Tag Archives: Nice

Cairnie Fruit Farm & Mega Maze

3rd November 2020 billpaterson1@me.com 7 Comments

What do you do on a cold day of torrential rain with five and seven year old granddaughters. Take them to the Cairnie Fruit Farm and Mega Maze …. of course! Secretly, we thought we might lose them in the maze and then sneak off for coffee and a scone while they tried to find their way out. It turned out that the maze, in the shape of a sunflower, was carved into a field of corn-on-the-cob or maize … so it was actually a maize maze. Even an amazing maize maze because it was vast. It was also extremely muddy with the rain getting worse by the minute.

Never mind we were sure the girls wouldn’t last more than a few minutes in these atrocious conditions. Not a bit of it, they were having a ball and, even after an hour, they were not in the least inclined to leave! On the other hand we were cold wet and only thinking of shelter and scones. Eventually we persuaded them to leave and we headed to the cafe.

Sooo Scottish

When we arrived the large car park was almost full, the adventure park was busy and the extensive cafe/shop was busy busy as well. Our daughter, who has been completely ruined by living in London, observed “This is sooo Scottish, what are all these people doing here in this weather?” Of course, there were strict COVID regulations everywhere but we soon found one of their socially distanced tables and discarded our sodden outer garments.

After a bacon roll and some lovely hot coffee we shared a fruit scone with a little tub of Cairnie jam. Although there was no cream we thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe it was just the relief of being somewhere warm and dry? The texture was good but, all things considered we decided it fell short of a topscone accolade.

More fun

Racing cars at Cairnie Fruit Farm — F1 at Cairnie

After we finished, guess what? The youngsters wanted to go back out to the adventure park. Helpless in the face of such excited unbridled enthusiasm … out we had to go. They went on the zip slide, roundabouts, racings cars and everything else. Now the rain was monsoon-like and we were soon back to being soaked and cold As far as the girls were concerned, however, you would have thought the sun was shining … sodden but not a care in the world. It was all we could do to eventually cajole them back towards the car. Bribery may have been involved.

A week is a long time

All in all, we had a wonderful day in spite of the elements throwing everything they could at us. Elsewhere, Trump and Biden have been throwing everything at the Presidential election. Today, however, is judgement day when voters go to the polls. Incredibly, fear of the democratic result has meant that much of the US is boarded up in anticipation of violence. Such are the divisions in the world’s most powerful country.

The result will probably not be known until the end of the week and by that time we may find ourselves in different circumstances. The UK, apart from maybe the NW of Scotland will be in lockdown. Also, because of the desperate events in Nice and Geneva the terrorist threat level in the UK will also have been increased. And who knows, Trump may still be in power.

The farmhouse at Cairnie Fruit Farm — Cairnie farm house

Thumbs up

In spite of everything we must stay optimistic and look after ourselves and those around us. Be cheerful! If a couple of kiddywinks can do it in a cold muddy maze we can all do it.

KY15 4QD tel: 01334 655610 Cairnie Fruit

Scones, topbagnascone, totallyeffinbrilliantscone

COVID-19 Newsflash

20th April 2020 billpaterson1@me.com 9 Comments

It’s the start of yet another week in lockdown and although we still haven’t been out, this is not a repost. You can tell because the lettering isn’t red! In our previous post entitled COVID-19 we told you how to distinguish between coronavirus symptoms and those of scone withdrawal. The symptoms of scone withdrawal are, of course, not quite so severe but can still be debilitating. This COVID-19 Newsflash is simply to let you see how a couple of readers have come up with ways of at least alleviating the worst of the effects. Baking their own!

The first is from a couple of local sconeys, B&M. They sent us a photo of M’s attempt at a batch of scones. B, who is presumably in need of a lot of sucking up to his much better half, wondered if there was a category above ‘topscone’?

totallyeffinbrilliantscones — Example of tottallyeffinbrilliantscones. Thumbs up from us but is that homemade accoutrements?

