A Brave Writer’s Life in Brief

Dear Julie,

We just got back from a two week vacation to New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Cincinnati (The Creation Museum).  My children remembered that Cincinnati is your city, but we didn’t have time to look you up! 😉

Our last tea was a lovely, very proper (albeit in the kitchen vs. the dining room) St. Patrick’s Day Tea on March 17.  We served British scones, green kiwi slices, orange (We’re Protestants! 😉 ) clementine segments, Earl
Grey Tea in my “Irish Cottage” teapot, and leprechauns’ gold pieces (Werther’s caramels in the gold foil).  We even had Irish place cards at the table.  No poetry this day.  We just listened to Irish music on You Tube, with scenes of Ireland on the computer screen.  The sun shone and it was light (…Ahhh….these longer days of March!) and lovely.  So were the scones!  Light, flaky and wonderful.  I thought some might like my recipe, so I’ll share it here.

British Scones

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

1.  Combine in medium bowl:
2 and 1/2 cups flour  (I sift it first, then gently spoon it into the measuring cups and level it with a knife.)
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2.  Cut in:  1/2 cup butter, very cold, until mixture resembles fine crumbs (I use a pastry cutter.)

3.  (Optional)  Add:  3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup currants or candied fruit, mixing until fruit is coated with flour mixture

4.  Add:  1 cup sour milk  (I prefer whipping cream.)
(To sour  the milk or cream, add 1 tablespoon lemon juice to 1 cup milk or cream.  Let stand for 15 minutes.

Mix with fork.  DO NOT OVERMIX.

5.  Turn onto a floured board and knead (about 10 times), adding enough extra flour (up to 1/2 cup, but as little as possible) to make a slightly stiff dough.   Pat into a round  about 3/4″ thick and cut into 8 wedge shaped pieces.  Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake 12-15 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Serve warm or cold.  (Warm is best, but cold is good too.)

**MAKE SURE YOU HANDLE THE DOUGH AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE.

Sometimes for our poetry readings we have downloaded poetry  readings from librivox.org/completed-poetry/ where volunteers read poems aloud.  Two other sources are The Poetry Archive, www.poetryarchive.org/ an ever expanding archive of poets reading their own work and Children’s Poetry Archive, where poets for children read their own work.  We listened to an old recording of Tennyson reading “The Charge of the Light Brigade” this past winter on The Poetry Archive.  My ten year old son, who claims to despise poetry, (but he does like Teatime!) is occasionally heard reciting parts of this poem with the same nuances as Tennyson used in his delivery of the poem.  In fact, I heard it on more than one occasion in Washington, D.C. at various monuments, etc!  Smile.

Next Tuesday we’ll think Green… for Spring.  Happy teatime.

Judi Hayes

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