Crail Food Festival 2013 part 2: foraging and lunching in the Crail sunshine

Day 2 of the Crail Food Festival (Sunday 16 July) was always going to be an entirely outdoors event so I was delighted to wake up to find that that the weather had dramatically improved overnight, transforming the East Neuk into a sunny, warm, Mediterranean-esque paradise.

As it was also Father's Day for a treat my dad and R spent the morning golfing at Kingsbarns Golf Club - my dad hadn't played before and he loved it. Meanwhile the girls, i.e. mum and I, hightailed it into Crail to join the Crail Food Festival's Foraging Walk. This was a free event which was being run by Mark from Galloway Wild Foods in association with the Fife Diet team. We joined the group heading out from the smoothie bike stall at Crail Harbour and ventured out along Crail beach in the now scorching sunshine to learn all about foraging from Mark and Chef Paul Wedgwood. Foraging is getting quite trendy in the UK these days, inspired in particular by Denmark's famous Noma restaurant. Closer to home Paul uses a lot of foraged ingredients in his Edinburgh restaurant, Wedgwood.

An hour quickly flew by as we went back to our hunter-gatherer roots to learn all about which plants are edible and which aren't, including plants which can kill you (avoid the deadly Hemlock, which looks a bit like a carrot plant and actually grows in our garden at rose cottage) and why dogs and foraging don't mix. Mark was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about foraging, entertaining us with stories and picking lots of things for us all to taste. It was different and fun. There was a slightly surreal moment about half way through when I found myself munching rather appreciatively on some Japanese knotweed, which was trying to take over the bank of wild plants (tastes like rhubarb if you were wondering!). If you want to try foraging for yourself you'll need Mark's foraging tips.

Foraging at the Crail Food Festival including Japanese knotweed (top left), Deadly hemlock (middle left) and Mark from Galloway Wild Foods

The intrepid foragers were then treated to an open-air cookery demo back at the harbour by Paul Wedgwood, using foraged ingredients. From the little morsel I managed to get a taste of (the dish was assaulted by spoons in a matter of seconds once it was ready!), my taste buds quickly decided that foraging and flavour go hand in hand. Mark was also offering a tempting taste of his homemade Elderflower champagne.

Crail Food Festival 2013 - Clockwise from top left - Chef Paul Wedgwood (answers on a postcard about why he has that expression!), Fife Diet's foraging board, Paul's foraged meal

Mum and I then had time for a bit more art - more on this soon in my East Neuk Open Studios blog post. Then it was back to Crail harbour to meet the boys plus L and S for lunch. Wow! I have never seen the harbour so busy - the festival and sunshine had really brought the crowds to little old Crail. It was bustling, the atmosphere was great and the cooking smells were making us desperately hungry. Feed me now! After a bit of queuing between us we sampled:  seriously good venison burgers from Seriously Good Venison, superb smoked mackerel and quiche from the award-winning La Petite Epicerie deli in Anstruther, the ever-amazing Arbroath smokies, juicy, sweet strawberries and cream from Crail in Bloom and indulgent crepes and hot chocolate (yes we'd already had some the day before but we couldn't resist more!) from The Pittenweem Chocolate Company. It was all delicious and brilliant to be able to eat alfresco. Nearby benches and the beach were brimming with people sitting to enjoy their lunch, the sunshine and sea views.

Crail Food Festival 2013 - harbour and stalls

   

 

Arbroath smokies - smokin'!

Despite all that food there was still more we didn't have the space to sample e.g. the smoothies from the smoothie bike I mentioned earlier, the wood-fired pizzas or the stall for Pittenweem's Little Herb Farm, whose flavoured vinegars are already regular inhabitants of the rose cottage kitchen. We would have loved some dressed crab and lobster from the little Crail harbour shack but they'd been so popular that they'd  completely sold out. Though as the shack is there all summer there's plenty of time to go back!

Meanwhile the cookery demos continued , a second foraging walk went out and there were oodles of other activities on the beach e.g. treasure hunts for kids. Inspired by our own foraging walk earlier, mum went back to the beach for a quick forage, mainly to impress the guests at her next dinner party with some unusual, wild ingredients! She bumped into the Californian residents that we met at the Festival the previous night, who were now presumably finding Crail a bit more like home given the significantly improved weather! 

Then it was time to go home and relax after all that food. All in all a brilliant summery day out and a really enjoyable festival that lived up to my expectations!

