Food – Let's Have Another Piece of Pie

Part IV – Food in Scotland

Everybody loves food. I do confess that food is not on the top of my list when I travel. I just want sustenance in order to do and see all I can.

I have to say that I did enjoy eating in Scotland. Since we stayed with family, some of our meals were fixed at home or packed up and brought with us. I was delighted. The home cooked meals consisted of leftover Christmas turkey turned into meat pie with puff pastry for the topping. YUM.

We had creamy porridge (oatmeal) for breakfast some mornings. Toast made from the incredible hard crusty loaves that are found unwrapped in grocery stores. Oh the bread is to die for.

Lunches were salami, pepperoni, cheese and rocket sandwiches. Rocket is what we call arugula. There is a description on the bag of its peppery flavor. My husband only ate it once because he swore it had too much peppery flavor for his liking. My son and I just looked at each other before we both insisted it was exactly like the US arugula and that the advertising worked into his head. Anyway, all those ingredients set inside a soft Scottish bun and maybe even a smidgeon of brown sauce or ….. Scottish bun with brown sauce and bacon! Yes, please.

Dinners at home, made by my son, also consisted of curried rice and smoked salmon. And take away gyros or kabobs as they like to call them. So savory and delicious.

Not to mention the shortbread and ginger nut biscuits (cookies). And did I mention puff pastry? It is in abundance in the UK and so much cheaper than in the States! Good grief.

And the Scottish soda they fondly call, Irn-Bru

Now let’s talk scones. I’m not a fan of dried or candied fruit. I actually gag at most raisins. I can tolerate raisins in oatmeal cookies or granola but cannot stand them plumped up and cooked.

Anyway, it is hard to find scones in Scotland with zero raisins, currants or peel of some sort. But they are cut up very small so I bucked up and ate them. Of course the fact that they bring you a large bowl of fresh, real whipped cream and a bowl of jam to slather all over them really helped. A lot.

Now, about hose raisins. My son gave me the heads up before flying out there. He warned me several times about raisins being in many things. Like Plum pudding – raisins galore. So when they insisted we try Christmas Pudding, we were fair warned. And I already knew that what those UK people call pudding is not what we call pudding. Sometimes I think we left the UK and came to America to be free from puds and raisins!

Anyway, I could not do the Christmas Pudding. It smelled great. It looked great. But I just couldn’t. I tried to eat the “cake” part around the raisins but that proved impossible. I have to say the brandy cream poured all over it was good and warm.

So not to go on and on with my words…. Let me give you a gallery of great foods…. Enjoy!

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But last of all I want to show you the Pasties we ate on our last day in Edinburgh. Those who watch the Great British Baking Show will know the term “Pasty” – well they are just as you would imagine! Deliciously wonderful! I am a fulfilled woman. Pastry filled with a delicious beef stew, of sorts. Wow.

See you later for more of My Scottish Journey.

Cate B

The Kitchen

Here, in the USA, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving next week. It’s a holiday that is always on a Thursday about the third week into November.

It is meant to be a day of giving thanks and gathering with family and/or friends and eating the most delicious comfort/fall foods you can get your hands on.

Unlike Christmas season, Thanksgiving is simple. No gifts. Just fun and food.

Easy.

Until I moved into this “temporary” house with the most annoying kitchen. I’ve lived several places with tiny kitchens. But this one is just annoying.

It’s cute and homey in some ways….. that is, until you start to prepare a meal or bake bread…. or prepare to make your favorite pies .

My rolling pin is longer than the width of the counter.

I could clear my counter space completely, but there is no where to put the things that normally live on the counter. The floor is good (keep dogs out while baking).

Then there’s the day when you decide to overcome your fear of applying icing in a one of those bag things with the tip to make pretty cake tops.

I did not know you had to twist the other end so icing comes out onto the cake and not all over the hand that squeezes the bag and then onto the counter and then the floor…. here doggies….

Frustration. But I will prevail! I will make those pies and those cornmeal crescent rolls and the sausage rolls and whatever! By golly! I will!

And someday soon, I hope, we will move into a house where you can dance in the kitchen and actually smile while you bake.

And then I will even invite friends over to partake of my creations.

Happy Thanksgiving……. Enjoy!

not mine but I have no doubt I can ace this just as well as this gal…..

Cate B

Thankful

This coming Thursday, in the USA, is Thanksgiving Day. It represents the beginning of the Christmas season and a day to be thankful.

Most seem to celebrate by gathering with loved ones and feasting on a wonderful roasted (or fried or tofu-ed) turkey with stuffing and sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes and gravy and cranberry sauce and pies and rolls and………. whatever food you love.

Others celebrate by shopping for Christmas. I did the major day after sale thing (aka Black Friday) only once. I. Will. Never. Do. That. Again.

I’m not a great shopper. That means that the task is not pleasant to me. Online shopping is wonderful.

Back to Thanksgiving. It is a time to be thankful. Well, it’s always time to be thankful. But this is the season that more people give thanks than normal.

Today I am thankful for my relationship with Jesus. He is my best Friend and always good.

I am thankful for my Family, and that includes the Friends that have become my family also. I have the best sons and daughters and grandkids a person could possibly ask for. I am thankful for my husband – even though he broke my favorite mug – he is the best for me.

I am thankful for my health and for my future. I am expecting mighty things to come to pass.

