This was the blog of an Eloise wannabe and her 2 roustabout kitties as they work on a book deal in the City of Lights, giggling all the way. Now it's the blog of an Eloise wannabe planning her next escape (California, Canadia?) with 2 other kitties--still working, still giggling.
I'm used to wiping away a few tears while watching American Idol. I'm not used to having tears streaming down my face, but I was absolutely blown away by the Elvis/Celine Dion duet. Even knowing how it's done doesn't make it any less magical:
This song has always been special to me, mainly because Elvis, in L.A. at the time of RFK's murder and devastated by that and MLK's death a few months earlier, commissioned it as a plea for peace. The passion and pain and longing in his voice come from such a true place that it's transcendental. I'm so pleased a new generation got to see this performance, and hope they'll learn more about Elvis and about RFK. That 9 million Americans, mainly kids, still live in hunger 40 years after RFK vowed to fight poverty is a tragedy, but the $60 million ($60 MILLION!!!) AI has raised will so far help many people. You can still help out here.
"There are children in the Mississippi Delta whose bellies are swollen with hunger ... Many of them cannot go to school because they have no clothes or shoes. These conditions are not confined to rural Mississippi. They exist in dark tenements in Washington, D.C., within sight of the Capitol, in Harlem, in South Side Chicago, in Watts. There are children in each of these areas who have never been to school, never seen a doctor or a dentist. There are children who have never heard conversation in their homes, never read or even seen a book." ~RFK
4-day weekend! Jenny's coming up today to help transform my balcony into an urban oasis. I'm absolutely gobsmacked that the strikings I took from her geranium plants not only survived, but are flowering. I have more geraniums and herbs and a gorgeous purple clematis, and we're hoping to fashion some kind of barrier between me and the woman next door--something that she can't complain about or poison. (Yeah, sounds a little extreme, but I don't put anything past this woman, not after she tried to zap Kody with Raid.) To go along with the gorgeous, glorious weather, I'm going to make these, using my own lavender:
LAVENDER SCONES
YIELD: 12 Scones
2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
4 Tablespoons (1/2) stick) sweet, unsalted butter
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lavender or 1 teaspoon dried culinary lavender, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup milk, plus extra for glaze
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease & flour a large baking sheet. Sift flour and baking powder together in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the butter until the mixture looks like fine bread crumbs. Stir in the sugar and lavender (save a small amount to sprinkle on top of scones before baking). Add enough milk to make a soft, sticky dough. Turn dough out onto a well floured surface. Cut dough into 1 inch thick rounds with a cookie cutter. Place scones on the prepared baking sheet. Brush the top of each scone with a dash of milk and sprinkle with the reserved lavender and sugar. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown. Serve with rose petal jam and Devon cream.
Happy Sunday :-)
