Tag Archives: Vladamir Putin

Scones, Top

Victoria’s

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In our previous post from Fonab Castle we were bemoaning the fact that it was no longer family run. It’s difficult to put your finger on exactly what happens when an establishment goes from “family run” to a more corporate style … it’s just different, less personal. Today, however, we are still in beautiful Pitlochry but at Victoria’s restaurant. It proudly proclaims, loud and clear that it has been “family run” since 1996. Would we notice a difference?Sign for Victoria's Pitlochry

Established on the town’s Main Street and named after the family’s new born daughter you can work out how old she is now. In the low winter sun it’s not too impressive from the outside but in the summer its large al fresco dining area will be buzzing. Inside it has a warm homely feel with lots of Christmas decorations.Internal view of Victorias Pitlochry

According to Victoria’s website Luciano Pavarotti, once said “One of the very nice things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is  we are doing and devote our attention to eating“. How true! We had just walked from Fonab Castle into town and now we felt the need to do exactly that. 

Christmas recipes

We were looked after by a young girl who was full of the joys. Turned out she was from South Africa. She and her husband had come to work here in Scotland for the next few years. A scone at Victorias PitlochryThey wanted some adventure before settling down to start a family. She informed us that her husband was responsible for making the scones. When they arrived they were accompanied by the usual little pots of jam and the biggest bowl of cream we have ever seen. Not clotted cream but pretty spectacular.  Everything was delicious. She asked us if we noticed anything different about the scones? We had but couldn’t quite identify what it was. Apparently her husband had added star anise to the recipe to make them taste more Christmasy. It worked, “Christmasy” was exactly how they tasted. Internal view of Victorias Pitlochry

Although busy attending to other customers our girl always came back to us for more chat. She even produced a map of Pitlochry and, with a felt tipped pen, marked places we should visit as well as the most picturesque route for us to take back to Fonab. This was service above and beyond which eventually persuaded us to award a topscone. Well done Victoria’s, “family run” is definitely better!

View over Loch Faskally
View across Loch Faskally
A flicker of light

At Fonab, we talked with a young Ukrainian girl who was working there. Eagle sculptureShe didn’t think her family were in immediate danger but the concern in her eyes was plain to see. With President Zelenskyy hinting at talks with Russia there appears to be a glimmer of hope for an end to the fighting. However, if Zelenskyy requires a cast iron guarantee that Putin can never return it is extremely difficult to see how that can be achieved.  But for the sake of our girl and her family, at least there may be a tiny flicker of light at the end of the tunnel. Fingers crossed!

Today there is also a memorial service in Edinburgh for Alex Salmond. Ten years ago he led Scotland to within a whisker of independence. Needless to say, none of the promises made to the people of Scotland at that time by the UK government have been delivered … not a single one! At least Salmond knew that independence had only been delayed.

