Jam sessions...with scones

I have recently mentioned my affinity for jam, even though I don't eat the stuff much. Although I can now rest assured that I'm not the only one with this jam obsession. The lady serving me at the French Cheese Shop in Melbourne's Queen Victoria Markets confessed to having 4 unfinished jams in her fridge & 1 lurking in the cupboard! When I ummed over one of the jams she was selling, she advised in the nicest possible way, "Why don't you tell yourself, finish 2 jars of jam & then when you come back to Melbourne, you can buy another one!" What sensible advice....


So it is places such as the Merricks General Store (pictured above) down in the Mornington Peninsula, that jam temptations start to surface! Built in 1924, this lovingly restored place welcomed us from the blustery cold wind & rain outside. It contained a cafe, a cellar door to taste wines from the owners' local vineyard, and a beautifully-presented food store stocking lots of yummy goodies like fudge, biscotti, imported pantry staples, homewares and the store's own range of olive oil, jams and condiments:

While I was busily distracted by the array of yummies on offer, it was my hubbie who spotted people having scones with jam & cream in the cafe. Never mind that we'd recently had lunch in a local winery...hey, it was 3.30 - it's afternoon tea time! So down we sat to the most humongous scone I've ever seen in my life. Both of us were like, "Whooaa!" I should have taken a pic with my fist alongside it, cos it was bigger than that....more like 3 scones in 1! Thank goodness we were sharing...

Now...I'm normally sceptical about scones that aren't small & dainty, so I didn't get my hopes up! But the scone turned out to be one of the best I've ever had...crunchy on the outside, warm & moist on the inside...spread with a little of the housemade strawberry jam & cream...& voila, I was in scone heaven! It was so good, we came back the next afternoon to have it again...this time with raspberry jam and cream. Hey, it was really cold outside, we needed something warm & comforting!

Oh well, there's no need to justify our double scone-fest...the good news is that I actually restrained myself from purchasing any of the homemade jam! I did come away with an enamel milk pan, some local honey, and a jar of imported French chestnut cream....but the point is...no jam!!! N