Sunday, June 21, 2009

Pecan Shortcake

I celebrated my first day of summer making and enjoying a memorable dinner with friends. My feeble hydrangea bush cooperated by providing a big bunch of pink blooms for the table. I picked Larry's boysenberries and fresh basil from the yard and gathered lovely things from the Trader Joe's. I cleaned a bit, cooked a lot and set the table out the back door under the spreading maple with anticipation. A new mango-avocado relish, orange chipotle chicken, cilantro rice and a salad topped with 3 kinds of berries, feta and pumpkin seeds. Tim provided one his famous "go-round questions" (What's the dumbest thing you've ever done?) that had us laughing round the table for an hour! Followed by more serious talk and dessert--Mixed berry pecan shortcakes...

PECAN SHORTCAKES

1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup pecans, finely chopped
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. amaretto (or vanilla)

Cut the first 5 ingredients together in the food processor. Remove to a bowl and stir in the pecans, buttermilk and amaretto. Drop onto a cookie sheet sprayed with Pam to form 6 to 8 'biscuits." Sprinkle the tops with sugar. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes or until browned.

Serve with mixed berries and mountains of whipped cream (the main ingredient for me!). You can make these ahead and them cover them with foil and re-warm them in the oven for 5 minutes before serving. Fresh and delish!

Monday, June 8, 2009

HOME

"Home is where the heart is." I believe that. When we lived in Spain i was "homesick" for California. Now in California, I have my "homesick" days for Spain. And with Micah and family in Shanghai, I've plenty of "homesick" for China days... My heart is home in all these places. That's why when I read this C.S.Lewis quote, I read it over & over and loved it right away...

"The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of this world; but joy, pleasure, and merriment he has spread broadcast. We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy. It is not hard to see why. The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and pose an obstacle to our return to God; a few moments of happiness, of love, a landscape, a symphony, a merry meeting with our friends, a bathe, or a football match, have no such tendency. Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home."

At the end of my father's life the family gathered in his cc unit room. We'd talk and sing to him. Sing "This world is not my home." --an old favorite of ours. He knew where he was going, to heaven, to his real home. I love my life, my "merry" days with family & dear friends and the hard days as well. But I long for the real, eternal, heart home of heaven...