Cranberry and orange scones .... a somewhat snowy and x-massy send off to the sister!

She's going to Australia!!!!!!!!

What does one pack for such a major move like this?

Definitely lots of underwear, towels, swim goggles......a wetsuit.... maybe?

How much does the luggage weigh? How much can it weigh?

Why are the dogs attacking each other??!!

This chocolate cake is so fudgy and making me sleepy......

These are some of the comments floating around during the few hours before my sister's flight to Sydney.

It had snowed a teeny tiny bit that morning and we decorated the house with some x-mas lights and bows. We made a yummy olivey baked pasta, some cranberry orange scones, and my friend and current roommate bought a HuUUGe chocolate fudge cake.

A perfect pre-x-mas Huen family celebration I call it!

My sister bought me an awesome running watch (an early birthday/x-mas gift YAY!!) that just uploads all my run times/distances by plugging into the computer - technology is so great (that is...when I know how to use it).

It also allows you to connect and share your runs with other users, which is so very cool if your sister lives on the other side of the world and you can see where she's jogged!

So now the sister also has a running watch, and being an awesome yoga teacher, she got 20% off regular price. And in about...... 4 hours, she should hit the Sydney airport tarmac and potentially begin her Australian running routine.

Go San Go!!!!!!

To bring a little bit of early x-massy joy to everyone around the world, below is a recipe for cranberry orange scones from the Barefoot Contessa with a few measurement modifications.

Ingredients:
2 + 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 + 1/3 Tbsp baking powder
1 + 1/3 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) of softened butter
Zest of 3 medium oranges
1/6 cup white sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup whipping cream, cold
2/3 cup dried sweetened cranberries
Juice of 1 orange

1/2 cup icing sugar
1 Tbsp orange juice

Mix together flour, baking powder and salt.

In a separate bowl, cut butter with orange zest and sugar until roughly combined, then place inside fridge to re-harden the butter. Keeping the butter cold actually helps give a nice fluffy flaky scone.

In another bowl, beat eggs with vanilla and cream.

In yet another bowl (I swear this is the last bowl!) soak cranberries in orange juice.

Take out butter mixture and add in egg mixture and mix. I use a blunt knife and just combine manually. It doesn't have to be homogeneous, but as long as it's about 70% combined, it should be fine.

Add in flour mixture spoon by spoon (I use a large spoon) and continue to combine. If the mixture gets too tough for the knife, use your hands!

Add in soaked cranberries (but not the juice) and continue to mix. It doesn't have to be evenly combined, and try not to over mix as that tends to make them too chewy. About 70% combined is good.

Shape dough into a huge circle and cut into slices. I cut them into large slices (about 100g each slice, 9 slices in total - don't ask me how I got 9) but feel free to cut them into any shape/size you like. Some like to use cookie cutters to get equal sizes. 

Wrap each scone and place in freezer for at least 30 mins.

Before baking, preheat the oven to 400 deg C. Bake for 16 to 20 mins, and check often. The top should be golden and crispy looking when done!

To make icing, mix icing sugar with orange juice until thickened and drizzle over scones.

Enjoy with a beautiful cup of coffee or tea :)