Food and drink, Uncategorized

Candlestick Maker Restaurant in Aboyne

It was Angela’s birthday last week which gave the perfect excuse (as if we needed it) to go for a slap up meal. I’ve driven through Aboyne a lot recently on my way to training with Deeside Runners at Glen Tanar and noticed a small restaurant which looked interesting. We checked it out online, booked a table and jumped on a bus heading west.

The Candlestick Maker in Aboyne is a small restaurant overlooking the village green. In previous lives it’s been a butchers and a bakers so you can see where the inspiration for the name came from. The restaurant promises a menu (£24.50 for two courses and £28 for 3) full of local produce which changes daily. Continue reading “Candlestick Maker Restaurant in Aboyne”

Food and drink

All hail Caesar! (salad)

It’s probably about time we had a salad featured on this blog. No, wait! Come back! It’s not that kind of salad. Sure there’s lettuce in it but this is a caesar salad. King of the salads and a million miles away from boring rabbit food. Featuring bacon, awesome croutons, anchovies, cheese and roast chicken. Hail Caesar! Continue reading “All hail Caesar! (salad)”

Food and drink

Potatoes Dauphinoise

Potatoes Dauphinoise… sounds difficult doesn’t it? This is a classic French dish after all so I don’t expect it’s easy. At least that’s what I thought. It makes regular appearances on Masterchef and various other haughty food programmes. It must take skill or they wouldn’t do it?

Actually no. Basically it seems all you do is slice up some tatties then pour some cream over them before sticking them in the oven for 45 minutes. Couldn’t be much easier in fact. Continue reading “Potatoes Dauphinoise”

Food and drink

Pheasant in a cream sauce

With a month to go until the City of Aberdeen Bakery Hughes 10k I’m out running most evenings to get the miles under my belt. I’m determined to try to get a 10k time below 50 mins this year so I’m aiming for sub 55 minutes next month. That doesn’t leave a lot of time during the week for cooking but I was able to get this pheasant dish together on Thursday. Continue reading “Pheasant in a cream sauce”

Food and drink

It’s asparagus season!

There’s a lot of things about spring which are pretty awesome. One of them is the arrival of lots of spiky green spears in the supermarkets. British asparagus has a fine reputation which is greatly deserved but unfortunately the season is only two months long. It just means we need to make the most of it when it’s here!

With that in mind I rushed eagerly to the veg section when we were doing the weekly shop on Sunday only to find half a spear left in the section marked “asparagus bundles”. Most disappointing. There were still two packets of the plastic encased variety though (plus a massive amount from Peru and Thailand) so I grabbed them and decided as one packet was thin spears and another was thick tips I would cook them two different ways for an asparagus celebration post. Continue reading “It’s asparagus season!”