Thank you! Thank you!! ssomerville...I roll one long rectangle, use my bench scraper to cut in half lengthwise, then bang out the triangles. Super fast and easy and consistent! teresa_mn and mustangs...I think the secret is to underbake, which is probably not very scone-like, but I only bake them about 10 minutes...12 max. They are waaaaay too dry if baked the length of time the recipe states. ann_t...they still don't rise like yours! But I'm getting there!! :) maxmom...yes, I use the RLB recipe. I don't use a food processor, just my hands! I use heavy whipping cream. The one thing I started doing after mixing in the cream and chips, dried fruit, whatever...is use my hands to form all the dough and dry bits into a ball (somewhat kneading it and continuing to push it all together) before I put it on the mat to roll. The 4 times roll, fold, repeat builds the layers in the dough. I'm not all that gentle with it, as opposed to biscuits...that I only roll once (no folding, etc) and use TLC! Lastly, I do not brush the tops of the scones (or biscuits). Thank you again all!! :)

I made Colleen Oz's cake, and it was delicious! I thought something might go or be wrong, because it was too easy - just add the ingredients in order and mix. I thought cake was supposed to be much more persnickity, shall we say, than that, with whipping air into the batter at the right time, and not whipping it at the wrong time, Anyway, I'll be adding that one to my T & T collection. The icing didn't work well, but that was my fault. I was trying to do too many things at once, and it turned out too dry. I just wasn't paying close enough attention to my measuring, and skipped the sifting, and probably over mixed it. Even with doubling, it barely spread across the middle and top of the cake. Other than that, things went fine. Thanks for the recipes! Sally

Sorry I'm late too - too much work of late, but I've welcomed that. Hope you had a great day - how far from your birthday is your anniversary? My birthday is the same day as my parents' anniversary, and my mother didn't get a present for her anniversary that year. I guess my father thought I was the present :(. Don't know if I've had Uighur food, but I've had Uzbekistan, Tibetan, and Afghan - not sure how similar they are to Uighur. Of those three, I like Afghan the best. I'll look for it, however. Lars

Ann, we have never had the lemming-like urge to join the millions of our countrymen and take to the skies for the annual jaunt to Spain, the Canaries or the Balearics. A week or two burning next to the pool, eating all day fried breakfasts and swigging cheap booze 'til daybreak do not a relaxing holiday make; to say nothing of the sheer Hell of getting through airport security. There is so much that can be discovered almost on our own doorsteps even though the weather may return us pale and shivering. My Mother had a terrible 'wander lust' and found the imposition of three children a difficult cross to bear. She always wanted to travel/escape from home and was, for two weeks each year forced to take us with her . .. my Father's business required him to work during the summer . . . at odd times she used to jump on her bike with a change of clothes and cycle around the country putting up at Youth Hostels and B&B's. My youngest brother has inherited this same 'habit' but with plenty of money and no family he is off on a whim to all parts of the world for several weeks at a time. It would be interesting to know where/how other RP'ers, or US folk in general, spend their vacations. I understand that you don't get so much time off work/annual leave as we do in the UK.