Royal Wedding Scones

Why yes, I did wake up at 4:45 Friday morning to watch William and Kate get married. (Totally worth it, by the way.) And I figured since I was up and was going to a big brunch at a friend's apartment this morning, that I should do something both productive AND British: bake mixed berry scones! And they were wonderful and berryish and British.

Mixed Berry Scones

Adapted from Alice's Teacup Cookbook

3 cups white whole wheat flour

¹/³ cup sugar

½ teaspoon baking soda

2½ teaspoons baking powder

3/4  teaspoon kosher salt

1½ sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces (I used earthbalance spread)

½ cup blueberries

½ cup raspberries

½ cup blackberries

¼ cup hulled and quartered strawberries

1¼ cups buttermilk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

¼ cup milk (for brushing)

¼ cup sugar (for sprinkling)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

2. With clean hands, work the butter into the dry mixture until it is thoroughly incorporated and has the consistency of fine breadcrumbs. Add all the berries and stir well.

3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and pour buttermilk and vanilla extract into well. Still using your hands, combine the ingredients until all the dry mixture is wet, but do not knead!

4. Turn mixture onto a floured surface and gather dough together. Gently pat the dough into a disk 1½ inches thick. Using a 3- or 3½-inch biscuit cutter, cut out as many scones as you can and lay them on a nonstick baking sheet. Gather remaining dough together lightly to cut out more scones.

5. Brush the top of each scone liberally with heavy cream and sprinkle with sugar. Bake the scones for about 12 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Cheers! 

And now for a few photos, just for fun: 

Israel: Jerusalem

We spent a few days in Jerusalem. Because we arrived on Friday, the Sabbath, we didn't get to see the city right away. We had a Shabbat ceremony and meal at the hotel our first night there under a full moon:

Saturday, the day of rest, was pretty easygoing. We went on a nature walk, and hung out in the sun at the hotel. The next day we went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Before we saw the museum itself we listened to a lecture by a Holocaust survivor from Poland, who now lives in Israel and has spent the last 30 years or so going to different places and talking about his experiences in three concentration camps in five years. It was very moving and emotional to listen to him speak. After that, we went through the museum, which was also a very sad and intense experience. 

After Yad Vashem, we went to the military cemetery nearby and saw graves of some famous Israeli political figures, including Golda Meir, as well as thousands of soldiers. The Israeli soldiers who were traveling with our group did a short ceremony while we were there. (Everyone but the guy holding the piece of paper in the picture below is Israeli.)

That night, we celebrated Purim! It felt very discordant to spend a day at solemn memorial sites and then go out and celebrate a holiday where you dress up in costumes, much like Halloween, but we eventually transitioned into a celebratory mood and went out in Jerusalem.

The next day we finally got to see the old city. We went to a lookout to see a panoramic view of Jerusalem, and then walked through the city (we were only allowed in the Jewish Quarter, of course, but I also would have loved to see the Christian and Muslim Quarters, particularly the Dome of the Rock - that large gilded dome you can see in the picture below, which in the Muslim Quarter.)

We visited the Western Wall and had lunch, and walked around and shopped for a bit. The city felt old. It was amazing walking through the streets and knowing that for thousands of years people have been living here, worshiping here, and making pilgrimages here.

Israeli munchkins dressed up for Purim.

We also visited the Knesset Menorah (above), which is a national monument to the people who built Israel. Then after a long day exploring the city, we drove south and off into the desert. 

Harry Potter: The Exhibition

I hereby warn you that this will be a very dorky blog entry. Also, none of these photos are mine. Thank you, Google Images search.

Last week I went with three friends to see the Harry Potter exhibit at Discovery Times Square. We grew up loving Harry Potter, and still do, so we were very excited to see the exhibit filled with props, costumes, and full set pieces from the movies. We almost didn't see it because when I went to the box office two weeks in advance to get our tickets (which are printed a specific date and time slot), the person sold me four tickets to the Pompeii exhibit, also at Discovery Times Square, instead of Harry Potter. And I didn't discover this until the night before. So there I was with four non-refundable, non-exchangeable, final sale, pretty expensive tickets to the Pompeii exhibit. I went to the box office before work the morning of the day our tickets were for, prepared to be turned away or laughed at or at best, given tickets for another day, since it was spring break week after all, and there were already swarms of tourists in midtown at 9am. But after all that stressing and worrying, when I got to the ticket window and explained what had happened, the guy said , "So you want to go to Harry Potter instead? Same time?" and printed four new tickets.  It was miraculous.

So I returned  to Times Square after work and met up with my three equally Harry Potter-obsessed friends to wait in the long snakey line (of ticket-holders!) to get in But the exhibit was worth all the trouble. In addition to spacing crowds out with timed entrances, they take you in groups of 20 or so to a sorting room, where there's an actor in Hogwarts robes with what must be the actual Sorting Hat from the first movie. He "sorts" three kids from the group into different Hogwarts houses, and leads everyone into the next room, where the exhibit begins.

Thus begins the exhibit of props, costumes, set pieces, recreated rooms, and more. Aside from it being really cool to see clothes that the actors wore, and clearly recognizable props, the exhibit was fascinating for the incredible attention to detail that went into absolutely everything. Harry's potions book from Half-Blood Prince, for instance, that is supposed to have handwritten notes about the instructions, really has those handwritten notes that are really about the potion. Professors' costumes were aged to look decades old. The bulletin board from the Gryffindor common room had hand-drawn posters advertising used spell textbooks, tutoring lessons in potions and broom-riding, and more. There were models of the animals and creatures that were computer-animated. 

It's hard to pick a favorite, but I really loved seeing the costumes from the Yule Ball (Goblet of Fire) and each character's wand. I also loved the detail of the jewelry pieces. And the Marauder's Map (pictured above) was so cool! You couldn't even see all of it in the display case. I can't imagine how long it must have taken someone to draw that out.


I did get sucked in just a little in the giftshop. No, I didn't buy a $30 wand, but I did buy a heat-activated Marauder's Map mug. The map appears on the side of the mug only when you add a hot beverage. It's made my morning coffee an even MORE exciting experience!


While attempting to find pictures of the mug transitioning from black to mapped (because I'm too lazy to do that myself), I found this short youtube video that someone filmed of their mug transitioning. It's silly, but it does show exactly how cool the mug is, so if you find yourself with an extra 42 seconds, take a look.

Read the New York Times review of the exhibit here and then go see it for yourself! 

Happy Easter and Passover!

I posted this two years ago, but it's definitely worth revisiting...

Happy Spring!