pop quiz

It's Thursday night. You're exhausted, dinner was a chore, and the house is a mess. You have a full day of classes tomorrow and it's 10:15. You just got off the phone with your best friend, but before that you might have been a bit of a grump. What do you do?

a) Go to bed.

b) Make some tea.

c) Make scones.

d) Go to bed.

The answer is...

C!

Make some scones!

Eat 'em for breakfast (with cinnamon-sprinkled steamed buttnutt and a wedge of flax/buckwheat bread- that one's very unremarkable)! I enjoy big breakfasts. I like to eat slowly and enjoy the time it takes before taking on the day. These little rituals are so important to me.

Scones, though. I'd never made scones before and I'd been wanting to and these are so delicious- hardly sweet until you run across a little nibble of a date. Perfect. The recipe's from jae steele (Domestic Affair). I didn't have enough spelt flour so I substituted about 1/2 C. rye flour, and didn't have pecans so I added in almonds. Oh, and used about 1/2 coconut oil and 1/2 butter.

I spent yesterday morning at my friend Anne-Marie's, while she had already gone to work, reading jae steele's Ripe From Around Here and pretending I lived there, listening to Cat Stevens and enjoying her real cat, Canelle, and the look of the snow- it was falling something fierce! This, only to be followed up by boozy coffee and scrambled tofu chez Julia and Simon! To be followed up by meeting with a new friend from Trois Rivieres, the surprising success that came from this work training session which otherwise felt like frosh week. We walked through Carnaval. It's mostly lacklustre, but now I know. Next year I'll stick to the free pancakes and coffee and that'll be that. Thanks, Bonhomme.

(I used my $9 3-D effigy to get in here, to the Ice Castle. It was hardly astounding.)

What all of this comes down to, apart from my Carnaval Encounters, is that I am knowing some damn fine people lately. And also, I love scones.

I have a lot of work to do, though. You'll see!