Crail Food Festival 2013 - sandcastle on the beach, view of the harbour stalls from the beach

The Crail Food Festival blog is well worth a read to find out more about the wonderful local suppliers and distributors we have in the East Neuk and wider Fife locale, who are able to meet your foodie needs throughout the year. The 2014 festival is happening on 14 and 15 June and no doubt will be bigger and better than ever. My stomach is looking forward to it already!

Text and photos Copyright Sara Scott 2013

Crail Food Festival 2013 part 1: cookery demos, gingerbread streets and dancing

I had been looking forward to the Crail Food Festival (www.crailfoodfest.co.uk) for a long time. I'd never been before and had been helping in the preparationa and promotion by being part of the blogging team. When the weekend itself, 15-16 June, came closer I realised that in fact it co-incided with the East Neuk Open Studios (www.eastneukopenstudios.org) event as well. Brilliant combination I thought - a weekend of great food, art and even music in fantastic settings!

Day 1, Saturday 15 June, was all about cookery demos, Cellardyke artists, gingerbread streets and dancing.

After the boys returned from the inevitable golf match (at Craighead Links, Crail Golfing Society), we headed to Crail Community Hall for our first taste of the Crail Food Festival. We weren't alone - the hall was packed full of enthusiastic foodies, going round all of the stalls to sample and buy tasty local produce. The good people from the excellent Grill House restaurant (www.grillhouse-restaurant.co.uk) in St Andrews were having absolutely no trouble at all getting takers for their hot food samples. I however was having trouble getting to them in time before they all disappeared! A cookery demo by Craig Millar was announced. Craig is chef and owner of Crail Millar @ 16 West End restaurant (www.16westend.com), a great place right on the shore in the lovely East Neuk village of St Monans. The hall slowly emptied as the Chef's Theatre filled. We all went in except for R, who had identified this as the ideal opportunity to get the lion's share of the food samples (a cunning and very successful plan!). However he missed out on an entertaining, amusing and informative demo from Craig, as well as a taste of the finished product.



Craig Millar provides a cookery demo, Chef's Theatre, Crail Food Festival 2013

Hebridean sea salt and Israeli couscous were two recommendations I resolved to try at home. Craig also revealed he tends to go local by using Scottish rapeseed oil rather than olive oil - I'm with him on that. Some of Craig's recipes can be found in the Relish Scotland, Second Helping book, along with recipes from other great chefs based in some of Scotland's finest restaurants. I bought a (signed) copy of the book on the day for the rose cottage cookbook collection and would thoroughly recommend it.



Relish Scotland - Second Helping - book of original recipes from Scotland's finest chefs and restaurants



Back in the main hall we had the chance to purchase a great selection of foodie treats from the Fife's finest producers on the stalls all round the hall. I ended up buying raspberry jam from two of my favourite farmshops, who had stalls there: Balgove Larder (www.balgove.com), near St Andrews and Ardross Farm Shop (www.ardrossfarm.co.uk), near Elie. You can never have enough raspberry jam in my book!

 

Balgove Larder, farm shop near St Andrews - one of the stall holders at the Crail Food Festival 2013

However the icing on the cake on that chilly afternoon was the warmly comforting hot chocolate from our local chocolatiers, The Pittenweem Chocolate Co (www.pittenweemchocolate.co.uk). To die for!

Time was ticking so we departed for Cellardyke to see some of the East Neuk Open Studios (ENOS) - more to come on this in my ENOS blog soon. 



That evening we were back in Crail for more Food Festival fun - this time dinner and dancing. In just a few hours the Community Hall (an old church) had been transformed into a dinner and music venue. The hall was noisy, buzzing with chatter at this sold-out event. We shared a table with a Scottish family. The parents lived in California and were finding Crail rather cold in comparison! (More on this in Part 2!) 



A three course meal followed. Starter and main course from Hatters & Co (www.hatterscatering.com), caterers at the Edwardian tearoom in Hill of Tarvit Mansion House, were quickly scoffed. However  the highlight for me was definitely the dessert from Sucre Coeur (www.sucrecoeur.co.uk), creators of an entire gingerbread street which was displayed in the window of Crail Gallery. One of the band members (more on them in a minute) also serenaded us with a little ukulele number at our table while we ate.

