One of the best things about Hawaii and I love Scones

Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce you to the macadamia nut?  Macadamia Nut, mainlanders.  Mainlanders, Mac Nut, star of everyone's favorite Subway cookie, the white chocolate macadamia nut cookie.

Here in Hawaii we're lucky enough to have these things at every ABC Store (word on the streets says ABC stands for All Blocks Covered, since you can't throw a stone without hitting one), every grocery store, farmer's market, and hot damn they make good pancakes with 'em almost everywhere.

Macadamia nuts are rich in flavor and are pretty nutritious, even though they have one of the highest fat contents of any nut.  My favorite to eat plain are the honey roasted Mauna Loa brand nuts, but the best for baking are their pre-chopped nuts.  It saves a pretty drastic step in the baking process for those of us who have minimal gear, meaning no choppers of any kind except for knives.

Which brings me to scones.

It's the best I've ever made.

This is not the last loaf of bread I made.  The last loaf of bread I made was a tasty Challah bread that I'll post later.  I need to finish doing some back-posting before I get to that.

The other day I went exploring.  See, I get stuck in Waikiki.  If you've ever been on the island of Oahu, you'll know that Waikiki is the most touristy, urban, noisy part of the island.  It's easy to get stuck here, especially without a car.  However, when I do I enjoy it immensely.  It was a nice, only slightly windy, day when I got off the bus only about two miles into town away from Waikiki.  I felt like I was in a whole new world, so instead of catching a bus home again I decided to walk.

This wonderful walk took me to a bakery where I enjoyed an azuki bean bun and a fresh cup of coffee, then to one of the only locally owned co-op type grocers, Down to Earth.   It's actually all vegetarian, so they don't even sell eggs, which I was informed of by an elderly woman in the bulk food aisle.

Speaking of the bulk food aisle, I was in heaven.  Wheat germ, gluten-free flour, buckwheat flour, bulk steel rolled oats, bulk this, bulk that, bulk everything I might EVER WANT TO BAKE WITH!  Including 9-grain cereal.

9-grain cereal is a mix of any cracked whole grains, and exactly what I've always wanted to make bread with.  I'm not sure all the grains in this particular mix, but I'm sure it had oats, corn, rye, flax, and hard red wheat.  I don't always like to follow recipes, nor do I always like the search for a good recipe.  So what I did was go to a trusty source, find a recipe that was at least a little bit like what I wanted, and dealt.

This is what I like to call "modifying" a recipe.

So I went to my first love, A Year in Bread and used Susan's Honey Bran Honey Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread as a jumping off point.

The recipe itself is amazing, I'd check it out if I was you, and my modifications made what my roomie  called, "the best bread you've ever made."  And he likes all the bread I make, so that's saying something.

 I should also say that I like baking bread more than I like baking anything else.  I'm one of those people who'd rather have a big hunk of white bread than a cupcake or a cookie.  I'd rather have a thick slice of whole grain bread toasted spread with peanut butter than a hunk of white bread.  Plus, making bread is one of the most satisfying things I've ever done.  It seems like a miracle as the yeast comes to life, making the dough grow, and kneading?  Pure, physical joy.  I love it.  I love the way it all comes together and how I know now exactly how it should look and feel.

Yes, it took time.  Yes, it took patience and practice, but I'm so happy I did it.  I'm so happy I got to where  I am with bread, and this ladies and gents is proof to me that I'm on the path I want to be on.  At least where baking is concerned.

At last!

I have been so incredibly lazy lately.  I know.  See, so much has happened that my blogging has fallen to the wayside.  One of the big things I've been using as an excuse is the pain and preparation for my wisdom tooth extraction.

That's right guys, they're gone.  Finally, all four teeth are GONE!  So it's all soft foods and Buffy for me.

Good news for the blogosphere though because it means that I have plenty of bored and drugged up time to edit and post pictures.  Since pictures are the things that hold me back from posting most of the time, this is a good thing.

I've been taking requests at work, and this is the first of many posts to come about it.  SO, without further ado:  Heather's Desire, Peach Cobbler Cheesecake: