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.