 

Sweet treats. From top: East Neuk Street made from Gingerbread and Dessert, both by Sucre Coeur for Crail Food Festival 2013

Wine was provided by the St Andrews Wine Company (www.standrewswinecompany.com), who have a great wine shop in Bell Street, St Andrews. They select wines to have labelled as their "house white" and "house red". They were also manning the bar and doing a great trade in beer from the St Andrews Brewing Company (www.standrewsbrewingcompany.com), who created Crail Ale for a previous year's Crail Food Festival. It was so popular that they kept making it and it recently won a craft beer competition and will be available in Sainsbury's supermarket so more of us can get to enjoy it! Unsurprisingly that night the Crail Ale had completely sold out but R and I enjoyed the IPA instead and it went down very well indeed. 

 

Dinner over and bellies full, it was now time for the music to begin. If, like me, you loved the soundtrack of quirky George Clooney film "O brother where art thou?" you would have loved the first local Fife band who took to the stage: Black Cat Jook Band. They transported us from Crail to the Deep South with their madcap bluesy sounds, even making what seemed to be a box with a stick and a piece of string into a quivering, deep bass. It was utterly impossible not to tap your feet along. 



From left: Black Cat Jook Band, King Creosote's Band and Crail Ale

  

Then it was time for a second local band with a bigger reputation: King Creosote (www.kingcreosote.com). With one of the band members hailing from Crail it was definitely a home crowd for them. They masterfully entertained us with a more mainstream sound, including a song about Crail which had the dance floor packed. The atmosphere was great.

When King Creosote's band finished their set on a climatic high the party was over. Off we went, weary but happy, to get some rest ready for Festival Day 2! My Part 2 blog is coming soon with all the details! .

Text and photos copyright Sara Scott 2013

50 scarecrows equals eccentric fun in gentile Elie

Elie and adjoining Earlsferry make up the most gentile and affluent village on Fife's East Neuk coast. They are blessed with a wonderful, sweeping beach, where cricket matches and watersports are a regular fixture. Many houses have their own private access directly onto the beach via little gates and staircases fixed to the sea wall. Those which don't have instead lavishly adapted their balconies, terraces and gardens to maximise that beautiful beach view. This is where Edinburgh Old Money has its spacious seaside holiday homes and everyone else wishes they did. The whole place exudes the confidence of knowing it's good-looking and expensive.

But for one weekend a year things get a bit eccentric, a bit quirky with the annual Elie Scarecrow Festival.

The 2013 event
In 2013 this happened on 3-6 May over a Bank Holiday weekend. This was only the second time the festival has been held. I heard via #ScotlandHour (which is a monthly hour on Twitter where people share what to do and where to go in Scotland) that other places in Scotland also do Scarecrow Festivals but this was the first one I'd been to.

Elie and Earlsferry Residents and business owners compete for the best scarecrow and this seems to encourage lots of creativity and effort. Visitors can purchase a scarecrow map from one of the shops and then tour round the villages to spot them all (around 50 this year), then identify their favourite. The villages are small enough to do this on foot, though if you're short on time / energy you could go for a drive-by approach. The carefully stuffed creations can be found in front gardens, in the street outside houses, shops and pubs, in parks and even hanging from windows and chimneys. This year they included Nixon, Bill Gates, the Statue of Liberty, Prince Charles, Old Tom Morris, a workman, a family on holiday, a pirate, a horse, a nurse and patient, a burglar, Paddington Bear (my favourite) and many more besides. They were very cleverly done with some wonderful details, like Bill Gates holding a paper iPad and iPod and the daddy of the holiday family lying on a lounger, reading "The Scarecrow Times". Many were funny, some cute and others slightly creepy, especially as the daylight faded and they started appearing menacingly out of the shadows.

The winner this year was a scarecrow version of The Flintstones - as announced in the Fife Today newspaper.

I enjoyed walking around spotting them all - it added an extra bit of quirky fun, something a bit different to what was already a great place for a Sunday afternoon stroll. Did you enjoy the festival this year?

Post-event refreshments
Mouth as dry and legs as limp as, well, a scarecrow after all that walking? There are plenty of options in Elie / Earlsferry for a drink and a bite to eat. We had a delicious dinner from the Specials menu at the lively Golf Tavern in Earlsferry. Then we went for a drink in its more famous sister pub, The Ship Inn, back in Elie right by the beach. Elie is also blessed with a Michelin-starred, but reportedly un-stuffy, restaurant called Sangster's.

What's on next?
The next events to look out for in Elie's up-market calendar of local events are The Ship Inn's cricket fixtures (throughout the summer) and the Elie Fayre (13 July 2013, 1pm at the Harbour).

And finally...

