not being scottish, i might be wrong, but isn't it supposed to be served with 'neeps & tatties'? i think in english thats mashed swedes/turnips & potatoes...
I know I've had it a couple of years ago in a pub in scotland, was actually rather nice, but VERY filling!


edit: forgot to mention the kettle's on!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2008 02:12AM by azonei.

Morning all. There's been too much chatting in here overnight for me to catch up with (lazy arse strikes again) and too many folks for me to reply to each individually (HELLO everyone! ) so I'll just wave to everyone who's posted and make sure the pot is warm ready for our tea. I spied mention of Assam earlier, I believe? Mm-mm!

has there been a meetup in a tea house yet? NEEDS TO HAPPEN

Vegetarian haggis is ok once a year, you don't need to eat much of it either to feel more than a bit full.

Crumpets, with butter mainly, and some with marmite on for that nice salt hit. Assam's lovely. I also like lapsang mid afternoon.

Ok, biscuits, I like dunking chocolate hobnobs in builder's strength tea when I need to cheer up (I only dunk those, I don't know why). Shortbread goes well with assam. Those gingery thin things with lapsang. Jammy dodgers....I don't like jammy dodgers. Or custard creams. I can sometimes eat bourbons.

Anyone else got particular biscuit preferences?

ooh, a biscuit afficionado, a-m!!
some good tips, though personally I don't like dunking biscuits...
I have this thing about chocolate hobnobs - they have to come from the fridge - i don't know why, but they just seem to taste better that way

agreed on the jammy dodgers - they are just poo!

*settles down with a nice fresh cuppa*

*lights dynamite under Tants arse*

Version's right - so much activity here. There's not enough hrs in the day lol and
shopping for supplies is turning out to be quite an expedition.

In a bid to catch up - crumpets with slightly salted butter is the way to go,but must be left to cool slightly so that the butter doesn't melt too much... remnants of a health fad years ago. And yeah, i loves my marmite and puts hand up to liking haggis.


Snarkypuss: This months Which? magazine have an article in it which mentions the quality of food at Aldi and Lidl's.

azonei - I would love to try that assam tea of yrs... must hunt some down for my own supplies but in the meantime...

*holds out mug for azonei*

Ruth posted:

This months Which? magazine have an article in it which mentions the quality of food at Aldi and Lidl's.

I'd be interested to read that- is there a link available?
Hmm, I'd be more interested to see what they have to say about sainsbury's though - have been shopping there more recently, & I have to say I'm very unimpressed with the shelflife of their products... have found out-of-date stuff on the shelves, and bought stuff that was unfit for consumption long before the best-before-date...

Ruth posted:

azonei - I would love to try that assam tea of yrs... must hunt some down for my own supplies but in the meantime...

*holds out mug for azonei*

*pours a generous mug for ruth*
*passes plate of biscuits ruth's way too, advises her to let version have 1 or 3 too*

azonei posted:

Ruth posted:

This months Which? magazine have an article in it which mentions the quality of food at Aldi and Lidl's.

I'd be interested to read that- is there a link available?
Hmm, I'd be more interested to see what they have to say about sainsbury's though - have been shopping there more recently, & I have to say I'm very unimpressed with the shelflife of their products... have found out-of-date stuff on the shelves, and bought stuff that was unfit for consumption long before the best-before-date...

I bought some carrot cake from sainsburys and didn't notice the date. Got it home and it had fluff mould growing on some of it and noticed it was about a week out of date! :/ Grim.

yeah Marks and Spencer is good quality but rather pricey.

M&S food is so nice but yeah, dead expensive! It's nice for a treat. When i was having a bad day I went to M&S on my way home. Nothing like good food to soothe the pain

Ruth - I usually never have a problem with sainsburys but there's definately been a decline in quality recently! There are some apples in my fridge from there right now and I bit into one the other day and it was all brown inside, everywhere :|



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2008 06:17AM by ohvienna.

Snarkypuss posted:

Psssst... That was MarkManson, not me. I've not shopped in a supermarket for about five years now. They gave me rage so now I shop with local independents and markets instead.

