Thursday, October 03, 2013

Cranberry Orange Scones and the bi-coastal disparity

I made scones for one of my classes yesterday ( I swing both ways but my intro to language had a notable British influence). 

There were delicious cranberry orange scones along a rather conventional line and some gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free ones as well (made with coconut flour, coconut milk, and agave nectar). 
Our professor has a snack sign-up sheet for all his classes and in additional to all his other general awesomeness, he is an appreciator and practitioner of creating yummy treats. His chocolate chip cookies were just outstanding. But back to the scones now...

They were much appreciated, especially the fact that there was an option for those who don't do dairy, sugar, or wheat for any reason. 

So on the break as we were discussing the recipe and scones, and baking and making treats for people with dietary restrictions, a couple of the students who've relocated from the east coast started discussing how different life is out here. It came up because one of the gals was delighted to find she could eat snack with the class and was so thankful I'd brought a treat she could eat. She was an undergrad back east (originally from the middle somewhere) and said it was quite difficult for her to even find restaurants that catered to dietary restrictions. Out here there are entire pages on the menus or whole cases in the bakeries that are specialized for those eaters. Then the conversation widened out to encompass the general differences in culture from the east to west with a little conversation about the middle thrown in there. It was interesting to hear more recent imports discuss the northwest vibe. The general consensus was that they liked it out here... so I made sure to tell them the weather is going to be really hideous and they will hate it.
:p

3 comments:

Bijoux said...

Lol at the end. It was funny to read this, because initially I was like, What? A snack sign up for a college class? I can't imagine that.

No, we generally don't have restaurants that cater to food restrictions unless it's a chain. Heck, I've never even heard of coconut flour!

My BFF from high school moved to the Portland area with her family as her husband has a job where he can work from home anywhere and he always wanted to live on the west coast. She gave it 5 years and was miserable. They moved back to save their marriage.

lime said...

yeah, i know that weather trick toooo well.

as a born and bred PA gal i can state emphatically my appreciation for your part of the world.

Jocelyn said...

As I started reading your post, I was thinking, "Yup, this is very Northwest stuff"--but, of course, it's everywhere. It's just that the Northwest does caring and sharing particularly well.