Day: November 6, 2005

It’s NOT “just like riding a bicycle”

Ya know, I tried riding a unicycle once, but I never could really get a handle on it.

I’ve been riffing off Christine‘s scones recipes (just go to Morning Coffe and Afternoon Tea  and enter a search for scones in her search box–she has several scones recipes) and have a variation on a simple scones recipe that was a big hit with my Wonder Woman.

So, here ’tis:

Ingredients

• 3C regular old white flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup margarine or butter (melted)
• 4Tbs sugar
• 2 eggs_milk to make one cup liquid
• Finely-grated zest of one lemon
• 1Tbs lemon juice
• 1Tbs (more or less to taste) poppy seeds

Procedure

Heat oven to 375F
Optional: also heat well-seasoned cast iron skillet to medium heat

• Mix dry ingredients
• Add melted butter and cut in well
• Mix wet ingredients (this includes the lemon zest), adding the lemon
• juice last
• Mix wet and dry
• Optional: Oil cast iron pan lightly; use metal forms (I use some ideally-sized cans that formerly held wasabi peas–both ends cut out) and add about 1/6 the batter to each form in the cast iron pan. When the bottom has “set” well, remove the forms and turn them to brown the other side. Then transfer the scones to a baking sheet in the oven. I was able to do three at a time this way, easily. The scones will slump a little but that’s OK.
• Make six scones up on a baking sheet (either as above or as with “drop” biscuits)

In about 10 minutes, they’re ready to pull from the oven, butter and disappear down appreciative gullets. The lemon zest isn’t overpowering, and the lemon juice souring the milk adds just a little lightness (acidic reaction with the baking powder) to the finished prooduct. The sugar assures that, eaten without jams or jellies, they’re a lightly sweet treat.

Of course, without the amendments (the lemon zest and poppy seeds—I’d still keep the lemon juice or use vinegar to sour the milk), these are just plain ole scones that can take any number of additions. My next experiment will likely be to out the butter/margarine for applesauce and add cinnamon, a pinch of freshly-ground nutmeg, a wee tad of (freshly-ground) cloves and some raisins. I’m betting that’ll be a hit, too.

Hegel was a jackass.

Consider: any time there is a conflict between Good and Evil and the two reach a “compromise” (a synthesis of the two), Evil wins.

In any argument, when one side is right, marshalls all its facts, makes a sound argument… and compromises with the side that is wrong, marshalls NO facts (unless lies count as facts) and makes spurious arguments grounded only in its own fantsies and feelings, and yet the side that’s right compromises for expediency’s sake (or just to back off and “make peace”) then wrong has won again.

So it is in public policy, in childrearing, in education—darned near every aspect of life: there are truths and lies, rights and wrongs, and when what is true and right compromises with what is lies, wrongs, then the liars win.

Even if it’s only a drop of feces in a glass of milk, the milk’s still unfit to drink.

Hegel was a jackass.

And those who surrender principles, who will feast with the Devil himself if he’d just be civil… become Republican’t Congresscritters. (Yeh, guess what population makes up the Demoncrappic Congresscritters. The inquiry is its own answer. *sigh*)

“American conservatism is merely the shadow that follows Radicalism as it moves forward to perdition. It remains behind it, but never retards it, and always advances near its leader. This pretended salt hath utterly lost its savor: wherewith shall it be salted? Its impotency is not hard to explain. It is worthless because it is the conservatism of expediency only, and not of sturdy principle. It tends to risk nothing serious for the sake of truth.”– R. L. Dabney