Our family spent all day yesterday at this amazing Mall in the North of England about 2 hours drive from here. Its supposedly the biggest Mall in Europe and I think the people up there are very proud of it and justifiably so. It has in fact 4 malls within one with a central exchange area, plus over 50 restaurants and a Imax movie theatre with 12 screens. Its huge and there are some excellent restaurants unlike most Malls.
A GUIDE TO THE SCOTTISH BORDERS - Four years ago we left Trinidad in the warm Caribbean, and migrated to Scotland to the Border area of Eildon, Walter Scott (of Ivanhoe and Rob Roy fame) lived here. Its a beautiful area, varying from soft rolling hills with hidden valleys, to rough moorland high up and bleak. Its quiet and calm here and we love it. This blog will be my diary of our adventures and our recommendations of places to visit and eat and explore.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Blairgowrie, Perthshire
My wife and I visited this lovely little town yesterday in glorious sunshine. What a lovely place and at a critical place as one must pass through it to get to Glenshee for skiing. A nice old fashioned town with a good centre, and plenty of local shops. We were very impressed. If you are planning a vist stay away from Rattray over the river as its not as nice and a long walk to the shops. They have a good range of restaurants, we had lunch in a tea shop on the high street and it was pleasant but not spectacular. But overal one of the nicest little places.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
China Palace, Duns
Tried this little restaurant on the square in Duns for the first time this week. Mixed results unfortunately. The salt and pepper king prawns were quite good, but the salt and pepper chicken wings were awful and we had to throw them away. They used a light batter on the prawns but on the chicken a heavy batter with raw cornstarch in evidence in the skin and the chicken tasted old and tired and not fresh. The prawns were juiy and very large so they get an A for these.
Like most small Chinese restaurants in the Borders they have a over ambitious menu with 60+ dishes, obviously they cannot cook them all well so one plays roulette when one orders, some OK some awful. Why they don't stick to a dozen dishes they have perfected. They also claim to do Japanese and Thai dishes which is patently silly as Japanese requires a level of chef work far above their capability, and Thai relies on fresh ingredients carefull balanced for heat, again well beyond their ability. They close Tuesday all day but otherwise open 11-2 and 4.30 -11.
If the opportunity arises we may try them again and see if they can at least cook rice, a capability well beyond most Chinese restaurants in the Borders in our opinion.
Early January 2012
The weather has been astonishing, not only well above norms at 8-10 degrees but a lot of lovely sunshine. We have had some high winds on and off but this is just not the winter weather we have become used to, this is actually good touring weather.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Hardiesmill Butcher revisited
Tried them again (despite the prices) and got three lovely sirloin steaks and some of the best minced meat I ever tasted all for about 20 pounds so much more reasobale than I thought. The steaks were really tasty and the mince was just the best I ever used. I made my famous curry pies (see my recipe blog) using it and they tasted better than ever before.
link to my recipe blog
Since then used the mince in Spaghetti and in pies again. The quality and taste are very good indeed, but the lack of fat is a problem with certain traditional mince dishes as its too dry. 96% lean is just too lean for say burgers which need 20% fat. But did try their beef sausages which are very good as well, as good as St Boswells who has the best sausages in the Borders.
link to my recipe blog
Since then used the mince in Spaghetti and in pies again. The quality and taste are very good indeed, but the lack of fat is a problem with certain traditional mince dishes as its too dry. 96% lean is just too lean for say burgers which need 20% fat. But did try their beef sausages which are very good as well, as good as St Boswells who has the best sausages in the Borders.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Jedburgh Brass Band Concert
We were invited by friends to go to a brass band concert in Jedburgh town hall last night. It was a blast. The main band is quite good, but they also showcased their juniors and that was very nice, children as young as 5 and 6. We had a great night out and enjoyed it immensely, carols singing and good tunes. The town Hall is right next to the famous old Abbey. These local social evenings are very nice and there was a good turnout to support the band all of whom are volunteers and work hard all year.
18th December Snow and ice
Well the original snow fall melted away but we had more snow two days ago and its sticking around this time due to the very cold weather. Last night was -2.5 and my boys have been out sledging in the neighborhood. Bitterly cold.
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