Author: Mum Scottish

Posted on by — 12 Comments

My Easter Week Holiday Camp Experience

Grannies Heilan Hame from Parkdean, near Dornoch, Scotland

Grannies Decking View 2

With images of gorgeous beaches, sunshine and fun holidays, Parkdeans Grannies Heilan Hame boasts an entertainment schedule that will keep the kids amused and happy for days on end.  We’ve been here before and I have mixed feelings about it, but for the sake of the kids, I psych myself up once a year or so for my personal hell which is the holiday camp.

In previous visits, we’ve either been in cheapie accommodation or taken our own van.  At this time of year, it’s usually been freeze in April in a cheap van, or keep warm in our own van but sacrifice on space.

This year, we splashed out.  Our own caravan hasn’t been dewinterised yet and I refused to go in the cheap freezing accommodation that we’ve experienced before.  It was miserable being cold for a whole week.  The cheaper caravans say gas fire in lounge and heaters in bedrooms, but in reality, if it’s snowing and cold, they don’t even take the edge off in the bedrooms.   Three years ago we went to Dornoch and were lucky enough to get the last heater in a hardware shop to top up the heat (it was really bad snow in April that year).  We didn’t go up for the next year.

I was a little worried as we popped off to stay in the most expensive caravan Parkdean were renting out.

The lounge was comfortable and the kitchen was about the size of the one in our last house, so that was all good.

Grannies Caravan 1

Grannies Caravan 2

On first impressions, I sighed a relief at the central heating in the van, the huge fridge freezer, the lovely clean smelling beds, sheets and pillows, a decking with patio and chairs and an unforgettable sea view.  Actually, it was more than a sea view as we were literally just a few feet away from the breaking waves when the tide was in.

Grannies Heilan Hame 3

Grannies Beach

When the tide was coming in, the sea was very close indeed.  Literally about 20 feet from the decking.

Grannies Beach Tide Coming In

Was the accommodation worth it?

To me, it was. I spent quite a while just watching the waves, the sea and I’d forgotten how much I used to take a sea view for granted when I was growing up.  Our first night was windy and snowy and I loved watching it over the waves while nice and toasty in the van. I’d have to say the view was my favourite thing of the whole week.  I grew up next to the sea and spent a fair while offshore, so the noise of the sea was calming and aided sleep for me, but it kept everyone else awake as they’d never experienced the roar.

Grannies Heilan Hame 1

The kids liked the arcades and I managed to avoid going to the entertainment for a few nights and just curled up in front of the view with a hot drink and my kindle app for company. That’s my idea of bliss.

Middler loved the Sid and Lizzie kids entertainment, but he seemed to be much more aware of the size difference between himself and the little ones bopping away on the dance floor. He wanted to join in with the little ones as that’s where he is emotionally but his growing awareness of his difference is becoming more obvious.   The evenings are what evenings are in entertainment centres.  A bit of singing, some wobbly sozzled folks, a bit of kids shows and some disco stuff in between visits to the arcade.  It’s not my cup of tea, but the kids love it.

The kids did enjoy running about and the arcades easily swallow more change in an evening than most people earn in a month, so they had to be rationed as an activity.

Being right on the beach, middler could potter among the rocks in front of us when the tide was out and be in complete safety.

We could watch him from the van and shout if he got too close to the water.  It was perfect.  He was a little overwhelmed with going down the steps on his own, and was back at the van every 5 – 10 minutes to make sure we were still watching him.

Littlest and elder spent much time playing footie at the goals behind the sales caravans and made friends with kids from Embo who walked through to use the park.

Eldest met a girl from his year at school and arranged a date for the first week home.  How they grow up so quickly I have no idea, but it didn’t stop him helping his brother and digging for hours in the sand.

We didn’t eat in the entertainment centre as we made food in the caravan most of the time unless we were out and about.   We did use the fast food place once, but it wasn’t terribly good.   I think we suffered on the eating out score this week, but the restaurant we visited in Ullapool more than made up for it as that was excellent.

