having cappuchinos in St. Andrews

This photo was taken after our lunch in St. Andrews in May.  The terrace bar is rather chic, all mod cons with electric heaters which are hung from the roof to keep you warm. No smoking, another recent trend in Scotland where we wicked smokers can't even smoke outside. It only seemed to heat up later on in the day the week I went back.
Had a really nice meal in the Doll's House.  One piece of advice, if you go for their two course lunch, don't order a full bottle of wine.  You won't have time to drink it before your plates are whisked away.  We had a sort of minestrone soup/kedgeree (hard to find the fish!!!) followed by a salmon risotto.  The helping of salmon was bigger than the portion of risotto.
Starters were quite curious too.  A slice of bread to dunk in an oil based vinagrette.
As I said before, we ordered a bottle of wine, so we had to keep re-ordering bread to slow down our meal.  Since we still hadn't managed to down our wine after our two courses and extra helping of bread we ordered dessert....sticky toffee pudding and the cheese board (where we again ran out of bread).  After we went outside to finish our wine and have our cappuchino's. Which gives the lie to that myth that people in Britain drink crap coffee. Coffee in Scotland is made with expresso machines and is all Italian.  And you can have small, medium or large coffees. It was delicious. Following this we went down to the harbour to watch the gulls.  A fantastic day.

Fancy getting your hair cut here?

Me in May outside a barber's shop in Pitlochry on a great day out with my brother.  Next door was the butcher's where they sell the best black pudding in Scotland.  Didn't try any on my last trip back.

Dundee spring fair

This is me in the centre of Dundee, in front of the stalls in the spring fair, on a rather dreich day in May.      We had a great day looking round but didn't stop to eat because it was too cold and damp.  There was lots of food from all over the world being sold on stalls i.e. "paella", kebabs etc., wine, cider etc.  and typically (because this is Scotland) the food and boozing area was cordoned off so drinkers couldn't get out.  If you are drinking in Scotland you are not supposed to mingle with anyone else!!!

This was some of the stuff on sale and it looked quite good.  In fact, we had a really nice stroll round and thought it was a great idea.

According to my brother

and he should know, this is the best black pudding in Scotland.  This butcher's can be found in Pitlochry beside a really crazy gent's hairdresser's.  Of course, when I was small I used to love fried black pudding for breakfast or tea with fried bread, fried eggs and potato scones.

Scottish ice cream

Our two dogs, Walter (the doberman) and Simon (King Charles spaniel) used to go wild everytime the ice cream van went past our house in Downfield when we were small.  My mum had to run out of the door and buy us and the dogs an ice cream each.  Walter got the top part with most of the cone and most of the ice cream and Simon was given the bottom part with a smidgen of ice cream.  And their treats were gone in no time at all.
But have a look at the picture (not me!!) and here we have one of my all time favourite summer treats, a ninety niner i.e. an ice cream cone with a Cadbury's flake on top.  I don't know what was better the ice cream or the chocolate flake.

Dundee cake

Well this photo was taken in Fisher & Donaldson's bakery just off the High Street in Dundee in May.  More on its history in the following link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dundee_Cake

Other uses of Irn Bru

Yes, these are cupcakes with Irn Bru icing.  Didn't try them on my trip back to Scotland in May, but they look quite nice.  And if you don't know what Irn Bru is have a look at this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irn-Bru..

June makes me think of Strawberry Tarts

Yum, yum, yum

in a pastry case with fresh cream underneath, topped with a strawberry and that lovely gooey strawberry jelly stuff.

and, of course, June makes me think of Fisher's and Donaldson's cake shop in Dundee, just off High Street

where my dad used to take us to buy boxes of cakes

and bread too....

Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves

Now who was it who told me that?  Probably me Glasgow grandad.  And that was most certainly the case on my recent trip back to Fife.  Prices varied from town to town and village to village.  I couldn't believe it when we were charged over eight quid for a beer, a large (I must admit) glass of white wine (if your favourite tipple is wine you are better of going to the supermarket and buying yourself a bottle 'cos it works out cheaper than a glass of the stuff!!) and a packet of crisps (which incidentally cost about 10p in Morrisons if you buy their 22 pack bag for 1.99)...and then we went off to a bar in Glenrothes

 where the beer cost almost two quid less a pint.  We are not doing Scottish tourism any favours with this type of capers - or the public in general.  I also got one of my most reasonably priced lunches there too. We got two burgers with chips and a side salad for about a fiver each plus drinks too (i.e. a pint of Guinness and a medium sized glass of wine) plus capuccinos for 99 pence each.  Usual  price in a tea room was over 2 pounds.

