Tag Archives: COVID-19

Scones, Top

Nithbank House

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.We’re away for a few days … hurrah! These days it’s not that easy to find a hotel or B&B with availability because everywhere in Scotland seems to be fully booked.  The COVID staycation phenomenum  has seen loads of people coming here from other parts of the UK … and who can blame them? Many will have visited for the first time so hopefully the staycation will become a regular thing rather than the usual jetting off to foreign parts. We did, however, find Nithbank House which had a room free for a couple of days … bingo!

Drumlanrig Castle
Drumlanrig Castle
The Chamberlain

Driving down Nithsdale we stopped off at Drumlanrig Castle for a bit of a nosey. It looks like it could house a small army but actually only two folk live there, The Duke and Duchess of Bucchleuch and Queensberry. Drumlanrig’s 90,000 acres forms only a relatively minor part of the 280,000 acres the Duke owns in Scotland. It’s good to know he has done nothing, apart from being born, to merit such vast wealth. It transpired though that Nithbank House was built in the 1790s by the 4th Duke as accommodation for his Chamberlain … a kind of estate factor. And, would you believe it, we were going to be staying in the Chamberlain’s Quarters!  

View from Nithbank
the view from our scone over the river Nith and Nithsdale
Shallow or shallow

The house has a magnificent location looking out over Nithsdale. In the blurb it says that everyone is welcomed with warm scones. Now we don’t want you to think that we are shallow enough to be enticed by such frivolous inducements … okay, okay we are! It is run by Melanie and John, two very warm and friendly people, and when we arrived Melanie said we could have our scones in our room, the lounge or outside. We opted for outside and within a few minutes we were sitting in the sun admiring the view.

External view of Nithbank
Pat limbering up for a scone

The beauty of the view was only bettered by the arrival of our scones. Wow, this is how scones should be presented!Scones at Nithbank

There were two treacle scones and two fruit ones. Nice little dishes of cream and jam as well as one full of finely cut strawberries. Everything was homemade. Unfortunately one of the treacle scones could have done with another minute in the oven however the rest were fabulous. Given the setting, the presentation, the service and the scones themselves we decided that one slightly undercooked scone could be overlooked … easy topscone. Well done Melanie and John!

The power of love
Internal view of Nithbank
A Rembrandt at Nithsdale House. Drumlanrig Castle thinks it has the original.

In such a romantic setting you can’t help. but think back to 1715 and the love between the Earl of Nithsdale and his wife, Lady Winifred. For his part in the Jacobite Uprising he had been found guilty of treason and thrown in The Tower of London to await his execution. Lady Nithsdale rode to London in deep snow accompanied only by a maid. She visited the Earl and together they hatched a daring escape plan. Elaborate and extremely dangerous but it worked. They escaped to Italy where they spent the rest of their lives probably reminiscing about Scotland and Nithsdale. They’d have sympathised with the folks currently having to flee Afghanistan.

Afghanistan

Today is the first day in two decades that Afghanistan has not been occupied by foreign troops … cause for celebration in itself! It remains to be seen how things will pan out with the Taliban. Strangely though, at the moment they seem to be only ones talking any sense. In future Afghanistan will be ruled by a handful of men who think they know what is good for everyone else. However, we all know what that feels like! With talk of kalashnikovs and burkhas, Nithbank seems like it’s on another planet. Planet Nithbank for us!

Logo of Nithbank

DG3 5AP      tel: 07823 773211     Nithbank Country Estate

///sonic.puppy.automatic

 

Ordinary, Scones

The Fish Man

Logo on the fish man's vanIt’s come to this … we’re getting our scones delivered. Of course, there’s more to it than that! We didn’t deliberately seek out scone deliveries, it just kind of happened. For many years now Scott McSharry, the Fish Man,  has been parking his van outside our house on a Wednesday evening and hooting his horn. The horn has  a magical effect on the neighbourhood. Suddenly, from no-one being around,  there are loads of people emerging from their homes and all heading in the same direction. Scott’s a bit like the pied piper except this is Falkirk not Hamelin!Logo on the fish man's van

It wasn’t always like this. Scott used to have a wee van and he sold fish from Pittenweem … maybe some eggs if you were lucky. Recently, however, he acquired a much bigger van and now you can get  bread, cakes, tomatoes, strawberries, eggs …. and, would you believe it … scones. All his produce is wonderful so we thought his scones would be worth a try as well.

