Tuesday 30 October 2007

Scone Recipes

Several people have asked me for the scone recipes, so here they are.

Lemon and Sultana Scones

225g Self raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
50g butter
150ml milk
50g sultanas
The zest of 1 lemon
Extra milk for brushing

Rub the butter into the sifted flour and salt. Mix in the sultanas and lemon zest, and then add the milk all at once. Mix to a soft but not sticky dough with a knife.

Roll out to about 2cm thick and cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter. Transfer to a greased baking sheet, brush tops with milk and bake for about 10 minutes at 230C, till well risen and golden.

Cool on a wire rack.

Cheese Scones

Follow the recipe above but add a pinch of Cayenne Pepper to the flour and salt, then mix in 50g of strong flavoured cheese before adding the milk. I also added a teaspoon of dried Oregano.

Any other flavours ...

Basically you can add what you want - fruit, spices, herbs, whatever takes your fancy at the time.
Isobel uses yogurt instead of milk, other people use half milk, half Creme Epaisse or buttermilk.


Traditions and secrets!

Handle the dough as little as possible and don't roll it out too thinly - if you do the result will be more like cookies.

Never cut a cooked scone, it destroys the texture, break it in half with your fingers.

Always eat them on the day you make them, or put them in the freezer as soon as they are cool.

Mon., Oct. 29th Sheila's Auderghem Walk


Yes, it was wet ... we had a steady rain all day but it was not cold or windy which meant it was quite okay for our walk! The fall colors in the rain were lovely. A real treat for coming out.
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Mon., Oct. 29th Sheila's Walk in Auderghem


Yes, we were a bit bedraggled by the time we stopped for our refreshments at the ADEPS cafeteria! It was warm though and our friend, Maija, (2nd right) shared some fine chocolates infused with delicious Finnish Lakka liquor. Umm ... our "Thanks" Maija ... and we look forward to your next visit in Brussels!!!Posted by Picasa

Mon., Oct. 29th - Sheila's Auderghem Walk


Our "thanks" to Jennifer and her gps for the Google map. We started the walk from the top of this picture (under the shadow of the E-411 motorway where we also parked our cars). Jennifer also provided the following statistics: Our distance: 7.8 km, our time: 1 hr. 45 min.'s, our avg. speed: 4.2 kph, calories expended: 517 (never enough) Total ascent: 972 m, Total descent: 998Posted by Picasa

Sunday 28 October 2007

Information on Annual Walk in Finland!

Our walking friend from Finland, Maija, has sent this link to information about an August annual walking event that takes place near her! She thought we might be interested in it: Click Here for Info

Saturday 27 October 2007

Fri., Oct. 26th - Sandy's La Hulpe Walk


Somewhat dwarfed by the tall trees (in the photo) we were delighted with the fall colors as we made our way around the grounds of the Chateau de la Hulpe. With the temperature between 8-10C we warmed up quickly.
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Fri., Oct. 26th Sandy's La Hulpe Walk

Eight of us were able to enjoy today's outing ... here we pause for a group photo as we start our retun to the chateau grounds.
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Fri., Oct. 26th - Sandy's La Hulpe Walk


It is hard to see but the Chateau is behind us! Inspite of the less than beautiful weather we had a great turn around the grounds.
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Fri., Oct. 26th - Sandy's La Hulpe Walk

It is always nice to get to this ... the end point of our outing routine, too! Here we can sit, relax a bit and talk of our adventure while we enjoy our refreshments! Today it was at the cafe, l'Homme Bleu ... across from the Foundation Folon
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Tuesday 23 October 2007

Mon., Oct. 22nd - Jennifer's Everberg Walk


Off we went at 1pm on schedule ... leaving from Jennifer's house through the fields nearby. It was a beautiful fall day ... quite cool to start but the views were marvelous! Thanks Jennifer ... we welcome your doing this for us on another occasion!
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Mon., Oct. 22nd - Jennifer's Everberg Walk


We had a variety of venues on the walk and really enjoyed the changing colors of the trees as we made our way along Jennifer's route. We passed Stone Manor as well as the Chateau for the Duke of Merode (???). Quite impressive ... all.
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Mon., Oct. 22nd - Jennifer's Everberg Walk


A lucky 13 of us gathered for the walk today. We were practically blinded by the bright, strong sun and eventually shed our jackets as we warmed up during Jennifer's 6.63k, 1:35 minute walk. This meant that we expended 367 calories ... Let's see ... how many of Jennifer's delicious scones does that mean we could devour??? Jennifer insists that they are truly small ... and don't count for many calories ... Whew!
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Mon., Oct. 22nd - Jennifer's Everberg Walk


