Strawberries, mint and whipped cream

The strawberries have a clinical somewhat reluctant, stingy, tartness to them and not a lusciously sweet juicy generous ripeness nor readiness to them.

They need some adjustment, some smacking around, some suffocating, drowning, possibly some slight crushing, a bit of cell destruction and maceration. 

Aerogarden mint. The thing needs to be trimmed and shaped up.

You would add sugar and vanilla extract to heavy cream and whip it to stiffness that happens quickly with cold cream. 

I already have sugar and strawberry liqueur softening the strawberries so that is drained into the whipped cream instead. The whipped cream is pink. 

Strawberries

This basket came from the famous local gardening center specializing in tropicals and exotic species, Ace Hardware.  

$5.00 off for a Mother's Day special. 

That's funny. Mum does like strawberries. Giving a live plant to my mum is to consign it to certain hasty death. She assumes they'll manage on their own.

Strawberries, biscuit, whipped cream

ricotta, sugar, vanilla, ginger, cinnamon ↑

heavy cream, sugar, vanilla ↓

Here, have some.

Scone, strawberries

I have got my scone act down. This is the lightest tastiest scone I've ever had, nay the lightest tastiest in history!

For one scone, but honestly, who ever does that? There is a little bit of waste doing it this way, but that's okay. I'll tell you what was done and you can adjust to your heart's contentment. 

Scone dry ingredients. These are whisked in a bowl sitting in ice water in the sink. This is the first time I ever did that, but the bowl was warm and I wanted to chill it so that the fat wouldn't melt. Whisking takes the place of sifting. 

*  1/2 + 1/5 approximate cups flour. I was using a half cup measurer. So one scoop + one partial scoop. I noted that the largest biscuit cutter is about the same size as the tin measuring half cup. I needed a little more for the edges which will be wasted.

*  1 level teaspoon baking powder. This is a lot for that amount of flour

*  1 level teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) This is twice the amount that is already a lot for this amount of flour. So you can see we're courting disaster. 

*  salt and pepper. Yes, pepper. I don't know why, but it actually does go well with strawberries.

*  1 tablespoon sugar

This is a triple leaven attack. The baking soda with vinegar reacts immediately. The double action baking powder is activated by heat. You should know that baking powder is baking soda with two different types of acid (along with corn starch to keep it all separated). So essentially, this is two level teaspoons bicarbonate of soda with three types of acid to react at different heat levels. For this reason, the dough is handled quickly once the liquid is added so that the first reaction is not lost to handling, and the scone is placed in a super heated oven to shock the dough into reaction, and to compensate for the heat lost due to the oven door being opened. The heat is cut back immediately so that the scone doesn't burn before the interior is cooked. These are the techniques that win me the admiration of my peers. No brag, just fact. 

Fat ingredients.

*  1 large rounded tablespoon unsalted butter

*  1 large rounded tablespoon Crisco (hard vegetable fat) 

The fat is smashed and rubbed into the flour being quick about getting the fat off the fingers. The aim is to keep it hard. The flour should be saturated with fat. 

wet ingredients.

*  1/4 cup milk

*  1 teaspoon cider vinegar, to activate the baking soda and to bring into balance the pH of the mixture so that the baking powder will activate

I like to stir with a knife. Stir while pouring. Use just enough liquid to bring the fat-saturated flour together. 

Turn onto a flour dusted work surface. Flatten with hands or rolling pin or a pan. Fold in third. If the mass is dry, then dampen the layers with water or milk or whatever so that they adhere. Cut the stack of three in half and stack one on top of the other. Now there are six layers. Dust the biscuit cutter and cut straight down. If the layers are pinched, then the layers will have difficulty lifting upward and they will tend to expand outward instead, so a clean cut with the biscuit cutter is essential. If no biscuit cutter is available then use a sharp knife and cut straight down.

Get the scone(s) onto a sprayed tray and into a HOT 450℉/230℃ oven immediately. Cut the heat to 375℉/190℃ bake for 10 minutes. (This was 9 minutes)

Now, you may think it strange to make scones with pepper and apple cider vinegar, but all I can say is this scone was awesome. It might even be improved with powdered ginger, cinnamon, allspice, or cardamon or balsamic instead of apple cider vinegar. Go on then, bake adventurously. 

Strawberries, banana, 8-year balsamic

I am so doing this for my next dinner party. Or maybe I'll hog it all to myself. I'm torn between two worlds, sharing and hogging. Sharing/hogging. Sharing/hogging. Sharing/hogging. Sharing/hogging. I don't know, that's a tough one.

Whoever invented aged balsamic must have been insane. They should get a medal -- for excellence in gastronomic insanity. I would like to meet this person and ask them, "Whatever was on your mind?"

And they'll tell me, "Eh, we couldn't sell it so it hung around for a lot longer than we wanted."

I honestly believe the best things to consume were discovered or invented by accident and through enduring hardships. Say for example, garlic. Imagine yourself a primitive person digging around for anything to eat, anything at all. You're willing to try just about anything, even willing to experiment with doing everything you can possibly do to every aspect of every single thing you uncover. For any given plant you carefully examine its leaves, its buds, its flowers, its fruit, stems, and roots. You try every part of every plant you encounter raw, boiled in water like tea, roasted on a stick above the fire, toasted near the fire, in the fire, cooked in a pot, cooked with other vegetables and meats, aged, dried, chopped, sliced, crushed, everything you can think of. Then one day you and a friend come across garlic your friend says, "Oh, no. Not that. Put that down immediately," and runs to the river to get the smell off their hands. But you're sitting there thinking, "You know, sautéed with a little yak butter this probably isn't all that bad. I bet these could even make those snails palatable. "