OK, back to life as I usually live it. I got rid of the WonderDoodle, I wasn't as good at ignoring him as the Dead Cat was: So, with Ashley married off, back from her honeymoon and Kevin finally in possession of his own dog, Elery went back home and took Pancho with him. I was back to a one-dog-and-myself kind of household. One night I made sesame chicken. I remember now why I only have it when I go out, it's time consuming, messy and not as good as I get in the Chinese Restaurants. By the time I cut up the chicken, marinate it, dip it in batter, fry it, make rice, make sauce, and eat, I've dirtied every dish in the kitchen and used up an hour. Here it is and so not worth it: Asparagus is about three weeks late here, just now becoming available locally, so I put 5 pounds of it in the freezer, after having a good meal of just asparagus: tomorrow I'm going to help Ashley pain an upstairs bedroom. She says it will be lime green, I did notice she didn't ask me about color or decorating advice, LOL, only for help rolling on the paint! Although it's 88 here right now, I picked up some fresh broccoli at MagicLand and made a batch of cheddar broccoli soup, her favorite: And, since I'm just really tired of decorating cakes and cupcakes and anything else, I made her a pineapple sheet cake with cream cheese frosting, the world's easiest cake, I swear, and very good: It was her birthday today and we had Pizza Hut (yuck) for lunch. She had the soup/salad/breadstick buffet and I had a BBQ chicken sandwich. Tomorrow when I go to help her paint, I'll take her cake for her birthday, and we'll have the soup and some breadsticks for lunch when we take a painting break. Annie

Here is a Peach Scone recipe that could be made with strawberries subbed for the cup of diced peaches: Peach Scones Fresh, hot scones are a snap to make; this recipe, teaming peaches and nutmeg, is one of our all-time favorites. 2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or Mellow Pastry Blend 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1 teaspoon nutmeg 1 tablespoon baking powder 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces 2 large eggs 1/3 cup vanilla yogurt or sour cream 1/2 teaspoon almond extract 1 cup diced peaches, fresh or canned 2 tablespoons coarse sugar Preheat your oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a divided scone pan, a 12-cup muffin pan, or a baking sheet. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, nutmeg, and baking powder. Cut in the butter, using your fingertips, a fork or a pastry blender. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt or sour cream, and the almond extract. Stir this mixture into the dry ingredients. Add the peaches and stir just until everything is well-combined. This is a wet, sticky dough, good for drop scones. Divide the dough among the compartments of the scone pan, or drop by the scant 1/4 cupful into the cups of a muffin pan or onto a baking sheet. Sprinkle the scones with coarse sugar, and bake them until they're golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes (on a baking sheet), or 18 to 20 minutes (in a pan). Yield: 8 to 12 scones. This recipe reprinted from The Baker's Catalogue, Spring through Summer 2001.

I make sliced strawberries folded into crêpes and daubed with whipped cream rather than a shortcake as I can do them quickly in a small pan and not have to turn on the oven. Haven't done them for a while though! Love strawberries and there's plenty of them around now. Must make them soon! CRÃPE MIXTURE - makes 8 medium-sized crêpes in 7 inch pan ------------------------------------------------------- 1/2 cup plus 1/8 cup milk 1/2 cup plus 1/8 cup water 4 oz flour (just slightly under 1 cup) 2 eggs salt & pepper Mix well with beater and put in fridge for one hour. Use cotton ball soaked in oil to moisten pan before each crêpe. (Use metal tongs to hold cotton.) Use ladle to scoop up the right amount of batter for each crêpe, pour into hot pan and swirl at the same time to cover pan evenly. Use metal spatula or thin knife to loosen around edge after a minute when bottom side is done. Use metal spatula to lift and flip crêpe to brown a few seconds on reverse side. SharonCb

I went to the Joy of Cooking site and check out the recipe. All the ingredients in the chocolate scones are also in Ann T's recipe, in fact they look startlingly similar, except Ann T's recipe makes a larger batch (more whipping cream, more flour, etc). Ann T's also adds chocolate chips instead of just cocoa. All in all, it looks like pretty much the same recipe, with slight differences in the amounts of ingredients. I assume raspberries could take the place of chocolate chips pretty easily. Annie