Scones!

I was in a bit of a baking mood after dinner tonight, so I went to Pinterest to see if I had saved any good ideas. I love Pinterest. There are so many great ideas for anything you could possibly ask for. 

I scoured the recipes that I have saved and came across one for scones. I love scones. I had not tried this recipe before and it spoke to me. It would be the perfect thing to finish off my night.

They are fabulous!! Quick and easy to make, and the perfect sweet dessert to finish off a meal (or maybe to eat for breakfast). I think they would be great anytime of the day!

Glazed Cinnamon Scones

Scone Ingredients:

2 cups flour 

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

1 egg, separated

3 Tablespoons honey

1/3 cup buttermilk (or 1/3 cup milk mixed with 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice)

Crumb Topping (can be adjusted to your liking):

1-2 Tablespoons Sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Glaze Ingredients (can be adjusted to your liking):

1 cup powdered sugar 

1-3 teaspoons milk (enough to make a glaze)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.

Separate the egg white and yolk. Set the egg white aside.

In a separate bowl, mix egg yolk, honey and buttermilk (or milk/lemon juice mixture). Add to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Form dough into a ball on a floured surface. Roll or pat out to half an inch in thickness and eight inches in diameter. Cut into eight equally-sized pieces.

Transfer to a greased baking sheet. Whisk the egg white until froth forms and brush over the tops of scones. Mix sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over egg-white-topped scones.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.

Mix together powdered sugar, milk and vanilla until glaze forms. Drizzle over scones after they bake.

Enjoy!

Weekend Vacation: Final

Sunday was our last day. Time to head back home to the real world. We didn't want to just go home right away, though. So, we did some looking and found an old house that we could tour. 

The Barker Mansion. 

The original house was built in 1857 by John Barker Sr. He built the Haskell & Barker Railroad Car Co, which eventually became the Pullman - Standard. When he retired his son took over and eventually moved into the house. He added a 3 story addition and did some updating in 1905. 

The Barker family is kind enough to allow the house and all the original furnishings to be used as a museum. However, because of this the insurance company will not let any pictures be taken inside the house. It was a beautiful house. It is styled after the English manor houses of the Victorian era. The hand-carved woodwork with the original furnishings is stunning. 

I do, however have some pictures of the outside of the house and the gardens. 

This is the back of the house in the gardens.

A beautiful house and garden. If you are ever in the neighborhood, check out the Barker Mansion. 

That is the end of our vacation. I think we will be seeing Chicago and Michigan City again next year!

Weekend Vacation: Part 2

One of the must stop places in Chicago is Giordano's for Chicago style deep dish pizza. This is the best pizza. If you are ever in Chicago, look them up. You will not be disappointed!

Be prepared for a wait, though. We went for lunch and had a 45 minute wait for a table. It all works out, though, since it takes about an hour for the pizza to cook. They have you order you pizza after you put your name in. By the time your table is ready you only have about 15 minutes to wait for the cheesy deliciousness!

We did also hit up The Cheesecake Factory before we left the city. It was super busy and we were still full from the pizza, so we took it to go and ate it when we got back to our room. Unfortunately there is no picture to show. I was so happy to have cheesecake that I forgot to take one! It was a beautiful lemon raspberry cheesecake. A little slice of heaven!

Weekend vacation

 A little background, before I start this post, for those of you that don't know. Last August, the 14th to be exact, Andrew and I went on a day trip to Chicago. We went to the Lincoln park zoo, but it was too big for us to be able to finish, as we had other places to visit. As I love history, we found a museum to visit that was also in the Lincoln Park area. Little did I know, Andrew had plans for while we were there. At one point we found ourselves in a room alone and he popped the question. Chicago has become a special place for us. 

So, we went back this past weekend. We stayed in Michigan City, Indiana and took the train to Chicago on Saturday. One of the places we wanted to see was Shedd Aquarium. We had heard that it was really cool and neither of us had been there before. 

They had a lot to see. We took so many pictures that it was hard to narrow it down to just a few for this post. 

They had a few non-fish animals, including a snake (not pictured, that is only the skin) and some form of monkey (he is facing away from the camera).

They did, of course, have a ton of water dwelling creatures. 

These are called Gobies. They did their tunnels underwater with their mouths. When they have a mouthful, they come out and spit the rocks and dirt out.

We found Nemo!

Bamboo sharks

They say this is a rare blue lobster. 

Part of our visit was a 4D show. We got to wear these fabulous glasses!

More to come!

Not the vet!!

Oliver and I went on a little adventure yesterday. Since we got married and moved Oliver from mom and dad's to our place I haven't found a new vet for Oliver. Lately, however, I have been forced into finding one. He has been itching at his right ear and meowing like it is painful. So, with the help of one of my aunts who happens to work with a lot of people that live in my neck of the woods, I found one that is just down the road and sounded like a really good place.

So, off we went yesterday afternoon. Oliver doesn't mind being locked in his carrier, but the car ride is pure torture. He was whining and making a general racket the entire drive, which wasn't even 5 minutes. 

Once we got to the vet's office he calmed right down.  

He didn't even flinch when another cat came in and was howling and making a big stink. I think he was just happy to be out of the car!

When the vet looked him over for his annual wellness exam she said he is very healthy. He got his annual shots, but the worst was yet to come. When she swabbed his ears, his left was fine, but his right had a bunch of brown junk in it. 

Now we have drops to put in his ear for a while to get it all cleared up. He got his first drops at the vet's yesterday and is already doing better. We'll see how well Andrew and I do at giving him his ear drops!

To the zoo!

We had a crazy busy week, last week, only seeing each other at bedtime. So, on Friday Andrew worked a half day (I had worked the morning shift and got done at 11:30) and we took two of our nieces to the zoo. 

Alaina and Ruby. Two girls very excited to go see the animals!

The kangaroos were all huddled together in the corner sleeping. Alaina stood on the fence and tried to get them to come closer and said, "Come here little bunnies!". We were informed by Ruby that they do have bunny ears.

We had to go in and pet the goats.

The zoo has recently expanded the tiger enclosure and now they have this water area. This tiger came down and decided to take a nap in the water. It was a warm day in the sun.

On our way out, after we saw all the animals, they had to stop and play the drum.

We had a great day with two of our favorite girls! Thanks to their moms, Heather and Laura, for letting us steal them for the afternoon!

Names

Names are interesting, aren't they? There are so many different names; unique ones, old-fashioned ones, and common ones. Some names seem to be more common than others. 

For those that may not know, Andrew and I met online. We were both on a dating site. He found me and sent me a message. Before I found out his name, I only knew his profile username. Then, when I read his message I found out his name was Andrew. I laughed and informed him that I had a brother by the same name. 

This is where the similarities start. 

His last name, (well, our last name now), is the same as my dad and brother's middle name.

His sister's name is also Heather.

His brother's first name is Robert, which is my dad's name.

We decided that our parents were not very original in their choice of names!