I know exactly what you mean - they give me rage too.

What an excellent way to describe it!

That's why I get mine delivered*. Life's too short to squeeze cantaloupes yourself.

*The shopping, that is!

Pass me a ginger nut.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2008 06:56AM by a-m.

Before I left the house this morning I googled haggis -- oh yes -- and found out about the 'tatties and neeps' accompaniment: so I went to Morrisons and bought some potatoes and sweede. I plan to make a potato and sweede mash. Should be pretty good. Cheers for everyones input by the by!

I've never had vegetarian haggis, but my girlfriend is a vegetarian so it's almost definently on the cards. Personally, I love vegetarian food. I'm practically a vegetarian myself, with my other half being one. I'd go on to quote Pulp Fiction but I'll leave it at that...but I do love a good burger...ha.

I'll let you all know what I think of the haggis later on tonight. I'll certainly be having it with a wee bit of whiskey.

To continure with the topics at hand: I like Bourbon Creams. Custard Creams are simply a rubbish Bourbon Cream. For my birthday I was bought some Fox's Chunkies. They are amazing biscuits. Over 100 calories in every one of those babies. Good when dipped in some strong coffee. Yum.

In this thread I've mentioned 3 seperate shopping markets already -- Sainsburys, Aldi, and Morisons. It certainly seems like I love to shop. This is not the case. I hate the people in those places, and loathe anyone who blocks the aisle with a barrier of a trolly, then their arse, and finally their outstretched arms grasping some useless crap. Makes me rather angry. And don't even get me started on those new self service tills. Useless. Completely and utterly useless. Aldi cereal, however, is amazing. I mean AMAZING. I've eaten it every morning for a long while.

I'd like to shop at independant stores, only there are none around anymore. Such a shame. I make an effort to find independant book stores. I prefer the smell of old, if you get my meaning, to the smell of a mint and polished Waterstones.

I also bought some teacakes today =] I discovered them last week, never had them before shockingly, and by jove they're amazing.

God damn I've wittered on, thanks and apologies to those who managed to read through my rant.

*puts on gloves to remove offending article before cleaning tants up*

markmanson88 posted:

I've never had vegetarian haggis, but my girlfriend is a vegetarian so it's almost definently on the cards. Personally, I love vegetarian food. I'm practically a vegetarian myself, with my other half being one. I'd go on to quote Pulp Fiction but I'll leave it at that...but I do love a good burger...ha.

I'll let you all know what I think of the haggis later on tonight. I'll certainly be having it with a wee bit of whiskey.

Same here Mark. I'm not strictly vegetarian and don't eat much meat. Kinda handy that I love vegetarian food too. However when it comes to meat - I do like it rare.

Enjoy the haggis tonight and yeah, i must try the veggie version.

Yep, there's all of that... The tannoy calls for a spillage in aisle 5, the sticky smelling toddlers hopped up on sugar and tantruming in the middle of the floor because they want a packet a dishwasher tablets purely because the packaging is colourful, the slack jawed gormless floor assistants whose sole purpose in life is to sneak off for another fag break, the trolley with half a carrier bag wound around one wheel that makes it determined to veer violently to the side in an attempt to decapitate said toddler...

Then there's the complete lack of ethics behind the business practises of the corporations which decimate communities, homogenise the urban landscape, financially slit the throats of food producers and rape and plunder the environment.

So, yeah, "they give me rage" is good shorthand for my feelings on the mangy bastards.

Independents were initially a little tricky to find but after you start looking for them and change your shopping habits a little, they start mushrooming up everywhere. You have to give up on the one stop shop often and keep your eyes peeled. The biggest problem I found was that they just don't have the budget or, indeed, the square footage for the massive, back lit fascia hoardings we've grown used to so they tend to blend into the background more.

I can't recommend enough making the change though. It's nice to have a relationship with the people producing and handling your food. It's nice to know that when you give them your money, it is going directly to someone's family and back into your community instead of being siphoned off by a corporate monstrosity whose sole motivation is profit.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2008 08:14AM by Snarkypuss.