Yummiest cheese scone recipe ever! :D

I've been trying to make scones for years now and they all turn out the same, a heavy solid mass of scone. Not the nice light fluffy scones that I get at the teashop. What am I doing wrong? Today I set out on a mission to find out what. The result.... awesomely light and fluffy cheese scones! The recipe is relatively simple however the method becomes a little difficult as I've discovered scones need very little handling. To get the best scones you ultimately want to keep as much air in the dough as possible. I use a metal spoon to lightly mix the ingredients together. I don't use a rolling pin to roll the dough out as this squeezes the air out. Just pat lightly with your hand until the dough has reached the required thickness.

Ingredients:

225g self raising flour

1tbsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

55g butter (room temp)

25g mature cheddar (grated)

150ml milk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 220oC and prepare a tray with baking parchment.

2. Mix flour, baking powder and salt together (thoroughly) and rub in butter.

3. Stir in grated cheese and then add milk to form soft, sticky dough. Use a metal spoon to mix (keeps the mixture cool).

4. Turn out onto lightly floured surface. VERY LIGHTLY knead the dough (be very gentle)

5. Pat dough out to 2cm thick.

6. Take a 5cm cutter and stamp rounds (press firmly down and do not twist)if there is air in the dough you will hear it escape.

7. Place carefully on baking tray.

8. Brush tops lightly with milk.

9. Bake for 12-15mins or until well risen and golden brown.

10. Cool on a wire rack.

11. Eat and enjoy yum! :D

These really don't take very long to make and taste amazing when they are fresh out of the oven! :P

Controlled explosion.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chimney_blasting.gif

This is so cool the controlled demolishment of a chimney in Frankfurt am Main, apparently this chimney used to be part of the "Henninger" brewery. I love it when things are blown up, there is something very satisfying.

Insightful views into running up that hill (kate bush and Placebo versions)

Oh man, I canny believe I'm going to see Placebo in December, I'm so excited! I have been to all their tours since the black market music tour. I love the cover of Kate bush, running up that hill both the original and the remake are fantastic. I must give credit where credit is due as Placebo have taken a very strong popular song and made it their own. As soon as you hear the opening rift you know its a Placebo song coming. The video is equally as striking, letting the fans get creative with the video was a very good idea. Especially since the original video was so controversial and stunning, if placebo had of appeared in the video it would have sullied the whole concept for me. In my eyes I see a song that relates to so many different desires to be fully understood by anyone. Everyone feels alone, if they are prepared to admit it of course, and this video shows the many different, sometimes conflicting personalities, that are out there trying to explain their feelings and innermost emotions to another close person. Searching for any human being that will or can understand what they are going through as a person and get the same full truthful response back. I think this song fully explores the desire to open up and in essence "swap" lives in order to be able to fully understand where you are coming from. I love this concept and it runs deep in my mind.

Also Kate bush's video was exceptional. Watching the intricate well timed, striking movements of the dancers as they tried to portray the rhythmic intimacy of being hopelessly romantically intertwined was a beautiful experience. I never really approved or "got" interpretive dance until I saw this video and my opinion now is, when done well, interpretive dance is moving and thought provoking. I now understand that its not what the dancers are doing but how that translates to their surrounding environment, how they interact, what is happening immediately around them.

I'd put up their vids but they're on the copyright list, however look up either in a google search engine and I'm sure you'll find one, ps their not on youtube (just crappy covers).

Geology rocks.

O man, I just came across the funniest geology rocks sound! These guys put the ROCK! in geology hee hee.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch5i3DxcQPQ


If rockin ain't ur thing then maybe you should try some geology rap:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVkn_ApZHY4&feature=related

Knitted Ipod case

My partner Adrian loves everything geeky so I decided to knit him a holder for his new Ipod. It only took an evening to knit; on the back there are long strap holes to allow the arm strap to go though the holder. However the wool isn't quite as strong as I had hoped so he doesn't really use them. The design is pretty cool though. Here it is:

Poka-dot pillow

Ok, last week I started a little project. I had an old poka-dot dress that I loved and didn't want to part with. Unfortunately it was incredibly small so no longer fulfilled its purpose. Now I'm dreadful at throwing stuff out so decided to try and make a pillow out of the material. It worked! :D I'm going to put a few wee pictures up.

I decided to make a circular pillow however with a radial design centred on a pretty white button in the middle of the pillow.

Palaeogeographic reconstruction of present continent formation

Here is an animation of the paleaogeographic reconstruction of the Earth, beginning from the Cambrian period through to the present day (arthur: EarlyCambrianGlobal.jpg: Dr. Ron Blakey). I love this animation!