Memory, History, Sand

Sand animator Kseniya Simonova won "Ukraine's Got Talent" 2009. Her winning performance portrays life during Ukraine's Great Patriotic War against the Germans in World War II.

For other sand animation performance artists check out Joe Castillo, Ferenc Cakó, David Myriam, and Ilana Yahav. Thanks to RantWoman who clued me in to the work of Simonova.

Lemon Basil Scones

For the August SAGBUTT gathering the Wenches  contributed lemon basil scones, made with basil picked fresh from our garden.

Lemon Basil Scones

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• zest of 1 large lemon
• 5 Tbsp butter, cold and cut into small cubes OR 5 Tbsp vegetable oil (I used oil)
• 1 to 1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
• generous 1/4 cup basil leaves, sliced thinly (stack leaves together, roll up, and snip with kitchen shears)
• 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp milk (can substitute cream or half and half)
• raw or granular sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 375*F.

Blend together flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, salt, lemon zest, and basil.

Cut in butter until the texture resembles a course meal. Alternately, you can use a food processor to do this. Just pulse until you get pea-sized lumps.

Mix together lemon juice and milk and add to the scone mixture. Combine until dough just comes together. Do not over-mix -- dough will get stretchy and scone texture will be soft and spongy.

On a lightly floured surface, shape dough into a disc shape about 8 inches in diameter, leaving the center slightly higher.

Using a pizza cutter, slice the disc into 8 pieces like a pizza.

Place scones on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

NOTE: If you use vegetable oil instead of butter, you can treat the scone batter like drop cookie dough -- simply take a large spoonful and drop it on the parchment paper-lined baking sheet. I usually get 10 to 12 scones this way.

Brush with remaining tablespoon of milk and sprinkle tops lightly with sugar.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until lightly golden on top.

Enjoy!

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day -- August 2009

I'm only going to share one flower. But it's a real stunner. I consider it by far the most gorgeous flower in the garden right now.

Here is the plant that produced this flower.

And finally, here is the fruit--considered a berry--produced by this flower.

For more GBBD posts visit Carol over at May Dreams Garden.

August SAGBUTT

Blissfully tranquil.

That's how I describe yesterday afternoon's SAGBUTT get-together. The August gathering of the Seattle Area Garden Bloggers United to Talk was hosted by Molly of Life on Tiger Mountain.

We started off with a tour of the gardens. Along the way we got to meet the chickens and ducks.

This made me stop in my tracks--pumpkin envy hit hard.

 

Keeping the pumpkins company were borlotti beans. This past week Wing Nut had made us a borlotti bean and fennel salad for dinner. We hadn't tried borlotti beans before and of course ours came from a can. So we were thrilled to see them growing in Molly's garden.

Molly is a great storyteller and I loved hearing her tell us about the history of the property--very colorful.

 

While in the woods, Wing Nut thought she saw Sasquatch.

But it was only Diva Dog---and Wing Nut having issues with the camera settings. Diva Dog enjoyed the visit as much as we did. She was in heaven as she explored the woods and the stream. And Molly's dog, the Awesome Aussie, even got Diva Dog to play--no easy feat. 

After the garden tour, we returned to the house where a tomato tasting awaited on the balcony. There was much in the way of good conversation, delicious food, elderberry beverages, and exchanges of plants, seeds, and fruit. We even left with today's breakfast.

Fresh eggs taste amazing.