I am thankful for the one daughter I gave birth to and lost too early in life. BUT – I truly am thankful to have been her mom and known her. The memories I have are amazing.

Giving thanks, in general, brings smiles and peace to your heart. It’s a good practice and I believe opens the windows and doors to a better life no matter what your circumstances.

May your mouths and hearts be full of thankfulness this season and always. Give it a go! You may be surprised how your perspective changes over time.

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Enjoy!

Cate B

Let’s Have Another Cuppa………..

A fellow blogger started posting “if we were having coffee……….” on her blog site now and then. She starts off by stating the above and goes off from there about what you would possibly talk about. I thought it was such a great idea.

Since I like my site to be a place that is homey and warm I thought I’d do that now and then from the standpoint of what I stated in my “About” page: “I call this “Let’s Have Another Piece of Pie” because to me, pie represents more than a piece of incredible sweetness, but a moment of bliss with people you love. It brings to me a type of peace that flows and flutters around a room of nostalgia and contemplative thoughts – even if I’m alone at the moment. Add a piece of good home-made pie to those moments and you’ve got a recipe for joy!”

With that in mind, I actually made a pie yesterday. A savory pie. A Chicken Pot Pie as we call them in the USA.

So, if you came to my house, I would set a place for you and cut you a great piece of this pie and I would tell you how happy I am to have you with me. I would also tell you how I tend to be a homebody and rarely make the initiative to get together with people that I love. That is a downfall for me. But when I get together I just love it and reflect back on what a great time I had and my heart gets encouraged by the company.

I would pour you another cup of coffee or tea and ask how you have been. I really want to know. And how about those Kansas City Royals?

I would not bring up politics and hope that you wouldn’t – that just gets me in a tizzy!

More pie? Then I would tell you about my grand daughters that I care for while the kids attend University. I would tell you that I love being a part of their upbringing and giving them a safe and secure second home. I would also tell you that it is hard and some days I feel like I’m not doing anything for the greater good.

I know you would comfort me and encourage me and I would be looking forward to more times like this together with you.

So, next time I may just make a sweet pie. So much more fun with coffee. Thank you for coming by…….

Enjoy!

cate b

Second to Last

It is the twenty-ninth of November and do you know what that means to me? It is my next to last blog with the blogher.com thirty-day blogging challenge. I have posted once a day for twenty-nine days. It really wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I don’t think some of my posts were up to par, but that is what these types of challenges can do for you. They cause me to look at what I accomplished and therefore what I can change for the future.

And today, the day after stuffing myself with Thanksgiving food, I am like unto a SLUG. I am so tired and sluggish as I’m guessing many Americans are today. I did not go out in the dark of the wee morning hours to stand in line to buy a greatly priced item on the Black Friday sales ads. Nor did I sleep in a tent in the Wal-Mart parking lot or any other parking lot. No, I arrived home from my son’s with my grand-daughter at about eight o’clock last night and the two of us put on our jammies and cuddle up in front of the television to watch Elf with Will Farrell. Great movie. I tucked her into bed and an hour after that I climbed into my bed and two hours later the poor dear woke with a fever and sniffles. I’m beat. The good news is that she only has a mild cold and has gone home to her own bed and here I am rambling on to you readers.

Tomorrow I will bring you my final post of this challenge. I promise it will be more interesting than this one!

Sleep well or good morning…… wherever you are, Friends!

Enjoy!

wingedprisms (cate b)

The “Wild” (mid) West

My husband and I moved to the mid west just 3 years ago this past February. Sigh. It’s not really the “wild” west. It’s more the gateway to the “wild” west. Actually, we are farther west than St. Louis, the true gateway to the west, but not quite out in the wild. Somewhere almost to Oz.

It’s nice here. The climate is very similar to where I grew up in NJ except the sniff of salty sea air is lacking. The air, though, always smells great. Even the hot dry air from the west that blows in – maybe left over Oklahoma air that goes sweeping down the plain.

Since coming here I have learned to ride a horse (of course), I’ve developed a fear of freeways, I can find myself in and out of two different states in a matter of minutes, I’m tempted to speak in a Southern accent AND I LOVE smokers – not the human kind, the cooking kind!

Thanks to a good friend I was “introduced” to The Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond). She may very well be my favorite thing about the mid-west (next to my grand daughter). Not only do I love the way she cooks, but I love her simplicity and happiness with her family and cooking, her humor, her ranch, and did I mention her cooking?

I’ve learned a lot from The Pioneer Woman. I appreciate her love of food and her unashamed honesty about that love. Food is good. She has also taught me to relax and go ahead and fix that food with joy. I think I’ve become a better cook since I’ve moved here.

However, and I apologize now, this love for that red BBQ sauce……. Sorry, I’m not feeling it. I like it on chicken – lightly. I like that flavor in baked beans, very much. But when you move from Italian/American central where meatballs and most everything else is smothered in a red sauce, Italian flavored, and find yourself facing a crock pot full of meatballs smothered in what you thought was the same red sauce you knew and loved, and then you toss a meatball in your mouth and POW – it’s covered in BBQ sauce! Well, shock is a light way to describe how I felt. I do admit it tasted good – a few of them – but I’m not buying it totally. Not yet. It took me just short of 3 years to call this home. We’ll see how long it takes to slurp down the BBQ. You folks ever try the sauce from the Carolinas? Vinegar with a big kick? I tried yours – now you should try that. 🙂

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