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Scones, Uncategorized

The Coffee Club

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Why do you think you would find yourself in Bathgate on a cold winters day? By accident, of course … why else would you be in Bathgate?

Linlithgow Palace across the loch
Linlithgow Palace and a scaupless loch

We had started off with a walk round Linlithgow loch hoping to  catch sight of a scaup . Sometimes these relatively rare ducks make an appearance here. We did the first half of the walk with snow falling quite heavily and the second half in brilliant sunshine. Scottish weather at its very best! No scaups unfortunately but a really enjoyable walk.

Instead of going into Linlithgow for a coffee we thought we would visit a place called the Vu which involved a few miles of driving round the side of Cairnpapple Hill. We had been there a couple of years back and it was nice. Nowadays, however, it has turned into a wedding venue, no coffee, no scones, nothing. They told us to go another mile to Bathgate where there were lots of cafés and bars. Hence we found ourselves, by accident, in downtown Bathgate. Its a post-industrial town which is obviously still struggling with the effects of defunct coal mining. Also British Leyland’s demise in 1986 followed by Motorola’s closure in 2001 with the loss of over 3000 jobs.

In spite of the earlier claim there seemed to be almost no sconeries. This one, The Coffee Club, seemed to have little in the way of competition. Interior view of The Coffee Club in BathgateThe surroundings could only be described as ‘basic’ however we were warmly welcomed and you got the feeling that they would happily make you anything you wanted, even if it wasn’t on the menu. The Coffee Club, however, does not do local produce. Our scone appeared, ready sliced (what’s that all about), with English jam, Irish butter and a great dollop of scooshie cream from goodness knows where. In spite of all that the scone confounded our expectations by not being too bad, fairly light if a little short on fruit. I had seven sultanas in mine … okay,okay, I need to get a life! A scone at The Coffee Club in BathgateTopscone it was not but a commendable effort nevertheless.

The town nestles in the shadow of Cairnpapple Hill which, 5000 years ago, was home to the Beaker People. So called because of the shaped pots found in their graves. You cannot help but wonder what they would make of things if they were to make a return and gaze down on the world from their lofty hilltop. Obviously they would need an iPad or two to bring them up to speed but we think there would be some serious head scratching when they saw what supposedly educated people had made of things in the intervening five millennia.

Progress?

America tearing itself apart over Trump and religion. The EU (surely mankind’s greatest achievement in the last 100 years) tearing itself apart over populism. The UK tearing itself apart over Brexit. Perplexing, or what? But perhaps most astonishing of all for these wee Beakers would be to find that Scotland was being lorded over by a parliament five hundred miles away that doesn’t care a jot about it. As Lesley Riddoch puts it “if the UK Government can completely ignore Scottish democracy on a big issue like EU membership, does anyone seriously think Scottish interests will matter in any other policy decision reserved to Westminster?” ‘Reserved to Westminster’ means just about everything meaningful for Scotland … too much for even the most hard-nosed Beaker to stomach!

If a Beaker was to go into the Coffee Club they would probably think it hadn’t changed that much … joking. Many thanks to Bathgate and The Coffee Club for making us welcome.

EH48 1PD    tel: 01506 656352    The Coffee Club FB

Scones, Uncategorized

Chequers Creperie

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Artwork on display at Chequers crêperie, FalkirkFor the purists among you, we apologise in advance. This could be a trifle disconcerting … but bear with us if you can! As we have said in the past we don’t go out looking for scones, we just go out and the scones  find us. Today is an exception however because today’s scone is not a scone at all … it’s a crêpe. No, no, no, keep reading! We are simply reporting on this establishment because it has been set up by fellow photographer, Paul Borg Grech and, what with us photographers being an enterprising lot, we tend to help each other along wherever we can. The purists, who cannot bear to go any further, may look away now.

Downstairs at Chequers crêperie, Falkirk
Paul, holding fort downstairs
Event central

Anyway, Paul is a born entrepreneur and has decided to add to his flourishing photography business with Falkirk’s first crêperie … Chequers. From the street it looks quite small. We hadn’t realised however that there’s a suite of upstairs rooms where they hold weekly yoga classes, art exhibitions, birthday parties, wine tasting events (sponsored by yet another new Falkirk business Canton Colli Euganei) and anything else you care to mention.

Internal view at Chequers crêperie, Falkirk
Upstairs

 

The one thing they don’t do is scones! However, living on the edge as ever, we thought it was about time for a crêpe (don’t say that with a posh accent). We were plonked down on one of the comfy settees where we had to select from an extensive variety of sweet and savoury offerings. There’s plenty of other stuff as well. A bacon roll is no problem.

