Just when you think you have really cracked things, life goes pear-shaped once again! After my proud boast of yesterday to deliver a scone picture...Need I go on? Someone, somewhere has my scone picture but it is certainly not on our blog where it belongs. How can I confess this to Cherry Tart? Will any tea room ever trust me again to deliver a review complete with pictures? Am now business failure.
To make things worse I decided to cover up my incompetence with a plateful of my own scones, well risen with much baking powder, on a very pretty plate(Oxfam circa last week). After much artistic agonising about whether the gorgeous pale blue plate looked better with rosy pink or pale purple napkins and whether I should take a photo in front of my new butterfly lavender or a jug of lovely cream roses, I remembered that I am now a trusted tea and coffee shop reviewer and should know better than to be so duplicitous.
I now feel incompetent but amazingly virtuous. Fat, obviously, after eating several scones, but resorting to Scarlett O'Hara mode, tomorrow really is another day.
Crystallized Violet
Saturday 30 May 2009
Friday 29 May 2009
Oh yes, I'm a blogger..
I feel really cheerful that I am now a blogger when a few weeks ago I didn't even know what blogging was. How very rewarding! If I can become a jobbing blogger at 55 what other possibilities could there be out there?
A key part of reviewing coffee and tea shops for the good of the nation is that you have to actuallly post them on your blog. The reviewing is the easy part. This has been a very steep learning curve for me and I urgently want a fanatical IT person to be my New Best Friend. For example, how could I know that your most recent blog automatically appears at the top of the page? It's not at all obvious to me.(Thanks for sharing that Cherry Tart!) And, oh the stress of not knowing if your blog has posted or vanished off into internet infinity...
A whole world of new worries has opened up which makes me think I have now made an interesting new career choice. What could I have been thinking? Did I really think along the lines of Hmm what am I really rubbish at that I can turn into a business? I know, using any form of technology for longer than 5 minutes. That'll do it! It gives learning on the job a whole new meaning.
Re the scone debate, my neighbour protests that proper scones do not, ever, contain Mars Bars and the like. Try telling that to the Dublin Coffee Shop Set who devour many scones daily full of lumps of rhubarb, pears and all sorts much more exotic than a few bits of chocolate. But I take the point. We are tracking down real quality without too may frills.
Tomorrow, one of my favourite coffee shops, located just outside the picturesque village of Fintry in Stirlingshire, is sending me a picture of their scones in advance of their review. Now I have a whole new quandry. How can I get a photo up on this blog when I can hardly post a few words? There will be tears before bedtime and possibly something slightly stronger than tea will be required....
Crystallized Violet
A key part of reviewing coffee and tea shops for the good of the nation is that you have to actuallly post them on your blog. The reviewing is the easy part. This has been a very steep learning curve for me and I urgently want a fanatical IT person to be my New Best Friend. For example, how could I know that your most recent blog automatically appears at the top of the page? It's not at all obvious to me.(Thanks for sharing that Cherry Tart!) And, oh the stress of not knowing if your blog has posted or vanished off into internet infinity...
A whole world of new worries has opened up which makes me think I have now made an interesting new career choice. What could I have been thinking? Did I really think along the lines of Hmm what am I really rubbish at that I can turn into a business? I know, using any form of technology for longer than 5 minutes. That'll do it! It gives learning on the job a whole new meaning.
Re the scone debate, my neighbour protests that proper scones do not, ever, contain Mars Bars and the like. Try telling that to the Dublin Coffee Shop Set who devour many scones daily full of lumps of rhubarb, pears and all sorts much more exotic than a few bits of chocolate. But I take the point. We are tracking down real quality without too may frills.
Tomorrow, one of my favourite coffee shops, located just outside the picturesque village of Fintry in Stirlingshire, is sending me a picture of their scones in advance of their review. Now I have a whole new quandry. How can I get a photo up on this blog when I can hardly post a few words? There will be tears before bedtime and possibly something slightly stronger than tea will be required....