I didn’t like the swimming pool last year as it was filthy (old photos on Instagram if anyone wants to see those) so we didn’t venture in this time round.  There were a fair few improvements to the bar and the entertainment centre looked in much better condition than it was last year.  There were some more things in the kids play area and the space for kids to play in around the vans and at the park and beaches knocks the socks off the space they have to run around in on the Nairn site.

The arrival sheet said that beds would be made up on arrival as a new service, but it wasn’t done.  I didn’t read that until after I had made the bedding up, so it was no bother really as I wasn’t aware they should have  been done.

The view and the placement of the van this year really made it worthwhile for me.  I’d have been happy to be there without the entertainment centre, but it did come at a hefty price of £499 for the week to get a caravan with double grazing, central heating and a great view.

Would I go back – maybe not next year as I’d like to do more of the West of Scotland next April, but yes, I would.  I’ve been spoiled view wise this time round.

Posted on by — 2 Comments

Review: St Duthus Hotel Restaurant, Tain, Scotland

While up visiting Dornoch and the local area, we decided to pop in for an evening meal at the St Duthus Hotel in Tain. If I had to rate the restaurant on effort, decor and friendliness of staff, it would be a five-star all round from the Scottish Mum family.

St Duthus Exterior

As it was, the food was incredibly disappointing. I don’t know if we chose the wrong dishes or whether we were just unlucky or too fussy.

St Duthus

Given the dishes are not that cheap, I expected more and had high hopes when we entered the lovely interior.  Two kids picked from the kids menu, while middler and grown ups went for the adults choice.

The kids dishes were a disappointment, and I’d have been willing to pay more for a better quality pizza.

Two kids chose the pizza option. One with smilies and one with chips.  The pizza seemed to be a cheap pizza with a dollop or two of cheese thrown on top and grilled.

St Duthus Kids Pizza

It was a disappointment as I make fresh dough for pennies.  Littlest wouldn’t even taste more than one tiny bite.

Middler chose sweet and sour chicken which was £8.90.  Not too expensive, but nothing to sniff at either.  He asked for half and half chips and rice. The chips and rice were nice. The chicken seemed to be the reconstituted chicken in breadcrumb stuff that you buy in frozen packs.  If it wasn’t, I apologise, but that’s what it seemed to be.

St Duthus Sw Sour Sauce

All his meal looked like was chicken nuggety things with a jar of sweet and sour sauce thrown on top.

St Duthus Sweet & Sour Chicken

On to the adults. For the soup, well, what can I say. It was just like my mother in law used to make, unfortunately.  It had no taste apart from the slightly burned caramelly taste that overcooked boiled vegetables tends to give off.  With lots of salt and pepper added, I managed to eat mine and hoped for more from my main course.  The bread roll was lovely though.

St Duthus Soup

For our main course, I can’t say I was disappointed as the gravy was lovely.  The vegetables were nice and the potatoes great although I suspect the roasties were pre-made or cooked from a frozen packet.  Either way, I was much more pleased with my plate than the sweet and sour chicken middler had.

St Duthus Roast Beef 1

St Duthus Roast Beef

When I ordered, I went for roast beef with all the trimmings and in hindsight, it was obvious why the waitress was surprised when I asked how the roast beef was cooked as I don’t like mine red in the middle. She said it doesn’t come like that, and by the point of eating, with the gravy, I actually found it quite tasty, but the roast beef seemed to be from a packet or a can and not an actual roast.

St Duthus Veges

Having to send back a more than half full plate of sweet and sour chicken from a boy who usually clears a plate and asks for more of anything tells its own tale.

I did mention about the cheap pizza with cheese thrown on top and they removed it from the bill and offered littlest something else to eat which he declined.

I loved the surroundings, the staff were fabulous and it should be a lovely little gold mine of a place. It’s a pity about what came across as mostly fast food processed offerings to me.  Maybe we ordered the wrong things, but it was a disappointing visit for us.

Posted on by — 5 Comments

Breadcrumbed Cod and Chips with Healthy Happy Hearts


HHH Logo

As discussed before, The Healthy Happy Hearts Campaign runs for a 6 weeks spell to introduce families into eating more fish, more regularly.   I agreed to be up to the challenge of eating two portions of fish a week with my family for 6 weeks.  Fish is the Dish sent us enough fish for the whole family to eat two portions of fish a week for 6 weeks.