Of course, there isn’t but if this terrible coronavirus situation has taught us anything it is that you have got to be helpful to others and sometimes that means introducing a bit of flexibly. We have therefore introduced the new “totallyeffinbrilliantscone” category for those in B’s precarious situation. Good luck B!

It is very much similar to the branded levitra prescription . Fortunately, you won’t need to go through the condition when levitra prices they are too young to be having sex, but it is not at all common for the person individually. The cervix opens (dilates) during labour, to enable the baby to be sildenafil generic india delivered. Though, this kind of canada cialis 100mg check these guys out is cheap, its work and regulated the best performance. The second is from S&B, our correspondents in the old town of Nice on the Côte d’Azur. The French, as you all know, have limited culinary skills and are therefore incapable of baking a proper scone. Instead, S&B have produced what they feel is an approximation to the real thing. Locally they are called ‘Scone Bagna’ and served with cold pastis tea! For French folks, they do look good and the presentation, of course, is perfect. But cold pastis tea is a step too far, as is the green stuff! Again, in an effort to be helpful and keep the Auld Alliance intact we are introducing a ‘topbagnascone’ category. Flexible or what? This surely shows that scones and sconeys are going above and beyond in their bid to combat this horrible isolation business. Well done everyone for triumphing in both of these new categories.

BREAKING:

Our Middle East correspondent has just informed us that in Tel Aviv they can now wander 500m from home instead of the previous 100m. Hurrah!

I still have £5.36 in my pocket. Hurrah!

Normal repost service will resume asap! Hurrah!

Keep safe everyone!

Scones, Top

Palm Court

7th February 2020 billpaterson1@me.com 1 Comment

Well, here we are, our first scone since leaving Europe. The choice was either to go into some sort of maudling inward-looking period of navel-gazing or go out and have a scone. Guess which one we chose? In addition, we felt that we might as well celebrate our newfound freedom from the civilising influences of our EU friends with something a bit posh. Hence you find us closeted in the rather sumptuous confines of the Palm Court in Edinburgh’s Balmoral Hotel.

The exterior of the hotel is a marvelous confection in stone (Balmoral means “the majestic dwelling” in Gaelic) and the inside is equally elaborate. However, if you are one of those who only feel truly relaxed in the surroundings of a greasy spoon diner, this is not the place for you. On our long sconological journey, we have come to tolerate sumptuous surroundings like this with relative ease. The benefits of perseverance.

We’re here because one of the advantages of writing a scone blog is that friends and family tend to buy us gifts in line with our interests … and, as you know, we have very narrow interests. So it was on this occasion, a complimentary champagne afternoon tea … yeah! Many thanks to our benefactors. We were on time. The hotel is perched above Waverley Station so the clock is always set three minutes fast as an aid to travellers trying to catch a train. Hogmanay is the one exception in the year when it is spot on.

Famous faces

Film stars, Prime Ministers and Royalty have all stayed here, so of course, we felt at home straight away. Suite 552 is even named after JK Rowling who wrote her final Harry Potter novel here. Once we had got past the suitably suited and booted doorman we were welcomed by a lovely young lady called Lucy. She hailed from Menton in the south of France, a part of the world we know quite well. Monte Carlo and all that! A few months back we even posted a scone from the Scotch Tea House in Nice. Anyway, Lucy had been doing a hospitality course back home and when she finished she chose Scotland for her first real job. We warmed to her immediately. She settled us in and soon had us sorted with a couple of glasses of Charles Heidsieck champs while we perused the tea menu.

I opted for the Cloud tea for no other reason than that’s where all my personal data resides. Pat went for 2nd flush … not sure why. We’re not great tea connoisseurs. However, it’s nice to try new ones every now and again even though we always revert back to good old breakfast tea. When ours arrived another young lady shattered our nerves by pouring the boiling water into the teapots from a great height. Not sure if that enhances the taste in any way but it certainly gave the whole procedure an air of high drama. She didn’t spill a drop!