Whisky messsges in Pitlochry
In a grocery store across from Victoria’s

PH16 5BX         tel: 01796 472 670           Victoria’s

///divides.disbelief.thanks

Ordinary, Scones

Glenkinchie

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Statue of Johnnie Walker with his dogToday we are in the pretty little hamlet of Glenkinchie just a little southeast of east of Edinburgh. About 90 people live here. It’s a little bit unusual. because unlike the surrounding towns and villages which are all built from stone, here it’s all red brick. Not sure why this should be but it certainly applies to the distillery in the heart of the village which is entirely made of red brick. It’s owned by the drinks giant Diageo who use it as the “Lowland”corner of what they call the “four corners distilleries” The other three are Clynelish (Highland) Cardhu (Speyside) and Caol Ila (Island) and they are all used in the making of the Johnnie Walker range of blended whiskies.Sign at Glenkinchie Distillery
Battle of the distilleries
We have a love hate relationship with Diageo. About thirty years ago the company also owned our local Rosebank Distillery just a few hundred yards from our home in Falkirk. It was generally seen as the King of Lowland whiskies, however they closed it in favour of  Glenkinchie … booo! It fell into a sorry state. This year, however, there were fanfares as Rosebank was opened again. Bought by Ian MacLeod Distillers who spent £millions returning it to its former glory. The town also has the added bonus of another brand new Falkirk Distillery. All is forgiven, hence we thought this rival might be worthy of a visit.
Internal view Glenkinchie Distillery
part of the visitor centre restaurant
Becoming legal
It began in 1825 by a couple of local farmers presumably trying o diversify away from farming. They ran it for about 12 years as Milton distillery before deciding to make it legal and renaming it Glenkinchie after the little river Kinchie which runs past it.
Window seat at Glenkinchie Distillery
looking out on to the gardens
Scones
Distillery tours are of no particular interest. They’re all much of a muchness so we decided to leave this one out. A scone st Glenkinchie DistilleryScones, of course are another matter and we had spotted some in their café restaurant earlier. The staff were very friendly and helpful and they so had us sorted with some fruit scones and coffee. No cream but there was plenty butter and jam served on nice crockery with unusual bronze cutlery. Everything was well presented and although it wasn’t a topscone it was very enjoyable nevertheless. Sign for Glenkinchie Distillery
 
Johnnie Walker is the world’s biggest selling scotch whisky brand with 205 million litres going down the hatch every year. That’s a lot of whisky and a fair amount of that must be made here at Glenkinchie. It is marketed under different coloured labels, red, black, green, blue etc. we’re not sure what the difference is except to say that ‘blue’ is four times the price of ‘red’, a marketing triumph!Whisky barrels at Glenkinchie Distillery
 
Troubled
We’re raising a glass of Glenkinchie to toast the health of all our readers in this strange and troubled world. Logo of glenkinchieThe ICC (International Criminal Court) has issued an arrest warrant for Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu. Not before time many might say. He is now classed as a ‘fugitive’ along with Mad Vlad Putin. We live in peculiar times when the leaders of Israel and Russia are international fugitives and America’s President Elect is a convicted felon.  Another dram please and make it a large one!
 
EH34 5ET          tel: 01875 342012            Glenkinchie Distillery
 
///gravitate.bongo.talking
Scones, Top

Kirkhouse Inn

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After our previous post from Coffista in Leven we’ve gone west to Strathblane in the foothills of the Campsie Fells. However, if we had wanted to be here when the Kirkhouse Inn first opened its doors to guests we’d have been over four hundred years too late. Yes, this place opened in 1601 as a “tavern with stables” and has been welcoming people like us ever since. Back then, Elizabeth I was on the English throne and James VI was King of Scotland. As far as we know neither ever stayed here, however, this Inn was the scene of secret correspondence between the two monarchs which eventually led to the Union of the Crowns in 1603. So it’s all their fault.

View from the Campsie Fells
From high on the Campsie Fells, Strahblane’s Kirkhouse Inn is down there somewhere.

Just north of Glasgow, as a “tavern with stables” the Kirkhouse Inn was presumably a place for travellers to stop overnight and rest their horses. We were doing the same though for us it would be more of a “tavern with car park”. Nowadays it’s a hub for walkers doing the West Highland Way and the John Muir Way. They both pass nearby. The Campsie Fells form an impressive background to the hotel and on a gorgeous day, we had a beautiful drive through them to get here.  An overnight stay and an afternoon tea was what we were looking for!Internal view of the Kirkhouse Inn

It was good to see that the service seemed to be provided by mostly young local lads.  Afternoon tea at the Kirkhouse InnIn our experience, usually due to poor training, this can sometimes be problematic.  But not here, it was excellent. First they brought a plate of delicious savoury sandwiches. When they were finished three tiers of sweet things appeared and everything explained in detail. Lemon possets and macaroons on top. Meringues and chocolate dipped strawberries in the middle with scones and French fancies on the bottom. Unusually there was only one scone each. A good thing in our opinion. Normally you get two but inevitably, because you’ve just had a feast of sandwiches, you end up leaving one of them. The scones came with perfect little dishes of jam and cream and were just the way we like them. The right size, crunchy exterior with a soft fluffy centre … topscone.