For my second Healthy Happy Hearts post, I’ve chosen to tell you how to breadcrumb cod.  We were sent some lovely pieces by Delish Fish as part of the Healthy Happy Hearts Campaign being run on the Fish is the Dish website.

Breadcrumbing fish for cooking is something we do fairly frequently when fish comes our way.  It seems to taste better by using this method for white fish and helps kids with the fast food type appearance it has, while giving them good and healthy food that I know the ingredients of.

This is really simple to do and beats the shop bought versions hands down.

Give it a try, you won’t regret it.

Lesley Smith

Breadcrumbed Cod and Chips For A Homemade Fish Supper

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings: 4
Course: Lunch
Cuisine: Mains
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 4 Cod Fillets
  • Breadcrumbs
  • Flour
  • 3 Beaten Eggs
  • Chips Frozen or fresh, cooked.
  • Lemon and Parsley Garnish
  • Rapeseed Oil Optional for shallow frying.

Method
 

  1. Place flour, beaten eggs and breadcrumbs into three separate dishes and lay them out.
  2. First the fish needs to be dried. The easiest way to do that is to roll it in the flour until it is dry or coated.
  3. Then dip it in the beaten egg until fully coated.
  4. Finally dip it into the breadcrumbs until the fish is fully covered with a thin coating.
  5. Shallow fry in a frying pan on moderate heat for a few minutes until cooked. I prefer to cook in rapeseed oil. You could oven bake on a moderate heat for 15 - 20 minutes, but we prefer the shallow fry for speed.
  6. Garnish and Serve with Chips

 

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Scottish Strawberry Cranachan (Cream Crowdie)

I hadn’t made cranachan for years, but a sleepover for a child who wanted something sweet brought this out as I had the ingredients for it.  I missed out the whisky on the kids portions, but perhaps I should have added it, as we might have got more sleep !!

It’s traditional, it’s Scottish and it’s quite sweet.  To reduce the sweetness, add more fruit and leave out the honey.  Some people prefer much less oatmeal in their cranachan.  Add it slowly until you have enough for you.

Lesley S Smith

Scottish Strawberry Cranachan (Cream Crowdie)

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Servings: 6
Course: Dessert
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 250 g Oatmeal
  • 50 g Honey
  • 4 tablespoons Whisky
  • 1 pint Double or Whipped Cream
  • 500 g Strawberries

Method
 

  1. Toast the oatmeal in a frying pan until it reaches a nutty consistency. Leave to cool.
  2. Fold the oatmeal, half the strawberries (chopped up), honey and whisky into the cream.
  3. Fill serving dishes and finish with some fruit on top. You could use a lot more strawberries if you like your cranachan very fruity.

 

Posted on by — 20 Comments

Groupcall – School Messaging Systems 4 Missing Kids

A couple of weeks ago, a child of mine went to his first morning class and then disappeared.  The school office were notified and nearly two hours later, they sent me a text by Groupcall.  This child is struggling at school and finding it hard to get through some days.

Groupcall is the messaging system used up schools up here in Aberdeen.  There are about 2,500 schools using it in the UK and Europe, so it’s influence is growing.

It was co-funded by Sir Bob Geldof and essentially is for general and emergency communication between a school and its parents and provides solutions for education, public and private sectors.

Our local authority has now allowed Groupcall unlimited for all schools.

Groupcall

I wholly approve of increased communications between home and school, and I have had notifications of both good and bad behaviour in school, as well as new news items and reminders of special days at schools.

Essentially, it’s used to text parents snippets of news about the school, their children and any other communications parents want to send home.

The idea is to improve parental engagement and lower costs, but there really does need to be more local authority input into HOW these messaging systems are used.

It’s a good thing used properly, but it should NEVER take the place of the person to person telephone call in some situations in my opinion.

What about when it goes wrong?

  1. What about a school using it as a way to send a message to a parent or guardian that a child is missing?
  2. What about the parents who don’t even get that text, and don’t find out their child was missing for hours until another parent contacts them?
  3. What about the parents who are bombarded with so many texts that they just begin to ignore them?

