I’m over making decisions. It’s not to say I don’t make them but I’m finding them a real chore. This is a difficulty as an adult as there are a lot to make and in my job I have to make a ton of them – ALL THE TIME! My Creative Director (well the one I work with not one I have to direct creativity in my daily life, not that I have one of those) says that Obama believes that people can only make a limited number of effective decisions in a day. So he minimises the smaller ones he has to make by only having a couple of different suits, eating whatever he is given for lunch, etc. Now I pointed out that he also has a whole legion of people to serve him breakfast, buy presents for his friends and tell him how he likes his coffee. I could make less decisions with an army of people making them for me. Also what the hell that does say about the whole world of people who have to make what he considers too many decisions!
Anyway it did make me think about it and I realised that I have been doing things to allow me to make less mundane decisions. I’ve fallen into the rut of eating the same thing for breakfast and lunch during the week and making most of the dinners for the week at the weekend. Plus I go to the gym in the morning more days than not so having pre-packed outfits just means I don’t have to think about it. I’m not sure if this has made my subsequent decisions better but it has meant that I can spend more time at my desk making more decisions. Badly - according to Obama.
Anyway last week I couldn’t be bothered to think of something to bake so I took suggestions from my bank of desks. As my baking has basically meant that everyone I work with starts baying at cake tins on a Tuesday morning I thought I should make something that was requested. I took on the suggestion of cheese and spinach scones but thought that I should ensure that in case they bombed then I should make some more traditional ones as well. The fruit one came out very well and the savoury ones less so. They were a little dry and didn’t rise but as I’d cobbled together three recipes I think that with a few tweaks I’ll get there. The flavours worked well, with the cayenne pepper and mustard adding a little spice, so I’ll put my recipe down with suggestions and update when I try them out again. I’ll post the fruit scone recipe separately.
Ingredients
100g Feta chopped into small cubes (keep 20g to one side)
30-50g steamed spinach drained (really squish the water out)
175g self raising flour
25g wholemeal flour (ignore if you don’t have it and make up with self raising)
¼ tsp baking powder (put in 1 tsp)
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
¼ tsp mustard powder
3 tbsp olive oil or anything half decent (try 4-5 tbsp)
1 tsp dried oregano
1 large egg
2 tbsp milk
1. Preheat oven to 220°/GM7.
2. Put the flours and baking powder into a bowl with the cayenne pepper and mustard powder. Then add the oil and mix it with a palette knife. It will look like chunky breadcrumbs. Get your hands in there if you want.
3. Add the feta, spinach and oregano mixing well.
4. Beat the egg into the milk and add half to the mixture mixing well. Use your hands as its the best way and to be honest you feel like you have baked with batter caked onto your finger nails! Keep adding the egg mix until the dough comes together. You don’t want it sticky but soft.
5. Now roll it out to about 2.5cm thick on a floured surface. Using a 5cm cutter stamp out the scones. You want them lovely and plump (I went a bit think but couldn’t be bothered to re-roll). Brush the top with milk.
6. Now bake for about 15 minutes until golden on top.
This makes between 12 and 16 depending on how thick they are. I think they’d be good with soup.
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