FLOUR

     My sister learned to make biscuits from her husband's grandmother.  I feel sure the process involved combining the dry ingredients with the shortening using two knives, or a dough blender, or even by hand on a flat surface.  She learned to make biscuits very well and has always been a good cook.

     On the other hand, I did not learn to make biscuits and have opted out of learning all these years because my family would eat what I baked from the store-bought cylinders.  Our mom also bought the biscuit dough from the store and referred to them as "wop" biscuits because one would have to wop the dough cylinder on the edge of a kitchen counter to open it.

     Oh I have tried to make them.  When we were first married I attempted to make biscuits and would continually overwork the dough, either when combining the dry and wet ingredients and/or during the kneading time.  Gooey, wet dough was not enticing to me.  I would dust and knead in way too much flour resulting in concrete, inedible look-a-likes.

     But I decided it was time to try again and thought I would try mixing the dough in my food processor.  I have seen this done several times on television by numerous cooks and also chefs.  I was surprised at how easy it was.
     There are numerous biscuit recipes.  Since you mix dry with wet ingredients, I wouldn't think it would matter which recipe you use.  I chose to make baking powder biscuits.

     To my dear sister, I hope there is always a good biscuit in your future.  You were my inspiration.

I combined flour, salt, and baking powder by pulsing about 5 times.

Here's the milk and butter I added.  Again I pulsed about 5 times until I saw the dough take on the "small peas" look I have read and heard about.

This is how the dough looked after I added the milk and it began pulling away from the sides of the food processor.  It was really wet.  I actually began to be concerned.  I pulsed this combination about 8 times.  I would count, pour in some milk, count, pour, etc.

Here is the final result when they came out of the over.  At this point they certainly smelled and looked like biscuits.  Then I sampled the funny looking one on the far left.  When I added a dab of strawberry jam on the first bite, I knew I had been successful.  I guess it is possible to teach an old dog a new trick.

& FLOWER 

If you are having some spring color pop in your area, I hope you are getting out and enjoying it as much as possible.  This year in our area, the spring blooming azaleas are alive with color at the same time the dogwoods are blooming.

A town in our area actually has a festival celebrating both the dogwood trees and the azaleas and it was this past weekend.  This weekend celebration is not always lucky enough to have both of the beautiful natural elements blooming at the same time.  What a gorgeous sight they have been!

Here are two of my Pothos plants.  I brought them outdoors last weekend to spend the warmer months on our front porch.  I knew they had both grown, but thought I would measure their progress before finding a spot for them.  The one on the right was the obvious winner, surpassing the other lengths by about three feet!  So you know what I did?  I trimmed both of them.  Pothos actually looks fuller and healthier if kept trimmed.  It is nice to see the long healthy vines, but one can always grow more.