Tag Archives: Scotland

Scottish Bakery Treats: Fern Cakes

I’d like to pretend someone will remember my post of almost two years ago about fern tarts, but I’m not holding my breath.

Back then I had my first encounter with a fern tart, and as it was a rather unglamourous supermarket version I was hoping to find one in a bakery some time.

Fast-forward to my Maybole sweet treat hunt, and on scanning the shelves in Bakery Bites (11 – 13 High Street, Maybole), I spied an old chum.

fern cake

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An On-Foot Food Tour of Glasgow’s West End: Route 1

Man, this post has taken a long time!

It’s mostly because I don’t enjoy making maps. I kept putting it off and putting it off, and now we’re well into December when I actually did the walk on a frosty day in November.

As a result of postponement the details have receded into the fog slightly, so it is not the most detailed tour I’ve compiled, but there are a plethora of places to check out.

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There’s a New Cheese in Town

I’ve often thought that if I worked in food production in any way, making cheese would be the thing for me. That or baking cakes for a teashop where presentation was low on the list of priorities.

I’ve been to cheese festivals, seen umpteen programmes about how cheese is made, eaten I have no idea how many different cheeses, and even wasted a couple of hours messing around and making a song about it (I know…I’m not sure what came over me). However I’ve never actually made any.

I have recipes for soft cheeses kicking around, and keep meaning to try them, but until I do, I’m going to content myself by supporting the industry and eating yet more cheese.

That’s why I was thrilled to come across a new local cheesemaker earlier in the year: Barwheys Dairy.

barwheys smoked cheese

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An On-Foot Food Tour of Troon

While down south sunny days and unseasonal heatwaves have been occurring, up here we have been having a lot of rain, broken up by grey skies, strong winds and the occasional burst of hail.

Noting the potential arrival of a single sunny day, I reserved it for another food tour, and some research and a print-out later, I was in the seaside town of Troon.

I have only been to Troon a few times before, and never into the actual town. Instead I’ve gone to the harbour to Wee Hurrie, a great fish and chip shop that fries while you wait, and the neighbouring McCallum’s Oyster Bar, where I eschewed oysters in favour of some wonderful fish. I really must write about them sometime.

However though the town itself is small, it’s definitely worth a saunter round, followed by a bracing walk along the beach to burn off a few cake calories.

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Afternoon Tea at Turnberry, South Ayrshire

I live not too far from the Turnberry Resort, which is beautifully situated on the Ayrshire coast overlooking the Ailsa golf course.

It is a very luxurious place, with room prices retailing outside the reach of normal man. Now that H is working, I selflessly thought it would be the perfect place for him to take me on a date, and luckily for me, he agreed.

As most of the wonderful-sounding restaurants fall into the same “you don’t have to be rich to come here, but…oh who are we kidding, you do” bracket as the rooms, I felt the noble thing to do was to opt for afternoon tea, which was still pretty jaw-dropping at £26 a head.

cream and jam

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