The arguments

I’ve listened to the arguments of improving parent / school contact, but I don’t believe that if a child is missing, a parent should be told by groupcall text only.

I’ve been told by my local secondary school here in Aberdeen that it is local authority procedure to report a child missing from school by text.

Yes, I know a text suits some people and not others, and strangely, males seem to be happier with the chance of a text than women, but I am one major techy nerd and I think Groupcall alone just doesn’t cut the mustard in notifying parents.

I have also been told that as the kids who were missing from school weren’t usually skivers, that they hadn’t been flagged up as a problem when they went missing.  I’d have thought the opposite should have applied, but that’s just my parenting expectations it seems.

Some people said they’d be happier with a text.  Well whatddya know, your kid is missing for hours, but don’t worry, it can wait until your next tea break.

If a child is missing and it’s not usual behaviour – it’s an EMERGENCY in my opinion.

Shame on the schools devolving their duty of care to kids by delegating it to a text that may or may not arrive.

Posted on by — 2 Comments

Roasted Stuffed Peppers with ONION, MUSHROOM AND CHEDDAR CHEESE, SERVED WITH QUAILS EGGS AND SALAD

Filling peppers is a very cheap and tasty way to fill bellies.  There is no limit to the amount of combinations that can be filled and roasted.  Add some lovely side salad and eggs, and the plate looks lovely.

Lesley Smith

Roasted Stuffed Peppers – Onion, Mushroom and Cheddar Cheese, Served with Quails Eggs and Salad

4 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings: 6
Course: Mains, Starter
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 6 Whole Peppers Red, Green or Yellow (can be mixed)
  • 500 g Mushrooms Chopped
  • 2 Large Onions Chopped
  • 250 g Cheese Grated
  • 12 Quails Eggs
  • Salad
  • Salt & Pepper
  • 3 tablespoons Olive Oil

Method
 

  1. Put your oven on to pre-heat at approximately 180 C.
  2. Slice the top of your peppers and put it to one side. I had to take slivers off the bottom of mine to make them stand up, otherwise they just toppled over. If you buy your peppers loose, you can look for the perfect peppers to do this with. Hollow out the peppers and remove the seeds.
  3. Fill the peppers with grated cheese, pop the lids back on and place them on a baking tray. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the top, and drizzle olive oil over the top of the peppers.

  4. Bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes, or until the peppers are soft.
  5. Lightly fry the mushrooms and onions in a frying pan and put the Quails eggs on to boil. 4 minutes in boiling water only.
  6. When the peppers are cooked, place them on a bed of lettuce or salad leaves. Take off the top and fill with the onions and mushrooms, add sliced quails eggs and serve.

How to cook quail eggs.

Stuffed Peppers2

Posted on by — 3 Comments

Review: Lego Star Wars – The Empire Strikes Out

Thanks to Twentieth Century Fox for this Special Edition review copy of Lego Star Wars -The Empire Strikes Out. 

Darth Vader LEGO® mini figure unleashes the dark side around London and its landmarks inspired by the DVD, LEGO® Star Wars™: The Empire Strikes Out. (OUT now to buy)

Child Group Shot i-jgKtWF7-L

Darth Vader has certainly been getting around London recently, but he also managed a sneak up to Aberdeen for the Scottish Mum household.

Littlest was most happy with the lego minfigure on the front of the review box, and has been very patient waiting for the time that it could be opened and let him finally get his hands on the exclusive and collectible Darth Vader LEGO minifigure for his own Lego Collection.

5670601000_3PA_jpgLR

It’s a 21-minute special feature with familiar territory and a completely new story for the LEGO Star Wars characters.

All the favourite characters are there and this story is actually good for us adults to watch too.  I’ve often found myself engrossed with the kids and some LEGO products.

HOLD ON TO YOUR BRICKS….FOR AN ALL-NEW ANIMATED ADVENTURE!

