Monday, January 31, 2011

Tayview January 30th 2011

Looking inland along the The River Tay valley from Flisk North Fife.


Tayview yesterday evening 30th January. You will notice the vapour trail of the London to North America bound jet airliner high above the clouds.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Tayview 29th January 2011

4 Tayviews on my way to Newburgh north Fife late this afternoon 29th Jan 2011. A lovely soft sun-setting light in windless conditions due to the high pressure building over the UK at the moment. Subtle sky colours and reflections off the River Tay, I really enjoy the ever changing views offered even after 32 years of being here.







Friday, January 28, 2011

Vegetable and Flower seeds

Now is the time to be acting upon those thoughts of sowing vegetable seeds. I thought this offer is really good working out at 40p per packet.

Vegetable and Flower seeds.

30 MIXED FLOWER AND VEGETABLE SEED PACKETS - 22 VEGETABLES AND 8 FLOWERS
Types may vary slightly from picture.
New season stock - Best before January 2013
All are foil packed for freshness and have full instructions of when and how to plant on the back of each packet.
There are 8 types of flowers and 22 vegetables in each.

To view and look at other options. 30 Mixed Vegetable and flower seed packs - 2013 Date

Vegetable seeds.
Carrots, spinach, lettuce, spring onions, cress, swede, Peas
Rocket, sweet pepper, Strawberry, Chilli, Beetroot, cabbage, sweetcorn,
Ideal selection to start off your own home vegetable plot .
Spinach - Medania - 300 seeds Older open pollinated variety, with good quality yields, slow bolting.
Lettuce - mixed - 500 seeds for salads and also garnishing. Carrot - cosmic purple - 800 seeds - unusual coloured carrots.
Spring onion - White lisbon - 1000 seeds Delicious with salads Cress - common variety - 1000 seeds Quick and easy to grow indoors.
Swede - Best of all - 250 seeds Purple top variety. Medium sized roots with a mild flavour. very hardy and holds well.
Rocket - Cultivated - 1000 seeds Easy to grow variety that Produces an abundance of spicy leaves.
Sweet Pepper - Californian wonder - 40 seeds Thick-walled red and green sweet peppers. Open pollinated variety, producing blocky, square-shaped fruits.
Strawberry - Yellow wonder - 10 seeds Best tasting yellow fruits. sweet tasting and aromatic Rare. Tasty white-yellow berries that do not attract birds.
Chilli - Ring O Fire - 15 seeds - A mass of long thin pointed pods which mature from green to red and are very HOT!
BEETROOT - An excellent resistance to bolting with the colour and the flesh as good as Detroit. Sweet fresh flavour. Smooth-skinned roots of fine colour.
Cabbage - Ormskirk - 100 seeds - Savoy type, open-pollinated with good cold tolerance. A reliably hardy savoy with typically crinkled leaves. Ideal cabbage to grow for christmas.
Sweetcorn Minipop - 20 seeds - The baby sweet corn that is popular for stir fry and salad dishes. This variety does not require sowing in blocks, an ideal variety for mini veg.
PEA - petis pois - waverex - 200 seeds - Produces a heavy crop of tiny peas. Masses of pods are produced containing tiny incredibly sweet flavoured peas.
CARROT - early nantes 2 - 1000 seeds - A fast maturing selection with medium length roots of good internal colour.
Price: £9.99
Good price. Take a chance.15 packs of vegetable seeds - SWEDE, CARROT, PEPPER etc

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Sunset over Newburgh North Fife

Sunset over Newburgh North Fife, thank goodness the days are getting longer and it's getting warmer.


Tayview 27th January.

Tandoori Chicken

Tandoori Chicken. We have this delightful dish about 4 times a month.

Tandoori chicken. Really easy to prepare and cook. Clay oven not required, any oven turned up to maximum will do.
Method.
Joint free range or any chicken or meats come to that. Make cuts rub in a little salt and juice of a lemon.
To make marinade.
Blitz together half an onion,
A good inch of peeled Ginger root,
6 or so Garlic gloves,
A large spoon of Tandoori Masala spice powder,
1 green or red chilli according to taste,
10 ozs or so of Greek style yoghurt.

Mix and coat the meat and refrigerate over night is best/ shorter or longer is fine too.
Place in pre heated oven near the top over a wire in a tray, the collected juices are lovely mopped up with the naan bread. Enjoy, it's very more-ish.


Guacamole salad as an accompaniment with lime juice dressing and naan breads.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Tayviews 26th January 2011

A warmer day, so I wandered down to the the riverside, rather greyish but never the less a pleasant walk. The path forms part of the Fife Coastal Walk which will eventually join up with a similar development by Perth County, bridging the River Earn all the way to Perth.

Looking West into Perthshire, you can notice the confluence of The Earn and Tay from the left.

From Newburgh River Tayside looking East to Dundee.


Tayview looking towards Perth from bankside Newburgh North Fife.


Reeds grow on the interface of The river Tay and the land, much used in the past to thatch the houses in Newburgh and environs, later replaced with slate as the prosperity of the area grew.



Vibrant green mosses on the boundary wall of Mugdrum House.


Tayview looking across to Mugdrum Island from the Northern most part of the Fife Coastal walk.

The Bear and Ragged Staff cut into the hillside at Parkhill farm Newburgh. Part of the Earl of Warwick coat of arms who once owned this part of Scotland in the days of Lindores Abbey.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Tayview North Fife January 25th 2011


Tayview North Fife January 25th. I take a pic here many times, the water level will be different as are the skys. I like the cloud formations of today.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Robert Burns


Christopher Tait the worlds leading Robert Burns impersonator delivers at The National Museum of Scotland on Burns Day. 250th anniversary of his birth. 3 years ago.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Burns Supper at The Bear Tavern

Tomorrow is Robert Burns day 25th, Scotland's famous Poet, yesterday it was celebrated in Newburgh,North Fife, organised and catered for by Stella Colleluori of hatterscatering.com. A wonderful and relaxed evening enjoyed by all.