Comfort zone

Now, unlike scones, we would never profess to be experts on this sort of thing. We have no database for comparisons. All we can say is that this jammy crêpe was absolutely delicious. It was aCrêpe at Chequers crêperie, Falkirkccompanied with ice cream, and cream … scooshie, but maybe that’s the done thing with this sort of fare. Who knows? We were definitely out of our comfort zone but thoroughly enjoying ourselves?
Coffee was very good too – served in intriquing  elegant glass tumblers that keep the contents hot for ages … brilliant idea.

What’s in a chromosome?

Chequers is on Graham’s Road, next door to the Graeme Hotel, just down from Grahamston station and not far from Graeme High School. A

artwork on display at Chequers crêperie, Falkirk
‘Dancer’ by local artist Karen van de Graf

variety of spellings but the culprit for this situation is none other than Sir John de Graham, William Wallace’s best friend who fell at the Battle of Falkirk in 1298. Wallace, himself carried his body to where it lies buried at the Old Parish Church. In turn, de Graham’s best buddy, Sir John Stewart of Bonkyll, who also died in the battle, is buried in an adjacent grave. Although not as famous as de Graham we mention him because, in a 2014 study, he was identified as the ancester of all men with the Y chromosome SNP mutation S781. Our understanding of genetics is even less than that of crêpes. Does this mean, however, that all supporters of independence are related … Bonkyll Boys? Whatever … we wish Paul and his merry band at Chequers Creperie all the best with their new venture.

View from Chequers crêperie, Falkirk
View from Chequers  – scene of the English encampment for the Battle of Falkirk in 1298

FK1 1HR     tel: 01324 227654      Chequers Creperie FB

Scones, Uncategorized

Henry’s

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Life

The life of a sconey is not as easy as some of you may think! No, no, no, it’s a constant round of traveling, photographing, testing, judging, writing. Then there is the worry! Did we judge too harshly? Did we just get them on a bad day? Should we make allowances? All these and more can make a sconey’s life quite stressful. Okay, not that stressful. Not stressful at all really. If truth be known, it is an absolute pleasure … even the bad ones! In spite of receiving many and varied suggestions for scone visits we almost never go anywhere simply for a scone. We go places for all sorts of other reasons … the scones are just there! But then, sometimes strange things happen. A scone can come completely out of the blue. So it was with this post from Henry’s … a slight meander from our normal path.

Picture of artwork portraying coffee cups from Costa, Nero and Starbucks
A BIT RICH – at Henry’s HQ. Can you name all 3 companies?  Answers on a postcard

 

 

 

Global HQ

Recently, we were in the local Milk Barn café when we stumbled on some old friends we hadn’t seen in ages. After much catching up it transpired that their lives, like ours, had changed markedly in the intervening years. Most significantly, perhaps, after many years steeped in the coffee industry, they had decided to set up their own company. They now supply coffee and tea to restaurants all over Scotland. A bold move in a highly competitive marketplace. That was two years ago and the birth of the company coincided with the birth of their first grandchild so the company was duly named after him … Henry’s. And what exactly has all this got to do with scones we hear you ask? Well, they invited us to take a look at the company’s global HQ (garage in the back garden). And, being aware of our weakness, used the lure of scones to ensure our attendance.

Mimi’s Bakehouse

We had visions of them being up at the crack of dawn nervously whipping up a scone mixture for the visit … but no, not a bit of it. They bought them! henrys-05To be fair, they did buy them from Mimi’s award winning bakehouse in Leith so they were very good. They were, what we would call, on the hearty side. Almost a meal in themselves but nice and light and complete with jam. The cream had accidentally been omitted from the package, but no matter, we thoroughly enjoyed them anyway. We had not heard of Mimi’s but it transpires that it is just down the road from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. A visit may be imminent! Unfortunately, until then, these scones will have to remain uncategorised. Henry’s Coffee Company appears to be going from strength to strength, no pun intended, and in a few short years has become the main supplier to dozens of establishments across the country. Their unique ‘Cat’s Pyjamas’ and ‘Blow Your Socks Off’ coffee blends have been every well received, along with their two hundred tea varieties. It’s a success story.

