the best things about summer, part one

 Strawberries

Our neighbor showed us a wonderful place to pick strawberries, just down the road from us. They only charge $1 a pound, the fields are nice and clean with plenty of straw between the rows (comfy to sit on), of course there are beautiful views all around, and it has been a family farm for generations. 

Local berries are the finest

I think scones  make the best shortcake. We have been watching World Cup Soccer like mad fanatics (yes, even the 4 am games); eating our breakfast of scones with strawberries and whipped cream every day between games. Pure bliss.

Barley flour scones (shortcake)

I already told you about my newest favorite cookbook, Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce. I have been making scones for years and years and these are by far the new favorite. The barley flour adds a bit of texture, like cornmeal but much more recessive. It has a robust flavor, deep and rich. The author describes it thusly "barley flour has a distinctly sweet,creamy quality that tastes great with fruit". 

I don't think it is really fair to print her recipe here, but if you use my scone recipe and substitute barley flour for half of the all purpose and swap out the milk for buttermilk (& adjust leavening for the additional acid, right?), you will be really close to this. The cookbook is worth the price simply for the scones, as far as I'm concerned, but there are many more flours I have yet to explore in there.

John Cleese on soccer.