If you're desperate to recreate the Scarecrow Festival at home, how about this cute scarecrow kit!

Copyright © Sara Scott 2013

Tulip-tastic - a riot of colour with thousands of bulbs

The Cambo Estate annual Tulip Festival starts today, which they describe as "a riot of colour with thousands of bulbs". It runs 3-13 May in 2013 from 10am to 5pm daily. Cambo Estate is near Kingsbarns in the East Neuk of Fife (Tel - 01333 450054).

I'll be going along this year to see the amazing variety of tulips, carefully planted by droves of volunteers to light up Cambo's elegant walled garden with their vibrant colours. Think you've seen tulips before? These are not your average tulips - there are lots of unusual varieties, with jagged edges or stripes or very full heads. The last time I saw the walled garden it was very muted and wintry so I'm expecting this to be a much more uplifting experience, bringing hope of some Summer sunshine to come (fingers crossed!).

In the meantime I thought I'd share some of my photos of last year's Cambo Tulip Festival with you:

p.s. If you like this you might also be interested in the Cambo Rose Festival on 21 June to 7 July 2013.

Copyright Sara Scott 2012 (photos) and 2013 (text).

Easter in the East Neuk



Easter chick



Are you lucky enough to be in or around the East Neuk of Fife this Easter holiday? If so, here's a selection of six local events to keep you and your family busy:

1. AN ENTIRE FESTIVAL DEVOTED TO CHOCOLATE - The Cocoa Tree cafe and shop in Pittenweem is running a Grand Festival of Chocolate, which is inspired by the best selling book Chocolat. This is my kind of festival! It includes a Grand Chocolate Treasure Hunt (throughout the festival - to enter the prize draw the deadline is 6pm on Easter Sunday), a Full Moon "Chocolat" Film Party (Wednesday 27 March 7pm), The Grand Chocolate Fayre and Weem Witch Tours (Thursday 28 March), The Grand Good Friday Dinner (Friday 29 March), Grand Finale of the Treasure Hunt and Raffle (Sunday 31 March 6pm) and finally Chocolate Workshops (Monday 1 April 10-12 children and 1-4 adults). (To reserve a space for any of these events contact sophie@thecocoatreeshop.com.)

2. FIND THE EASTER EGGS - Classic Easter weekend fun for the kids - join the Easter Egg Trail at National Trust Scotland's Kellie Castle (Saturday 30 March and Sunday 31 March 12-4, £2 per child).

3. PACK THE KIDS OFF FOR SOME FUN IN THE WOODS - Cambo Estate, Kingsbarns is running a one week Easter Woodland Club for children aged 6-13 (1-5 April or 8-12 April, 10am-4pm each day, £125 per week). The Club is all about having fun in the woods. It includes activities like building a den, cooking on the fire, making wooden things, playing games and watching wildlife (to book contact Chris Childe 01337 830621, chris.childe_education@yahoo.co.uk).

4. RACE A DUCK - On Easter Saturday (30 March, 10.30am) you can watch or even take part in the A.I.A. (Anstruther Improvements Association) annual duck race at the Dreel Burn in Anstruther. Everyone floats rubber ducks down the stream and the owner of the lucky winning duck wins a prize. Ducks cost £1 and can be bought in advance or on the day. Should be lots of fun!

5. SEE SOME ART - Pittenweem's famous arts festival doesn't kick off until August but Easter marks the annual Pittenweem Artists and Galleries weekend, when many of this very arty village's residents open their studies to show new work. Venues are open Friday 29 - Sunday 31 March (10am-5pm or 11am-4pm for the new ART@47 gallery space). Look out for the poster on the door.


Arty Pittenweem

6. RENACT THE COLD WAR (?) - For a slightly unusual Easter experience, Scotland's Secret Bunker will be having a re-enactment over Easter (Friday 29 - Sunday 31 March) with real Army soldiers at the gate to greet you, vehicle displays around the grounds and patrolling underground in the bunker in their full attire, complete with weapons for authenticity. The Bunker was the secret underground hideaway where Scotland's elite would have gone in the event of a nuclear attack in the Cold War era. It was kept secret, hiding below a farmhouse for 40 years. Today it's a unique tourist attraction.



Whatever you're doing this Easter I hope you have a great time! If you know of any other great East Neuk Easter events please share them by leaving a comment. Right, I'm off to get stuck into some Easter eggs now...



First signs of Spring at Rose Cottage!



Text and Photos Copyright Sara Scott 2013