Eat cheese

A square of homemade banana cake and McCafe coffee for breakfast many mornings is so satisfying, a small pleasure.  The grocery store sells McCafe coffee.

I came upon this article that says cheese sales have been down 60% in France since the start of the pandemic.  They are pleading with people to buy cheese as there will be a lot of wastage.  Rich cheeses such as brie and camembert and in fact 80% of most cheeses have an 8 week shelf life.  Even french fries in Belgium have not been selling.  It seems the increase in  home cooking, less eating out and less accessible farmers markets are to blame.  This problem also applies to Canada.

And here we are at the end of May.

Royal pastry chefs Scone Recipe

Coronavirus meme funnies

One of my sisters sent this link to the Queen's scone recipe. Well it was released by the Royal pastry chefs.  Here is the recipe as per the link:

The Queen’s fruit scone recipe

500g   plain flour
28g     baking powder
94g     butter
86g     sugar
2         whole eggs
140ml buttermilk
100g sultanas (cover in hot water and leave to soak for 30 minutes)

1 Preheat oven to 180C.
2 Mix the flour, baking powder, butter and sugar together in a bowl until a crumb is formed.
3 In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and buttermilk together.
4 Add the liquid to the crumb mixture.
5 Continue to mix the dough until it is smooth.
6 Add the sultanas and mix until evenly distributed (optional).
7 Remove the dough from the bowl, flatten the dough and cover.
8 Leave to rest for approximately 30 minutes.
9 Roll out the dough to a thickness of 2.5 cm and cut to desired shape.
10 Rest the scones for another 20 minutes.
11 Gently egg wash the top of the scones.
12 Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.
13 Cool before serving with jam and clotted cream.

Paint Party Friday - Australian pink robin ACEO

Welcome to Paint Party Friday! I saw a photo of the cutest little pink bird, it didn't look real. It was an Australian pink robin. I had to paint it. It is an ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") on cardstock in permanent markers.

Sharing a home safety tip here today from the Canadian Red Cross. I find if I walk away from things I will forget about them so it is a great tip for me anyway:

'Never leave cooking food unattended, not even for a
moment, especially when using high temperatures or
oily food that could splatter'.

Rain's Thursday Art Date - Cracks and Crevices

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art Date, Cracks and Crevices theme!  Here is my little ACEO (2 1/2"x 3 1/2") for this theme!

Good Sleep (or Not)

This is funny, do you have trouble getting to sleep? This happens to me sometimes, I blame it on hormones or perhaps if there has been too much going on.

Takeout and Delivery

Tulip from above, showing pistil and stamens

candytuft white

These are some spring photos I took for you.

Have you ordered in yet since the Covid lockdown? We got an Uber Eats delivery this past long weekend and enjoyed it very much after about 2 months of doing our own cooking. It was chicken wings from Wild Wings with 'garpar' fries (fries with a garlic parmesan dressing). We enjoyed this treat very much.

Then a few days later we decided to order in some sushi and Japanese food.  It was delicious but after throwing out all the plastic waste I felt guilty about polluting the environment.  There has to be a better way, even if it means cooking our own food at home.  It seems a more simple solution for now.

Washable 'paper' towels

My sister in California bought this roll of washable rayon towels for US$2.99 to try, instead of regular paper towels. What do you think of this idea?

We have had glorious warm and sunny weather all weekend and have been spending more time sitting out in the backyard.