Tag Archives: Qatar

James’ Coffee Bar

Here’s another random scone. When you walk along Main Street in the peaceful little village of Doune, apart its rather formidable castle, you probably wouldn’t ever imagine that it was once famous for the manufacture of guns. Yet from the mid 1600s to the late 1700s pistol making was the main industry here. All that is long since gone and the reason we come here nowadays is not for guns but for dresses. Or, whenever we think we have accumulated too much money! Woodlane of Doune is an excellent ladies dress shop for sorting that problem out.

It was when Pat was in a changing room that I was asked if we were going across the road to the Buttercup Cafe afterwards. I said that we had been there recently and thought we would try and find somewhere else. “Oh, you should try James’ Coffee Bar” was the reply “It’s open air but it has a roof … and it’s not far from here.

Internal view of James'

Being outside

We’d never heard of it. We were intrigued … open air in December?  With what little money we had left we took our leave of Woodlane carrying several large bags. The ladies in the shop, however, had given us clear directions to James’ Coffee Bar so we set off to find it. It’s in the middle of nowhere on a road that we never use so that’s why we hadn’t come across it before. It sits adjacent to Stockbridge Nurseries Garden Centre and takes the form of one of those American Airstream aluminium trailers. The seating area is ‘outdoors’ but the roof is extensive and on a dull but nice day like today it was rather good to be ‘outside’.internal view of James'

Local products

The first thing we saw at the counter was the scones and just a few other cakes and things. Then we realised there was huge menu on the wall beside where we were standing. A scone at James'Eventually the order was two bacon rolls and a fruit scone to share. The girls in the trailer were delightful and soon had us sorted with everything we needed. No fine china here but, of course, in an establishment like this that would have been totally inappropriate. Our scone came in a cardboard tub along with a jar of jam, a wee tub of cream and a wooden knife. The coffee, Grumpy Mule was good but no as good as our favourite Cat’s Pyjamas. Puzzles us why people use companies hundreds of miles away while there are local products which are just as good, if not better.

Logo of James'Other than that we really enjoyed James’. It’s a family run enterprise born from the restrictions forced upon them by COVID. When we were finished we simply tipped everything into the appropriate recycling bins. For us it was just a little out of the ordinary and a bit of fun. We hope they go from strength to strength. Now that we know where it is the summer will doubtless see us back at James’.

Football business

For us the World Cup is proving to be not so much fun. In spite of FIFA pretending that they run and organise the event this one is pretty obviously being run by Qatar. Nothing happens without their approval. The whole thing, right down to them piping bird song into newly created parks is just a bit weird. The promised ‘greenest’ World Cup ever has proved to be a joke. Human rights seem to be another joke with all our home teams being too lily livered to wear an armband. Christiano Renaldo ‘not being sure‘ whether to accept £173m for a two year contract in Saudi perhaps illustrates all that is wrong with the modern business of football! AND, we have to have something to moan about!

FK15 9ND         Tel: 07936 078661      James’ Coffee Bar

///star.cello.megawatt

The Hidden Lane Tearoom

Logo of the Hidden Lane TearoomHere we are in Glasgow, the bestest city in the whole wide world … Pat told me that! We are looking for something that’s hidden. Why? It’s like an itch, you’ve got to scratch it. If you are told something is hidden you feel an overpowering urge to find it. So it was with the Hidden Lane Tearoom.

The Hidden Lane
Looking down the Hidden Lane from Argyle Street

Argyle Street is more than two miles long and one of Glasgow’s main shopping streets. There is so much going on you could easily walk past this little lane and not even notice it. Even if you did, you might not feel particularly inclined to go down … it’s not immediately obvious that it leads to anything. It’s proper name is Argyle Court but not a lot of people know that. You would just get a blank look if you asked for it by anything other than ‘the hidden lane.’ When you reach the end of the lane, however, it suddenly opens up into a large courtyard with a veritable cornucopia of tiny little shops and eateries. It’s quite a big area but this narrow lane is the only way in or out. Who would have thought?

Exciting

Even then, the tearoom was not immediately obvious but then we spotted it tucked away in a corner. External view of the Hidden Lane TearoomIt has become a central focus  amongst the brightly coloured higgledy piggledy studios which act as home to lots of musicians and other creatives. We were excited to find the Hidden Lane but we were doubly excited to try the tearoom. Apparently it’s renowned for its luxury afternoon tea, its classic Victoria sponge and its secret recipe scones. What’s not to get excited about?

The tearoom has a cosy chintzy feel about and combined with the cheery service it’s the sort of place where you immediately feel comfortable. Internal view of the Hidden Lane TearoomThey have an upstairs as well so it’s not as small as you might think. Of course, our primary concern was the scones. Pat went for fruit and I opted for their ‘special scone of the day,’ raspberry and white chocolate.  

