MINT RAISIN BLARNEY SCONES

We can all celebrate Saint Patrick's Day and I especially love the many recipes available.  Of course scones are always on the menu at our house and I have been playing with recipes again.  I did several modifications to this recipe this morning. 

 It was lovely and warm out so I was watering my yard.  Within one hour the temperature dropped it had started snowing like crazy!  I have set up a little table for us to enjoy some time together:

I purchased this little child's tea set years ago in Wyoming and of course I shared the cottage teapot several times recently as I am not tired of seeing it.

I purchased my doll in the 1980's in Toronto, Canada. I may have shared this before so I apologize but I am thinking of it as I see this doll.  My friend had taken me to a house to see the antiques that were for sale by a friend.  I purchased several things including this doll.  She lived in an elegant farm house that was decorated and I was so impressed however she had spent all her money on the decorating and there was no toilet paper in her bathroom but she had a clever note: "please use these paper napkins for toilet paper".  We of course got a laugh!

 My grandmother embroidered the topper and napkins as a wedding gift for me nearly 46 years ago.

Here is what you will need for the scones:

1/2 stick of soft butter, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 1 Tb mint extract, 2 3/4 cups of cake flour, 2 1/2 Tsp baking powder, 1/2 cup yellow raisins and 1/4 cup black raisins, 1 cup of buttermilk.  You will need a shamrock cookie cutter and I used a floured cloth for rolling the dough and a knit cover on my rolling pin.  Both of these get laundered afterwards.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line your baking sheet with parchment paper.  I put wax paper on my table to put them on to cool when baked.

In a medium bowl combine the butter and sugar and vanilla and

 mint extract and beat through with mixer.

In larger bowl, mix flour and baking powder together and fold in raisins.  Now alternately mix the butter mixture above and the buttermilk into this and stir well with a spatula until a nice dough forms.  Roll the dough out onto the floured cloth and cut with shamrock cutter.  I sprinkled some green sugar bits on top for fun  or you could just brush with sugar and a little cream.  Bake 18 minutes.  Makes about 20 scones.  Clotted cream would add a nice touch here!

PENNY PHILLIPS MADE ME GO CUCKOO

I just couldn't resist a great title for this post because several weeks ago Penny showed us what she did with 4 broken cuckoo clocks when she turned them into shabby chic creations.  I commented to her on her blog that I knew I would just have to find one and I went lots of places without seeing any at all.

  Finally, I saw two at an indoor flea market in a booth and I made an offer on the larger one.  It is from Germany and came home with us.  As you can see it has a new paint job:

It took me a while to understand a

cuckoo clock and how it works and

in the process I have learned more 

because this is actually a Cuckoo

Whippoorwill Clock.  That means it

has 2 different birds that comes out

and sound different.

I have to admit that I love Penny's last name because my Grandfather was a Phillips and so that was my Mother's maiden name!  When I was a child there were lots of Phillips kinfolk  and great cousins in the panhandle of Florida where both of my grandparents came from.

WATCHING THE BIRDS for "Friends Sharing Tea"

Like many of you, I enjoy feeding the birds and watching them come and go to the bird feeder.  Some of you will remember my absolute surprise and shock when a really big bird landed on my bird feeder last September.  It was an owl.  I have never seen one again.

I would love to see that again but I'm not holding my breath.  I am enjoying a "Watch The Birds" tea time this morning and I have a little tea vignette set up with my Blue Birds Teapot.

  So grab a tea cup and pour yourself a cup of hot tea.  Do you take cream or sugar or both? 

I took these photos this morning - winter brown is here right now!

My hubby and I enjoy teasing each other about having a bird feeder as we declare we are now like all the "old people" we used to make fun of who feed the birds:

I love the little topper below that I recently found for just a few dollars.  It has an appliqued padded blue teapot on each of the 4 corners.  I have folded under one side to fit the buffet.

Hope your week is peachy:

PLAYING WITH ROSES

I ran in the market for some things for dinner and spotted the reduced floral section with some roses:

Sometimes it is fun to play 

with a camera.

We know that spring won't be here

for quite a while in Colorado so today

I decided to brighten the kitchen 

with some roses.

KEEPING COZY WHILE READING "A FINE ROMANCE"

I don't know about you but with all this snow I would love nothing better than a big stack of cookbooks, magazines, etc and lots of time on my hands to pursue and waste away hours and hours dreaming through the pages.  Actually this just isn't my life. I don't have a lot of time to relax.

  After hearing about a book others have read I had to find one. (I had sold her cookbooks in my shop for years.)   I am referring to Susan Branch's book and the fact that I just picked my ordered copy up last evening: "A Fine Romance". Today is "Friends Sharing Tea" so I want to share this book too. You would love it and wintertime is the perfect time for a good read. 

  Not every room in my house is full of teapots,  Our den is actually the one more masculine room.  I have a new teacup and saucer and it is English Elizabethan.  The colors are yellow and blue with lots of gold.

A leather sofa separates the kitchen from the den. My tea cabinet is armed and ready there as I do my reading.   

I have not been to England but doesn't everyone have a right to dream of going there? I know many of you have been there.  Susan takes us there in this book and journals each day with her artwork.