Sylvia's Scenario

It's that time of year again for fresh berries and I'm craving them. I ordered raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries from my Brown Box this week and they are delicious. Then Bruce suggested we have strawberry shortcake this weekend but I didn't want to ruin the delicious berries with those sponge cake-things at the store or even angel food cake so I made my own shortcake. When they first came out of the oven, one did not make it to the wire rack to cool because it ended up in my mouth. Wow! These shortcakes are the best. Makes 6 shortcakes 2 cups flour, plus more for work surface and biscuit cutter 1/2 tsp. salt 1 Tbsp. baking powder 3 Tbsp. granulated sugar 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar for sprinkling 1 stick unsalted butter (8 tablespoons), frozen 1 egg, beaten 1/2 cup half-and-half 1 Tbsp. half-and-half 1 egg white, lightly beaten 1. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position; heat oven to 425 degrees. 2. Mix flour, salt, baking

I never thought frat. food could be so good!  Chef Bob put together a wonderful dinner for family's of the graduating class of my nephew, Skyler, who is graduating from Whitman College this weekend.  (Chef Bob is the guy in the middle)  The frat. brothers LOVE him!!   But I can see why.  They are one lucky house to have a guy like this cooking for you everyday.  He put out quite a spread for us. The undergraduates assisted Chef Bob and served the seniors and their families. Chef Bob has been the chef for this frat house for 25 years and going strong. Our first course was a delicious salad with peaches and strawberries. Our entree was a choice of salmon, chicken marsala, or prime rib  with quinoa pilaf which is what I got. (Served on real plates, not paper…)  And dessert was a delicious strawberry cream cake that was homemade.  Most impressive.  This is a far cry from Animal House. Congratulations to all the graduates and to

For Mother's Day, I received some new additions to my Lush collection of bath bars, bombs, and melts. Thank you, Lauren, for remembering me - again - and surprising me with another gift in the mail.  My last gift from Lauren were the salt and pepper shakers in March. Can you tell which one is the real egg from our chickens? I love opening gifts that come in the mail.  (The one and only good thing about living far away from people you love).  If I did one thing right as a mother, it was teaching my kids to be good gift-givers! They both excelled in that category and I'm a very happy Mother for it.  If you don't know about Lush, check them out here:  Lush    Now, I have Pop-in-the-Bath,  A French Kiss, Mum Tulip, Pink Bath Bomb to name a few.  I love taking baths so this is the perfect gift for me and Lauren knows it.   And Lush bath bombs looks so perfect in a basket next to the bathtub, so colorful and catchy!  If I didn't have a bathtub I'd probably bu

Tonight, we made homemade corn tortillas in honor of Cinco de Mayo and they were delicious! I don't think I can buy packaged tortillas anymore and they were so easy to make. All you do is add masa harina (a dry corn flour) together with water, flatten into round shapes and cook on the griddle! Makes 16 -5" tortillas or will serve 5 people with 1 pound of ground beef for tacos. 2 cups masa harina 1-1/2 cups water 1. In a large bowl, combine the masa harina with the water and stir until moistened. 2. Carefully roll out the dough on a sheet of plastic wrap to about 8" long and then divided it into 16 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, transfer to a large plate and cover loosely with plastic wrap.  3. Heat a griddle until very hot. Line a tortilla press with plastic wrap on the top and bottom. 4. Using a tortilla press, a skillet or a rolling pin, flatten the tortilla to a 5-inch round. 5. Peel off the plastic and set the tor

I just returned tonight from our state's dietetic meeting in beautiful Sun Valley, Idaho - couldn't have been a better place to have it.  Just beautiful. The town was very quiet because ski season is over and summer hasn't started yet.  It was very different when we were there in February for a little ski trip with Lauren and her boyfriend, Kevin, who came to Idaho for the first time. Since Kevin hadn't been to Sun Valley, we had to take him skiing.  For our state meeting,  all the dietitians stayed at the Sun Valley Lodge, a historical place with all kinds of photos posted of the famous people who have visited.  It was built in 1936 and is just gorgeous inside and out.  The rooms are rather lovely, too, I must say.  (white robes, slippers, walk-in closets! Nice!) It looked very different than when we were there in February.  The snow sculpture isn't there anymore... It was a little warmer this visit. It did rain a little a