Scones

Not too long ago I took my mother and grandmother to tea. Going to tea is always fun and exciting, but there are two things I look forward to the most- the lavender lemonade and the SCONES. On this particular day, honey lavender was the flavor of the day. Jackpot. Served warm with sides of tart homemade lemon curd and delicious Devon cream... can't get any better!

Even though it's summer and it's as humid as ever... and we are only in June *eye roll*, I got hit with a hankering for scones. I was on a mission. First, what kind of flavors am I wanting? Second, will anyone judge me if I go into the store looking like a sweaty Betty? Well, I'm thinking lemon and raspberry and of course they will, anyone with eyes will judge! In an attempt to look like a human, I showered and was on my way. Quick trip to the store and I'm in the kitchen ready to rock! Let's get into it, shall we?

-500 grams plain flour
-3 tbs granulated sugar
-2 tsp baking powder
-Pinch of salt
-1 lemon
-1 egg
-110 grams cold butter (keep in fridge until the last minute)
-300 ml whole milk
-1 cup raspberries

1. Preheat your oven to 400F.
2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
3. Add the zest of one lemon.
4. Cube the cold butter and toss into the dry mixture. Time to play with your food and quickly, but efficiently, break the butter up until the mixture has a lumpy sand-like consistency.
5. Make a well in the center of the of the dry mixture and pour the milk in.
6. Slowly mix in the milk until the dough just comes together.
7. Rip the raspberries in half and toss into the dough.
8. Gently toss the dough to combine a bit more, be careful, don't crush them too much.
9. Flour your counter top and dump the dough carefully onto the surface.
10. You don't want to work it too much or make it too warm so just kind of shape it into a square with your hands and and give it a couple passes with a floured rolling pin.
11. With a sharp knife, cut nine squares and place them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
12. Beat your egg and brush onto the scones. If you want to give it a little something extra, you can sprinkle a little sugar on the top as well.
13. When the oven comes to temperature pop those babies in for 15-20 minutes until they are golden brown.
14. BONUS TIME: I thought maybe they needed a little something extra sooooo lemon glaze it is! Just take four heaping tablespoons of powdered sugar and the juice of that lemon you zested earlier and stir! Drizzle the glaze over the top when the scones are cooling and devour.

Warm out of the oven with lots of butter hit the spot for sure. They had a good crunch on the outside yet the inside was dense but fluffy, not too sweet, full of flavor, it was nirvana. 

This is opening my eyes to many more flavor pairings- fruits, chocolates, savory goodies, you name it! I'm quite confident that I'm giving those scones I had at tea a run for their money.

Definitely try these, they are really easy, simple, but impressive!

Meaghan

Panda Panda Panda

I'm sorry if you get the song stuck in your head from reading the title, but I couldn't help myself!

No, this post isn't about how to decipher what Desiigner is trying to say, it's to talk about one of my favorite items off the Panda Express menu- chow mien! So the other day I was hit hard with a craving, as per usual, for Panda Express chow mien but didn't feel like going to the mall and having the judging eyes of the food court seeing this girl buy mounds of chow mien for later enjoyment... not that I do that or anything. So I did what I do best and found a bunch of recipes to piece together to end up with what I thought was best. Ladies and gentlemen... I think I've found the closest I could get to the authentic Panda Express taste! Andddd this is what makes me excited, doesn't take much.

Noodles
-1 lb. lo mien noodles (you can use spaghetti if you can't find lo mien- this makes me sound like Ina Garten, I know.)
-1/2 head of cabbage cut into one inch wide strips
-1 stock celery thinly sliced
-2 cloves of garlic finely minced
-1/2 inch ginger root finely minced
-1 medium sweet onion thinly sliced

Sauce
-1/2 cup soy sauce
-1/4 tsp sesame oil
-1 tbs hoisin sauce
-2 tbs oyster sauce
-2 tbs rice wine vinegar
-1/4 cup sugar

1. Mix all of the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Cook your choice of noodles until they are almost done, we will finish the cooking later on, drain, and put aside.
3. In a large sauté pan or a wok on medium high heat, heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil.
4. First toss in the garlic and ginger, stir for a few seconds, but don't let it burn!
5. Next toss in the sliced onion and sauté to soften.
6. After a few minutes, toss in the celery and cabbage to sauté. You can leave these as long as you'd like or as little as you like depending on how crunchy you want everything.
7. When the veggies are at your desired doneness, toss the noodles into the pan with the vegetables and cook everything for a further 2-3 minutes to finish the cooking of the noodles and to marry the flavors.
8. Add half of the sauce to start with, toss, and add more if desired. (This is where I went wrong. I went whole hog and threw it all in and it was swimming in sauce. No big deal, it was still really good, but I would have preferred a little less. I obviously ate it anyway...)
9. Give it a final toss, remove from the heat, plate, and get right in there and eat!

Now you can go ahead and add whatever you want to this for extras or take everything out and just have some noodles- the world is your pickle!

So how does it taste? How does it compare to the real thing? Did I eat the entire pound of noodles right then and there? Well. Sorry to disappoint, but I didn't eat the entire pot. Howeverrrrrr, if I could have... I would have. I wouldn't say this is an exact duplicate, but it was pretty darn close. I didn't hate it, let's just say that. Good thing I didn't eat it all at once because it's been a couple days and I'm still eating it and it tastes even better as it sits, even when cold! I'm definitely the type to have cold Chinese for breakfast so it doesn't bother me one bit. The veggies stay surprisingly crunchy and the sauce just marinates everything even more, it's amazing!

Give it a try, I promise you won't be disappointed!

Meaghan