Page 12 - Blog

If you want to have that Burns Night experience throughout the winter, but without the enormous calories intake can I make a little suggestion? Once upon a time I did cooking for a living, I was very young, but the habit has stuck and I do almost all the cooking in our household, and I love making soup in winter. It’s such a warmer in the dreich.  So why not try your hand at neeps and tatties soup...

How to make Clootie Puddie

Now despite the word clootie meaning cloth I prefer to make the recipe in a basin rather than in a cloth.  So I guess I am a heretic.  It takes a short time to prepare, less than half an hour, but an age to cook, over three hours, but it will feed a house full. And of course it’s not really suitable for vegetarians. Unless you replace the beef suet with a veggie alternative...

Cullen Skink

As regular readers know I used to be a professional cook and love to make soups.  When the missus isn’t on a diet I make soup for us every lunch time. Cullen Skink involves what my older sister used to call “Finnie Haddie,” smoked haddock. This soup is from the village of Cullen that its website describes as “your gateway to exploring the charm and beauty of Cullen, a picturesque village...

We are on the third Amber weather warning of the festive season here and it is only January 3^rd, but snow and ice are on the cards. We are not really set up as a nation for snow despite the charming tradition of naming our snow ploughs. It’s a tradition that goes all the way back to 2006, so that’s nearly 20 years: A mere sneeze to a company like James Pirie which was founded in 1890. The snow plough...

Well it’s time to toast Hogmanay and see in the New Year, but it’s also yet another cancellation for the outdoor events in the Edinburgh New Year’s run up. Anything that’s not indoors is off and so yet again Mother Nature defeats all but the stoutest hearted reveller. But there is no need to be downhearted as staying indoors means that you can participate in the great James Pirie sale. It’s our 134...

                                                                           HAPPY CHRISTMAS

                                                                           HAPPY  HANUKKAH

                                                                       AND A VERY HAPPY, HEALTHY,

                                                                        PROPEROUS NEW YEAR

                            ...

Crofters in Sutherland are starting to be a little bit disappointed. There was supposed to be a spaceport built on a crofter’s association site, but monied interests have weighed in and the possibility of the new launching pad are fast receding . The Highland peat bog was supposed to be home to the UK's first spaceport, but after six years of toing and froing it has come down to a lot of throwing...

T’is the season to be jolly so it seems but that’s not a reason to go crackers about your spending and to know that there’s still plenty of time to take your time,but not too much though, and choose a gift worthy of the occasion. And all from the comfort of your home, office or the man shed at the bottom of the garden. But it’s not so cosy everywhere else as strong winds have battered the nation this...

Now I don’t go to the bookies, except for the Grand National, but I do love  going to the race course and seeing the horses in the flesh.  And of course I love a ‘sure thing.’ But the missus will tell you I am a terrible gambler. The mounts are fantastically beautiful and exciting to watch, but one horse became a bit too exciting this last week.  A 10 year old serial loser called Rufio, was a...

Now that storm Darragh is just about over we can all breathe a sigh of relief until the next named storm, which is bound to disrupt your Christmas shopping, comes along. But please always remember that whatever the weather James Pirie is here 24 hours a day 365 days a year for your convenience and delight. And established as we were in 1890, we are always trying to exterminate high prices.

Exterminate...