Old Shoes - New Trip

In advance of our trip to Scotland, I wanted to do some research on potential distillary, brewery, & winery tours we might be able to take. So, before we left home, I visited a few of our local liquor stores, both the fancy high end ones with gleaming brass and polished wood, and the ones that smell like stale cigarettes and spilled beer.

We quickly learned that they just don't MAKE wine in Scotland. So that idea went out the window pretty fast. The king of spirits is Whisky. We had dozens and dozens of distillaries we could visit...in fact be booked our second week's rental based on its proximity to the Whisky Trail.

In the beer catagory, I noticed that the high-end liquor stores carried a Scottish brand called Orkney Brewing Company. What luck, we were going to spend a week in the Orkney Islands, we could book a tour of this brewery while there.

I also found some interesting things on the internet. Here is a blog entry by a beer taster in the UK who seemed to be fond of Orkney Brewing.

GoodPeopleEats blog.

And here's a couple of guys in a bar in Pennsylvania who appear to be pursuing the Gary Vanerchuk model of tasting television. Two Guys On Beer.
They need to develop a little more confidence. And they REALLY need to do better research and fact checking with the historical background they throw in. The Vikings were neolithic? Really?!? But these guys do have promise. I might watch them. The episode is #069, posted on 05/06/09. It's the first one on page 9 of their menu.

We were really looking forward to touring the Orkney Brewery, but when we called to check on schedules we kept getting a recording. Since it wasn't very far from our rental cottaqe we just decide to take a chance and drive over one afternoon.

Here is what we found:

A very small building, locked up tight. Barrels outside in the open - stacked everywhere. Noone around. That car in the foreground is ours.

Too late for us, but good news for anyone planning to visit Orkney beginning NEXT summer, they are adding on to their operation and will be including a tour center and tasting room.

Here is their website: Orkney Brewery

This week Jerry picked Olives as our featured ingredient for the Sunday Small Bites challenge. For me it was like getting a pass. All I had to do was go to the pantry and pull out a jar of my Kalamata Olive & Fig Jam.

I put a spoonful on a Scottish Oak Cake (to celebrate our recent trip to Scotland) and topped it with one of my very favorite Greek cheeses - Manouri (to pay homage to Jerry's recent trip to Greece.)

Here is my recipe for Kalamata Olive & Fig Jam:

3 cups good quality pitted kalamata olives boiled in fresh water to remove some of the saltiness. (change the water three times).

Simple syrup made with 1 1/2 cups sugar and 3/4 cups water infused with the peel of one lemon. (strain lemon peel)

- 2 cups diced figs, stems removed but not peeled. I used Mission but you can use any type fig you prefer. (If you can't get fresh figs you can substitute whole fig preserves and eliminate the simple syrup. Or you can substitute dried figs by boiling them in water first to reconstitute and then draining before using)

- one diced apple

Gently boil the fruit together in the syrup for about 10 minutes (or until you get the consistancy you prefer). Careful not to let stick or burn.

Pulse briefly in food processor. Don't puree. You want to see a few chunks of apple and olive remaining. The fig will have already melted down, but the seeds will still add a great texture.

Preserve by your favorite method (canning or freezing)

Interesting PhotoHunt subject this week. I can imagine many ways to interpret it and stay true to the travel theme of my blog. I could do luggage pictures. I could do shopping bag pictures from other countries. I could even do the bags under my eyes after a long flight across numerous time zones.

But, I decided that since it was Halloween, I'd join it what was sure to be a very popular theme...bags of candy.

Here are some cool looking Japanese Jell Cups I found at Global Foods this week. Almost bought them, because I thought they would be interesting and unique. I mean, really, just how many mini-Hershey bars does one kid need, right?

Then, because I'm a very responsible treat giver I carefully studied the warning panel on the back. I think these may be a lawsuit waiting to happen. I think I'll pass. Mini Almond Joy, anyone?

I got stuck in the Russian Aisle at Global Foods this week.

