Saturday is for Scones

I went downtown for the Chili Cookoff today. There was a great turnout - even at 1 p.m. when I arrived to help with clean up for the HRAH (Hutchinson Reno County Arts and Humanities) booth. There were people everywhere.



I guess multiple times the HRAH booth had a very long line of people waiting for their chili samples. People pay $2 and can get samples from each of the booths. I think there were about 25 this year. Then they get to vote on what the best chili is.

Mark, the director of HRAH, pinpointed the only real problem. It seems as if people are more interested in just filling up on chili for $2 than actually enjoying a community event. He mentioned this just about three minutes after I had said to another board member that I hadn't seen anyone I knew. But, I guess people were enjoying it in ways we couldn't see.

But, this was echoed when I pulled up to get the three pumpkins Mark had told me to take home. We had left them sitting there while I pulled my car around. Another board member had come along and his kids wanted one. I told them to take them all. While we were discussing it, some older gentleman none of us knew walked up and took one. Who takes something like that - obviously a decoration that had been used by one of the participants - just because it's not nailed down? This guy I guess. He didn't ask anyone, including the two of us who were wearing logo hats and discussing them. He just took it. We didn't do anything except watch. Frankly, I was a little too surprised to say much. It's not that I need the pumpkin - I'm blessed that I can afford to buy as many pumpkins as I want to go on my porch - but it was just the idea someone would help themselves to something that obviously didn't belong to them, that they had no right to. I would rather the other board member's kids had all three of the pumpkins. I guess I live in a sheltered world, what can I say?

I did see something funny, which I wish I had gotten a photo of - a black lab with his own arm band, meaning he got to sample the chili too. He trotted right over to me to be petted so it's my own fault I didn't get his photo. But, suffice it to say, it was cute  that his three guys got him his own armband.

While working on a number of different computer projects this afternoon I took a break to read some blogs. When I checked Jan Lemen's I saw the most scrumptious photo of a biscuit with jelly on it. This made me long for a scone. I don't know why, but it did.

So, I dug in my computer recipe files and found the scone recipe shared by tea enthusiast Eve Hill on a tea list some years ago. Teresa has a good scone recipe, too, but I didn't have it in the computer. Most of them are pretty similar - but I like a scone that is flaky and crumbly. I don't care so much about the shape - round or triangular - but the texture is important to me. I like them to be rather biscuit-like only a little sweeter.

Anyway, I whipped up some scones, and ate one with real butter and blackberry jelly. Yum. I, of course, had it with some blackberry and sage tea. Susan gave me this tea at Christmas last year and I have loved it. I've been parceling it out and this was the perfect time for some.

I also finished up the invitations for Mary Ann and Jackie's 50th Anniversary Party in a few weeks. Cathy and Kim have been kind enough to let me be involved in the planning. My other big task is the centerpieces. I've got some ideas I need to experiment with. I want to make sure everything looks nice.

Well, time for bed for me. I'm hoping that tomorrow I wake with an uncontrollable urge to tidy up my house.