 

Scones to your door

A scone from the fish manWe ate ours in the garden in the sunshine  with a bowl of whipped cream and some of Pat’s crab apple jelly. What wasn’t to like? Nothing as it turned out. The scones were a tad on the large side for our liking. They tasted good and that’s what matters at the end of the day. Most of our readers are unlikely to be able to use the Fish Man’s services and, of course, they were not exactly ‘presented’ so no topscone. Nevertheless, useful to know that you can always get a scone even though you can’t be bothered baking or going out.

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Pingdemic

With most of the COVID restrictions being lifted we can go anywhere though, in Scotland, the wearing of masks is still required. In England, so called Freedom Day (July 19) has come and gone. No restrictions, just recommendations. This joyous occasion, however, has been anything but. Just when everyone should be able to go about their business ‘normally’ we have had a rise in cases resulting in a pingdemic. Hundreds of thousand have been pinged by the ‘track & trace’ app and forced into ten days of isolation.  Schools may as well close. Supermarket shelves are bare because there’s no-one to deliver the stuff or put it on the shelves. Complete chaos!Logo on the fish man's van

We have also learned from the PM’s old boss Dominic Cummings that Boris doesn’t actually believe in pandemics.  When he was pinged he refused to isolate. Now he is being forced to isolate in Chequers, wee soul. Everyone knows that Boris is a muppet. However, you would think that even with muppets there would be some sort of learning process. Logo on the fish man's vanNot with Boris! While people like Scott do their utmost to keep  their customers happy by diversifying from fish into scones, Boris seems to just get dafter and dafter.A good slap with a wet fish might bring him to his senses! Large wet fish please Scott!

No fixed abode          tel: 07743 861391              Scott’s Fresh Fish FB

Scones, Top

Crail Harbour Gallery & Tearoom revisited

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Salt and pepper pot at the Harbour Gallery CafeLast time we were in the Crail Harbour Gallery & Tearoom was way back in 2018. We hadn’t heard of COVID, Boris was just a joke rather than an elected joke. These were halcyon days! Never mind here we are in 2021 and at least we have the unaccustomed freedom to travel about the country. We are grateful for small mercies such as this. Crail village is picturesque, a favourite among artists. And probably has the most photographed harbour in Scotland. So it’s not entirely surprising that we were drawn back here.

A typical street in Crail
typical Crail street
Much bigger keep please

Last time, we told you the story of the wee boy who had misbehaved back in the 1600s and was thrown in the keep at Balcomie Castle to teach him a lesson. He starved to death because everyone forgot he was there. Tragic but then we wondered who we would like to throw into a keep, The list was so long we decide we would need a bigger keep. Three years later the list has got even bigger. Not only do we have Johnson, Gove, Rees-Mogg and the likes, we now have Cummings, Hancock and most of the DUP, and many more. Much bigger keep please!

View of Crail Harbour
The Crail Harbour Gallery and Tearoom is to the right of this picture with blue shutters

We are very pleased to report that the smoked haddock still adorns the Tolbooth weather vane rather than the traditional cockerel … only in Crail!  After a few purchases at the Pottery we were ready for some lunch and a scone. The tearoom is still run by artist DS Mackie who fills the space with her own works. Internal view of the Harbour Gallery CafeLike last time, we elected to sit outside and take in the panoramic views over the Firth of Forth to the distant Isle of May. A short boat trip will take you there. The puffins and razorbills have no fear and you can just sit down beside them. It’s great!Outside tables at the Harbour Gallery Cafe

Sacrifice, sacrifice!

We were very well looked after by a gentleman who definitely wasn’t local … probably French we thought judging by the accent, the beret and the string of onions round his neck. Just kidding about the beret … and the onions! Our lunch was excellent and the scone came very well presented. Sitting in the sun thinking about puffins, eating scones helped down by some great coffee wasn’t easy. Honestly, the things we do for our readers! The tearoom isn’t big and does very well to maintain all the COVID rules and regulations. Back in 2018 the tearoom just missed out on our topscone award so we were very happy to rectify that this time around. 