Scottish smoked salmon

On my recent trip back to Scotland I tried smoked salmon on several occasions and it  was absolutely delicious.  The first time was in Pitlochry where I had a smoked salmon platter

Actually, this photo is quite misleading 'cos it was on what looked like a wooden chopping board, with some salad leaves, lemon and, distressingly, only one slice of thickly cut bread with a portion of butter.  Luckily, the waitress brought some more bread and butter because there was too much salmon for the amount of bread I was given.  Or perhaps people in Scotland don't eat too much bread with their salmon?

I also tried a smoked salmon ciabbatta with sour cream and a side salad in Auchtermuchtie which was lovely too, but again there wasn't too much bread.  Certainly, nowhere near the loaf in the photo

and which should have looked something like this but didn't...because what I got was some sort of smoked salmon which had been grilled with warm sour cream on top.  I had to have a cake afterwards to fill myself up..

Also tried a wild garlic risotto with salmon too but that's for another time..

The "combo"

The latest in sharing foods for lunch or dinner in Scotland  is basically this, the combo or a combination dish served on a wooden platter.

Tried out several last Sunday just fresh off the Alicante-Edinburgh plane.  First we had the onion ring, mushroom, sausage and goodness knows what else combo platter as a main course with sour cream and a pepper sauce and then we had the combo dessert, 5 generous helpings which included

two scoops of clotted cream ice cream,



sticky toffee pudding,



chocolate fondant pudding

and lemon tart.  Yum, yum and very filling.  Less than £9 per platter.

Jelly piece

Well what exactly is a jelly or a jeely piece?  A slice of bread and jam and unfortunately the tea i.e. supper of many kids in Scotland because there was nothing else at home for them to eat.  My mum used to come home from work telling us just how lucky we were.

and while we are at it, I've pasted a nice little song on here...which explains quite a lot of "typical" Scottish expressions too....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/learning/what_can_you_learn_from_the_jeely_piece_song.shtml

Eggs mashed-up in a cup

Was thinking about when I was small in Dundee and  my favourite teas - especially when I was unwell.  My mum would hard boil some eggs in a pan and then shell them and pop one of them into a cup or a mug and mash it up with a dod of butter and some salt and pepper.  Just like the one in the picture

This was usually served with  either toasted soldiers

or melba toast which is really easy to make.  You toast some bread under the grill on both sides and then cut off the crusts and slice down the middle like the picture below

 and toast the untoasted side under the grill and "et voilá"

My mum used to put this on a plate for me on top of a paper serviette.  I didn't like my toast dry so I usually spread some butter on top in between eating teaspoonful's of eggs mashed-up in a cup and soon started to feel better again.

The humble spud

The humble spud or potato, according to the Mail Online is not so unhealthy as people think.  i was brought up on them and don't seem to have suffered any ill effects. Have a read of this article and you'll find out how good eating spuds can be for your health
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1206765/Why-potatoes-suprising-health-benefit-key-lasting-weight-loss.html
I swear by them.  At home, in Dundee, we had potatoes every day as a main vegetable with our lunch and/or dinner - boiled, mashed, baked in their jackets, fried, in soup, in potato salads, in "gratin dauphinois, as one of the ingredients in corn beef hash.  Obviously, this was long before the invention of "French bread".  And one of my favourites were  boiled new potatoes straight from my dad's garden when they were in season.
So how do you make them?  Obviously, first dad digs them up from the vegetable patch.  Then you scrub them to get rid of the dirt, but not the skins.  Boil in salted water until they are cooked (stick a fork in and check). Drain.  Put into a dish and add a knob of butter and some freshly cut parsley (my dad grew this as well in his herb garden!!).  Mouthwatering.

Stumbled across this the other day...

And it is absolutely fantastic!!! It's Marks and Spencer's TV and here you have a link to an Easter lunch and how to cook it.  Looks scrumptious and you can even put on subtitles..

http://www.marksandspencer.com/MS-TV/b/311612031

You will really have to watch the Video to see the end result, but here we have a picture of roasted lamb, so you get the idea....

Lemon meringue pie

Well this brings back very fond memories of Scotland and going out for afternoon tea...

INGREDIENTS FOR 6
1 packet of ready-made shortcrust pastry
8 tablespoons of lemon curd

FOR THE MERINGUE
6 egg whites
300 g of caster sugar

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190ºC.  Grease a 22 cm tin.
2. Roll out the pastry to fit the tin generously.  Line the tin.

3.  Spoon the lemon curd in and onto the pastry.  Spread evenly.
4.  For the meringue.  Whisk the egg whites up in a bowl until they form stiff peaks and you can do this...i.e.
hold the bowl over your head, without the whisked egg whites falling over you...Whisk in the caster sugar a spoonfull at a time.

5.  Spoon meringue mixture on top of the lemon curd.
6.  Bake for about 45 minutes until the meringue is crisp on the outside and inside is soft and marshmallowy.
7.  Serve warm or cold.

And here you have it.

