While my mother doesn't usually request anything special for Mother's Day, my sister and I decided to host an impromptu tea party for her this year. What's a tea party without scones? I made a half recipe, and very carefully remembered to cut every ingredient in half -- except the butter! They still worked, and were quite delicious. ~~~ Sweet Vanilla Scones (taken from If Teacups Could Talk by Emilie Barnes): 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp salt 4 TBSP sugar 1 TBSP baking powder 3 1/2 TBSP butter 1 8-oz. carton vanilla yogurt 2 eggs, separated 3 TBSP heavy cream 1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. 2. Stir together flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder. Using a pastry blender, cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coars crumbs. 3. Stir together the vanilla yogurt and the egg yolks. add to the flour mixture and stir lightly with a fork. Add cream 1 tablespoon at a time until dough begins to clump together. 4. Gather dough on lightly floured surface and knead just three or four times or until the dough holds together (Do not overwork!). Pat dough into a rectangle about 3/4 inch thick and cut with 2-inch round cookie cutter. 5. Place scones on ungreased cookie sheet and brush tops with beaten egg whites. Bake for 10 minutes or until ight brown. Serve warm. Makes approximately 16 scones. ~~~ Although they're good enough to eat alone, we served the scones with lemon curd and fresh whipped cream: I made berry parfaits with vanilla yogurt, strawberries, fresh-picked blackberries, and real whipped cream -- with a sprig of mint and some walnuts for garnish. Healthy and delicious! My father found the perfect gift for our mother, which he graciously allowed us to give to her -- a beautifully framed copy of Peder Kroyer's painting of two women on Skagen Beach. My mother, unbeknownst to me, has loved this painting for many years. I discovered it only recently, as I scoured Art.com in an effort to compile a list of artists and paintings that I like (a list which is now about 17 pages long!). And just to make the Week in Feminine Dress last one more day (and in honor of Mother's Day), I wore my "Beach dress" from the Sense and Sensibility 1914 Tea Dress pattern. The fabric is an embroidered cotton voile, which I found a few years ago for $2 per yard at Wal-Mart. This was a project that spent about a year in my UFO (unfinished object) box. Two years ago I finally pulled it out and finished it. The sash is a beautiful raspberry taffeta ribbon that I found at JoAnn's on clearance (I think it was 12 cents per yard) a few years ago. I used the excess ribbon as a headband. Happy Mother's Day to all mothers out there! Thank you so much for all that you do!