The Bear Tavern 47 The High Street, Newburgh, venue for one of the thousands of Burns Suppers taking place in the world now.




A taste of the evenings events.

Jim Stout who played the Haggis in and more.


Scottish Bagpipes played by HM Queen Elizabeth 11's personal piper, Jim Stout at The Bear Tavern Newburgh North Fife.

Happy banter with the smoked salmon canapes.


After Cock-a-leekie soup.

Can't wait.

There you have it. Haggis Neeps and tatties with a most amazing creamy whisky sauce.

Stella chatting with guests.


Main course.

Getting in to the main course.

Wonderful sweet desert. Tipsie Laird or Cranachan.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Tayview 21st January 2011

Tayview 21st January 2011, another frosty one today as we sit with High pressure lingering over the UK.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Tayview 19th January 2011


Tayview 19th January, Late afternoon looking over Mugdrum Island and Newburgh North Fife.

Nightfall over the River Tay.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Frost North Fife

Frost North Fife. In spite of the recent warmer temperatures, night time brings a chill. This is a car in Newburgh at mid-day 18th January.

Hednesford Hills Raceway

The circuit was built in 1952 utilizing the site of a former reservoir.

The circuit is a major venue for a number of hot rod and stock car events in the UK, with many formulas of racing being staged at the circuit. Stock cars in Britain evolved by the 1970s into purpose-built single-seater "specials" of enormous power and sophisticated construction. By the 1990s the sport's top competitors were investing many thousands of pounds in their engines and chassis, backed by sponsorships. In addition, the circuit is regarded as one of the best banger racing circuits in the UK, with a number of National level banger race meetings being staged at the circuit every year. The circuit has also staged short-circuit truck racing events, and annually holds a large firework display, which is popular with local people.

Hednesford Hills raceway, spring 1973. Mid race. At the same event were figure of eight destruction derby happenings where the last one running takes the prise.

Cars about to perform.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Tayview 16th January 2011

Tayview 16th January. The bottom fields near Newburgh North Fife form part of the flood plain, though not flooded by the River Tay it illustrates just how saturated the ground is from the recent thaw.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

The Dukan Diet

The Dukan Diet, you may have heard of it. IT WORKS.


The Dukan Diet is a unique 4-step programme, combining two steps to lose your unwanted weight and two steps to keep it off for good: Step1: Attack For 2-7 days eat as much as you want of 72 protein-richfoods. Step 2: Cruise Continue eating the protein-rich foods with the addition of 28 vegetables. Step 3: Consolidation Add fruit, bread, cheese and starchy foods, and 2 celebration meals a week, allowing 5 days for every pound lost. Step 4: Stabilisation Eat what you like without regaining weight by following 3 simple rules, including the famous 'protein Thursdays'. Devised by Dr Pierre Dukan, a French medical doctor who has spent his career helping people to lose weight permanently, The Dukan Diet is the culmination of thirty-five years' clinical experience. Easy to follow with no calorie counting, The Dukan Diet offers clear simple guidelines, menu planners and delicious recipes for long term success. Beyond its immense success in France, The Dukan Diet has been adopted by 20 countries and translated into 10 languages. Many international observers agree that this is the method most likely to put a stop to the world's weight problems. For more information visit www.dukandiet.co.uk.
To regain your right size and fitness, Buy here.The Dukan Diet

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Fish Fight Scotland

Fish. Most of us love to eat fish, here in Scotland the surrounding seas contain a huge variety of fishes. problem is that because of the common market fishing policy and the quota system, massive amounts are discarded, 50%+. A crime, an insult to life. A total waste. I personally have often chosen the odd whole fish displayed in the fishmongers window, there for decoration. Oh what people miss, on asking the price servers would have to consult, OK mate, a quid. Not valued by the main stream, there to be taken by a steal. I really hope this push by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall brings results so we will be able to have a sustainable food supply without waste.
A petition is being raised, http://www.fishfight.net/signed-up/#signup-form. Please join.
As others will know I live on The River Tay Estuary where a fish called Sparling, European Smelt (Osmerus eperlanus) thrive, it smells over-poweringly of fresh cucumber. Sparling was previously known to occur in a number of Scottish rivers and populations have been recorded as having occurred in the Rivers Almond, Annan, Bladnoch, Clyde, Cree, Dee, Esk, Fleet, Forth, Girvan, Lochar, Nith, Stinchar, Tay and Urr Unfortunately, sparling have now disappeared from almost all of these rivers, with the rivers Cree, Forth and Tay being notable exceptions.
Nobody fishes for them anymore, a shame. A balance is required, of species, of what we eat, it leads to a healthy diet and hopefully long life. it's all about food miles too, buy and eat local.



Better use being made of discards.

Tayview 13th January 2011


Tayview 13th January 2011. The snow is in a slow thaw, freezing at night but slowly disappearing, thank goodness. The wildlife can now find food.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Tayview 9th / 10th January 2011

Tayview evening 9th January 2011

Tayview 10th January 2011.

Rumtek Silversmith


Rumtek silversmith soldering a piece of work. The heat is provided by charcoal and oxygen delivered via the lungs, very controllable and efficient. The artefact in the post below was part made using this technique.

Saturday, January 08, 2011

Stupa Rumtek Monestary


A beautifully crafted gold stupa embellished with large corals and dzi. beads. The gold repousse work is exquisite in form as can be seen.
Just one of the precious artefacts housed in Rumtek Monastery Sikkim. Worth a click or two see more clearly.