Monarch of the glen at the Kirkhouse Inn
Another monarch, this one of the Glen

In 1601 the British East India Company was just starting its   plunder of India leading to almost a century of disastrous British rule. Regrettable perhaps but where would we be without curry? It doesn’t bear thinking about! Ironically perhaps, the young Sagar Massey, raised in Delhi, has launched his fine dining restaurant “Sanja” at the Kirkhouse Inn.

Picture in our room at the Kirkhouse Inn
The Chief Returning From Deer Stalking … another picture at the Kirkhouse Inn

It would be nice to think that we have progressed a wee bit since 1601, however, we have our doubts. As usual, land seems be the problem. Ukraine’s incursion into Russia is welcome but guaranteed to get right up mad Vlad’s nose. Israel’s murder of 40,000 people because a couple of thousand years ago some guy in the sky said the land belonged to them is beyond reason. In 1601 the area around the Kirkhouse Inn had to deal with MacGregor bandits  running off with their cattle under cover of darkness, In comparison with today’s problems it sounds positively romantic!Logo of the Kirkhouse Inn

G63 9AA           tel: 01360 771711              Kirkhouse Inn

///snail.uttering.kiosk

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

Powmill Milk Bar

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Logo of Powmill Milk BarIt seems as if Powmill Milk Bar has always been there. Since time immemorial we have driven past it on our way to other places and said “we must go in there some time“. It’s always been a wooden shack style structure but it’s been there so long, the current incarnation must be third or fourth generation. Internal view of Powmill Milk Bar

Easyriders

Anyway, It was a nice day and we had been driving on inexpicably quiet roads to get here. Then it all became clear. Everybody was already here at Powmill Milk Bar! It was mobbed and it was obviously a favoured spot for motorbikes. Leather clad blokes were standing around admiring each other’s bikes in the way that leather clad blokes do. There was also some middle aged car bound blokes admiring all the Ducatis and Kawasaki flying machines and presumably dreaming of a life that might have been.

Scooters at Powmill Milk Bar
Scooters in the car park
Preloaded!

Inside it was going like a fair. We had to join the line at the self service counter but fortunately it went very quickly. A fruit scone was all we wanted but when we asked for jam and cream it seemed to cause some confusion. They just looked at us and said “we have cream scones“! It seemed easier just to agree though normally we steer well clear of preloaded scones. We’re just pernickety and like the performance of constructing our scones according to our own personal taste. On the plus side, however, we were delighted to find that they served Henry’s coffee … our long standing favourite.A scone at Powmill Milk Bar

Maybe the coffee influenced our experience but we really enjoyed our visit here and wondered why we hadn’t done it years ago. With its straight forward, no airs and graces, approach, we completely understand why it’s so popular. Generally you can’t eat preloaded scones without getting in a bit of a mess. The contents squidge out in all directions. However, a fork and knife helped make this one more manageable. Mind you, the light crumbly nature of the scone even made this quite tricky.  Very nice though.Internal view of Powmill Milk Bar

Unforgivable

Politics is so incomprehensible these days we are reluctant to comment on any of it. Putin’s war in Ukraine seems incomprehensible and unforgivable. Imagine if we could just go around murdering anyone who disagreed with us with seeming impunity? Goodness, that would reduce the world’s population quite considerably.

Britain and America’s slavish support for Israel also seems unforgivable. With all the anger generated it’s little wonder that George Galloway has won the Rochdale by-election. Let’s see what his acknowledged oratory skills can do for the Palestinians. Precious little we suspect. 

Starvation is now a huge problem in Gaza. Who would have thought that a Jewish state would end up guilty of genocide? Perhaps Israel is being advised by Britain. The British government has form. Its  God-given sense of superiority led to them having a long, if not illustrious, history when it comes to starvation. The Irish Famine in the 1850s and the Bengal Famine in 1943 in which millions died, come to mind.

Terminal boredom

On this side of the pond, the prospect of a Sunak/Starmer General Election is boring everyone to death. On the other side a Biden/Trump rerun Presidential Election is depressing everyone to death.  We’ll just stay here in Powmill looking at flying machines and dreaming of things we do understand … aah, the wind in our hair!