Three tiers

Normally, with an afternoon tea, everything comes on a three-tier cake stand. Savouries on the bottom, scones in the middle and cakes on top. Not here! We did get the cake stand but all three tiers were laden with savoury items … it was only the first course. Everything was delicious.Later we got the second course – the scones. As expected there were two each and they came beautifully warm, lightly dusted with icing sugar and presented with lots of jam and clotted cream. Meanwhile, Lucy refreshed our teapots and generally ensured that we lacked for nothing. Unsurprisingly, perhaps the scones were fab and what with the surroundings and the harpist playing in the small juliet balcony above our heads, we almost felt as if we were in Verona. It wasn’t that difficult a decision to make … topscone!

gifts at the Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh — A parting gift of tea, chocolates and mini ice cream cones.

Good taste

It was so civilised as we lingered under the palm trees sipping champagne, eating scones and being pampered by Lucy. We could easily have believed we are still in Europe. Thoughts of bush fires, coronavirus, Boris’s lies, Trump’s lies, Syria, and climate change were banished to someplace far far away. Later, when we were preparing to rejoin the real world we asked Lucy if she would return to the south of France after her placement here was finished. She replied, “No, I plan to stay in Scotland, I really love it”. It’s true, the French really do have good taste! Even we had to admit – if this is what being out of Europe is like, it’s not that bad!

Wellington statue, Princes Street — The Duke of Wellington pointing at the clock and saying “that clock is three minutes fast”.

EH2 2EQ. tel: 0131 556 2414 Balmoral

///driven.behind.insist

ps Thanks go to one of our New Zealand correspondents. They sent photos of a scone extravaganza that recently took place at Papanui Club Bowling Club in Christchurch. That’s a lot of scones!

foreign, Ordinary, Scones

The Scotch Tea House

25th October 2019 billpaterson1@me.com 1 Comment

As you know from our previous post, Café 66, we have been following the swallows in their southerly migration. Unlike us, however, they probably managed to avoid French rail strikes. As they continued blithely onwards to South Africa we had to contend with the vagaries of continental travel.

A sign in the toilet at the Scotch Tea House in Nice, France — No jeter in the toilet

As the officials kept telling us, the strike was a ‘surprise’, only announced overnight so there was nothing much they could do The answer to most of our questions was a gallic style shrug of the shoulders. There were a few trains running but no one seemed to know which ones. The French seem to accept such things fairly philosophically. And, in any case, they are fortunate to have Macron to blame for everything.

To cut a long story short we eventually arrived at my sister’s place about five hours late. The swallows were probably in South Africa by then. Never mind, we received a welcome like no other so all our inconveniences were immediately forgotten.

The carpet in the Scotch Tea House in Nice, France — The Tea House carpet

To make matters worse it was raining. It was raining a lot … a monsoon. It was warmer rain than we get in Scotland, however. Six years since we were last in Nice so there was much catching up to do and new things to see. My sister was keen that we see the new tram system which was still under construction on our previous visit. Also the new Coulée Verte, a beautiful green corridor that runs through the centre of the town. It’s a place for people to walk and take their ease.

Of course, France like the rest of the EU, is pretty much a scone free zone. A bit of a desert to sconeys like us. There are may culinary things France is famous for but scones isn’t one of them. However as we wandered through the Coulée Verte what should we spy in the distance … the Scotch Tea House! Was it possible that a scone, a beacon of genteel civility, might exist in such a place?

We entered into a cool dark wood paneled interior that must have given many delicate Victorian ladies refuge from the midday sun. It didn’t look as if it had changed much in the intervening years. And, sacre bleu, they had scones! This was indeed unexpected. We had thought that we would be scone free until our return to the UK. Once we had chosen our tea from the tea menu it wasn’t long before our scones arrived … toasted? No one had asked if we wanted them toasted, that’s just the way they came.

