Tag Archives: Italy

Plough Hotel

Back in the 2nd century, before even I was born, Emperor Antoninus Pius built a wall through central Scotland. The Antonine wall came to represent the northern extremity of the Roman Empire. Some think that was because it was too difficult and unwelcoming to venture further north however we think he just enjoyed life in Falkirk. He just wanted it for himself undisturbed by unsavouries from Stirling and the likes.

Diagram of Arthur's O'on
Arthur’s O’on

As an example of how wonderful their lives were they even built a giant stone oven, Arthur’s O’on, presumably for the making of scones. Okay, we just made up that last bit but there was indeed a fabulous round stone house of that name. It was considered to be unique and the best example of Roman construction in Britain. It stood until  1743 when it was demolished by a local aristocrat who used the stones to build a dam. This wonton act of vandalism was roundly condemned at the time and still is by antiquarians all over the world.

Roman scones

All this is simply to let you know that today we are in Stenhousemuir, part of the Falkirk conurbation. The village gets its name from Arthur’s O’on, the ‘stone house’ that once stood here. Not sure how it became known as Arthur’s O’on. There was no one called Arthur. Most likely it’s a derivation of ‘Art’ an old Gaelic word meaning ‘house’. And it was actually a temple rather than an oven. The local folk just thought it looked like a big oven. Still, it’s nice to think of Roman’s lounging around by the banks of the River Carron eating peeled grapes and partaking of tea and scones.

A scone at the Plough Hotel, StenhousemuirFor our scones, we are at the Plough Hotel. Circumstance had dictated that we were here for a function and as luck would have it, we found ourselves in the presence of scones. Our very happy waitress assured us that they had been baked that morning in their own kitchen so we were eager to try. They came with a wee pot of jam and a huge bowl of cream. This was both underkill and overkill all on one plate. They were nice enough but a bit on the sweet side for our taste. Good, but not quite a topscone.

Sticky stuff

Stenhousemuir is also famous for its football team and its cricket club. The football team, rather oddly, has lots of Norwegian fans who regularly travel over for the games. The stand is even called the Norway Stand.

Advert for McCowan's Highland Toffee
McCowan’s Toffee
Penny Dainties
A Penny Dainty

Since 1922, of course, this was also the home of McCowan’s toffee factory, just across the road from the Plough Hotel. There can’t be many people in the UK who haven’t lost a filling or two while chewing on one of their Penny Dainties. They also famously produced the Wham bar and the Irn Bru bar.

Sadly, McCowan’s no longer exists but dentists everywhere can breathe a little easier. Not that we are breathing any easier. With Italy going into coronavirus lockdown we have just learned that the virus is sexist. It prefers to kill men … particularly men of a certain age … aarrgh!

FK5 4EY         tel: 01324 570010         Plough Hotel

///cunning.aboard.onwards

Cadell’s Café

Connections are funny things. They happen in the most unexpected ways. For example, what do you think connects the following?

  • the town of Falkirk in central Scotland
  • the Battle of Trafalgar
  • the K4 telephone box
  • the seaside town of Cockenzie, just east of Edinburgh
  • the town of Barga in central Italy.

The answer is Cadells Café of course! Perhaps some sort of explanation would help.

The cannons used by Wellington at the Battle of Trafalgar and the K4 telephone boxes were all made at the Carron Iron Works in Falkirk. In 1759, Carron was founded by one William Cadell whose home was Cockenzie House in which we now sit eating scones in Cadell’s Cafe. The house is situated in the town of Cockenzie which in turn is twinned with the town of Barga …. simple!! Attentive readers will remember we mentioned Barga recently in the post about Brian’s Café. Brian was a member of the Serafini family who originated in Barga. It’s a small world! Internal view of Cadell's Café in Cockenzie

Secret garden

Anyway Cadell’s Café is situated in the ‘secret garden’ of Cockenzie House alongside a grotto decorated with seashells and a ruinous claret tower. We use the word ‘ruinous’ advisedly? However, no such problems in the cafe. It was a bitterly cold day so it was nice to be ushered in and seated beside a lovely log burning stove. What could be better? A scone at Cadell's Café in CockenzieThe scones were nicely presented with a good pot of jam but unfortunately along side was the ubiquitous Rhodda’s Cornish cream. However, you already know that we have nothing against Rhodda’s, we just feel that it would be better to go for local cream. Scotland has loads of it. The scones were nice and crunchy but maybe just a tad too much. In the end there was no topscone but we thoroughly enjoyed our visit and would not hesitate to go back.

