After reading too many tweets from a local coffee shop about what the scone of the day was, I decided enough was enough. They turned out to be a great way to use up a bunch of fruit that wasn’t bad yet, but I probably wasn’t going to sit down and eat. And that greek yogurt too… (I have previously described my lack of refined taste regarding yogurty tasting yogurt). I based this recipe off the one I found on Taste of Home, instead of using orange juice, I used milk, though I have to say it required more than 1/4 cup.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp cold butter
• 1/2 mango, chopped
• 1/3 cup blackberries, chopped
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (depending on your taste)
• 3/4 cup yogurt
• 1/3 cup milk

Directions

1. In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt)
2. Cut in butter until crumbly
3. Put in the chopped fruit and chocolate chips into the dry mixture
4. In a large bowl, whisk the yogurt and milk
5. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture until juuuust mixed
6. Turn onto a floured surface; knead 10 times.
7. Separate into scone mounds or put all of the dough on a greased cookie sheet as a circle and then score with a knife
8. Sprinkle with remaining sugar.
9. Bake at 400° for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm. Yield: 8 servings.

Stephen Gaeta has combined two of my loves, science and bold graphic design. And medicine. And humour. Ok, four of my loves. I’m of course biased towards the surgery one, but they’re all amazingly clever.

If you’re wondering what the neurologist is holding, that’s a queen’s square reflex hammer, the tomahawk ones are so out of fashion now.

Thanks Action Potential for passing this along!

Day 11: Something blue

I’ve been busy doodling up a storm over at Sketchy Medicine so I’ve been a little neglectful. However, if you look over to the side where my twitter feed is, you’ll notice that I’ve quietly been plugging away at a 30 day photo challenge.

I’m using the list I found by googling “photo challenge” which happened to be on White Peach. Here’s the list for your viewing pleasure:

1. Day 1: Self-portrait
2. Day 2: What you wore today
3. Day 3: Clouds
4. Day 4: Something green
5. Day 5: From a high angle
6. Day 6: From a low angle
7. Day 7: Fruit
8. Day 8: A bad habit
9. Day 9: Someone you love
10. Day 10: Childhood memory
11. Day 11: Something blue
12. Day 12: Sunset
13. Day 13: Yourself with 13 things
14. Day 14: Eyes
15. Day 15: Silhouette
16. Day 16: Long exposure
17. Day 17: Technology
18. Day 18: Your shoes
19. Day 19: Something orange
20. Day 20: Bokeh
21. Day 21: Faceless self-portrait
22. Day 22: Hands
23. Day 23: Sunflare
24. Day 24: Animal
25. Day 25: Something pink
26. Day 26: Close-up
27. Day 27: From a distance
28. Day 28: Flowers
29. Day 29: Black and white
30. Day 30: Self-portrait

I think when I’m done I’ll put them into a nicely laid out collage. I’ve also been trying to get some other people to join in. You should too.

This is a submission for an upcoming art show. The painting is oil on canvas and measures 18×24″ (much more impressive than this little digital image). It was fun to paint, despite having to run out and get more paint halfway through.

Only to rediscover it a couple weeks ago while making peanut butter balls and decide that it should be our new year cake. Of course I thought that it should say something, unfortunately I did not have enough gel icing. (I hope you’re thinking what I’m thinking)

So HAPY NY from SpiltMartini!

Gingerbread Rum Cake

Modified from Claudia Fleming’s gingerbread on Epicurious

Ingredients (for two loaf pans/one bundt pan)

• 1 cup rum
• 1 cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously butter bundt pan and dust with flour, knocking out excess
2. Bring rum and molasses to a boil in a large saucepan and remove from heat.
3. Whisk in baking soda, then cool to room temperature.
4. Sift together flour, baking powder, and spices in a large bowl.
5. Whisk together eggs and sugars. Whisk in oil, then molasses mixture.
6. Add to flour mixture and whisk until just combined.
7. Pour batter into pan and rap pan sharply on counter to eliminate air bubbles.
8. Bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out with just a few moist crumbs adhering, about 50 minutes.
9. Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes. Turn out onto rack and cool completely.

Rum Glaze

From Jackie Smith’s rum cake on Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup dark rum

Directions (this make enough for the 2 loaves or 1 bundt)

1. In a saucepan, combine butter, 1/4 cup water and 1 cup sugar.
2. Bring to a boil over medium heat and continue to boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
3. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup rum.
4. Pour over the cake, allowing to soak in between applications

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas/other holidays! I certainly did. Not only did I receive an excellent new stylus (see image above) but I found a set of keys that I had been missing for months. They were buried deep within the couch. Odd since I was sure I had checked the couch before.

I’ve been doing lots of baking over this lovely break, hopefully I’ll find the recipes I used and post them soon. This is the age old problem of using recipes found on the Internet and forgetting to bookmark them.

(this is 100% a personal photo of a house near by my parents’)

And everything else your heart desires

(like a bag full of bows)