KY13 0QG       tel: 01577 840376          Powmill Milk Bar FB

///valued.passages.tripped

Scones, Top

Craobh

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Today, we are out wandering with the intention of finding somewhere for dinner in the evening. Not entirely random, however, we do have a little French restaurant called the Barley Bree in mind. It’s in the lovely conservation village of Muthill and we used to go there quite often to visit our aunt. The story gets a little convoluted but bear with us. Unfortunately when we looked it up on the internet it seemed to be closed and up for sale. Phone calls went unanswered. Not to worry, it had been a long time since we had been in this beautiful part of Perthshire so we decided to carry on and find somewhere  in the next town, Crieff.

However, when we were driving through Muthill we passed the Barley Bree and Pat thought that it looked as if it was open. We couldn’t stop because of the traffic so we carried on another couple of miles to Crieff. Hence you find us here in the middle of the afternoon in Craobh, slap bang in the centre of town. However, wonder of wonders, in the course of the afternoon we discovered that the Barley Bree was now called the Coorie Inn (a play on the Scots saying “coorie in” meaning to snuggle). We got their phone number and voila, we had a booking for later! 

Parking again!

Back to Craobh! We parked right outside and surprise, surprise had to pay via an app. After our previous experience at the Old Mill in Christchurch this gave us a touch of the heebie-jeebies. Guess what, it failed again! We asked a passing lady if she could get it to work. She just laughed and shook her head. However she did tell us that we could park round the corner for free. What a woman! Pat went off to park while I went into the restaurant. To be fair to this app called RingGo, other people seem to use the it without difficulty so we suspect that our version has developed a glitch.Internal view of Craobh restaurant in Crieff

Craobh is Gaelic for ‘tree’ and is pronounced “kroov”. Perthsire is famous for its big trees, hence the name. It’s a lovely restaurant with quite a few tables at the front and then several more through the back. It was completely deserted. The Mary Celeste had more folk. There was only a couple of young girls behind the counter.

They welcomed us and confirmed that they did have scones … hurrah! Then they spent some time consulting their reservation book to see if they could fit us in. Curious, because as far as we could make out every single table was available. Turned out that they were actually fully booked for dinners so were probably just checking that we were not going to interfere with their first reservations. Anyway it was great to hear that they were fully booked and by the sounds of it that was the case most nights … fantastic! 

Slate plates

Since we were having  dinner later we just asked for a scone to share and some coffee. It, or rather they, arrived nicely presented on a piece of slate. Obviously this would upset the bellyachers at wewantplates.com. Scones at Craobh restaurant in CrieffThey get terribly upset about food served on anything other than a plate. Thankfully we have never been known to bellyache about anything! We can tolerate a bit of slate … especially if it’s adorned with warm scones, jam and cream. And we did have side plates. With this sort of attention to detail we began to understand why this place might be so popular. We thought that they just managed to squeak into our topscone category. Well done Croabh!

Stranger than fiction

Sign at Craobh restaurant in CrieffGoodness, it’s all going on in the world. On one hand we have a Russian president gayly murdering anyone he doesn’t approve of.

On the other we have a former US president being fingerprinted and mugshotted. As an ex-professional photographer I can honestly say that I would have been sacked if I had taken a mugshot like that. Besides the subject matter, there just isn’t anything right about it. Trump, as ever, is up to his old school boy tricks, deflecting attention so that nothing of substance ever gets discussed. And yet his supporters keep following like mesmerised cattle apparently oblivious to the harm he does to the US and the world.

In sporting news it is all about the president of total plonkers  Luis Rubiales and the turmoil created by THE KISS. If any of our most imaginative readers were asked to make up a surreal, fantastical week of news it would probably fall well short of the actual reality.Internal view of Craobh restaurant in Crieff

Schwarzenegger says

Our dinner at the Coorie Inn was great. It’s been taken over by Andrew, Phil and Lisa … all previously of the five star Gleneagles Hotel. They’ve only had it for five weeks so still settling in but they seem to be making a real go of it. We wish them well. After a delicious dinner we discovered that they do scones every afternoon! We will be back!