Big hip pockets

Returning to the subject of connections, FaceBook’s raison d’etre is connections. Poor old Mark Zuckerberg probably never thought he would be accused of helping rig national elections when he started trying to connect the students on his campus at Harvard University. Mind you he probably never thought that within a few years he would have $70billion in his hip pocket either.

The harbour at Cockenzie
Cockenzie harbour

What seems of even greater interest to us is the role of Cambridge Analytica, the British company that allowed FaceBook’s data to be harvested. It’s a company which donates huge amounts of money to the Conservative party and is run by some of the movers and shakers in the Torys. It’s maybe not only the US election that was rigged? What about the 2014 Scottish independence referendum … oooo!!

EH32 0HY     tel: 01875 819456       Cadell’s Café TA

Brian’s Café

Yesterday morning we were back at the Hippodrome in Bo’ness to see The Shape Of Water. An unexpectedly enjoyable film. It’s really a love fantasy but it also turns out to be surprisingly topical. The Americans had captured a unique South American water monster with peculiarly human characteristics. Honestly, it’s better than it sounds! Rather than let the US acquire any  advantage by studying the beast and unearthing its secrets the Russians, in the form of KGB agents, plotted to kill it with a lethal injection. Have you heard of any similar stories recently?

It is amusing to see the media in a frenzy wondering where the nerve agents directed against Sergei Skripal and his daughter could have come from. Without ever mentioning the world’s biggest stockpile of such chemical weapons at Porton Down. Only eight miles from Salisbury where Skripal was found. Interior view of Brian's Café in BonessAll fingers seem to be pointing at Vladimir Putin however and probably with good reason.

Have you noticed a rather worrying trend among world leaders recently? Putin, who unexpectedly came to power because Boris Yeltsin hadn’t enough blood in his vodka system, now finds himself drunk on power itself. He has manufactured a situation where he can remain in power indefinitely. Likewise with President Xi of China. Power is a great corrupter and both men now seem to think that they are omnipotent. Meanwhile, back in the USA, President Trump  knows he is omnipotent but, unlike Putin and Xi, hasn’t yet worked out a scam to keep the job for a life. Watch this space. Theresa May on the other hand will be forced to keep her job for life whether she likes it or not simply because it’s such a mess no one else wants it. Interior view of Brian's Café in Boness

Serafini family

Enough of all that. Just across the road from the Hippodrome is the imaginatively named Brian’s Cafe which, would you believe it, is owned by a chap called Brian, surname Curry. Its outward appearance is somewhat uninspiring and we did not have high hopes as we entered. A scone at Brian's Café in BonessThe interior is pleasant enough though and the staff were very friendly and helpful.

We were soon settled down with some tea and sharing a fruit scone. Okay, we sometimes indulge in reckless extravagance! There was no cream and the butter and jam were prepackaged but the scone itself was very good, not quite a topscone but pretty close.  The café has lots of what appeared to be family photographs hanging on the walls. When we asked about them we ended up being introduced to Brian himself. He had been sitting at another table with some friends. He’s a lovely guy who proceeded to take us round and explain his family history. Turns out that he is part of the Serafini family who not only had a cafe in Bo’ness but operated the York Café in Falkirk, a place we know very well.