Scotland’s entrepreneurs

Sad therefore to read that RBS (the bank which you and I own) has been behaving despicably to businesses such as this through it’s, now defunct, Global Restructuring Group. It has been intentionally driving many small businesses into bankruptcy for it’s own profit. Scotland needs lots of small businesses like Henry’s to flourish but to do so they need banks to be on their side. They also need BT Openreach to roll out decent broadband much faster than they are doing at the moment, instead of just trousering the money. Picture of Henry's coffee company saucer with logoWith worthwhile broadband, businesses like Henry’s should be able to establish themselves all over the country … even in the Highlands and Islands. Many thanks to B and M and of course the man himself, Henry, who we had the great pleasure of meeting. Your hospitality was wonderful, as was your spectacular company HQ. More power to your entrepreneurial elbow!

tel: 07471 895015     Henry’s Coffee Company

Scones, Uncategorized

Coffee on Wooer

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Goodness knows, we really try to point out the positives whenever we can. It has been very difficult recently however. Like our last post about the Brenachoile at Trossachs Pier, some places just leave you no choice but to report it as it is. This is another. We were strolling idly through Falkirk, as we do, and when we came on this place we were intrigued. Situated on Wooer Street (a derivation of ‘weaver street’) it wasn’t too hard to see how they came up with the name. street sign for Wooer Street, Falkirk

These premises have undergone many incarnations over the years and this was obviously the latest. When we went in we stood and waited because we weren’t sure what to do. There were about four young lads doing headless chicken impersonations but none of them paid us any attention.

How not to sell a scone

Eventually we managed to capture one and asked if it was table service or self service. No answer to the question, just “what do you want”. The answer was “two coffees” at which point our attendant fled. We didn’t know if they did scones or not. Pat sat at a table and I went over to the counter where, voila, there were some scones. I jokingly asked the young chap if he had baked them that morning? He lifted one, felt it, grimaced, then unsuccessfully tried to penetrate  it with a fork. At this point he said “I wouldn’t if I was you”! So we didn’t. This is the first post we have ever put up without a picture of a scone, apart from the famous Buckhaven scone. We felt duty bound to report anyway. A piece of carrot cake was substituted and it was rather nice; the coffee was good as well, if a little bitter near the end. It’s a tremendous shame because these lads were all trying very hard but obviously lacked training and direction. A bit like a rudderless ship.

section of COW menu
section of the menu but no indication of when ‘close’ was??

There were so many mixed messages amongst the jumble of stuff which only served to make the place look untidy and confused. The menus chalked up behind the counter were all over the place! We guess the overall look was supposed to be ‘shabby chic’, but it wasn’t working … just ‘shabby’.Interior of Coffee on WooerWhere was the captain of this ship? What was he/she thinking about?

Where are they now?

Much the same could be said of the politicians who took us out of the EU. Where are they now and what were they thinking about? Still, nothing to worry about as Team GB comes in second only in the medals table to the USA … 67 in all. We are now officially a ‘sporting superpower’, whatever that means?

Not all countries have money to burn like the UK so at a cost to the taxpayer of over £4m per medal that could easily be seen as cheating. Nothing against the individual athletes, they are just ‘doing what they want to do’, good luck to them. Now, however, as well as paying for their medals, we are doubtless going to shower them with honours too. For just ‘doing what they want to do’! Promise that’s the last rant about the Olympics. According to the Coffee on Wooer’s rather glitzy but equally confusing website, they are setting out to challenge the big high street coffee shops. Maybe so, but they still have a huge amount to learn from them! Falkirk needs businesses like this so let’s hope they get it right eventually.

FK1 1NJ      tel: 01324 278026      Coffee on Wooer

Scones, Uncategorized

Kinlochard Gathering

First it was Gibraltar, then it was Vilnius. Guess where our globe-trotting Trossachs correspondents are now? Would you believe it … the Trossachs!! They have filed a report on the annual Kinlochard Gathering which was held a couple of weeks back.

Although the weather was on the dreich side everyone seems to have had a good time. It begins with the Grand Parade from the Forest Hills hotel to the Village field. “Clan Chief and storyteller Paraig McNeill bearing the Saltire led the Parade followed by the inspiring sound of the Callander Pipe Band and many villagers and guests bearing an impressive array of international flags . It sent a powerful message to the world that Scotland and its people value and welcome our international residents and visitors“.