​A Crail Pottery flowerpot with some Nepeta bought in CeresIn case you’re wondering what we bought at the Pottery, it was just a couple of little wall hanging pots. The plant is the nepeta we bought by chucking money down a chute in Ceres in our previous post. It’s rather nice don’t you think and well worth its 50p cost?

Character

Crail harbour today still supports a few fishing boats but in the past it was at the centre of a bustling trade with Holland and the Low Countries.

A small door in Crail
Folk must have been smaller in the past

Sailing ships would take produce from Crail and return loaded with pantiles as ballast. This gave the East Neuk of Fife its particular character. The orange pantile roofs and the architecture just reek of Dutch influence. That, of course, was when we could trade freely with Europe, something we have just recently lost due to the imbecilic Boris and his merry band of eejits.

Who was first?

The trade with Europe in the 18th century probably gave rise to a ‘nouveau riche’ which in turn resulted in Crail now claiming to have the very first ever golf course in 1786. This may, of course be disputed by neighbouring St Andrews which prides itself as ‘The Home of Golf’. Continuing the sporty theme, last night in the Euros,  England saw off Ukraine in some style with a 4-0 win. Great, however, we are dreading the next unbearable week of infantile speculative rambling about the next semi-final game with Denmark. Keep it in England please … we have scones to eat and puffins to think about!

KY10 3SU         tel: 01333 451896           Harbour Gallery 

PS Also came across this post box while wandering round the village … made in Falkirk!A Carron made post box in Crail

Scones, Top

Rhubarb Lime Coffee Shop

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Many many months ago, the Laird got in touch to say that the Rhubarb Lime Coffee Shop in the village of  Kippen was worthy of investigation. Needless to say, COVID made that impossible until now. The Laird of course is the self-styled Laird of Dumyat (Dum-eye-at), a hill that provides an impressive backdrop to the City of Stirling. As it happens, self-styling in this neck of the woods is a tradition that goes back quite a long way.Logo of Rhubarb Lime Coffee House

Lost dinner

Back in the early 16th century King James V of Scotland (Mary Queen of Scots’ dad) was resident at Stirling Castle. When travelling outwith the castle he usually adopted the more low key guise of “The Guid Man o’ Ballengeich”. One day he dispatched a party of men to hunt for deer at Gartmore. On their return journey they were attacked and relieved of their venison by a band of men led by John Buchanan … the self-styled King of Kippen.  When Buchanan was informed the venison was for the King, he said “He may be King of Scotland but I am King of Kippen“. When the men returned empty handed and told James the story he was not a happy bunny.

Lessons

He assembled some men and rode to Buchanan’s palace at Arnprior where he was refused entry. The guard saying that his master was at his dinner and was not to be disturbed.  James replied, “Tell your master, the Guid Man o’ Ballengeich humbly requests an audience with the King of Kippen“. Buchanan guessed the identity of the Guid Man and received His Majesty appropriately. They became great friends and thereafter the King of Kippen was always welcomed as a brother sovereign  at the Royal Court. We tell you this story because we think it may hold valuable lessons for the Vladimirs, Borises and Joes of this rather fractious world.

Poster at Rhubarb Lime Coffee HouseAnyway let’s get to the scones. Rhubarb Lime, run by Shona and Greg,  is a small place but it packs a lot in. It must be a bit of a hub for the village. Besides being a cafe it also sells a good range of groceries and a great range of mostly Italian wines. My brother had joined us to experience at first hand his first real scone adventure. We decided to sit outside where we could witness village life as it happened. On the opposite side of the street was the butcher’s shop … appropriately named “Skinner of Kippen”. The service was very friendly and we were soon wonderfully sorted with some excellent lunch followed by plain scones … no fruit scones left!

Adventures

 Shona had made them earlier in the day so suffice to say, the scones were excellent. The best we have tasted in a long time. A scone at Rhubarb Lime Coffee HouseNicely presented with ample clotted cream and raspberry jam. They were just how we like them, lovely and soft with that slightly crunchy exterior. A very easy topscone. Before we left, Pat and I bought some wine. But my brother, still high on adrenalin from the adventure, lost all sense of self control and bought more than a dozen bottles of his favourite Primitivo.

