On to happier things aka: When life gives you lemons...

...make some limoncello and lemon-blueberry scones!

Here's the limoncello that Ms. D and I started last week just as the appendicitis started to hit. I hope that doesn't somehow make it sluggish! It's just about ready to be bottled and it will be good for drinking all summer. It's tasty by itself but also quite refreshing mixed with sparkling water. I plan to try it muddled with both mint and basil (at different times). Care to join me for a drink?








There are many different recipes out there. I pretty much follow the one I got out of a Giada deLaurentiis cookbook. I steep lemon rinds in vodka for about four days, add simple syrup for another day and then take out the rinds, bottle it up and let the flavors set in the fridge for a week to a month. The longer the better!

Yesterday I made a fantastic discovery. I found myself in the mood to bake or cook, maybe since I'm stuck at home and also because I know I'll be doing a lot of it once we're in Zurich. A recipe search led me to a brilliant food blog. And I am now quite smitten with smittenkitchen.com. Deb's writing is fun and her photography is great. I'd like to think it's the food blog I'd have if I could focus my scatterbrain enough on one topic!

While I did gather one project from reading up on her site, I decided that my baking mood was inspired by the less than stellar store bought ready-to-bake scones we had made that morning. So I decided to surprise CF with fresh baked real scones by the time he got home! I emailed mom (by the way, please check out her fantastic blog here) because I was pretty sure she'd have a favorite recipe. Sure enough she had the perfect simple scone recipe, and it even came with an article explaining the short process of making them. She scanned the two pages and emailed me jpegs. I got slowed down by the fact that I needed to pick up ingredients, so I pulled myself together and headed out for my first post-op solo adventure. It went all right, but my belly was sore once I got home. I was glad I needed to freeze a stick of butter till solid, so I didn't have to start baking right away.

The process was pretty darn easy once everything was ready. Flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt mixed in a bowl. I grated the butter (hence the need to freeze it) into this mixture and added the dried fruit I had picked up from the store. I had decided on lemon blueberry since I was on a lemon-roll. So I also zested two lemons into the mixture. Then I wisked a little sour cream with one egg, and that gets folded into the dry mixture. A little working with the hands and the dough comes together. I pressed it flat, sprinkled with a little extra sugar, and cut it into triangles. I lined a baking sheet with parchment paper and popped them in the oven. I cleaned the very few dishes I had dirtied, and then settled into rest in my favorite spot of the week, the chaise.

I just about squealed when CF came home right then. "Ohhh, you are going to love me!" I informed him. "I already do." Awwww. When he saw what I had going in the oven though he asked, "Are they for dinner?" "No." "Well, I *was* going to love you!" Harumph!

Instead we had them for dessert. And they are pretty darn good, if I do say so myself! We also had them for breakfast. I'm tempted to have one now for lunch! Oh dear, the problem with baking is then there are baked goods in the house! Well, it was sure fun and well worth it.



Thanks, mom!