Double awards

I tried to get a picture of both scones together but for some reason it didn’t work. A scone at the Hidden Lane Tearoom Damn, just when I thought I was getting the hang of this photography lark! Anyway we shared the scones so that we could sample both. Unsurprisingly perhaps, we thought they were both excellent. Served with little glass pots of jam and cream and a sprinkling of crunchy sugar on top. We gave Pat’s a topscone and mine a top weird scone … well done the Hidden Lane Tearoom.

Message at the Hidden Lane TearoomWho would have thought that, more than a month on, the war in Ukraine would still be going on. And in the David and Goliath struggle, David seems to at least be holding his own against the vastly superior might of the Russian army. There was a message on the wall of the Hidden Lane Tearoom. It did make us  wonder what would have happened if Mad Vlad had gone for tea first. 

Message at the Hidden Lane TearoomThe football World Cup is scheduled to take place in Qatar at the end of the year. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if Ukraine qualified! However, there’s a fly in the ointment … Scotland. The only thing standing between Ukraine and qualifying for the World Cup is Scotland. They have to play to decide which country goes through. Oh no, what a dilemma!

View from the Hidden Lane Tearoom
View from the Hidden Lane Tearoom

G3 8ND                tel: 0141 2374391            Hidden Lane

///craft.beans.dream

M&S Café

M&S 010Ok, lower the lights, cue soft sexy music, “because this not just a scone … its an M&S scone“. A very successful TV ad that has fallen into everyday usage to describe everything other than what it was supposed to, M&S food. But this is food and it’s M&S food so will it live up to the hype? No problem, probably the best self service scone we have had so far. There were a couple of problems though; the coffee was decidedly average and the butter was too hard to spread on a light fluffy scone.

The scones, however, were very good .. Pat had a very good cheese one. Now here is an interesting thing. In our last post you will remember that we were having to rough it at Gleneagles where everything was brought to us at our seat in front of the big open fire by a team of waiting staff. Everything was absolutely first class. M&S 03By comparison, for the rather spartan surroundings of the self service M&S scones we had to buy jam and cream separately so that, unbelievably, they ended up more expensive than the Gleneagles ones. In total, for exactly the same order, Gleneagles was just slightly more expensive because of the coffee. But the coffee was perfect, a hundred times better than M&S. Just goes to show! One scone experience was light years ahead of the other but both cost much the same. Just so as you know.

Paris and Beirut

Understandably the news is still dominated by the Paris catastrophe. However in its attempt to provide 24hr coverage the BBC has been reduced to wittering rather than reporting. If there were to be a scone disaster in Azerbaijan, we are sure the BBC would immediately be able to go over to their own scone correspondent in Baku. The day before Paris there were around 50 people killed in an IS bomb attack in Beirut  that went completely unreported, not a single cheep. Never mind what that says about standards of reporting, what does it say about us? Did they just not want to bother us? What is the difference between the Paris and Beirut? M&S 02It is also sad to see the knee-jerk responses from politicians. Declarations of pitiless war and increased security measures everywhere.

Double standards

Do they not understand that that is why we are in this mess and that a war on terrorism is about as futile as a war on drugs. Amongst all the talk there seems to be no cognisance of what appears to us to be the only way forward. Go after Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE who, directly or indirectly, provide funds and succour to IS and al-Qaida. Make them pariah states, freeze their assets, let them know that they are not welcome. Instead of feting them like royalty, send their diplomats home. Whatever it takes until they sort themselves out! But of course that way might harm the bankers and arms dealers and that would be unthinkable. For every bullet fired and every bomb dropped they whoop joyously.

Getting things in proportion

It would probably mean a drop in our standard of living but we think we could get by on just one scone every second day if it meant we could live without fear. Oh no, just remembered that the US standard of living is non-negotiable so that probably is not going to work. And, of course, our media all too often simply reflects the foreign policy objectives of our governments. If we may continue the TV ad analogy .. if Carlsberg made foreign policy disasters?  Just remember, as our government ramps up the terror alert to “severe” that as many people have been killed by bee stings in the last decade as in terror incidents. Maybe even as many people have choked to death on scones?M&S 07

Men are tending to buy Kamagra or tablets such as sildenafil generic uk or Kamagra can be used treat erectile dysfunction, but if you are not taking care of your body. The accuracy cialis sales australia of fracture alignment is extremely important as the Audio Designer and Musicians. No medical examinations are necessary & your cialis ordering privacy is guaranteed. Do not get doubtful and get your pack of Kamagra today to have your youthful back in to action. levitra on line sale go to the pharmacy shop FK1 1EJ          tel: 01324 611161      Marks and Spencer