night clubbing...
I have now returned from the delights of Glasgow to the relative calm of Deeside, the last couple of days before I came back I was staying with one of my cousins, and she in turn was visited by her youngest sister. Said youngest sister's current boyfriend has a brother who lives in Turriff (North Aberdeenshire), and they had gone to visit him a few weeks back. Anyone who knows that part of the county will be aware that other than on a friday night, it isn't the liveliest of places, so you can imagine my surprise and faint incredulity when she told me that they had gone out to a nightclub.
Said institution is apparently in some sort of barn in the middle of nowhere, and judging by her description, is veering towards the unsophisticated. However, and this is the critical point, she was pleased and delighted, on arrival, to be offered a plate of stovies*. Truly this is an aberdonian interpretation of a night out.
*Stovies are a mixture mostly of cooked meat, potato and stock, cooked on the stove, there are many recipes and variations, google can enlighten you further, if you need it...
Labels: night clubs, stovies
death of china
There's a definite sadness when you kill your favourite mug, if you scroll back to the blog about kopi lewak coffee, you will see a pastoral scene: two mugs of coffee and a bowl of madeleines.
Sadly both our favourite mugs have now departed, not as a result of moving house, just the usual fumblings. The arts correspondents mug still retains its functionality, but mine is no more. There is an implicit understanding when one buys a mug from a craftsman potter, that one is buying a relatively cheap functional artwork that is likely to have limited lifespan, doesn't make one any happier when your favourite has died.
If you are looking for lovely handmade mugs, mine came from the Whichford Pottery, the arts correspondents from the craft shop at the Welsh Assembly building. Current favourite mug for me is from the Cromarty Pottery, google is your friend.
Labels: mugs, pottery
more food...
My current perambulations up and down the country do offer many hideous culinary offerings, avoid things stuffed with haggis, and above all avoid drambuie sauce! all too common in my experience. I have heard that it is possible to get a Buckfast flavoured icecream, wrong, in so many ways.
Most recent horror I encountered returned to the haggis misappropriation theme: Deep fried crispy haggis won tons, with a chilli/drambui dipping sauce, I wish I'd made it up, I've been having strange dreams ever since I encountered it. It is somewhere up in the pantheon of bad ideas alongside the baked bean pizza, and the lasagne pie. Don't get me wrong, I like haggis, I'm an enthusiastic consumer of sausages in all shapes and forms, but just because it is the national dish doesn't mean you have to eat it with everything.