Potato scones

Here is a recipe for one of my favourite breakfast foods (apart from black pudding).  Check it out here http://www.scottishrecipes.co.uk/potato_scones_recipe.htm

And this is what they look like

And here they are as part of a typical breakfast.  They can also be eaten as part of a fry-up for tea too.

with lorne sausage, bacon, black pudding, fried eggs and if you really insist with baked beans.

Tattie soup

Tattie soup reminds me of my days in the kitchen at Woolworth's in Dundee when I was on a work project there - the year I decided to have a gap year off from studying before university.  It was one of the favourite meals in the canteen and for the main course we had bacon and cabbage.  Can't remember what was on for dessert...
It's really easy to make and it's amazing how many things you can make with tatties....

Ingredients (for 8)
15 potatoes sliced
3 onions chopped
4 large carrots grated
3 litre stock (chicken, beef)
salt and pepper to taste
handful chopped parsley

Put ingredients into a large pot.  Add stock.  Bring to the boil.  Cover and reduce heat and leave to simmer for a couple of hours.  Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with parsley when you serve.

Lovely on a cold winter's day....

Obviously if you want to make this more up-market you can make Vichyssoise instead.

Ingredients (for 4)
Butter for frying
a couple of leeks, washed and chopped
3 or 4 potatoes
1 medium-sized onion
1 litre chicken stock
salt and ground white pepper

To finish
150 ml fresh single cream
snipped chives

Melt a knob of butter in a saucepan.  Add the leeks, potatoes, onion, cover and cook gently for 5 minutes.  Add the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.  Season to taste.
You can purée this in a blender or leave the soup as it is.  Adjust seasoning and serve with in individual bowls with a swirl of cream on top and some chives.

Beef Olives

This was another of my mum's specialities.  I don't know why they are called beef olives because there's not an olive in sight.  And this is how to make them.http://www.scotlandforvisitors.com/recipes/beefolives.php   Before you cook them this is what they should look like

And here they are when they are ready, you can serve them with some mashed potatoes and braised cabbage just like the picture below

Absolutely delicious!!!

Easter cupcakes

Don't they look delicious.  These are really decorated "fairy cakes" and I had no idea we ate them at Easter in Scotland.  Apparently they have sessions for kids to make them in the Willow Tea Rooms in Glasgow which is a place I would love to visit the next time I am in Scotland....

http://www.recipes4us.co.uk/Cakes%20and%20Baked%20Fayre/Cupcakes.htm
Here we have a quick link which will show you how to make them.  But anyway, Easter in Scotland makes me think of Cadbury's Easter Eggs...

and especially Cadbury's cream eggs....

which unless somebody sends me some from Scotland I won't be tasting this Easter...

Scones

Warm, buttered scones, spread with plenty of jam and topped with clotted cream, is everyone's idea of a Scottish cream tea. If buttermilk is not available, use fresh milk with a half teaspoon of lemon juice.

Ingredients
225 plain flour
1 + 5 ml. spoon bicarbonate of soda
1 + 5 ml spoon cream of tartar
25 g. butter
150 ml buttermilk

Method
Sift the flour with the bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar into a mixing bowl.  Rub in the butter.  Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the buttermilk, mixing quickly to a soft dough with a palette knife.
Turn the dough onto a floured board and knead lightly until smooth.  Roll until approx. 1.75 cm. thick.  Stamp out into approx. 12 rounds with a 5 cm. pastry cutter.  Leave to stand for 15 minutes before baking.
Put the rounds on a heated greased baking sheet and bake in a hot oven (220ºC) for about 10 minutes or until the scones are well-risen and golden.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. Serve warm. (Recipe care of Mark's and Spencer's "Cookery Book".......

And if you are in Edinburgh, try out Forsyth's tea room, where you can try out a lot more things apart from scones...

....

Going doon the watter

A couple of times when we went on holiday to the Kyles of Bute we caught the steamer and "went doon the watter".  You could actually catch the steamer from Glasgow or Tighnabruaich and take a trip to Rothesay, an island,  where we would spend the day, walking around the town, visiting the castle..

and, of course having fish and chips for lunch in one of the cafés in the city centre...

and for the trip home, some Rothesay rock

Kames Hotel and pub grub

In between going back and forwards from Tighnabruaich to Otter Ferry, we used to go to Kames which was just a couple of miles away in the car.  Here we played on the beach and went fishing and stopped off at Kames Hotel at midday for lunch.  Here, due to Scottish licensing laws, the three kids (i.e. us) were packed off into the lounge bar to have lunch while my parents stayed at the main bar....

Here we usually had fried eggs, sausages and chips for lunch.  Delicious...

This picture has some fried mushrooms which makes it a bit more up-market.  And down below, I have inserted a picture of Scottish link sausages or bangers as they are called...the best in the world.

Which of course, gets us on to bangers and mash, i.e. fried sausages and  mashed potatoes

Here with tinned peas, gravy and some fried onions....