Hardiesmill Aberdeen Angus Beef Butchery

On the Gordon to Kelso road, just after the right turn to Mellerstain is a left turn to Hume. Along that road less than 250 yards is Hardiesmill Farm which has its own onsite butchery. They are very good and the meat looks exceptional. Their website hardiesmill.co.uk does not work but one can call them at 01573-410797 or 410375 and order and they will cut to order.

I bought some shin beef from them (2lbs for 10 pounds) which I will trial kitchen against my own very good butcher in Earlston (2lbs for 6 pounds!) and see if the Aberdeen Angus name means anything. They also say they have a smokery and do smoked guinea fowl, lamb and chicken as well as some cheese and hams. But I saw no evidence of it and no one mentioned smoked products to me so this might be a dream at this point. We find many of these farm shops a bit dear frankly, its like you drive into the middle of nowhere and then they want to charge you more than Edinburgh prices. We have found the same for many stalls at "farmers markets" which I find baffling as the prices clearly put people off. Whay do they want to gouge the public so?

LATER
We tested the meat against my butchers own. It is better and tastier but I am not sure it justifies the huge price difference. 2lbs of meat cost 10 pounds from Hardiesmill and 6 pounds from my butcher, thats 60% dearer, an awful lot.

Stanley Baynes - Baker in Musselburgh

A friendly bakery that sells good pies and snacks and quite good bread. On the right hand side after the bridge. Certainly worth a visit.

Lanna Thai - Musselburgh Updated)

I have never been in a Thai restaurant where you can eat Pad Thai and follow with beans on toast. But that is Lanna Thai on the High Street in Musselburgh (before the bridge). My wife and I went there for lunch and found it full of pensioners eating egg and chips. Having said that we had two good Thai dishes that while not outstanding were good quyality food at exceptional prices. We had two main courses and drinks for 12 pounds, almost unheard of nowadays even in a fish and chip shop.

Revisited Lanna this week and found again very good food at reasonable prices, not gourmet Thai but decent home cooking.

Crieff - Drovers Festival

One of the events listed was a minibus tour of stags fighting and deer in the mountains so we booked and went. Imagine our surprise on seeing the gilly, properly dressed in tweeds, beside Lock Earn with a huge telescope. We were all then encourage to look as stags stood on a hillside about 3 miles away not visible to the naked eye. The bus then went through an estate while the gilly kept saying "last night this was full of deer" as we passed empty field after empty field. Finally on the way home in the dark he said well there are a lot in that field....it was almost pitch black and all we could see were blurs...total waste of time and money 45 pounds for 4 of us. Even the Gilly said we should get our money back!
Link to Festival web site

Sainsbury - Kelso

Sainsbury Kelso opened last week. A nice design that fits well into the environment and not the usual boxy shop. Not very big, but it will be very much used as I think most shoppers in and around Kelso will use it rather than driving to Galashiels. Not the choices or the deals of Tesco, but I liked it, and the food is better quality I think. Its located over the river on an old industrial estate.

Dundee

Enjoyed our visit to this small city on the ocean. The place was nicer than I thought it would be, it has a reputation for being dour. But we visited the Mall Overgate which exits onto the high street and the other big mall Westgate is only a short walk so a compact town centre with a huge Desperate Dan statue from the Beano days. As a child Beano and Dandy were my two favourite comics after Dan Dare and they were both born in Dundee. Had a poor quality Chinese at a Buffet restaurant on the waterfront. Also went to Cineworld, wouldn't buy their shares, empty and expensive 7 pounds for a popcorn and coke?

Avanti - Crieff

Had dinner at this very nice little Italian restaurant in Crieff on the high street. We had ravioli which was nicely done if small portions. The bruschetta was good and the whole meal for 4 was only 50 pounds.