Ballet and Scones

Monday may have to shift from laundry day to Tulip day. She had her very first ballet and jazz class today after months of ballerina obsession. It was the cutest thing I’ve every seen. I challenge anyone to find something cuter than a half dozen pot-bellied three-year-olds in leotards, gauzy tutus, leg warmers and ballet slippers trying to dance just like the teacher and getting distracted by their reflections in the floor-to-ceiling mirrors. Even the kids know they are too cute to stand. Oh, and the tap shoes. Oh my goodness, that’s almost cuter when Tulip is earnestly trying to tap just her heel and then just her toe. The concentration it takes is amazing, and I’m quite sure it’s very good exercise for her brain to be asked to isolate those movements.

After class we stopped at Payless, which is apparently where one goes to purchase ballet slippers and tap shoes for the pre-school set. I found some must have footless tights. I can already see that dressing a little girl for dance class is going to be fun.

When we got home, Smiley was sleeping, and Tulip and I wanted a snack, so we tried out a scone recipe. It was our second in a week, and I definitely liked this one better. We altered it a bit by replacing two tablespoons of sour cream with orange marmalade and adding a half cup of cranberries instead of raisins, and it was delicious, even better after we spread some more marmalade over the finished product. I think we have a winner. Now we just need a pretty tea set, and we’ll be set for a lovely tea party. Who am I kidding? We just go ahead and have not-so-lovely tea parties whenever we can get Smiley to nap without snuggling me, which happens once or twice per week. We’ve tea partied our way through an entire box of mint tea within the last month. (Note to the daddy: Put tea on the shopping list!)

In other recipe-testing news, we prepared for our (newly) annual Super Bowl party by testing out a new wings recipe last night. I caught a Throw Down with Bobby Flay that was about wings the other day, so our chef (the daddy) made the winner for dinner last night. They were very good, but I like the more traditional wings we had last year as well. I think we’ll half and half the wings this year and take notes for next year’s bash based on the left overs. As if there are ever leftovers when a certain portion (you know which ones you are) of our regular guests are in attendance.

Simple Scone Recipe:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen
• 1/2 cup raisins (or dried currants)
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 large egg

Directions:

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Grate butter into flour mixture on the large holes of a box grater; use your fingers to work in butter (mixture should resemble coarse meal), then stir in raisins.
3. In a small bowl, whisk sour cream and egg until smooth.
4. Using a fork, stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until large dough clumps form. Use your hands to press the dough against the bowl into a ball. (The dough will be sticky in places, and there may not seem to be enough liquid at first, but as you press, the dough will come together.)
5. Place on a lightly floured surface and pat into a 7- to 8-inch circle about 3/4-inch thick. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp. of sugar. Use a sharp knife to cut into 8 triangles; place on a cookie sheet (preferably lined with parchment paper), about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature.

Cranberry-Orange Scones

Follow the recipe for Simple Scones, adding a generous teaspoon of finely grated orange rind (zest) to the dry ingredients and substituting dried cranberries for the raisins.

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