Crystallized Violet
Wednesday 27 May 2009
Tea People
I always divide people into two types - tea and coffee. Crystallized Violet and I are tea people - Tea Jennies. I remember visiting some ex-pats and calling one of their children "a real wee Tea Jenny". She was delighted with the word and spent the rest of the day hooting with laughter every time she repeated it. I feel the same - It's a lovely warm word. Tea's such a personal thing - my new favourite is Yorkshire but I keep returning to one of my old favourites Scottish Blend which has stood the test of time and my many fads. What's your favourite and do you have a different one for each season? Do you favour real tea or teabags? - for me real tea is only for special occasions and only if I can find my little house tea strainer!! But I have to admit - I'm a teabag girl - Crystallized Violet goes to a bit more trouble!! I do love my teeny, tiny teapot though - it makes 2 cups - cos I always think one is just not enough especially in the morning, two is the magic number !
What is your favourite tearoom time? I love 10.30, 1pm and 3.30 - all different atmospheres and with different types of people too!! I think that makes me just plain greedy!
Must sign off now, have been so busy typing hadn't noticed it's suddenly got very cold.
I'm frozen and need a cuppa to heat up. Now what will it be?
Take Care
Cherry Tart
What is your favourite tearoom time? I love 10.30, 1pm and 3.30 - all different atmospheres and with different types of people too!! I think that makes me just plain greedy!
Must sign off now, have been so busy typing hadn't noticed it's suddenly got very cold.
I'm frozen and need a cuppa to heat up. Now what will it be?
Take Care
Cherry Tart
Tuesday 26 May 2009
What Makes a Good Scottish Scone?
First of all, it has to be home made! Sounds obvious but doesn't always happen. Secondly, if is is home made, it is not an excuse for a really bad scone which is more like an over cooked rock bun. Additions of raisins, cherries, chocolate, apple, spices, mars bars, treacle (yummy, my favourite) cheese or wholemeal flour are all very welcome but the scone must be light and preferably quite large(according to Cherry Tart!) and served with proper butter and home made red jam. So there! Paler imitations simply will not do. Where do you find these amazing scones? Apart from at my sister's house, not very many places! We have experienced some very poor examples but this website will hunt out the better ones for you. All you have to do is log on regularly and we will do the really hard work. Sitting in tea rooms, eating scones, chatting and looking at the gift shop next door...... What an exhausting drag! The things we have to do in the pursuit of excellence. We really are dedicated to the cause.
Scone recipes produce endless debate. I'm with the Goddess Delia on this but Cherry Tart favours her own Special Recipe from ye olde tatty recipe folder!! Delia, but with serious modifications of her own...
Mmmm just off to make some treacle scones(no not really, because life is too short and I have loads of work to do but it was a nice warming thought anyway.) Oh well, back to the real world.
Crystallized Violet
Scone recipes produce endless debate. I'm with the Goddess Delia on this but Cherry Tart favours her own Special Recipe from ye olde tatty recipe folder!! Delia, but with serious modifications of her own...
Mmmm just off to make some treacle scones(no not really, because life is too short and I have loads of work to do but it was a nice warming thought anyway.) Oh well, back to the real world.
Crystallized Violet
Join us in the wonderful world of morning coffee and afternoon tea!
Welcome to our blog!!
We just love going out for afternoon tea, don't you? In these troubled financial times it is a much better option than lunch or dinner. As two ladies who have been rehearsing this activity all our lives, we feel well qualified to help you to find some of Scotland's greatest tea and coffee shops. Join us in the wonderful world of coffee, tea and light shopping in between! We have a passion for tea rooms, scones and a good chat with friends. We are both busy people but selflessly we dedicate some time to planning the next outstanding tearoom experience. We are on the hunt for the Holy Grail of tearooms, the perfect cup of tea or coffee and fabulous home baking served with a smile! We have looked in vain for a site that gives us information on this in Scotland so have decided to do it ourselves!
Crystallized Violet and Cherry Tart
We just love going out for afternoon tea, don't you? In these troubled financial times it is a much better option than lunch or dinner. As two ladies who have been rehearsing this activity all our lives, we feel well qualified to help you to find some of Scotland's greatest tea and coffee shops. Join us in the wonderful world of coffee, tea and light shopping in between! We have a passion for tea rooms, scones and a good chat with friends. We are both busy people but selflessly we dedicate some time to planning the next outstanding tearoom experience. We are on the hunt for the Holy Grail of tearooms, the perfect cup of tea or coffee and fabulous home baking served with a smile! We have looked in vain for a site that gives us information on this in Scotland so have decided to do it ourselves!
Crystallized Violet and Cherry Tart
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