PH7 3EY       tel: 01764 650762       Craobh

///accompany.inkjet.ideals

Notice at Craobh restaurant in Crieffps: This notice was in Craobh …. discuss!  Think we know  why it’s from  “source unknown”.

Ordinary, Scones

Hidden Treasure

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We’re on our way to the Northern Isles but have stopped off here at the Hidden Treasure Tearoom in Johnshaven. It’s off the main road going to Aberdeen but we’ve always wondered what it’s like when we’ve seen the direction signs. Today is the day.Street view in Johnshaven

Blackbeard

Johnshaven is an odd name and obviously we wanted to know who ‘John’ was. Turns out John Blackbeard was a famous 16th century pirate who was washed ashore here with lots of treasure after being shipwrecked. Unfortunately though, that’s all nonsense … we’ve just made it up. Nobody in Johnshaven has any idea how it got its name.  Shame, they should just make something up … that’s what they do in Westminster. Internal view of the Hidden Treasure Tearoom

Anyway, we thought the Hidden Treasure might lie in this tearoom. Maybe it would be a scone … exciting?

Picture of last boat built in Johnshaven
Before it became a tearoom it was used for boatbuilding.. The Sea Venture was the last to be built in the tearoom.
The postie

It’s a wonderfully friendly place and we were entertained the whole time. At one point an old worthy arrived on an invalid scooter which he parked at the door. The conversation with the girls behind the counter and several of the other customers went something like this. “Don’t forget the cheesecake, she loves the cheesecake and she thinks I make it myself. She’s pregnant now but it’s nothing to do with me!” one of the other customers contributed that someone else was pregnant as well. Eventually the consensus was “It must be the postman because he has a bike!”

A scone at the Hidden Treasure TearoomThis was the backdrop to our scone. It came with the jam of our choice and a fantastic bowl of cream, enough to do two or three scones. We thoroughly enjoyed everything about this place. Everyone was so friendly and chatty. The scone was a treasure! Not quite a topscone but really enjoyable.

Harbour at Johnshaven

The world is our lobster

Johnshaven is a tiny village but amazingly huge juggernauts come here every day to transport the lobster catch to Paris and Madrid. Pat's first taste of lobsterWho would have thought it. We went to the Lobster Shop and the chap in there, when he heard that Pat had never had lobster, insisted on her trying some of his. She loved it so it might be lobster from now on …. argh! Might need to go back out to work. We also got a fascinating insight in to their operation on the Isle of Luing. We know the island well but had no idea there was a massive lobster facility there.Logo of the Hidden Treasure Tearoom

Not exactly in the news loop any more but we gather that an arrest warrant has been issued for Vladamir Putin … not before time! Wouldn’t fancy being the arresting officer. And our Home Secretary, Suella Braverman is visiting Rwanda. Let’s hope she likes so much she decides to stay there … for ever!

DD10 0EU        tel: 07506 896842    Hidden Treasure Tearoom FB

///mysteries.spice.toward

Ordinary, Scones

The Courtyard Tea Rooms

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Now you would think that the Courtyard Tea Rooms would be easy to find. They are on the High Street in Poole and that’s not all that long. How difficult could it be?

The High Street in Poole
High Street in Poole

You will see from the title picture, however that it is just a door sandwiched between a convenience store and an Indian restaurant. Just a little door with a little sign above … easy to miss. Not a lot of people miss it however because it’s very busy so it must have a good reputation. It’s over 500 years old, not the tearooms but the building in which they are housed. Entrance to the Courtyard Tearooms in PooleThe entrance is down a long passageway and then you emerge into a delightful little courtyard. There are several little sitting-rooms off the courtyard. But we chose the courtyard itself with its ancient stone slabs that many feet must have trod before us. In 1405, local lad come privateer Henry Paye had made such a nuisance of himself with raids up and down  the French coast that a combined French/Spanish naval fleet plundered Poole in an act of revenge. If this courtyard could talk it would have a few tales to tell. Don’t think the plunderers would have had scones here but we thought we had better check them out anyway.

