Red berries, Red blocks, and my dreams

I'm lovin' the flip flop weather lately, although I'm in sore need of a pedicure. But, ah, those little luxuries are off the list of priorities for now. If the same goes for you head out to the store to buy a Ped Egg - it's like a microplane for your feet; awesome!

And to celebrate Spring I think everyone needs to try out this strawberry shortcake. We've been serving it at The Compound for like 5 years now - first brought to us by chef Nancy Oakes from Boulevard in San Francisco. It's a fabulous biscuit. All you need is some macerated strawberries, sweetened whipped cream, and a front porch swing.

3 cups self rising flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
melted butter and sugar to coat

Preheat oven to 350 (if you have a convection option use it at
325). Mix together flour, salt and sugar. Pour in cold heavy cream
and thoroughly combine until you have a smooth dough. Against your better
instincts, knead the dough on the counter for a couple of minutes (they rise
higher when you put some muscle into it - huge departure from regular
butter biscuits which require a very light hand). Roll or pat out to about
an inch thickness. Cut with a biscuit cutter into rounds or just a
knife into squares. Place on parchment lined baking sheet and brush with
butter and sprinkle with sugar to your taste. Bake for approx. 15 minutes
or until golden brown on the edges. Best eaten the same day, but okay for
the next day too.

These are also wonderful biscuits for breakfast or dinner - just decrease the sugar in the recipe to 2 Tbs and leave it off the tops.

I serve the shortcake and strawberries with a Red Wine Strawberry Sauce which makes it a little more grown up and really brightens the fruit:

Reduce 2 cups red wine with a few black peppercorns, a cinnamon stick, and a vanilla bean, and 1 cup sugar until you get a nice syrup. Combine that with some pureed strawberries ( I use frozen ) - adjust the thickness by adding some water if necessary.

I hit a fever pitch last week, trying to finish this quilt top. It was intended for Finn, but of course he said he didn't like it and that he wanted a more red one.Okay Graham - here's the beginning of your life's first quilt! I really love how it turned out. All the fabric (minus the borders) was given to me by my Aunt Ginny. I think the scrappy log cabin design looks very old fashioned, which I thought would be great for the boys. Typically I'm not real fond of busy little prints, but cut into strips like this and put all together, I think it works. Thanks Ginny!!

I started Finn's new "red" quilt last night, which was inspired by a woman's photo of her quilt on Flickr for a virtual quilting bee.I'm kind of making it up as I go along so hopefully it will work out in the end. Monday is my last piecing class and then I get to learn how to actually quilt!

To ease my fabric addiction, I now save every nickle and dime at the bottom of my purse so I can purchase what's called a charm pack of some fabric of one of my favorite designers. Luckily, there's lots to choose from on Etsy and I like to support the Etsy cause. I like to support my local quilting store as well, but apparently they're doing fine. The owner says they must have a recession proof business - more people staying home, making things themselves. How great is that . . . perhaps my paper store idea can metamorphosize into a fabric store idea. Me, surrounded by bolts and bolts of fabric that I get to pick out - what could be better than that?!!