It was because I noticed something for the first time. Even when a product doesn't have a word of English on it, the shelf tags are in English. I wondered to myself, "Do they have someone on staff who speaks the language of every product they carry? How else would they be able to produce all of those shelf tags accurately?"

The first one I noticed was a bottle of beautiful deep green liquid. It was shaped like a whisky flask. There was no translation on the bottle. But the shelf tag not only identified the product, it also gave the English version of the company's name that produced it - Gold Cavier.

These boxes of buckwheat cereal were on a bottom shelf.

When I turned the box over, I noticed that they had thoughtfully translated the cooking instructions into both English and Dutch. I wonder if a native German reading his box will be as entertained as I was. I bought this one.

On the top shelf was what appeared to be instant oatmeal in various fruit flavors. It was also translated into three languages, but none of them were English.

Fortunately, the universal language of pictures - and simple preparation requirements - were enough to give me a complete idea of how to use the product at home.

I'm really glad I bought this one. Unlike the pasty, mushy instant oatmeal we get from Quaker, this brand was as good as fresh cooked. Although, the pictures on the box are deceptive. There aren't real pieces of fruit in it. Only the flavor of the fruit. Oh, well. Can't have everything I guess.

After the packaged goods, I hit the refrigerated section to check out the Russian selections.

I spent last week in Great Britian. This week, I had a very pleasant visit to Russia. Next week, I'm thinking Malaysia, because this caught my eye as I walked past the ice cream freezer cases.

This is week eight of the SlowTrav Sunday Small Bites challenge. And it was my week to choose the featured ingredient.

When I picked pumpkin, I was thinking that I'd like to do something with a Native American flavor. And then I started thinking that North African would be cool too. So I decided to use Native American vegetables and North African spices. Here's what I came up with:

Native American/North African Pumpkin Stew

Step One:
One medium heirloom pumpkin of your choice, cleaned, peeled, & seeded.
3-4 garlic cloves finely minced or pressed in garlic press
Salt & pepper to taste
Olive oil to coat
Cut only the firmest part of the pumpkin flesh into about 1/2” cubes and measure six cups into a bowl for tossing.
Add olive oil and minced garlic and toss to coat.
Spread out in a shallow pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Roast in a 450 degree convection oven until edges begin to brown.
Remove and allow to cool.

Step Two:
While pumpkin is roasting, soften in a small amount of olive oil —
1 cup red onions (diced into uniform 1/4” pieces)
1/2 cup diced mushrooms of your choice (used a handful from my container of dried mixed wild mushrooms and soaked them in warm water before dicing)

Step Three:
Add in —
1 cup diced tomatoes (Use firm ripe tomatoes. Remove all seeds and dice same size as onion)
1/2 cup warm water in which you have been soak 8-10 saffron threads. (leave the saffron in)
1/2 cup minced dried apricots
1 cup pre-cooked Heirloom Red Quinoa
1 teas. dried cilantro flakes
2 tbsp. minced fresh mint
1/2 teas. each Zatar & Sumac berry spices (I get mine from Penzey’s)
1/4 teas. Each of red pepper flakes & five spice powder
1 1/2 teas. Salt
Toss all of these ingredients together then add —
1/12 cup roasted corn kernels (I use the frozen bags from Trader Joes. Just thaw it first)
6 cups roasted pumpkin cubes

Step Four:
Add up to 3 cups vegetable or chicken broth, one cup at a time as you simmer and gently stir your ingredients to combine. Don’t use more broth than you need to make a stew that has almost no liquid at all. You want this to be a chunky stew you eat with a fork, not a spoon.
You also don’t want to stir so hard that you break down your pumpkin.

To Serve —
Before roasting the pumpkin, I hollowed out 4 small ornamental pumpkins, coated them in oil and added them to the roasting pan.
I used these as serving bowls for the pumpkin stew and garnished with a sprig of fresh mint.
Each mini-pumpkin held about 1/3 cup.

This recipe makes about 10 cups of stew. So, I used only a small portion of the stew as an appetizer, and saved the rest to be used the next day as a main course. It keeps very well for several days in the fridge and can be successfully heated in the microwave, one bowl at a time.