Internal view of the Courtyard Tearooms in Poole

Hairsbreadth

In our previous post from the Kitchen we were served very disappointing scones. Hopefully they would be better here. The young girl looking after us was fantastic. Scones at the Courtyard Tearooms in PooleGood happy service can change a fairly mundane meal into something special but this time we had a really nice lunch which she made extra special. Unfortunately she couldn’t quite do it for the scones. Henry Paye would probably have bisected each scone with a swish of his cutlass but we just uses the knives we were presented with. Not so heroic, perhaps but we didn’t have a cutlass. They were almost topscones. Very good, with nice bowls of jam and cream but their overall consistency meant that they just missed out by a hairsbreadth. This is a really nice place, however, and we recommend that you pay it a visit next time you are in Poole.

Back in the USSR, you don’t know how lucky you are, boy

Normally, we don’t have much in the way of praise for politicians … maybe you’ve noticed? However, we feel that with the passing of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last President of the USSR, we should make an exception. When you think of Soviet Presidents the word ‘charming’ is not one that comes readily to mind … but he was! Not many people could honestly say they changed the world … but he could! Although he didn’t mean to dismantle the Soviet Empire, because of his actions, it happened anyway. Momentous, and with hardly a drop of blood being shed … contrast that with Putin’s Russia of today.

The USSR is something our children have probably only heard of through  a Beatles song. Strange words such as glasnost  and perestroika  became part of our everyday language. The collapse of the Berlin Wall … these were heady days indeed, full of optimism and hope … contrast that with the world today. If Gorbachev had been a scone he would have been a topscone … praise indeed!Sign for the Courtyard Tearooms in Poole

BH15 1BT         tel: ????            The Courtyard Tearooms FB

///mugs.vouch.scarf

Scones, Top

Gleneagles

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Gosh, it’s a month since our last post about the Platinum Jubilee. Apologies to those who have been patiently waiting … and to those who have been enjoying the peace and quiet. We thought we should start again in style so we’ve come to Gleneagles.

View from Gleneagles Hotel
View over Glendevon from the Glendevon Room
A Highland Playground

Gleneagles is one of these places, like the Connaught and Claridges, that doesn’t need to bother putting ‘hotel’ after its name. You’re just supposed to know. It’s the playground of the rich and famous. So what on earth are you doing there, we hear you ask? Okay, did you know that Gleneagles has three Championship golf courses and one nine hole course. Surely that’s way more than enough? Did you know that it has a Shooting & Fishing School an Equestrian Centre and the British School of Falconry. Did you know that it hosted the G8 summit in 2005 with the likes of Blair, Putin, Berlusconi, Bush and Chirac? All largely forgotten, apart from one, of course. That was before G8 became G7 after Russia was suspended in 2014 for being a bad boy and invading Crimea. Goodness, that seems like a relatively minor misdemeanour now!

The Glendevon at the Gleneagles Hotel
The Glendevon Room, the scene of the G8 dinner hosted y the Queen  …. and now our scone

Of course, none of that is of any interest to us, we are only here for the scones. Having said that, we also have a very special Canadian  with us (Pat’s brother) who we are determined to introduce the genteel  refining intricacies of taking afternoon tea. You know what those Canadians are like … bit rough around the edges! What better place to do it than this? If they can’t do a decent afternoon tea here then there is precious little hope left for the world. Okay, he only wanted to be out on one of the golf courses rather than doing this but, much to his dismay, we stuck to our guns.

Friendly service

There are over 1000 staff servicing the 232 rooms so expectations were high in terms of service. We were not to be disappointed. In fact, in many ways our expectations were exceeded.