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Wine at Rhubarb Lime Coffee HouseWe were surprised to find such a good range of wine in a pretty wee village like this. But perhaps we shouldn’t have been? Back in 1891 a descendent of the King of Kippen planted a vine which ended up as the biggest in the world covering 460 m2 and four large greenhouses. Unfortunately in 1964 it was cut down by yet another descendent so Greg has to source his wine  directly from Italy. Apparently cuttings from the original vine (Gros Colman variety) are still flourishing in greenhouses all over the village and the surrounding area, so the old vine lives on.

Sour cherry jam at Rhubarb Lime Coffee HouseWill Team Scotland live on in the European Football Championships? That’s the big question! So far they have maintained that age old tradition of losing magnificently … 2-0 against the Czech Republic. At the end of this week Scotland will be confronted by the old enemy, England. We don’t actually care who wins … and we wrote that with a straight face believe it or not? Okay, you don’t!

Traditions need to be maintained. Many thanks to the Laird, both Kings and Rhubarb Lime from the Lord and Lady of Scones!

FK8 3DN      tel: 01786 870077        Rhubarb Lime

///brief.reader.blatantly

Ordinary, Scones

Fisher & Donaldson

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Have you heard of Jeddart Justice? Originating in the border town of Jedburgh it’s where someone is hanged first, and tried afterwards.

Pastries at Fisher & Donaldson
F&D pastries

 Well apparently the good folk of Cupar in Fife once accidentally drowned a man who refused to leave his cell. Rather than cheat him out of a trial they put his body on the stand anyway. Don’t know if he was found guilty or not. We think Boris would love to dish out Jeddart Justice to a host of people but it would probably be frowned upon these days. Anyway, we are in Cupar today, not looking for justice of any kind … just a scone. Fisher & Donaldson seemed like a likely spot.

It’s that time of year! When driving up to Cupar the fields were as green as green could be … almost impossibly green. Green and gold fieldsApart, of course, from the rape fields which were solid swathes of that impossible chrome yellow. Everything looked wonderfully fresh and vibrant.

In case of confusion

The town of Cupar in Fife should not be confused with that well known song “The Wee Cooper of Fife”.  Everyone knows the words.  

There was a wee cooper who lived in Fife
Nickety, nockety, noo, noo, noo

At first this doesn’t seem to make any sense however everything becomes clear with the next few lines:

And he ha’ gotten a gentle wife
Hey Willie Wallacky, hey John Dougall
Alane quo rushety, roo, roo, roo.

A poster at Fisher & Donaldson

No messing

Fisher & Donaldson are not exactly new kids on the block. Their bakery has been supplying the local area for over 100 years. It has a very traditional atmosphere and layout though the compartmentalised layout is mainly due to COVID restrictions. Internal view of Fisher & DonaldsonWhen we asked for scones the lady serving us, who had the demeanour of someone who had been closely related to the chap in the flooded cell, wasn’t sure if there were any left. After checking she said there were two, one cheese and one cherry. Fine that was all we wanted. When we asked for cream it prompted a very straight faced reply “No … we don’t do that sort of thing!” Okay, we were only asking!

A scone at Fisher & DonaldsonWhen they arrived they actually looked rather promising. Pat’s cheese one was good and my cherry one was also very acceptable. All in all everything was fine but no topscones here today … not with that po faced attitude to an innocent cream request. We actually spoke to the lady when we were paying our bill and she turned out to be quite good fun. We must have just caught her in a moment when she was thinking of her drowning relative.

Hickory shafts

We used to go on holiday with the children to Hill of Tarvit in Cupar and had great fun. However, at that time I hadn’t realised that the local Kingarrock nine-hole golf course (founded in 1855) still used hickory shafted clubs. All my clubs have hickory shafts … that’s all there was available when I bought them? My golfing career was very short lived and although everyone laughed at my clubs I certainly could not blame them for my performances.