Your favourite characters are back to save the galaxy in LEGO® Star Wars®: The Empire Strikes Out™. The heroes of the Rebel Alliance including heroic Luke Skywalker, swaggering Han Solo and steadfast Princess Leia have no time to celebrate their victory over the Empire as a new Imperial threat arises. But as Jedi-in training Luke embarks on this next mission, he discovers that his celebrity status as a “Death-Star-Blower-Upper” can be a double-edged lightsaber when he’s constantly mobbed by crazed fans. So much for secret missions! Meanwhile, Darth Vader and Darth Maul are locked in a hilarious “Sith-ling” rivalry as they compete for the Emperor’s approval. It’s an action-packed comic adventure that’s out of this world!

What did the kids think?

“Mental, it’s brill.”

“Can we watch it again at bedtime?”  (success any time)

Mini Darth at Big Ben

Lego Star Wars DVD Launch, London, Britain - 14 Mar 2013

 TM & © 2013 Lucasfilm Ltd/Lego, The Lego Logo, the Brick and Knob Configurations, the Minifigures are trademarks of The Lego Group. ©2005-2013 The Lego Group. All Rights Reserved.

Find other posts about lego here:
Building Bonds: How lego brings Families together.

 

Posted on by — 2 Comments

Facebook Fears

Facebook

“It’s where we talk to our families, isn’t it?”

Yes, and no.

Although Facebook is one of the most popular social networks in the world, to use it effectively as a business requires a little bit of time and investment in a Facebook business page to stand out from the crowd.  The benefit of a page is that there are no other users posts to trawl through to get to your favourite followers or customers.

What you do have to do, is make sure that your information is going to be interesting and relevant to the people reading it, or they may very well “unlike” your page again and disappear from view forever.

Facebook does take a little hard work and planning, but the biggest problem we face with it, is information overload.

While we’d all love to sit and chat over a cup of tea and a coffee, and find out about Auntie Jeannie, business needs to use the time spent on Facebook wisely.

Using it wisely really means factoring in some time in the day where you can really spend some quality time deciding how you are going to approach Facebook, and how it fits into your marketing plan.

It’s pointless sitting and spending 4 hours a day talking on Facebook, to people from London and further afield if you sell socks on a market stall in Aberdeen City Centre and don’t plan to ever go online.    That’s an extreme example for sure, but unless you want to get to the end of the day with no pennies in your pocket but plenty of gossip under your belt, you get the gist of the idea.

There are success stories galore on Facebook.

  • The Pampered Chef has built themselves a very nice reputation with nearly 450,000 likes.
  • Appliances Online with over 300,000 likes, holds competitions, giveaways and very popular web camera chats with customers.
  • As a store, Toys R Us are a favourite dislike of mine due to a bad customer service experience, but they can’t be faulted on their use of Facebook, with nearly 3 million fans, regular interaction, competition, and even with it’s own blogging circle of parents who repeatedly advertise their company through blogging about their toys as Toyologists.
While we’d all like to end up as Richard Bransonesque successful, small start-ups can’t be guaranteed that kind of success, but we can begin to think about where our target markets are and how we can reach them.  If that includes Facebook, then planning our approach would be a good place to start.

Facebook is the one social media that I just can’t seem to find much time for.  I have a blog account and I have a personal account that really only has close family and adoption contacts on it.  I’d love to find the time to do more on it, but if the time fairies could send me some extra seconds in a day, I’d be forever grateful.

Posted on by — 11 Comments

Budget Versus Quality Food

Just by choosing to eat some cheap ingredients, it doesn’t mean that we have to eat tasteless and horribly boring food. Cheap ingredients mixed with slightly more expensive ones can make us some fantastically wonderful meal options if they are combined in the right proportions.

oatcakesprep

As a family, we tend to eat much of the same things quite often, with the differences being how it is cooked and what accompanies the meal.  Eating good food on a budget can be done if we shop around.

The cheapest ingredients we tend to think of are things like:

  • Pasta
  • Pulses
  • Grains
  • Eggs
  • Breads

bread1

Food can become tiresome to make when we’re short of ingredients, but more experienced cooks (and mums) tend to know that tasty food doesn’t stop with the actual ingredients.

So, what can we do to make it better?

Expensive Ingredients

Reuse

Using what’s left from a Sunday roast to make food for other days is the easiest way to spin out expensive meat enough to last for a few days.   Leftovers need to be put in the fridge as soon as possible after they are cooked to keep them at a safe temperature.

