citrus flavored vodka 1/2 cup pomegranate juice 2 tbsp lime juice 2 tbsp ginger, peeled and grated 1 cup chopped ice Place the limes,sugar, vodka, lime juice and ginger into a large cocktail shaker. Muddle until the sugar is disolved and the lime wedges are crushed. Add ice and shake all your cares away. Strain into glasses and enjoy!