KY15 5JT        tel: 01334 652551         Fisher and Donaldson

///fortnight.focal.neon

You will remember in our last post from Rufflets we visited our Bathurst correspondents family who lived nearby. Well simultaneously we received a note from our correspondents  saying they had revisited the Cafe Zestt  in Crookwell and were less than impressed … scone arrived 10 minutes after their coffee was finished … unforgivable! More interestingly perhaps they also visited the Scottish Arms Hotel in Bowral and as well as all the usual Scottish paraphanlia there was a K6 telephone box …. made in Falkirk. It had a sort of old-fashioned handset inside, possibly a direct line to Boris, or more likely Nicola. Don’t think Boris would have answered, he is totally preoccupied with sausage wars!

Bowral K6 telephone box

Birthday girl

Remember I had a birthday girl on my hands at Rufflets. Well that was a few days before her actual birthday. On the big day itself friends invited us round to their place for afternoon tea. What a fabulous afternoon that turned out to be.
We sat down in their garden at 2.30 and were still there at 8.30 … that’s how good it was. Home baked scones were the highlight though I was told in no uncertain terms that they were not to be critiqued under any circumstances. But they were definitely topscones  so it’s impossible not to.

One of our granddaughters joined us for a time and just as she did so a tooth that had been threatening to come out for days, fell out. More business for the tooth fairy!She knows how to keep her granny happy though. Many thanks L&R for a fabulous afternoon … and evening! 

Scones, Top

Rufflets

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Logo of Rufflets HotelOh dear, what do you do when you have a birthday girl on your hands and you are in lockdown? You can’t go out to buy presents, in fact you can’t go anywhere! But, wait a sec! We can now travel to anywhere in Scotland … it’s official. Okay, they would rather you didn’t but I go back to my original quandary. Suffice to say we are here in St Andrews at Rufflets having done what seemed like a massive road trip to get here. We actually drove for more than an hour … first time in living memory! Okay that’s not that long given our combined memories general state of decrepitude. It did seem like a road trip though … quite thrilling! Anyway, we were having a few days roughing it here at Rufflets. Don’t worry it’s not actually that rough.

Jute

Rufflets was built in 1924 by a local jute baron. In fact, nearby Dundee was once the jute capital of the world. Nowadays most people have never heard of the stuff but back in the good old Empire days we  pilfered loads of the stufExternal view of Rufflets Hotelf from impoverished Bangladeshis. Never mind, with a new Royal Yacht on order, Britain will surely rule the waves once again and go around the globe poking its nose in where it’s not wanted. Or maybe it’s just for Boris and his extensive family to go on holiday with the Rees Moggs? As long as the scones are as good as they were on Britannia we don’t mind,

Rejuvenation

When Rufflets was a private home it must have been magnificent in its ten acres of gardens but since 1952 it has been a hotel and run by the same family ever since.

Pat in the garden at Rufflets Hotel
She didn’t fall in

After all this time in lockdown you can’t beat a few days of pampering and wandering round these beautiful grounds to feel rejuvenated … like COVID had never actually happened. Having to wear a mask when moving around inside the hotel was the only reminder.

Pat in the garden at Rufflets Hotel
The birthday girl desperately trying to act responsibly

We spent a day going round St Andrews. It’s a lovely place but my goodness we hadn’t seen so many people in a long long time. It was busy, busy, busy! Scotland is now in Level One which means that things are almost back to normal but rules about masks and social distancing still apply. Overall, however, the atmosphere is much more relaxed than it’s been for a long time.

Rather than have a scone in town we headed back to Rufflets to see what their scones were like. And, of course, you would also like to know as well, wouldn’t you!

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At last, Scottish jam

Scones at Rufflets HotelWhen the weather is like it is, where better to do some intensive sconology but on the Rufflets terrace. Unsurprisingly perhaps the service was impeccable. We didn’t think it appropriate to ask for cream and sure enough the scones arrived with everything a discerning sconologist  would expect. Starched and ironed linen napkins,  a bowl of clotted cream and Galloway Lodge jam from Gatehouse-of-Fleet. What’s not to like?The scones themselves were crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle, just the way we like them. Again, unsurprisingly we gave them a topscone.Happy girls at Rufflets

Sitting here eating beautiful scones in the beautiful sunshine on a beautiful terrace in a beautiful garden with a beautiful girl, one felt slightly detached from the real world. It’s okay now though …  we’re back!