Cooking Methods

Buy cheaper cuts of good quality meat and cook it slowly.  Cuts such as pork belly and stewing steak will give great food for everyone when they are slow cooked.  Be warned that the taste and smell as your food cooks may well convert you forever.

Additives

  • Make your own burgers and mince with steak bought from a good butcher.
  • Mix oatmeal and vegetables with your meat to make it last longer.  It’s not just meatloaf that you can add things to.

Local Produce 

Eat local, eat seasonal.  If it’s in season, there will be more of it, and it will taste better.  Strawberries in January look fabulous, but the ones I buy tend to taste like raw neeps.

If you can get hold of an abundance of in season fruit and veg, make jams, chutneys and sauces for the rest of the year.

Wild Berries

At the bottom of our street, wild blackberries grow in bushes.  There used to be a few women who went and picked them every year, although I see them less and less.  A good tip is to pick from above waist height, as anything lower could well have been sprinkled on by the local dogs.

Raspberries570

Grains

As a family we find this hard to do.  We all like rice, but quinoa, bulgar wheat, cous cous and others don’t seem to go down well here.  I would wish that my family would eat more of them, but they rarely do.  I’ve given up with this family of foods as it wastes money buying it not to be eaten, but it is a very real and cheap addition to food.

Breadmaking

I love fresh bread and so do the family.  I bought a cheap breadmaker that was a disaster, but it made me realise that bread is really achievable.  I splashed out on a Panasonic a few years ago and have never looked back.  Pizza bases, softies for sandwiches, full loaves and more get made in mine.  Over the years, we’ve saved a fortune in buying bread.

breadmaker

 

Posted on by — 5 Comments

Fresh Mussels in a Sherry and Shallot Broth

HHH Logo

I grew up with fish from an early age as I lived in a fishing community.  Up until my own parents generation, all my ancestors were into food farming of one kind or another.  On my grandmothers side, it was fishing and on my grandfathers side it was farming, although he left the industry as a second son who inherited nothing on his own fathers death.

My ancestors had 4 fishing boats as a family at one time, but the great storm in 1881 took most of them.  Three generations of family men were lost in one day and I believe the youngest was 15.  In those days, there were no insurance policies, so everything was instantly gone.  As the eldest of the surviving children, my great grandfather had to go to sea at nine years old to earn enough money to feed the children left alive.

Fish is what the industry survivors passed down to the bereaved families to keep them alive.  The traditions spread down the generations until it got to us.  Eating it all their lives left my mother and grandmother as complete fish fans and we were never very far away from a fish pie, fish cake or fish in ruskoline.  I don’t have much in the way of memories for shellfish and I’ve not been one for giving that sort of fish a try, but that is all about to change.

Fish is the Dish have a new campaign going which set an Edinburgh family the challenge of eating fish twice a week to help transform the way the family look and feel for the long term.   Over on the Fish is the Dish website, they have been releasing new tips, recipes and advice from their three Healthy Happy Heart Experts.

Anyone can take on the challenge and you can register on their website to join in.  As an incentive to help 6 lucky readers along, Fish is the Dish have added a fabulous competition to their Facebook page, with 6 fishy family hampers on offer to help get started.

Mussels 1

The Healthy Happy Hearts Campaign runs for a 6 weeks spell to introduce families into eating more fish, more regularly.   I agreed to be up to the challenge of eating two portions of fish a week with my family for 6 weeks.  Fish is the Dish sent us enough fish for the whole family to eat two portions of fish a week for 6 weeks.  We needed to eat the Mussels quickly, so they are our first recipe.

The fish we have to make incredible dishes includes haddock, cod, scallops, prawns, fish pie pieces, pollock, salmon, swordfish and more.

Fish helps us with our health by providing us with marine Omega-3 fatty acids that are good for us.  With an FAS child living here, the association with brain development could be an interesting one and I’d just be happy with reduced joint pain.   Ironically, given our family history, fish is probably the one food that our family has not eaten enough of over the last few years.

I had no idea how to cook Mussels, so I had to look up how to prepare them for the pot.  Most of the Mussels will be beard free when they arrive, but if there are any traces, you need to scrape them off.  I used the back of a knife to get the last wee bits off.

