orange poppyseed mini scones

I made these crispy crumbly scones for Easter breakfast, and they are perfect for spring. 

The slight hint of citrus is delicious with jam, and probably equally delicious drizzled with honey.

Substituting lemon for the orange would probably also be amazing.

Orange Poppy Seed Mini Scones

Adapted from Martha Stewart Everyday Food

Ingredients:

• 2.5 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 T. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• Juice and zest of one orange
• 1 egg yolk
• 1.5 t. poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 400*F. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut butter into small pieces and work into dry ingredients with your fingers, smashing it until your arms get tired. It's ok to have small chunks of butter left in the mixture. Stir in the buttermilk, orange juice and zest, egg yolk, and poppy seeds. The dough will be crumbly; add a splash more buttermilk if needed to get it to stick together. Knead/smash the dough on a flat surface until it resembles a 1 inch thick square. Cut the square into whatever size and shape scone you want (the original recipe did 9 mini squares cut into 18 triangles). Lay scones on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, until slightly browned.

Seattle spring

 Flowers at Pike Place Market

 The Seattle aquarium in Puget Sound

 

 Colors at the Olympic Sculpture Park

 

 The Experience Music Project museum

 Views from a run to the top of the city

A secret garden in the hillside neighborhoods

I spent last week in Seattle as part of a national geography conference. The city was everything I imagined: amazing food, even more amazing coffee, cloudy skies, Pacific mist, and an amazingly casual urban vibe. Love the city, don't love the climate. I'll say I liked the weather though; it's very refreshing and much better than the dense overcast/pouring rain/ice/snowstorms of central Pennsylvania. It was a fun week and a great chance to catch up with friends and undergrad professors after the thesis maelstrom of the past couple months, and I can't wait to go back someday to explore a little more and make trips over to the rainforest and mountains. 

Now that I'm back at school, but with the purpose of my life (thesis) complete, I am at a strange limbo-esque stage and trying to juggle the new more relaxed schedule of my life back into a semblance of balance. I am not as excited and proud of myself for finishing my thesis as I probably should be. The stress and worry of finding a job is kind of overwhelming for now. 

However, (despite random lingering 40* days) spring is here, my birthday is next week, I am a diploma away from being a Master, and the future will work itself out.

almost done

I'm back, and as promised it is (sort of) spring, stress levels are slowly receding to normal, and my thesis is in the home stretch. It has been basically approved by my adviser and committee, and everything will be submitted by Monday. Yesssss!

To say that I am excited to be done with grad school is a big understatement. I am pretty burned out with school. Going straight from undergrad to grad school is maybe not the greatest idea ever, although it has worked out. Writing this thesis has been the most challenging accomplishment of my life so far, but I am happy with how everything turned out, and I'm glad to be done before the weather gets too nice out!

Speaking of which, is anyone else suffering from this extended winter? Like, seriously. Enough with the snow!!

Anyway, I am looking forward to getting my life back on track, since this thesis has become my identity and sole purpose of existence while everything else has been left behind in the meantime.

On Tuesday I'm headed to Seattle for a week to present my research at a national conference. 

Any tips on what to do in Seattle in early April?

The weather there looks just as gloomy as the weather in central PA. (Did you know that Central PA is the only mini-region in the eastern states with the same climate type as the Pacific NW? Except the NW is mostly spared the horrendous ice and snowstorms, and they get bigger mountains, lucky them.)

More pretty pictures, recipes, and happy posts to come!