Happy Easter!

My Easter centrepiece....the mini eggs didn't last long!!

oh-so-versitile scones

My mom bought me the Joy of Cooking at a garage sale a number of years ago, and it has been a staple in my kitchen ever since. One of my go-tos is the recipe for scones. It is fool-proof. In fact, the spine of the book is broken on the scone recipe page from so much use. I typically add dried apricots, but this morning I added raisins and cinnamon for our picnic with friends at Riverdale farm. Fresh fruit also works (blueberries, for instance), as do savory ingredients like chives, ham, and cheese (just eliminate the sugar).

The secret to making these scones flakey is to use cold butter (refrigerated or frozen) and to ensure the butter stays chunky- you should see flecks of butter throughout the dough - don't mix any more than you have to to form a ball of dough. I usually do triangular scones, but rounds and squares work equally well.

These are delicious on their own, with butter, jam, and of course, the topping of all toppings, devonshire cream! I think even the miniature Kate Middleton would indulge in these babies!

Scone recipe from the Joy of Cooking, copyright 1964
(Yields approx 12 scones)

2 cups of sifted cake flour (or 1 3/4 cups of sifted all-purpose flour)
2 1/4 tsp double-acting baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup butter, cold and cubed into penny-sized pieces
2 eggs
1/3 cup cream (I use 1% milk and it works just fine)

- Sift dry ingredients together
- Add butter and cut into dry ingredients with two forks or a pastry blender, until pieces of butter are pea-sized and distributed throughout
- Mix eggs, reserve a tablespoon of egg mixture for later; mix remaining egg mixture with milk/cream
- Add liquid to dry ingredients and mix as litle as required to form a ball of dough. Also add any additoinal ingredients at this time if you choose to
- Flatten dough to about 1.5 inches thick and cut scones (in whatever shape floats your boat!)
- Place scones on greased cookie sheet
- Brush with reserved egg mixture and sprinkle with salt or sugar
- Bake for approximately 15 minutes at 450 degrees, or until a skewer comes out clean (scones should be just golden brown)

Enjoy warm or at room temperature!

When the forsythia is in bloom, roses you can prune!

When the forsythia is in bloom, roses you can prune. ....at least this is my mother's rule of thumb. Vibrant forcythias (or 'banana trees', as I called them as a kid) are blooming all over the city right now, so I suppose if the saying is correct, it's time to kick off garden season!

This year I need to figure out some plants for the shady side of my garden...any ideas?

Eastern urns

Brutal pictures indeed (I had a very fussy little boy in the background demanding some attention), but here is what we got up to this afternoon ....alas, my Christmas urn is FINALLY gone! After Easter I will just remove the Easter eggs and keep the pansies and pussy willows!

Cheap and cheerful

As I've blogged about here and here, I am in the midst of planning my 3 year old's birthday party.

We are going with sports theme and I'm using lots of primary colours, so these trays are perfect.

I found them at my local dollar store - they were $1.50 (small) and $2.50 (large) minus 20%.

A STEAL, right? I love the colours and patterns.

I am going to use them to serve the food and drinks (Ceasars and pulled pork sandwiches for the adults, lemonade and pizza for the kids!) to our guests at the party.

Next I have to work on loot bags!

Gallery wall update

I posted a few weeks ago (here) about a vision I had for a gallery wall in the back corner of our bedroom.

Well this weekend we finally got the first set of pictures/art up on the wall, and I am pleased by the way it turned out! All of the credit goes to my husband who is a master at hanging pictures. ...such an asset to have around the house!

To play it safe, I used all of the same type of frames (Ikea Ribba) and kept the distance between each frame at 1.5 inches.

Goodnight Moon, Goodnight room!

This weekend we finally got around to putting the final pictures up in my 2.5 year old daugther's room. I have blogged previously (here) about my love of graphic posters and how I go about framing them. The posters for my daugther's room came from the Vancouver 2010 Olympics - they are sentimental because we brought her to the Olympics when she was only 8 months old.

The room is not perfect:

...the wall colour is not quite what I wanted

...the pictures are too high thanks to the preexisting chair rail,

...I really don't love the mirrored doors I chose for the closets that we built

...and I'm sure a designer would have a seizure when they saw the amount of colour I've packed into this room

...but it was a labour of love and we did all the work ourselves. Most importantly, my daughter loves her room and sleeps soundly and peacefully. ....what more can you ask for!?

Here are a few before pictures!