The programme contained all the usual heavy events but there was also a duck race; a giant sack race; a crown making competition; a teddy bear’s picnic … in short, something for everyone.  As if all this was not enough, amidst great excitement, there was a genuine verified sighting of Nessie  … presumably on her holidays? If the weather deteriorated, revelers were able to retreat to the Village Hall where everyone was protected. As Ivor Cutler would have said, “from the worst of the effects of the fresh air“. Kinlochard 01

Bargain scones

In the hall, our correspondents were duly impressed with what was on offer. “We could only sample the cream scones which were crisp on the outside, with a delicious interior supplemented by an excellent filling of cream and jam. Sorry you could not add the cream and jam yourself but this option was available with the butter and jam variety.  At the price of £2.00 for a tea or coffee plus a cream scone. This must be a contender for the Scottish bargain of the year”. Scone consumption was accompanied by traditional music from the Feis Point Ceilidh Band and the Loch Lomond Ukulele Orchestra. International visitors from France, Belgium, Canada, Japan and USA thoroughly enjoyed the Scottish hospitality. The message from the French and Belgians was very clear … “whatever the outcome of the Brexit fiasco they see Scotland as an integral part of the EU … c’mon Nicola“.

Thanks are due, yet again, to our correspondents who, at last, have decided to do some sconology nearer to home. Delicious as these scones undoubtedly were, unfortunately we cannot categorise them. Without a personal tasting we will just have to make a note (as you should) in next year’s diary. Sunday 16th July 2017. Will Nessie make another appearance?

FK8 3TL      tel: 01877 387 264       Kinlochard Gathering

foreign, Scones, Uncategorized

United Scones of America

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US sconesHooray,  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 

foreign, Scones, Uncategorized

Trakai Island Castle

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What are our Trossachs correspondents like?? A couple of weeks ago it was Gibraltar, then Stronachlachar and now, Vilnius, (we are prepared to bet that that is the first time these three places have ever been mentioned in a single sentence). We thought our own scone efforts were pretty good but this is definitely above and beyond. It all depends on the scones of course.

Searching for scones

Well, .. in spite of their best endeavours, scouring Vilnius from top to bottom, not a single scone was found … zilch. At one point they excitedly crossed the street because they had seen these in a café window. They turned out to be some sort of crème brûlée thingys. Easy mistake to make. Lithuania 04They did however come across signs of support for our own Nicola Sturgeon.

Did they give up? Not a bit of it. Undaunted, and taking inspiration from our Aussie correspondents who recently reported from Eilean Donan Castle, they elected to try and find an equivalent. And they did, about 20km west of Vilnius.  Trakai Island Castle on Lake Galvė, like Eilean Donan, is situated on an island and joined to the mainland by a bridge. It dates from the 14th century. After falling into serious disrepair it underwent a major reconstruction program which was only completed in the 1960s. Unfortunately, yet again there were no scones. There were, however, reminders of home.Lithuania 02b The Lithuanians have a haggis equivalent, vedarai, and seem happy to compare it to the genuine article.

Incomprehension

What of Lithuania itself and its people? We can do no better than quote directly from our correspondents report: “the very clear message here (Lithuania) is that all generations cannot understand how or why the UK voted for Brexit. They also know quite clearly that Scotland voted to Remain. This is a small country of just under 3 million, reveling in it’s independence and EU membership. Is everything perfect.? No, many of their young people are working in Scotland and sending money home.

However, they are confident about their future, have an education system where children are educated in Lithuanian and English and are generally very positive about being members of the enlarged European family. Lithuania 03We have experienced none of the xenophobic rhetoric of Farage, Gove and Co. We note that Gove has got his just deserts and that the UK will now have a woman as Prime Minister. Lithuania already has one and of course we have Nicola. Let’s hope that the UK does not repeat the last occasion we had a female Prime Minister. A model of whom we saw in a street market in Trakai today”.

Scotland and Lithuania

Once again we are indebted to our Trossachs correspondents in spite of the dearth of scones. It seems that Lithuania has much in common with Scotland. A high degree of national pride and a philosophy that foreigners are welcome and considered an asset. Of course Scotland has a vast array of riches compared with Lithuania, not just scones! Unbelievably though, Scotland, still has all it’s major decisions made by another country with very different interests? You can almost see the open-mouthed incredulous look on Lithuanian faces. They must think we are mad … or stupid, or both!

Lithuania       tel: +370 528 53946      Trakai Island Castle

BREAKING NEWS: Our correspondents, still in Lithuania, have decided that they are not going to find any Lithuanian scones comparable to our own. Lithuania 12However, they have managed to find a sort of scone equivalent in a café called Kmyninė just east of Vilnius city centre. Lithuania 10They were served by a lovely man and woman who have had the café for just over a year and made them feel very welcome.