Our thanks to Jennifer (2nd left) for her generous hospitality, too! We enjoyed her delicious 2 varieties of scones ... those made with herb and cheese as well as those with raisins! In addition, she provided us with cake and crab apple jelly! Some of us "non-Brits" tried Marmite for the first time ... Well, .... um. That must be an aquired taste! Hot coffee and teas ... just were perfect with the scones and cake!!! Yum ... We shall return!
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Mon., Oct. 22nd - Jennifer's Everberg Walk


Here we are gathered around Jennifer's fine table It looks like we did a good job on the "goodies"!
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Friday 19 October 2007

Fri., Oct. 19th - Marie Jo's Crepe Walk


Even though it was a bit overcast it was a lovely afternoon for our wanderings through the foret de soignes and the arboretum under the guidance of Marie Jo who knows the area well. The trees are changing color so it was a lovely time to be out to enjoy the beauty so near by for many of us!
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Fri., Oct. 19th - Marie Jo's Crepe Walk


Fifteen of us and Spartacus were here to enjoy the walk in the forest of Jezus Eik and here we paused to show who was on hand today. It seems when food is mentioned it does seem to bring out a crowd. Hmm ...is there a message there?
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Fri., Oct. 19th - Marie Jo's Crepe Walk

Our many "thanks" go to Marie Jo who not only led the walk today but she made the arrangements with the owners of the Restaurant Mercator to provide this large table to enjoy our refreshments in their back private dining room! We were served promptly with our hot beverage of choice as well as the sugar crepes. YUM!!!
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Fri., Oct. 19th - Marie Jo's Crepe Walk


Everyone enjoyed the service and the delicious offerings after our brisk 2 hour walk and we were more than ready to relax and take a few minutes to catch our breaths.
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Mon., Oct. 15th - Sheila's walk from Clos de Renipoint

Our many thanks to Jennifer and her personal "guru" for providing this google map overview of our route on Monday using her wrist gps. Are we impressed? Yes, we are! We seemed to have covered quite a bit of territory ladies - congratulations.
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Monday 15 October 2007

Mon., Oct. 15th - Sheila's Walk from Clos de Renipoint


15 of us walked this beautiful afternoon ... and, had a wonderful outing with so many friends showing up and such great weather!
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Mon., Oct. 15th - Sheila's Walk from Renipoint


We were trying to get some of the beautiful background in the field behind us but the large group of us sort of dominated the photo. We were pleased; however, to welcome back one of our very faithful, former walkers, Linda, from So. France (kneeling) who we were pleased to see continues to set a good pace! Posted by Picasa

Mon., Oct. 15th - Sheila's Walk from Renipoint


We took our refreshments this afternoon at Miam, nearby, where the manager knows us and gives us the choice table ... large enough to accomodate the group. The walkers are holding up the Hawaiian flip flop key rings that Sandy brought back for each of them as a symbol of the Hawaiian ... walking shoe! Would that the weather here would cooperate so that we could wear flip flops more often...
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Fri., Oct. 12th - Sandy's Auderghem Walk

After trying to load this photo about 10 times it finally went on line! Not that it is that great but it shows us on Friday's walk when the weather was a bit overcast and misty but no real rain. Inspite of the less than perfect weather it was a good walking day and we all had a good time!
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Fri., Oct. 12th - Sandy's Auderghem Walk


The ladies sorted through the colorful key chains of flip flops while waiting for our refreshments at Au Repos des Chasseurs. Sandy brought them back from her trip (one per walker while supplies last) as a reminder of the Hawaiian "walking shoe"!
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Wednesday 10 October 2007

Mon., Oct. 8th - Walk at the Coast


We gathered at 9am at Gare Central for our 9:37am train to Heist. It was a foggy start to the day but we had high anticipations ... and, we were not to be disappointed!!!
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Mon., Oct. 8th - Walk at the Coast

Here are most of us assembled for the walk in the Nature Preserve with Cecile (left) and Ghislaine (right) in the lead. We were pleased to have Cecile meet our train as we pulled into the Heist Station and we were all delighted by her invitation to visit at the shore on this beautiful fall day! Who knew in the spring when we planned this that the weather would cooperate??? "Thanks Cecile"!!!

And, for more complete photos of the day:
Click here for Dolphine's Photos

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Mon., Oct. 8th - Walk at the Coast


With commentary and information from Jane and Cecile on the flora and fauna in the Preserve we were well informed on what we were able to see there.
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