cooking up a storm at the edge of the world
This post was updated April 25, 2018, with photographs of my great-grandfather next to the Robert the Bruce monument in progress. Photos are from hard copies owned by my grandfather, David Bowie, in Canada. Look at the detail in this sculpture, isn’t it stunning? This is the sculpture of Robert de Bruce located in Bannockburn, …
The pursuit of unique and memorable eating and drinking experiences, both near and far. The term ‘culinary tourism’ was first coined by Lucy Long in 1999 and was used to describe the increasing use of food as “a subject and medium, destination and vehicle, for tourism. It is about individuals exploring foods new to them …
a quick midweek supper of spaghetti and grated courgettes in a cheesy white sauce Have you been over run with courgettes too? Three or four courgettes have been appearing in our weekly veg box for the last month or so. That’s a whole lot of courgettes to get through, especially as they aren’t something I …
a nostalgic take on the classic mince & tatties recipe When I was a child my mother used to serve us children mince and tatties for dinner and it was the best thing ever! The recipe included regular beef mince (or hamburger as it was called when I grew up in Canada) fried up with an …
ideal for sipping from a tin cup on the rocky sea shore Hot soup sipped from a tin cup while sitting on the rocky shore watching the waves dance. What can be better than that? There are nine years between my eldest child and my youngest. This means it can be difficult to find something …
I am in love with this machine! It’s got curves reminiscent of a 1950’s classic car. Its deep metallic red colour is so alluring that I want to get out the wax and start buffing it while Frank Sinatra croons in the background. The knobs and switches remind me of a vintage radio, as if, …
Deliciously dark chocolates with a secret ingredient, or two! You should make these and sell them at the shop! – two veggie phobic boys, age 6 & 8
A delicious comfort-food vegan shepherdess pie. There is a definite hint of Autumn in the air. The days are getting cooler and the Shetland landscape is turning from leafy green into shades of burnt umber, russet and gold while the peat hills are covered in glorious flowering purple heather. Colder days require comfort food.
A gorgeous marriage of chunky peanut butter and chocolate chunks – in a cookie! Salty peanut butter… Sweet, sweet chocolate…. Together in a can’t-eat-enough-of-them cookie! These delectable morsels were my fourteen year old son’s creation. He fancied making peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies and, searching through our recipe books and using the ingredients we had …
A deliciously wholesome pizza made with 16th & 17th century heritage wheats, grilled vegetables and a roasted red pepper, mozzarella and rocket pesto. Pizza doesn’t have to be plain, boring and ordinary. Jazz it up a bit with some grilled vegetables and pesto!
In this deliciously fragrant vegetarian campfire dish, a homemade sub-ah b’har seven-spice mix is used to season onions, chickpeas and seasonal greens. Perfect as a side, or even as a light main meal. There is something wonderfully primal about cooking over an open fire. The smell of the wood smoke, getting the fire lit and …
Orangedale, a rural village on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, where I spent the formative years of my childhood. Where is home? Home (n): 1 a: the place where one lives; the fixed residence of a family or household. Home is where the heart is, where you hang your hat, where you happen to be …
I wasn’t going to blog this. This was a I-haven’t-defrosted-anything-for-dinner-the-fridge-is-full-of-vegetables-it’s-half-past-three-in-the-afternoon-what-am-I-going-to-feed-my-family meal. It involves canned foods; quite a few of them. <blush> As a foodie (and a mother), using tins and ready made jarred products is something I feel embarrassed about admitting using. Surely you’re supposed to go the extra haul and make absolutely everything from scratch …
My lunch. Today. Yum. This was so nice I was really excited to share it with you all as soon as possible. The combination of avocado and strawberry is really something extraordinary, and when you pair those flavours and textures with balsamic vinegar and black pepper – wow. Just… wow.
Some days require raw chocolate chip cookie dough. A day during the summer holidays when a month’s rain falls in one go is most certainly a raw chocolate chip cookie dough day, and not just any ordinary chocolate chip cookie dough – it’s got to be a triple chocolate chip cookie dough day. Chunks of white and …
We’ve had some pretty glorious weather up here in Shetland this summer. Temperatures have regularly been hitting the 20’s, which, in Shetland, is considered a heat wave! On one fine sunny day, we decided to go rock pooling at Leebitton, a place we’d never been before, but a nature-loving friend told us that it was …
This smoothie has become my signature quick go-to breakfast over the years. I’m surprised I haven’t blogged it already! It takes less than five minutes to whip up and it can be tailored to include your favourite fruits.
People who meal plan baffle me. I’m far too spontaneous for that, I was telling my husband yesterday. I couldn’t bear knowing in advance what I was going to be eating every day of the week. What if I didn’t fancy having what I’d organized on the day I’d planned it for – how dreadful …
My electric ice cream machine died last year. It was a gruesome death, with it’s bright blue coolant slowly leaking out all over the contents of my deep freeze. This was the second time this ice cream maker death occurred in my freezer. The first time it happened the company replaced the bowl free of …
I’ve recently read the fantastic début novel Vanilla Salt by top Catalan chef Ada Parellada. You can read my review of the novel (and a giveaway if you fancy winning a copy for yourself!) by > clicking here <. Briefly, the book is about a disgruntled Catalan chef whose world is turned upside down with …