Lithuanian scones

Once again quoting directly. “It is one of many great initiatives, we have experienced, where hard working young people are making a real fist of it in challenging circumstances. It is hard for us to comprehend how the poisonous narrative of the Brexit campaign managed to persuade the UK electorate that these fine young Europeans are a threat to our society and values. At least they know that they are welcome in Scotland”. Lithuania 11But what about the Lithuanian scones? Lithuania 08“There was no jam,cream or butter but these offerings were delicious. crisp on the outside, soft and tasty inside with a lovely nutty flavour. A bit like Ma Broon’s rock cakes”. So there you have it, another first for allaboutthescones.com. If in Vilnius and crave a scone, your best bet is to head to Kmyninė.

Vilnius        tel: +370 640 49042          Kmyninė Food & Groceries FB

Scones, Uncategorized

A Ton Of Scones

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Motorcyclists often refer to ‘doing a ton’, meaning 100mph, so this post is the scone equivalent. Not reviewing a particular scone but rather 100 scones; a ton of scones .. as a pie. Our last post from Liberty was our 100th so we thought it was time for some analysis. Bearing in mind our limited mathematical dexterity, 100 makes it easy to work out percentages. Our first post was Palmerston’s in Dunkeld almost exactly one year ago which works out at almost one scone every 4 days. How’s that for dedication, and amazingly, we are just as sylph-like as ever .. or at least Pat is.Pie chart illustrating anaysis of 100 scones

The Results:

  • 75% gained no accolade or categorisation other than they were just fairly ordinary or self service scones. That does not make them bad. In fact many of them were very good, but not good enough for an award. Notably the Biscuit and the Bingham Hotel just missed out on a topscone award.
    a sign at the Wee Blether, Kinlochard
    Wee Blether

    Annoyingly the Corinthian had superb scones but abysmal service, otherwise it would have had a topscone award. 1% of this category, the Buckhaven scone, wasn’t even a scone. Some, like the Wee Blether were just great fun.

  • 21% gained a topscone award. We think this is rather good but like the ordinary scones not all were equal. If we were to select our top three topscones it would be Fonab Castle, the Olympic Studios and the Dormy.
    a scone at Ardanaiseig Hotel
    Ardanaiseig

    The other 18 topscones were all excellent but not quite as good as these three. Some locations like Ackergill Tower and Ardanaiseig  were fabulous. Our most expensive scone was undoubtedly Claridges but what an experience!

  • 1% was classed as ‘foreign’. The Duke was based on information from our Iberian correspondent.
  • 2% was classed as ‘homemade’ … made by friends and not sold commercially. One, Dan’s was so good it got a topscone. The other was on Nicola Sturgeon making scones but we didn’t taste them so couldn’t give them an award, though we are sure they would have been first class.
  • 4% were classed as ‘weird’. This did not mean they were in any way bad. They were just weird. The ‘thunder and lightning’ scone at Mother Murphy’s was memorable as was the ‘bacon and cheese’ scone at Habitat.
  • 22% were self service scones. In itself this did not make them bad but none of them made topscone This was partly because it is about the whole experience and waiting in a queue is never as good as being waited on.
  • 8% were island scones … The Puffer on Easdale being the best.

    ERxternal view of the Puffer, Easdale
    The Puffer
  • 11% were English scones. Difficult to say if English scones are better than Scottish, they certainly have some odd ideas about the prioritisation of jam and cream. Might need further investigation.

A Dash of Politics: Our rants have probably got progressively more and more ranty as the year passed. Sincere apologies to all, but it makes us feel better!

Summary: All in all it has been a wonderfully enjoyable year. There are some places we won’t be rushing back to, either because they were too bad or too expensive. The vast majority, however, we would happily visit again .. which is great! _BIL4531Many thanks to our benefactors who have treated us to the odd scone here and there and thanks to our correspondents who have shared their scone stories with us. Thanks are also due to the places we have visited who, by and large, have enjoyed the reviews and given us lovely feedback. Will there be another ton? We shall see!

self-service, Uncategorized

Dobbies unvisited

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Hope you all had a great time over the holidays and are looking forward to another year of sconology. In fact we thought that the symptoms of scone withdrawal might be reaching fever pitch so have opted for a slightly unusual but quick fix for you. Not based on a visit to some cafe deep in the nether regions of the Scottish countryside but rather on some scones we received as a gift over the festive season. Such are the fringe benefits of being sconeys. Boyle 03

Morello cherry and Port jam

Our benefactors had purchased them at Dobbies Garden Centre in Stirling complete with a range of jams. Don’t worry, we realise that for a full and proper report we actually have to go there. And since we take our responsibilities seriously, we promise to do that before 2016 is out. In the meantime, hopefully this will suffice. I elected to try the cherry scone (family size) and Pat dutifully warmed it in the oven and whipped up some cream to go with it.