A scone at the Scotch Tea House in Nice, France — Presumably all scones come ready toasted in France

In spite of there being lashings of cream in some of the cakes on display, there was none for scones, c’est la vie. There was a selection of jam and a little pack of French butter … just like you get in the UK!? The scones were different, not unpleasant – just different. They had a fairly dry even texture which may have been partly due to the toasting. We enjoyed them but thought they fell well short of a topscone. Good enough for a top ‘French scone’. though. Bravo, the Scotch Tea House, good attempt!

The menu in the Scotch Tea House in Nice, France — Specialités Anglaises’, a tad odd for a Scotch Tea House

One of the benefits of being here is that we are almost devoid of Brexit news. Suffice to say, the French are just as perplexed as the UK on the whole sorry fiasco. We may have to all learn the gallic shrug of the shoulders accompanied with a “Quels imbéciles!”

06000 Nice tel: +33 4 93 87 75 62 Scotch Tea House TA

///eternity.trout.shrimp

Ordinary, Scones

Mona’s of Muckhart

23rd March 2017 billpaterson1@me.com 3 Comments

We are very familiar with Westminster Bridge so our thoughts go out to all those caught up in yesterday’s tragedy. A kind of re-enactment of the horrific events in Nice which are still very fresh in our memories. In spite of our frequent moaning about Westminster we have to hand it to all the MPs who seem to have responded admirably. At the end of the day it’s virtually impossible to protect against religious zealots whose mindset is totally irrational. It is important however that the Palace of Westminster, as far as possible, remains a public place.

Anyway the village of Muckhart is about as far away from such events as it is possible to get. A sleepy little corner of Clackmannanshire in what is known as the ‘hillfoots’ of the Ochil Hills. It actually consists of two small adjacent villages – Yetts of Muckhart and Pool of Muckhart. The ‘Muckhart’ bit seems to refer to the surrounding fields being used for pig farming at some time in the past.

What happens in Muckhart? Well, not a lot. It does have a 27 hole golf course. Also a nice wee pub whose doorstep is exactly the same height above sea level as the Wallace Monument. Not a lot of people know that! Today however we are in Mona’s in Pool of Muckhart on that never ending quest for topscones.

What’s in a name?

It is difficult for someone of our age to utter the name “Mona” without getting an immediate rush of nostalgia for the Rolling Stones and their Bo Diddley track of that name. Don’t worry if you’re under sixty, it’s a generational thing. This Mona has nothing to do with the Stones but everything to do with the current owner’s grandmother. Her name was Mona Cram.

You enter into a nice little shop selling jewellery, knick knacks and lots of home baking before continuing through to the café area where we discovered a solitary plain scone with three cheese scones keeping it company. All they had left! I decided to put the plain one out of its misery leaving Pat no option but to go for cheese. The lady looking after us was a joy. You know how it is when you meet someone and you just know that nothing is going to be too much trouble. Even if it is, it will still be done cheerily and with a smile. She was one of those!

My scone arrived with generous pots of jam and cream and Pat’s had been nicely warmed up and came with butter. In other words, everything was just as it should be. We enjoyed them but Pat felt her cheese one was slightly doughy and try as I might I just couldn’t raise mine to topscone status either. The friendly atmosphere more than made up for any disappointment with the scones. Mona’s is definitely worth a visit. Here in Muckhart on a lovely day it is impossible to even begin to imagine what possesses someone to perpetrate the events of Westminster Bridge yesterday. Long may it remain so.

FK14 7JN tel: 01259 781322 Monas of Muckart

Ordinary, Scones

The Taste Café Deli

9th March 2017 billpaterson1@me.com 1 Comment

For those in the know it is common knowledge that both Mary Queen of Scots and James VI’s daughter, Elizabeth of Bohemia, were avid sconeys. In the 16th century they both lived in Linlithgow Palace and a scone, of an afternoon, would have provided a welcome diversion from embroidery and harping. The reason we mention this little known snippet is because their scones would have come from here, the Taste Café Deli. Okay, not exactly this café but back then, this building used to be the bakery for the Palace. So you can see the royal connection … can’t you! Apparently Mary liked a fruit scone but Elizabeth’s preference was for plain. The question was, would they still do them?