KY16 9TX         tel: 01334 472594          Rufflets Hotel

///earth.agreement.trappings

PS: You all know our Australian Bathurst correspondents by now. Together with the New South Welshman they have kept us abreast of sconological events down under for the past couple of years. When it has been difficult to go on scone adventures in the UK they have provided us with invaluable additional posts. However, you probably don’t know that part of their family lives here in Scotland.  

The past couple of years have been particularly difficult for them since they have been unable to visit their grandchildren due to COVID. Their daughter lives only a mile or so away from Rufflets with her husband and two daughters. We hadn’t met them before but decided to just barge in and introduce ourselves. What an absolute pleasure that turned out to be! They are the warmest kindest people … obviously something to do with the stock they come from!Rebecca and Dave at the Tavern I even had my first post-lockdown pint of Guinness  in the Tavern at Strathkinness (pronounced Strathkinis I was reliably informed by a chap at the bar).

Wishful thinking

Anyway our stay at Rufflets has come to an end. We have emerged back into the real world to find that the G7 have found a way to get large multinationals to pay their fair share of tax. After years of saying its couldn’t be done it only took a couple of hours over dinner to get it sorted.  Brilliant, maybe if the G7 had a scone on the terrace here at Rufflets they could sort out a whole lot more pressing global problems?

Scones, Uncategorized

Wayzgoose Diner

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More news from our Bathurst correspondents as we in Scotland gently edge towards the same sort of freedom that they enjoy. Freedom to not only leave the house but to venture further afield … and to meet people … yeah! We’re not complaining, we are very happy with the way the whole COVID-19 thing has been handled in Scotland but like everyone else we have almost forgotten what ‘normal’ actually means. In New South Wales our correspondents can at least move around the state … and this little corner of Australia is four times the size of the UK! Anyway, today they made their way to the village of Leura and the Wayzgoose Diner. And what sort of name is that anyway? In their own words:

Welcome to Leura“Today we passed through Leura, a village halfway between our home in Bathurst, and Sydney. A spot we often stop at when travelling to Sydney. As it was coffee time, we called into the Wayzgoose Diner, and decided to sample their scones. To our surprise the scone arrived in a terracotta flowerpot, in which it had been cooked. Quite a nice scone, if a little odd looking with its tapered bottom”.

Flower pot scone at the Wayzgoose Diner
A flower pot scone

Intrigued by the name “Wayzgoose”, and thinking it was some sort of Canadian bird, I googled it and found:

“A wayzgoose was at one time a celebratory dinner given by a master printer to his workmen each year on or about St Bartholomew’s Day (24 August). It marked the traditional end of summer and the start of the season of working by candlelight.”

Working by candlight … those were the days! Our correspondents also sent these clippings about the Country Women’s Association (CWA) from the Sydney Morning Herald.

Sconversations for the anxious and depressedSMH clippings for the Wayzgoose DinerKnead to know


In another cutting a Mrs Whitton explained that the secret of a perfect scone “Don’t knead the dough. Don’t fiddle or keep laying or touching it”. You have been told!

SMH clippings for the Wayzgoose Diner
Mrs Whitton and a tray of 40 scones


As always, a huge thanks to our Bathurst correspondents. But, would you believe it – another Aussie report has just come in! This time from our Brisbane correspondent. We think the intention was to assure Pat and I that not all Australians are as boorish as him.

Apparently, at a recent function, he was belittled, berated and generally ridiculed by colleagues for putting jam on top of the cream on a pikelet (crumpet) he was preparing to eat. Serves him right … not going to get any sympathy from us. But good to hear that Australia is not indulging in those devilishly delinquent Devon ways.

Back in the UK, Boris promised that everything would go back to the way it was once Brexit was achieved. And so it has, one of the few promises he has kept … rioting on the streets of Northern Ireland. Thanks Boris, you could do well to heed Mrs Whitton’s advice.