With cherry scones however there is that ever-present problem ..  a suitable jam. Strawberry just does not seem right, but, as luck would have it, we had also been gifted a pot of Morello Cherry and Port jam, the perfect accompaniment. In spite of these scones having been in the freezer for several days everything was absolutely delicious. A topscone award however will be reserved until we have actually visited Dobbies.

Awards

Ah yes, awards. We know that many of you will have been shocked, after scouring the New Year Honours lists for our names only to find them absent! This came as a bit of a shock to us as well. The last time we spoke to the Queen (not that long ago) we convinced ourselves that there was a slight nod which seemed to indicated that she was going to see uBoyle 04s alright. If you know what we mean, wink, wink, nudge, nudge! Obviously we mistook the body language. For all we know, even though we did our best to put her at her ease, it might have been a slightly clumsy attempt at a curtsy.

Anyway, as it turns out, it saved us the anguish of deciding whether or not to accept. Given that we would find an OBE or anything else with ’empire’ in it a tad difficult to take. An OGE; Order of the Glasgow Empire is more our style. We did notice that the list consisted of the usual worthy and unworthy individuals. Always good to see people who give selflessly of their own time to helping others less fortunate getting some recognition. However, it also seems slightly galling that people such as politicians and civil servants should get these awards as well. Simply for doing their jobs. Equally so for sports personalities and the usual catalogue of luvvies and thespians. Surely they get enough gongs and awards already?

At least Jon Snow, one of the few principled journalists left in the media had the good judgement to turn his OBE down saying he could not accept awards from those he was paid to investigate. At least he realises that stultifying criticism is what it is all about. Surprised though that BBC Scotland were not in line for some sort of award. They have taken on the mantle of the only effective opposition to the SNP led government at Holyrood.

Now if this all sounds a bit like sour grapes let us assure you that it is exactly that, The benefits of making, presenting and eating scones and the role scones have played in creating this wonderful country needs to be recognised sooner or later. Sooner would be good .. before we both turn into humpty dumpty lookalikes. Many thanks to the wonderful people who gifted these scones … you know who you are. We will be  back on the scone trail very soon, Happy New Year to you all.

ps for those who were unable to find the Buckhaven scone in the last post. It is 4 down and 4 across from the left on the header image.

 

Scones, Uncategorized

Magnificent 7

Out for breakfast this morning to Cafe Nero, they don’t do scones. Why is it that scones are not acceptable at breakfast? Don’t know but they just aren’t! Anyway this is the Magnificent 7

The debate

News is all about the election broadcast last night between the seven big scones. It kind of ended up as the three ladies socking it to the Wastemonster three with UKipNige throwing wee tantrums in the background. There was Natgreen (sounded like she would like her scones barbecued). LibNick (not sure what to do about scones). UKipNige (only English scones, please).  RedEd (any jam as long as it’s red). YakidaaLeanne (likes Welsh scones). NatNic (makes her own Scottish scones) and of course PoshDave (never had a scone without jam and cream). Anyway it was all quite civilised, UKipNige came close to throwing all his foreign scones out of the pram a couple of times. One very eloquent lady in the audience, Victoria,(haven’t heard the last of her), gave posh Dave a hard time about soldiers sleeping on the street.

Who won? Goodness knows! I am sure the London based press i.e. almost all the press, will declare for PoshDave. However NatNic managed to pull off the amazing feat of increasing her party membership by over 1500 in the course of the debate. Don’t know if any of the others came close to that. Maybe their memberships were going in the opposite direction?

Perhaps predictably The National came out for NatNic and Scottish scones …

The Nationalbut we were really surprised to find The Times agreeing. Mind you I think they ran a completely different story in the English edition. Two faced or what?.

The Times

 

 

 

 

 

Jam and cream

Lord Ashcroft’s latest poll also shows that NatNic and the SNP would win a third of  seats if they stood in England??  Extraordinary times indeed. Anyway off to Englandshire tomorrow to do some scone testing in the deep south. Will UKipNige be right about English scones being the best? Will there be more jam and cream the further south we go? You will, of course be first to hear the findings.