Last night, I was dead tired from a long day at work and just couldn't blog. This is a combination of activities and culinary adventures that happened yesterday and today. I may have been too tired to write, but not at all too tired to make scones! Now, the scones were a bit of a cheat and I'm coming clean. I didn't make them from scratch and they were from a mix that was not imported from the UK. The red raspberry scone mix was from Spokane, Washington. Cost Plus just didn't have any other choice of scone mix and I wanted scones to go with my Somerdale Double Devon Cream that was imported from England.

The scone mix is even a bigger cheat, because all I had to do was add water and form balls of dough on the cookie sheet. It couldn't have been easier.

They didn't turn out as pretty as when I have had them at local tea parlors, but they did taste yummy. I spread the cream right on it, rather than also adding a jam. The Double Devon Cream was good, but not nearly as good as when I have had it out. I think that might be the difference between a jar and making it fresh?

The best cream that I have ever eaten came from a place in Pasadenawww.rosetreecottage.com. The Rose Tea Cottage has great scones, tea and cream. They also have an entire section of their store dedicated to General Norman Schwarzkopf, whose apparently a big fan of afternoon tea. Weird, but true.

I enjoyed the scones so much, that I ate them for breakfast. As stated on the jar, I put the cream in the fridge. This didn't work out so well. In my sleepy stupor, I didn't notice that the cream had separated and needed to be mixed up again. This morning, I took a scoop of cream from the top and it was rock hard, barely spreadable.

Last night, I watched another episode of Downton Abbey. Speaking of which, here is a photo that 007 Dan took of a road sign near his home.

Awesome!

And also speaking of Downton Abbey...This afternoon, I went to see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotelthat starred (among other, definitely a major ensemble movie) Maggie Smith and Penelope Wilton. In the movie, Smith's character loves McVitie's  HobNob cookies, which I happened to have in my Cost Plus bag!

Really yummy! I'm not going to delude myself into thinking these are a healthy snack, but they did seem more so than similar American types of cookies. Not at all greasy, HobNobs are kind of oatmealy and really crunchy. I would definitely go out of my way to buy these again. I understand why Smith's character filled her suitcase with them when she moved to India!