Square Sparrow blog flies to a new nest...

A little bird is here to tell you that the Square Sparrow blog has now flown to its rather lovely new "nest" over on WordPress. Here's the address of our new website, where you'll find more anecdotes about the life of a writer living in the middle of rural Scotland with a polytunnel, a Highland pony and a flock of chocolate sheep. Oh, and husband HunterGatherer, of course! Plus there are foodie snippets, along with the occasional recipe and restaurant review. 

http://square-sparrow.com/

Thanks for following and look forward to seeing you there!

PS: We'd love to know what you think about the new site, so please leave a comment there :-)

Celebrating 25 years not out!

Another canapé? Don't mind if I do...

HunterGatherer and I rounded off our 25th anniversary celebrations in gastronomic heaven on Saturday evening when our lovely bridesmaid G. cooked a fabulous dinner for us and a small group of close friends.

And there were more! This time smoked salmon and
crème fraîche blinis

From asparagus and parma ham canapés to a molten goat's cheese starter to sumptuous beef bourguignon stew to delicate orange and mascarpone ice cream (served with chocolate torte) or lemon mousse, each dish set our taste buds tingling anew.

Perfectly cooked goat's cheese for starters

HunterGatherer doesn't feel he's had a proper meal
 unless he's eaten some beef (which was no bad thing,
as a member of the Quality Meat Scotland
team was in attendance!!)

Our first ever taste of orange and mascarpone ice cream.
The verdict? Yum!!

Lemon mousse as well? Rude not to... (though the pedant in
me is reaching out to move that errant raspberry!)

And after all that there was still an appetising cheese platter followed by divine, melt-in-the-mouth tablet (the latter courtesy of our other bridesmaid's kind mum) to come. Suffice to say, we both remained fairly replete for most of Sunday (though we did manage to squeeze in another couple of pieces of leftover tablet!!)...

There was even some Isle of Mull Cheddar on the plate
(reference to the fact that we originally met on the Isle of Mull)

The tablet didn't last long ;-)

It was a happy, hilarious, harmonious evening – and one we'll certainly treasure for a long time to come. As American designer Zac Posen puts it: "Food, friends, family. These are the most important things in life." Add to that good health, and you won't go far wrong.

Mini-photomontage: The Tracks on our Track in Winter

A bird has scuttled across the track here - possibly a pheasant

Provided I am well wrapped up, I adore winter, and even though our part of Kinross-shire hasn't been troubled by too much snow (yet...), even the faintest skiff of the white stuff is sufficient to transform our lovely rural surroundings into a winter wonderland characterised by sparkling hills, alpine trees and the distant silver loch.

One aspect of there being snow on the ground that particularly appeals to Yours Truly (in addition to skiing, building igloos and other such pursuits!) is that it's suddenly possible to find out about a whole world of activity that normally goes on unnoticed, namely the movements of myriad animals. So this morning I was out and about (any excuse to avoid work!), photographing the evidence...

FatCat has evidently been on the prowl

Ever not known whether you were coming or going?!

One man and his dog appear to have been walking  here

Someone was too busy pawing the ground to let me
 photograph her hoof prints: "Where's my breakfast?!"

And, finally, I couldn't resist stomping on this mini-snowdrift!