Serafini family group from Brian's Café in Bo'ness
Serafini family from Barga. Brian’s aunt, Annie Curry, married Nathaniel (2nd from left, back row)

 

 

 

 

Scots locked up

What amazed us was that Brian’s aunt, a Bo’nessian born and bred, had married a Serafini and as a result was interned during WWII. It had never before occurred to us that Scots were also interned simply because of their association with Italians … unbelievable!

The Serafini's original café and their fish and chip van
The Serafini’s original café in Bo’ness  … and their fish and chip van c1950s

It was great listening to the many delightful childhood stories Brian had to tell. A far cry from today’s world of all-powerful autocrats and dastardly subterfuge.

EH51 0AA       tel: 01506 823815       Brian’s Café TA

p.s. News of an even bigger controversy came to us the other day courtesy of our correspondent, the Stenibrainfart. He reported that the National Trust in England had organised a cream tea at one of their venues in Cornwall and to publicise it they used a picture of a scone with a dollop of jam on top of the cream … arrgghh! National Trust picture of a cream tea scone

Now all self respecting sconeys worth their salt know that that is how they do it in Devon … and it’s just plain wrong! It is definitely not how they do it in Cornwall. Cornish folks have reportedly been resigning their NT membership in droves. A #JamFirst badgeThey felt so strongly they even produced #JamFirst badges to support the cause. Well done Cornwall, you tell ’em!

La Barantine

So here we are in France at a nice little boulangerie/patiserrie! Okay, okay, after the last two posts from our home town we thought we should try and give the impression that we have become a little more outward looking. Well we have actually but only as far as Edinburgh!  SMUT in the Grassmarket at Edinburgh International FestivalThe Edinburgh International Festival was in full swing! Absolutely thousands of people all over the place. Just trying to walk down the Royal Mile becomes a tactical nightmare dodging the performers, leaflet distributors and tourists.

There were also clues that the Fringe Festival was alive and well. We met ‘Sven from Sweden‘ who had a sizeable crowd enthralled with his antics. The climax of Sven’s performance was to surmount an unsteady pile of IKEA furniture with an IKEA microwave on top, remove a plate of IKEA Swedish meatballs from the microwave, then spin the plate of meatballs on his head while juggling with three IKEA toilet roll holders complete with toilet rolls. You simply do not get cultural insights like this every day. Sweden seems like a fun place!

Contending with the milling hordes soon take its toll however so it wasn’t long before we were in need of some refreshment. Having done Sweden, the next in line was France in the form of La Barantine. Amazingly it was almost empty when we went in and we could have chosen from virtually any seat. It did not last however, a few minutes later it was very busy indeed. Just like everywhere else! You had to place your order at the counter. Rather oddly for this city where almost all counter staff are from eastern europe, in La Barantine they actually seemed to be from France … promising!

They had scones but only blueberry and raspberry … not so promising! A raspberry and blueberry scone at La Barantine patisserie, EdinburghWhen they arrived at our table they looked ‘interesting’, served on a rustic piece of slate with actual Scottish butter. It seems you have to come to a French café to get Scottish produce … good for them! We wondered if we would manage the Union coffee, however, without gagging. As it happened it was all very good. The scone was not as heavy as it looked. It was very moist but light at the same time and had obviously been freshly prepared. We swithered long and hard about whether these were topscones but in the end we felt they were just a tad ‘odd’ for such a prestigious award … pity!Internal view of La Barantine patisserie, Edinburgh

The Union

After convincing ourselves that the “Union Hand Roasted Coffee” referred to the EU rather than the UK, it was fine as well. The name actually refers to a union between the roasters and their Guatemalan farmers … so that’s good. Even though Edinburgh is completely bonkers in August it is also great fun and a great advertisement for Scotland. In spite of the multitude of people of all sorts of nationalities we don’t think there has even been the slightest hint of trouble in the entire month. We were just wondering what the chances were of meeting some Scottish folk when suddenly three emerged from the crowd. They were imposters from Italy … vive le EU!Three 'Scotsmen' at the Edinburgh International FestivalEH1 2JP    tel: 0131 226 4927       La Barantine