Cakes at Gleneagles Hotel
top tier of the sweet stand

The staff looking after us, of which there were many, were all great. Not only did they take the time to explain all the sandwiches and other delicacies we were getting but also took the time to answer our questions about the hotel and all the people who have stayed there. Some, even more famous than us! As you can imagine, a stay at Gleneagles is not exactly cheap, quite the reverse. So the staff were impressed to hear that my dad had been a guest here for six months. Eventually I had to divulge that it was when the hotel had been turned into a hospital during WWII. He was recuperating after a bad motorcycle accident.

The ballroom at Gleneagles Hotel
the Ballroom but no dancing today

Anyway, back to the scones. Forgive us if we go In to slightly more detail than usual. Before you get anything here they give you a little champagne glass into which they pour some iced tea … very nice. That’s followed by an amuse bouche of tomato consommé … very nice again. Then they bring the savoury three tier stand BOTTOM TIER Perthshire smoked salmon with sweet dill mayonnaise sandwich +  egg mayonnaise with mustard cress sandwich +  Tweed valley roast beef with nasturtium  butter sandwich. MIDDLE TIER vol-au-vent with red onion marmalade, goats cheese broad bean, radish, carrot and candied walnut + toasted pickelet with white crab meat and creme fraiche + Hardwick lamb sausage roll with lovage emulsion and choucroute. TOP TIER pea, cabbage and potato croquette + toasted charcoal baguette with pickled cucumber smoked trout and golden beetroot. No scones!

Peachy

Then, only then, when you have stuffed yourself with all this deliciousness do they bring out the next three tier sweet stand. Argh! Afternoon tea at GleneaglesBut at last we caught our first sight of the “soft and fluffy” buttermilk scones. Would we have room for them let alone everything else? The scones were indeed soft and fluffy as described but with a slight crunchiness as well … perfect. They came with loads of jam and clotted cream, all beautifully presented. A very easy topscone. Sitting here in our secluded little alcove gazing out across the croquet lawn to the sunlit hills of Glendevon you could easily think that everything is absolutely peachy with the world. You would be completely wrong, of course,  but just for a moment … 

Doggy bag at Gleneagles HotelNeedless to say we could not get near finishing everything that we had been presented with … even when it was washed down with copious quantities of Glendevon blend tea. And this being Gleneagles, even our ‘doggy bags’ were posh. A custom made handbag style box in which we could transport our leftovers back home. Did our Canadian feel enlightened by this experience? Of course he did … a “soft and fluffy” scone at Gleneagles … who wouldn’t be?

PH3 1NF        tel: 01764 662231         Gleneagles Hotel

///claim.facing.showcases

ps: if there is anywhere in Scotland that can rival Gleneagles for culinary expertise and originality it is the Oystercatcher restaurant in the lovely little village of Portmahomack. And guess what, our Trossachs correspondents are on the loose again and that’s exactly where they are. As well as a fabulous dinner the previous evening they sent us a picture of their breakfast … Scallops-o-Scone.

Scallops-O-Scone at the Oystercatcher, Portmahomack
Scallops-O-Scone at the Oystercatcher

They also reported on a scone they enjoyed in the company of members of the Portmahomack Salsa Drumming Band in the Carnegie Hall Cafe. The last time we reviewed this place was back in 2016 … too long ago. 

Salsa Drumming, Portmahomack 2016

Our correspondents sound like they are having a brilliant time … we need to go back.

Ordinary, Scones

Caffe Barista

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I regard Angus as my home county having spent my early childhood in Glen Isla. These days, however, I am only in Angus on rare occasions. That said, here we are today in Caffe Barista in Arbroath. Many a summer holiday was spent here in the caravan park but today we are just passing through.

Declarations

The town is well known for its smoked haddock … the famous Arbroath Smokie. Wonderful on its own in much the same way as you would eat a kipper or alternatively it could be used to make that soup of all soups, Cullen Skink … yum. Arbroath, of course, is also a great place to declare things. In 1320, in Arbroath Abbey, a group of Scottish nobles did just that.

The Declaration of Arbroath
Declaration of Arbroath ritten in Latin and sent to the Pope. They knew how to declare things back then

The intention was to assert Scotland’s status as an independent, sovereign state and defend Scotland’s right to use military action when unjustly attacked. Oooo, do we hear echoes of Ukraine?

