31 July 2010

Of Ice Cream In Dumfries and Galloway

My blog posts about Dumfries and Galloway would not be complete without talking about Cream O'Galloway, an ice cream producer between Gatehouse of Fleet and Kirkcudbright.  We seem to spend much of our family holiday centred around their farm at Rain...

30 July 2010

Biodegradable Tea Bags

It was brought to our attention recently that some tea bags are not really biodegradable as they use polypropylene glues to seal the edges of the tea bags.  This is only the case for tea bags that are heat sealed in the tea bagging process.  The tea...

27 July 2010

Of Meat In Dumfries And Galloway

21/7/2010 - I am sitting here at a table overlooking a glorious lake; not some picture postcard view across Lake Como in brilliant sunshine, but a grey, overcast day with some low lying wispy clouds moving slowly across the conifer plantations opposi...

25 July 2010

Of Cheese In Dumfries And Galloway

23 July 2010

Of Fish In Dumfries And Galloway

17 July 2010

Walk In North Yorkshire - Battle of Boroughbridge

I have a confession to make - I am not a big walker that likes to conquer hills and mountains, even if I know I should be striding forth across moorland and up mountains.  I am not a walker that goes into the hills for the beauty of nature; I ge...

14 July 2010

I Don't Know

I had recently found that our children, as well as some colleagues at work, would always answer questions "I don't know" or "Don't know", whether it's the answer to "What do you want for supper tonight?" or "What did you do at school today?"  So I ha...

11 July 2010

Two Books For All Environmentalists

I have just finished the second of two books that are must-reads for those interested in our planet.  They are Nigel Lawson's "An appeal to reason - a cool look at global warming" and Bjørn Lomborg’s “Cool it – the skeptical environmentalist’s guide...

09 July 2010

Pierre Hermé’s Recipe For Raspberry And Chocolate Tart

Pierre Hermé continues to inspire me. 

08 July 2010

Recipe For Pomegranate Barbecue Sauce

We have been asked for some time whether we could source a pomegranate molasses and I am nearly there on that.  One of our current suppliers, who is based in Beirut in the Lebanon, sent us a sample of Concentrated Pomegranate Juice which is the same...

06 July 2010

Razor Review From Steenbergs

For many years, I shaved with a Gillette safety razor that used a classic plastic double-bladed Contour disposable blade until mid 2009.  However, I did not find the shave particularly close or satisfying, and I didn't like having to chuck the blades...

05 July 2010

Ripon, Religion And Football

For someone with little spirituality, I spent much of last Sunday at religious events.  Both of them were for Ripon Cathedral Choir School, which is celebrating 50 years since its foundation by Ripon Cathedral.  Proof that little old Ripon can be a g...

05 July 2010

June 2010 Food Blog Round Up

At Chocolate & Zucchini, there is a delicious sounding recipe for sablés from Yves Camdeborde's book Dimanche et Famille.  Clotilde Dusolier's blog then sent me around various links on her site to several other biscuit recipes that sound fantasti...

04 July 2010

Walk Around Nosterfield Nature Reserve In Yorkshire

03 July 2010

North Yorkshire Walk - Thornborough Henge

On Thursday 1 July 2010, I did one of Axel's Random Walks near Nosterfield and Thornborough in North Yorkshire.  I recently bought myself an Ordnance Survey Explorer Map of Ripon & Boroughbridge (#299) and in the top left corner you can just find...

03 July 2010

I Just Don't Get Ocado Business Model?

I am fascinated by Ocado and its upcoming flotation.  Why you might ask?  Well, it is because Steenbergs is having a go at becoming an online retailer, but obviously on a micro, mini scale compared to Ocado.  But also, I just don't understand their b...

02 July 2010

Recipe - Chocolate And Nutella Tart

England's football team were abject last Sunday, but the Chocolate And Nutella Tart recipe from the French patisserie chef, Pierre Hermé, was the perfect compensation - sweet, rich and complex in taste that left you just wanting more.  In one of my p...

01 July 2010

Inspired And Humbled By Jennyruth Workshops

Sometimes you visit some people, who really are so good and wonderful that it shames you a bit.  The people at Jennyruth Workshops are some of those unsung heroes that underpin every society in the world; they just get on with it, doing good work, da...