Lesley Smith

Mussels in Sherry & Shallot Broth

I didn't know how to cook Mussels, but as long as we stick to the steaming, it seems we can cook them in just about anything we want to.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings: 6
Course: Mains
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1 kg Live Mussels
  • 4 Shallots Chopped
  • 1 Clove of Garlic Chopped
  • 1 tablespoon Butter
  • 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
  • 200 ml Sherry
  • 1 Lemon Juice Squeezed
  • Salt and Pepper To Taste
  • 200 ml Water
  • 2 teaspoons Chopped Parsley

Method
 

  1. Mussels need to be cleaned, rinsed several times and have any traces of beard removed. Most prepared Mussels will be prepared for you just to rinse with perhaps a little beard to remove, but with wild Mussels you need to take a little more care.
  2. Tap the shells of any Mussels whose shells are open when you are clearning. If there are any Mussels with open or broken shells left, remove them and bin. I only had to discard 3 Mussels out of my bag. Mussels must be cooked live, so they need to be fresh.
  3. Use a large pan, add the olive oil, butter, shallots and garlic. Shallow cook until the shallots are soft and then add the water, sherry, parsley, lemon juice and a touch of salt and pepper. Simmer for a minute while stirring.
  4. Add the live Mussels to the pot and steam them for 5 - 10 minutes. Mussels don't take long to cook. Shake the pan a couple of times while cooking to move the broth and the Mussels around. When the shells open, the Mussels are ready.
  5. Remove any unopened Mussels and serve them in a dish with their broth and some bread.

The easiest way to eat them is to take one Mussel out of a shell and use it like a pincer to pull the next ones out of their shells and eat them.  Eldest tucked in, as did the Scottish Mum Grannie.

Mussels 2

Mussels 3

 

Posted on by — 25 Comments

Sponsored Posts & Reviews Using Free WordPress Blogs – Not Allowed

I was asked  a question today so I thought I should look up the answer quickly.  It was a simple one and as I’ve never used the free blogging platforms, it’s not one that I had paid any attention to in the past.   All she wanted to know was if it was within WordPress.com Terms and Conditions that she could accept sponsored posts on a blog.

I know there are plenty of people out there who have taken the risk of using freebie blog hosts to take compensation in goods, services or cash for the written word on the blog, but I didn’t know the actual rules for or against.

Checking against WordPress.com TOS, it seems that it is forbidden to actually take any form of paid posts in sidebars, posts or anywhere else.   Looking deeper in, it seems that people who do flout the rules have the potential to have their blog pulled out from under them at no notice.

I am quite surprised at the complete ban on using blogs in this way, but I’d guess it would be so that they are not responsible as a company for being associated with anything advertised on blogs within their network.   It looks like Google Blogger allows sponsored posts and reviews as long as they don’t breach the content policy, but everyone should check that out for themselves.

The WordPress Terms and Conditions on Advertising clearly say that sponsored posts on WordPress . com, (or paid posts) are NOT allowed.  Moderators on their forums have cleared up that payment via goods or services, eg by doing reviews are also part of the prohibition although that doesn’t seem clear in the Advertising Terms and Conditions.

So, pretty much, a lot of parent blogs accepting freebies on the free blog software are doing so against the Terms and Conditions of the hosting companies.

I think I’m glad I took my blog down the self-hosted route when I changed the name to Scottish Mum.  At least I don’t have to worry about my blog disappearing if I upset someone and they report my blog.

In answer to the question I was asked, we’ve shelved the free WordPress option and I’m in the middle of setting my friend up as self-hosted blog.

Being on a free platform might be nice, but the risk is too great for her and we found a great little host that supports the self hosted version of WordPress and will allow sponsored content from the start.  She gets webspace, and WordPress support with her own domain name for about £16 a year.  It’s not an advert for them so I’m not going to post their name here, but if anyone wants to know it – send me a message as it’s been very reliable for my husbands work website.

To be clear, these types of posts are NOT allowed on the FREE WordPress blogging software option.

  1. Ad – Sense Ads Unless Placed by WordPress themselves.
  2. Sponsored or paid posts.
  3. Affiliate or referral links.
  4. Clickthroughs or MLM networking.
  5. Sponsored Content. (I presume this means reviews where a product is the payment)

If you are in any doubt, contact WordPress support to see where you stand.