Scones

Hot cross buns

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Gosh, it’s Easter again and who would have thought it would be the second one in lockdown. Our traditional family holiday in Inverness has been cancelled so we are not in the best of moods about that. Easter is a jolly time however. A bit like Christmas but with magic rabbits and chocolate eggs so much more believable. And, of course, that seasonal favourite, hot cross buns! We thought that, to get into the Easter spirit, we should have a go at making them … it’s not easy, in fact, it’s a right palaver!

In our naivety we thought it would be like making a scone. Not a bit of it! It’s much more akin to making bread. You mix up your flour with sugar, spices, yeast and the zest of a lemon but then you have to leave it for a hour or so to proof. And hopefully double in size!Hot cross buns in the making Then you have to knead it again, add sultanas and peel then leave it for another hour. What? Do they think we have nothing better to do? Oh, alright, we don’t!

Hot cross buns, piping the crossAfter that you form the dough into smaller balls and leave them for half an hour to increase in size. Then you have to pipe a cross on top with a mixture of flour and water. By the time we were finished Pat was definitely hot and definitely cross which is no doubt how they got their name. No it wasn’t. Unbelievably they got their name from the fact that they should be served hot and they have a cross on top … and they’re buns!

Breathalyser food
Hot cross buns being glazed with syrup
glazing with hot syrup

Originally they were a pagan thing to celebrate the Goddess Ēostre and in 1592, Queen Elizabeth I decreed that they were so good they should only be eaten  on Good Friday or at burials. Must be great to have that sort of power. Just think what you could do with it? Greedy folks should be careful, however. They can have a high alcohol content (all that yeast and fruit) and throw you over the legal limit.

We would like to report, after going to all that trouble, that our hot cross buns were a major success. But no. Flavour was good but unfortunately they were a wee bit on the firm side. Not the nice soft consistency we have come to expect of this type of bun. Interesting exercise but I don’t think Pat will be repeating it any time soon!Hot cross buns

Elections

In Scotland we have the mouth watering prospect of six weeks of electioneering leading up to polling day on May 6th. Lots of empty words and empty promises to look forward to. Alex Salmond has popped up again (hell hath no fury like a former First Minister scorned) with his new Alba party. He is less popular now in Scotland than Boris Johnson, an incredible feat in itself so we can only imagine it has more to do with his own deluded conceit than anything else.

Happy Easter everyone, the weather is scorchio today so enjoy it while you can. Fingers crossed,  this will be the last lockdown Easter.

 

Scones, Uncategorized

Morrison’s afternoon tea box

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Morrison’s afternoon tea box, okay, maybe this is the actual bottom of the sconology barrel? We have, of course, been here before. About eighteen months ago we were at Morrison’s Café and not only that, we had two mini-Vikings with us. We were buying costumes for Halloween so that we could go round our neighbourhood scaring everyone half to death. Remember … we were once able to do that! Before COVID and Brexit that was called ‘normal’. Anyway, the mini-Vikings abandoned us on Saturday so that they could go back to school in London.  Pat is, once again, flying solo on the baking front.

Surprise

Coronavirus restrictions mean that we are still not allowed to go anywhere. Mind you, everything is closed so there’s nowhere to actually go anyway. In these circumstances we thought it might be worth trying Morrison’s Afternoon Tea Box. The advert looked quite good (see title picture) and it was only £20 or £25 if we wanted to upgrade it with prosecco. And it would be delivered to our door at no extra cost. Predictably perhaps we upgraded … why not? It arrived bang on time and we were excited to see what it would actually be like. We  were more than a little surprised, however, when we opened the box and saw what we had bought.Contents of Morrisons afternoon tea box

DIY

It wasn’t so much an afternoon tea as an afternoon tea kit. More a box of groceries from which it would be possible to make an afternoon tea if you were so inclined.  A whole loaf, a jar of pickle, two boxes of cakes, a large chunk of cheese, a packet of ham, tea bags, carton of milk, big pot of jam and a large (burst) packet of lightly salted crips. Enough to make afternoon teas for a small army. Crickey, we could have just gone to the shop and bought all this stuff.

