Scones

Tuesday, July 13, 2010 Day 13
This morning I made some scones using a berry I had never encountered before, and without measuring spoons, measuring cups, or baking powder, using a strange flour with whole grains in it, substituting yogurt for buttermilk, and they turned out very well – four stars on a five-star scale. I had no idea what to do with the currants I bought, as they were not tasty enough to eat raw – they begged for sugar. I found currant scone recipe which called for buttermilk, oats (which I forgot to get, so I omitted them entirely), baking soda, and baking powder, among other things. I went on-line to find out how to substitute for baking powder, and most of the suggestions involve using cream of tartar but I couldn’t find that in the store at all. I did find a couple which involved yogurt and baking soda, so I went that route. I also thought that the yogurt would be a decent substitute for the buttermilk, which I couldn’t find in the store either. I added some milk to the yogurt in order to thin it some, but apparently added too much, as I had to add a great deal of flour to dry out the dough. But the outcome was really quite good. The recipe called for me to toss the currants and some honey over high heat for a minute, then mash some of the currants. This produced sort of a thin preserves, which I made last night and stored in the refrigerator. I used about half of it in the scones, and we used some of the rest of it as a topping for the scones, along with butter. We will have scones again tomorrow for breakfast to celebrate Bastille Day. This is my first and last attempt at making currant scones (or currant anything else, for that matter). The scones were good in spite of the currants, not because of them, and I cannot imagine myself buying currants again.

We went to the market again today. I bought a red-and-white-striped shirt to pair with some blue jeans and look smartly celebratory for Bastille Day. We also bought some potatoes – small market day for us. The market was slim as well. I think many vendors took off already for tomorrow’s big holiday.

Roger went out on his own this afternoon for the first time – twice! After we covered the market this morning, I dropped into the grocery store for some of the things not available at the market, including hummus and lunch meat for Roger, and I picked up a couple of things not on the list. Then I got in the wrong checkout line. The store was unexpectedly busy and the lines were long. I was third from the cashier when a woman ahead of me ran into some sort of problem, and it took the cashier at least 10 minutes and two calls to management to get it all worked out. In the meantime, I could have checked out three times in another line! I have no idea what the problem was, so I just toughed it out. Poor Roger probably thought I got kidnapped – he stayed outside the store because he had a market bag of potatoes and other things available at the grocery store, and didn’t want them to think he was trying to shop-lift anything. I finally finished, and we went in search of a rotisserie chicken which we had decided to buy for the next two days. We went to the butcher shop around the corner from our house, but it was closed. Tired out by this time, we went home. We ate lunch and I washed my hair while Roger napped. Around 2:00 or so, Roger went out alone on a quest for chicken or something else to eat tonight and tomorrow, as I expect all the stores will be closed tomorrow. He returned empty-handed, remarking on the French custom of shops closing across the lunch/sieste hour. At about 4:00, he went out again, returning this time with chicken and a bottle of wine. He said that the wine shop clerk spoke good English.

Here’s a shout-out to Maggie – welcome to my blog. You are my first non-family follower, so you deserve extra notice.

Lazy day! Other than the shopping trips, we did not go anywhere today. I think my pedometer is broken. When we returned from our market trip, it only showed 914 steps, and that is probably a 3,000 step journey. I reset it, and later, after I had been hanging around the apartment, it only showed 82 steps. How will we know if we have earned glace if we do not know how many steps we have walked? I think I may need to replace the batteries – they are those little round ones, and I need two. I really don’t know where one buys these in Paris, but I’m sure they must be available.

I have a fear that my computer is overheating and that it is going to burn up. I had this feeling before we left LaPlace, and I opened it up and blew it out with some of that canned air. I don’t really know if that helped or not. The computer has continued to run warmer than I would like. We have an Office Depot right around the corner from us – perhaps I should run out and get some canned air. But since I am not sure that helped the first time, I am hesitant. I really didn’t use the computer for long periods much before this summer, so maybe it isn’t really running any hotter than it ever did, or than it should. I have also considered getting one of those laptop fans. Office Depot?