We were here with my sister who, although Scottish through and through, has spent her entire adult life on the Côte d’Azur and, over the years, has acquired all the culinary skills and good taste of the French. The problem was that, to get to the café, you have to go through the delicatessen. A real problem for someone afflicted with good taste! And so it was that, on leaving, we were equipped with a couple of haggises, haggi … whatever and a full blown Stornoway Black Pudding! You see, you can take the lass out of Scotland but you can’t take Scotland out of the lass! As you read this post all of these items are being used to titillate the palates of the good folk of Nice. Educating them in the delights of Scottish cuisine.

Petted lips

Anyway, what about the scones? We had just had a pleasant, if muddy, walk around Linlithgow loch but still did not feel hungry enough to handle a scone each. So we ordered two scones between the three of us. Cream was not on offer but when they saw our quivering petted lips they miraculously produced a lovely bowl of it for our delectation … brilliant!

The Taste Café is just a really good honest no frills kind of place. Lots of books and toys for the kiddies as well as exhibits from local artists. Not sure what Mary Queen of Scots would have made of our fruit scones but we thought they were very good. Not topscones but very enjoyable nevertheless.

Unelected bunch of old folk

In terms of senses, taste is extremely useful: sweetness helping us identify energy rich foods and bitterness warning us of potential poison. Chancellor, Philip Hammond’s budget yesterday seems to taste more of the latter. He says it is necessary to take unpalatable steps to get us out of the mess we currently find ourselves in. After how many years of his government’s rule?? This week also saw the House of Lords defeating the government for the second time over Brexit. Oh dear, an unelected bunch of old folk standing up to an unelected Prime Minister … crazy politics?

Mind you, had Guy Fawkes been successful in his Gunpowder Plot in 1605, Elizabeth of Bohemia, that scone munching Linlithgow lass, may well have ended up as Queen of England … so perhaps there is nothing new about crazy mixed up politics!

EH49 7ED tel: 01506 844445 The Taste Deli Café

foreign, Scones, Uncategorized

United Scones of America

15th July 2016 billpaterson1@me.com 1 Comment

Hooray, our North American correspondents have been in touch … a photo of some American scones. Now we have to admit that we thought scones were a measure of a civilized, cultured society. So what on earth were they doing in the USA? The photo concentrates on Wegmans products (based in Rochester NY) which seems to be the Greggs of the US.

You would imagine that American scones would be slightly vulgar. At least three times the size of a good scone but these ones look fairly normal … though it’s quite hard to tell. If they haven’t gone ‘large’ then Wegmans, in typical American, ‘land of plenty’ style, certainly make up for it in variety. Maple walnut scones; organic cranberry scones; cinnamon scones; caramel toffee scones; chocolate chip scones; pumpkin scones; lemon poppy scones; coconut mac choc dip scones; orange cranberry scones; vanilla bean scones, to name but a few … phew!

At this point we would have liked to have launched into a diatribe about what a mess the US is in and what a mess it makes of the whole world. However, we find the moral high ground at the moment, on this side of the pond, is not as nearly as high as it used to be. The UK cannot exactly stand up as a shining example of anything at the moment .. scones excepted. We have just got a new prime minister who absolutely nobody voted for and she has just announced her cabinet. What could possible go right? This morning we hear that Nice, where a large and much loved part of our family live, is in trouble.

Unbelievably, that confection called the Hotel Negresco, where we once spent a wonderful night of pampered luxury, has been converted into a makeshift hospital. It is catering for the numerous casualties of a terrorist atrocity. Can this be laid at the door of the US? We don’t know. However, the long awaited, detailed and forensic Chilcot Report, has exposed the US, ably assisted by the UK, as the bully boys of the world. So perhaps it can. When the US describes itself as the ‘land of plenty’, it’s just a pity it’s usually somebody else’s plenty. Many thanks to R&K for the photo, keep up the good work.

NY 14603-0844 Wegmans Food Market

Scones, history and a dollop of politics