stovies

Stovies = a traditional Scottish dish made with leftovers from the Sunday roast! Quick, easy and delicious. Although cleaning the pan after-wards isn’t that much fun..

Let me start with a confession, I don’t make stovies the ‘traditional’ way. Like everything else that comes out of my kitchen, they are made to my own unique recipe. However, (without sounding big headed) they taste pretty damn good.

What you’ll need:
*a large saucepan with lid
*oil (olive or vegetable)\
*1 large onion
*8-10 large potatoes [tatties]
*1 pint of beef stock
*left over gravy
*left over meat
*beetroot and oatcakes (they are different in Scotland, try Walkers variety from Pete’s Frootique) to serve

1) Chop an onion into fairly small pieces and soften in some oil

Onion

2)Peel and then slice 8-10 potatoes (no hard and fast rule, the more potatoes, the more stovies you’ll end up with) into rounds

Tatties

3)Add potatoes into the pan with the onions. Stir and remove from the heat. (more…)

When we got married last September we asked all our guests for money rather than wedding presents for three reasons; 1)We wanted to go on honeymoon, 2)We planned on moving to Canada and 3) We wanted to buy a canoe when we got there!

Since we arrived in Nova Scotia in October we’ve been looking out for a canoe. We’ve looked everywhere and quickly became depressed when we realized that a new canoe was a lot more expensive than we had anticipated. Time for Plan B – www.kijiji.ca! but still we had no luck! Plan C – go for a walk around your local town and look in people’s gardens.

We (well actually, Cameron’s parents) spotted a canoe in the garden of a gentleman that lives at the top of our road. It looked good but rather in need of some TLC. We simply asked him if he could consider selling it, he replied ‘make me an offer’, we did and the canoe was ours.

As mentioned before it was in need of some work, so we got to it. We carried the canoe home and placed it in our garden…

Original Canoe

Step one – a trip to the hardware store for some sand paper!

Step Two – sand it!

Half n Half - Sanded

It’s now April (the Easter bunny comes next weekend) and we’ve now been in Canada for 6 whole months! Scary how the time passes.

I’m still waiting on my visa, not working, staying home reading endless nursing material and making cakes. Oh and now I’ve got a new hobby..

xbox 360

Although the picture says it all… I hardly ever get to play and when I do I’m only told I’m doing it wrong (‘cos you’re a girl’) huh!

We’ve also made a few news friends – our own age – which is nice and in turn they are introducing us to other people. (more…)

Well it’s that time of year again when the nights stay brighter for longer and we start to see a little more of the sun. But as per usual, along with the change in weather comes a different type of ‘cold’.

JOKE: A CURE FOR THE COMMON COLD
Miss Bee was in her 80s, and much admired for her sweetness and kindness to all. The pastor came to call on her one afternoon early in spring, and she welcomed him into her Victorian parlor.

She invited him to have a seat while she prepared a little tea. As he sat facing her old pump organ, the young priest noticed a cut glass bowl sitting on top of the organ, filled with water. In the water floated, of all things, a condom. Imagine his shock and surprise. Imagine his curiosity!

Surely Miss Bee had flipped . . . or something! But he certainly couldn’t mention the strange sight in her parlor.

When she returned with tea and cookies, they began to chat. The pastor tried to stifle his curiosity about the bowl of water and its strange floater, but soon it got the better of him, and he could resist no longer.

“Miss Bee,” he said, pointing to the bowl, “I wonder if you would tell me about this?”

“Oh yes,” she replied. “Isn’t that wonderful? I was walking downtown last fall, and I found this little package. It said to put it on your organ and keep it wet, and it would prevent disease. And you know, I think it’s working! I haven’t had a cold all winter.”

Traditional Cold Remedies