Morrisons shopping listWe decided to look it all up online and see how much it would have cost if we had done that. Sad, we know but we had nothing better to do! You will see from the results that we would also have been cheaper. We would have saved £0.48. To a tight-fisted Scotsman that’s equivalent to at least two mouthfuls of beer. We really don’t know what Morrisons is thinking about with this product. To be fair, when we went back and checked the advert it did list everything underneath the picture. We should have looked more carefully.

Morrisons all butter sconesAnyway, once we had recovered from the realisation that there was nothing else for it but to knuckle down and make our own afternoon tea. We duly set about making the sandwiches, decanting the cakes and unpacking the scones. Eventually we sat down to relax in front of the fire with the fruits of our labours. 

Experience

It wasn’t like any other afternoon tea we have ever had but all in all it wasn’t that bad. Maybe it was the fact that we had been more involved or maybe it was just that we were nice and cozy and catching up with missed episodes of Coronation Street. Who knows? The scones were okay but nowhere near a topscone. finished product of Morrisons afternoon teaOf course, there was enough in the box to make several more of these afternoon teas but I don’t think we’ll bother. Putting it all down to experience … read the ads carefully!

mini-Vikings back to schoolSo the mini-Vikings are delighted to be back in school with their friends, a huge relief for the home-working parents. Meanwhile Boris Johnson is reportedly building a £9m bunker beneath the Cabinet Office for use in emergencies. Is he thinking of when he refuses another independence referendum for  Scotland. He might need it.

Scones, Uncategorized

Tattie scones

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.Okay, we’ve been eagerly awaiting Nicola Sturgeon announcing that we can all go as one big family on holiday to Inverness. Unfortunately she is being super cautious so we will just have to carry on crossing our fingers and hoping that the vaccination programme makes it all possible by Easter. Children went back to school yesterday in Scotland and in England on 8th March, so overall there are increasing reasons for optimism.  In blog terms, however, it means that we are descending ever closer to the bottom of the sconology barrel.  This post is all about tattie scones.

A potato scone or tattie scone as it’s known in Scotland, is fairly far removed from the oven scones that form the already rather feeble excuse for this blog’s existence. They are, however, scones so we have to give them their due. They’re just not what we are accustomed to. Our readers in the nether regions and far flung crevices of the world will probably be wondering what on earth we are on about. But what else are we supposed to do when we still can’t leave home.

Canny Scot

Anyway, one day the two mini-Vikings who helped us make drop scones in the previous post were having dinner at our house. Pat had made them mince and tatties, an ever popular dish that never usually  fails. Suddenly, one of them (as five year olds tend to do) announced loudly that she didn’t like potatoes any more. Rather than go through the rigmarole of explaining about starving children in Africa, we decide to give her bread instead. That was fine but, of course, it meant that we still had some left over mashed potatoes. Pat, canny Scot that she is, put them in a bowl in the fridge. 

Next day she announced that she was going to attempt something she had never done before – making tattie scones. Wow! Not sure that tattie scones could be classed as a Scottish delicacy but they are certainly very popular as part of a breakfast fry up. A packet of tattie scones does not cost a lot but they are simple to make. 

tattle scone preparationYou can get a recipe here but Pat simply added added a pinch of salt, a little butter and some milk to the left over mashed potato before finally adding a little flour. She then just patted the mixture out until it was roughly round in shape before dividing into quarters. Then they were transferred to a hot lightly buttered griddle (large frying pan would do) where they cooked until ready.cooking tattie scones

Ulstermen

Some people like them hot with just a little butter. Others actually prefer them cold with butter and jam. When we lived in Northern Ireland they were known as potato farls and formed an essential part of an Ulster fry. That’s something that Ulstermen have every morning but which would keep any ordinary mortal going for about a week.

Finished tattle scones
The finished article
A first

Next morning, we decide to have our own fry up. It was an altogether puny affair compared to an Ulster fry. But at least we could sample Pat’s first homemade tattie scones. The scones were heated in the frying pan along with everything else. Tattie scone fry up

We regard fry ups as a relatively rare treat. So needless to say the whole plateful was consumed with more than a little relish. Tattie scones were superb. Well done Pat and thanks to one over fussy mini-Viking without whom we would never have made them.