Little did they know that a few hundred years later, in 1707, Scotland’s nobles would sell the country down the river in return for English bribes. Heyho, here we are, another couple of centuries on, still struggling to reverse that ludicrous decision.Internal view of Caffe Barista, Arbroath

Guys and Dolls

In Caffe Barista the declarations were of a different type “Hi guys, how are you today? What are you having guys? Was everything okay guys?” Pat, more of a doll than a guy, weathered the onslaught manfully! We just wanted a cuppa and a scone to share. The choice was plain, plain or plain, so plain it was!

It came with butter and jam from somewhere that couldn’t be determined. A scone at Caffe Barista, ArbroathThis being Angus, it was ironic that we had just driven through mile after mile of strawberry and raspberry fields and yet the jam here came prepackaged in plastic, probably from some foreign land. The scone itself was reasonable enough but a country mile away from a topscone. We left suitable refreshed with “Bye guys” ringing in our ears.

blackboard at Caffe Barista, Arbroath
A rare opportunity to combine scones and telephone boxes
Bailing out

It is also ironic, given that in 2014 we were told there was only a dribble of oil left, that the UK government is yet again being bailed out by Scotland. It’s late conversion to a windfall tax on energy companies will raise billions, 95% of which will come from Scotland. Things have got so bad for Boris we wouldn’t be at all surprised if, one day, he simply walked away. However, he could also be developing a Putinesque inability to foresee his own inevitable downfall. The latter is perhaps the most likely.

World records

We cannot leave Arbroath without mentioning the world record held by the local football club, affectionately known as the Red Lichties. In the Scottish Cup of 1885 they beat Bon Accord of Aberdeen 36-0. They had a further seven goals disallowed for offside. Of course that means that Bon Accord must also hold a world record but nobody seems to mention that?

Anyway must get back home and start planning our Platinum Jubilee celebrations??

DD11 1DP        tel: 01241 872664        Caffe Barista

///taken.voter.transit

Scones, Uncategorized

Coffee 1

3 Comments

All good things must come to an end so this post finds us on our way north again after a fab time on the south coast. It’s bitter sweet … good to be heading home and at the same time sad to be leaving family behind. All we have to do is reverse the road trip we did to get down here. We’re taking a slightly different route and our first stop is in Warminster in Wiltshire … at the Coffee 1 café to be precise.

High Street, Warminster
Warminster High Street

In 1086 the Doomsday Book refered to the town as Guerminstre.  so it’s not hard to see how it ended up as Warminster. It may be famous for many things but after this post it will also be famous for its lack of tearooms – one closed for refurbishment, one a huge chain that doesn’t do scones and this one. And this one didn’t do scones either! “We might have them in again for the summer” they said.  Scones are not swallows for goodness sake, they’re not migratory. They are perfectly happy to be eaten all year round. (Please let us know if you sense we are getting grumpier, it’s difficult for us to tell).Internal view of Coffee 1, Warminster

Also, only one toilet in the entire place, what’s that all about? Do you know how long a woman (or a man) with a baby can be in a toilet? If you need to go it can seem like an eternity and unfortunately for us there were several women with babies ahead of us in the queue. We’re not sure what should be banned – places with only one toilet or women (men) with babies? Okay, we do sense an increase in grumpiness!

Sconeless

A tea cake at Coffee 1, WarminsterIn the absence of scones we had little choice but to opt for a teacake. A poor substitute but what can you do? As it turned out our teacake was rather good and they had even toasted it for us so we really have a cheek to complain. But it wasn’t a scone!! If you ever find yourself in Warminster, be warned, it is a sconeless place!

Song contests

Walking through Warminster we came on a rather nice little arcade. Warminster folks are obviously getting geared up for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Elsewhere things are gearing up for that surreal of surreal things, the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. As if the planet didn’t have enough problems, it’s being broadcast across the world tonight. Russia has been banned … is this the reason for Putin’s inexplicable fury?

BA12 9AN     01985 213118.         Coffee 1  

///steepest.incomes.careless