Re-posted from Gastronomicon.org - original post date 8 July 2006

It’s the height of cherry season, and conversations around Gastronomicon HQ are riding an excited buzz about the local Bings, Raniers, and Sours that are soon to show up at the local farmer’s markets. Cherry fever seems to have gripped the rest of the nation, too. For instance, I just discovered an online store that sells Washington State cherries for about 5 times more than what my local supermarket charges. Of course, these cherries are hand-picked, allowed to ripen on the tree, and quintuple-checked against discoloration, softness, size, Scientology affiliation, and all other potential cherry misdeeds. Of course, there is no way I could afford to buy these beauties, so they sit on their website and taunt me with their scarlet words: plump, juicy, tart, ripe…whew. Enough to make a girl want to go to confession for lusting after them.
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Re-posted from Gastronomicon.org - original post date 3 June 2005

The scones in Ireland disappointed me. There, I said it. They were dry and tasteless and barely buttery. There was a bakery in Doolin where I was once (so I’d hoped) lucky to get a batch fresh from the oven. To my chagrin, they were not only bland but the texture was more like a biscuit/muffin hybrid. Fishguard, Wales was not much better, although at least they were smart enough to cover the dry little lump with cream and jam. Could this be the way scones are meant to be? For a cluster of islands who are so keen on tea and pastry, I can’t help but suspect it was just bad luck on my part and negligence on theirs. But perhaps my idea of a scone is just too American…indeed, my first experiences of the classic teatime delight were not at the hands of a bona fide Welsh or Irish baker, but a regular old American lass.
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