Post amended after comments on Twitter about Google Blogger allowing sponsored content.

Posted on by — 1 Comment

Frugal Tips For Any Scottish Family

I’ve always spent time with the kids making sure they salt a few pennies away for when they’re older, and I think it’s something that we do tend to do when we have kids.  My kids have their wee bank accounts that we opened 7 years ago and they put half of any birthday and Christmas money they receive into it to hopefully make them a bit sensible with money.

I try to get my kids to see the value in things and to live as frugally as we can.  I don’t think it is sensible to waste money, nor to let our kids think that money is so easy to get, it doesn’t actually mean anything.  I’m not advocating living in a shoe box and going back to nature with vegetable plots and chickens in the garden (though I would dearly love to have chickens in the garden.)

Here are my top 5 tips for being sensible and not wasting money.

Shopping Basket

1. Look At Your Shopping Trolley & Take OUT What You Don’t NEED

Living frugally starts with shopping.  As a family, when we go out with the kids, I tend to find myself at the checkout with lots of things in the trolley that I didn’t put there.  It may be wishful thinking on the part of the kids, but I’ve now got into the habit of checking my trolley every aisle to see what we don’t actually need.   I do often find myself getting to the checkout and almost scared at what the bill will be, but I am much better at actually saying no, I don’t want something after all and putting it back.  I don’t do it with fridge or freezer stuff, but clothes, household stuff and the kids drop-ins are great for excluding at the checkout.

2. Shopping Again – Bulk Packs And Freebies Don’t Always Add Up To Savings

We get vouchers through from our supermarkets, but do we really need or want what they’re for.  A jumbo roll of toilet rolls may look a snip at £2 off, but if that brand is £3 dearer than the one you usually buy, what’s the point.  If the voucher is for something you need, go for it, but otherwise, let it go.   Similarly, the special “deals” for multi packs can sometimes be more expensive than the items bought individually.  Look at the amount of product you get with the special deal and work out the actual cost to you.  I never used to do this, and I’ve found huge savings by being a bit more vigilant about what I put into my trolley.

3. Do We Need Throwaway Goods?

This is the hardest one for us as we struggle with buying light.  There are 6 of us and 4 animals at home, and we do need to make an effort to actually use less packaging, products and recycling. In the caravan, I used to use paper plates for ease, but replaced those with cheap plastic ones we can wash.  We no longer use paper towels often in the kitchen and I keep plenty old dish cloths in reserve that can all go in the washing machine with the regular cloths.  I’ve not found a replacement for toilet paper, but if there was one, I’d be happy to get rid of the rolls and rolls of the stuff we go through.

4. Set A Budget For A Month And Stick To It

I tried this in December and I found it really difficult to do, but it was a start on the money-saving exercises I am determined to get on top of.  I set us a budget per week for clothes, incidentals and entertainment.  Christmas was on a separate budget so not included in the lists.   The kids had no budget of their own and had to get anything they wanted out of the family one.  I found that we all had to sit back and really ask ourselves if we really wanted what we were looking for in the shops and online.  We decided to sit on something for a few days if we thought we wanted it.  The boys wanted a comic, but we agreed to sit on it, and after a few days, they were glad they hadn’t, as there wouldn’t have been enough left in the budget to go to McDonald’s.  It was tough, and I’d hate to be so strict all the time, but it was a good experience.

5. Making Our Money Work For Us

Although I’ve set up accounts for the kids, as a family, we’ve not really done our bit in making sure we get the most out of what we’re entitled to.  My bank is the Halifax and browsing through my accounts last week, I saw a cash isa from Halifax option in my list.  I decided to take a peek and see what it was all about as I’ve never actually been too sure about how an ISA works, or even if we should have one.  I’ve always known it’s a tax-free account and my mother has often told me that we are losing out by not having one.   I was happy to see that one can be started with just £1, so it is well within our budget to actually contribute.  It’s always nice to have something that helps us say no to the tax man and it’s certainly made me decide to take my money more seriously.
Halifax Bank Logo