Autumnal delights

As the leaves change colour and the nights grow darker there are still lots of great things to do in the East Neuk, St Andrews and the surrounding area. Here are four of the best things I've been up to this autumn:

1. Rory mania

Following world no. 1 golfer, Rory McIlroy around the Old Course, as he teamed up with his dad to compete at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship 2014 (http://www.alfreddunhilllinks.com/m/home/), was a must this October. Rory and some of his fellow professional golfers, such as Victor Dubuisson, were fresh from the European team's Ryder Cup win at Gleneagles. 

For more on what the Dunhill Links is all about and why it's such a great event see my Dunhill blog: http://rosecottageeastneuk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/celeb-golf-extravaganza-at-dunhill-links.html?m=1

2. Day trip to fabulous Falkland

Just half an hour or so from St Andrews is the picture perfect village of Falkland. Most visitors go for the National Trust of Scotland's Falkland Palace (http://www.nts.org.uk/property/falkland-palace-and-garden/)

The palace is well worth a visit for a glimpse into Scotland in days of old, when the Stuart monarchs travelled around with all of their furniture and tapestries so that their quarters in the next castle or palace could be made to look exactly like the last one! It was also a favourite place of Mary Queen of Scots.

The palace gardens are also lovely, though inevitably not as splendid in Autumn as they must be in Spring and Summer. 

A unique feature at the bottom of the garden is the stone royal tennis court - which is not the same as tennis as we know it. 

Falkland is not just about the palace though - its a very scenic and quaint place for a wander around, popping into enticing little gift shops, galleries and cafés as you go. Even the more industrial old mill is attractively vintage, though apparently soon to be knocked down. With more time you could also explore the very pretty surrounding countryside, which looked great for walking, cycling etc.

3. Proof that Anstruther dining is finer than just fish 'n' chips: The Cellar

We'd been huge fans of The Cellar restaurant in Anstruther (http://www.thecellaranstruther.co.uk/) and were disappointed when it closed in tragic circumstances. It's now open again and the new management, including Anstruther-born head chef Billy Boyter, have managed to put their own spin on it whilst keeping the charm. It's a highly atmospheric historic building, which you reach through a pretty courtyard area. You can then quaff an aperitif in one of the elegant seating areas before being shown to your table in the cosy, romantic restaurant. 

Once seated you can expect to be treated to a series of courses lovingly created with care, precision and creativity from the best seasonal local produce. 

For its combination of accomplished fine dining, friendly staff and a very atmospheric and romantic setting I would highly recommend The Cellar for a special occasion meal out or if you are simply treating yourselves (we went to celebrate Mr ENB's birthday). Book ahead though, particularly at weekends as the restaurant is quite small. 

4.Cambolicious

Twice a year Cambolicious (http://www.cambolicious.com/), the East Neuk's popular craft beer festival, comes to the Cambo Estate near Kingsbarns (in May and November) and I am a festival regular. It's small in scale but big in charm and appeals to children and adults alike. This time around there was lots of fun to be had with the outdoor games, including table tennis in a posh tent with a chandelier and various retro games which involved throwing skills (I was hopelessly bad at all of these!). Foodie delights included juicy steak burgers with a mountain of trimmings, freshly pressed apple juice and deliciously naughty sweet and savoury crepes. 

But really people love Cambolicious for all the craft beers, ciders and gins, with their weird and wonderful names, from around Scotland. 22 types were on tap this time around. The Fresh Root Ginger cider from Borders-based Thistly Cross was a sell-out again and for good reason. It's still my favourite cider ever. Of the beers Biology Girl loved the Spiced Pumpkin Rye from the St Andrews Brewing Company and Legally Brunette enjoyed the Staple Pale from the Top Out Brewery.

Never shy of a bit of dressing up, I got into the festival spirit and enjoyed making my own natural headgear at the stand for this. Here's my less than perfect attempt (well it was made in the dark!):

Sadly I missed out on the face painting, which was not just for kids - various adults were sporting Halloween-type designs, whimsical leaves or wood nymph-esque designs. Throughout there was the highly enjoyable and sometimes impromptu music from some of Fife's most talented musicians that I've come to expect from Cambolicious. Unfortunately no King Creosote or Lidh sets this time round but Emporium ended the event on a high. As ever at Cambolicious I didn't want to leave.

World famous sports stars, fantastic sight-seeing, fine dining and craft beer festivals - what's not to love about the East Neuk and St Andrews in Autumn?

Text and photos copyright Sara Scott 2014

Life is sweet at the Biggest ever Crail Food Festival

NEWS from the Crail Food Festival about their 2014 event - spread the word!:

Life is sweet at this year's Crail Food Festival with an expanded programme including a House of Sugar, children's workshops and lots of opportunities to taste more local produce than ever before. This year's event is spread across an even wider range of venues, thanks to support from Event Scotland and Homecoming Scotland 2014.

Taking place on 14 and 15 June, highlights include special Children's Workshops with the opportunity to get hands-on with food: from jam making to moulding your own chocolates. A Food Trail will allow families to explore Crail's food delights while The House of Sugar will play host to a Crail inspired 3D cookie art installation created by local company Sucre Coeur. Visitors will be able to get involved and ice their own cookie to create an edible mosaic across the weekend. 

Over 50 local foodie participants will take part in the two-day festival with a special Tasting Theatre and Food Market with free food sampling all day. Meet the Producer workshops will allow visitors to learn new skills and experience new tastes with activities ranging from whisky and chocolate matching, cheese and wine pairing, to a pie and a pint. Local food and drink on offer will include cheese, venison, smoked fish, gin, craft ales, and of course, the shellfish for which the East Neuk of Fife is famous.

A Cookery Theatre will feature demonstrations by a range of local cooks and chef patrons, from Michelin star fine dining themes to award-winning cookery writers such as Nicola Fletcher. This bespoke country kitchen is kindly sponsored by Ardross Farm Shop, recent winner of the Farm Shop of the Year award and supported by the professional catering team from Elmwood College.

The Crail Museum will use the festival as an opportunity to tell visitors about the historic local delicacy, the Crail Capon. With details taken from an 1812 poem, the Crail Capon (haddock smoked traditionally in a chimney) will relive its glory days over the course of the weekend.

Sunday 15 will include an extra dimension with Sunday Lunch at the Harbour. Using the iconic Crail Harbour as the backdrop, street food vendors and local producers will come together to host a massive picnic for visitors. Shellfish, smokies, ice cream, game and pizza cooked in a converted horsebox while you wait are just some of the goods on offer at the harbour. Local businesses will provide potted shrimp, home baking and more. 

A local seafront guest house will share its stunning seashore location with evening visitors by becoming a Pop-Up Tasting Bistro with local food, music and drinks.

Graeme Anderson, the Event Manager said:

"I'm thrilled at this year's enriched festival programme. The 4th annual Crail Food Festival will certainly put our village on the map for anyone who's a fan of food. We've worked hard to ensure visitors of all ages get a real flavour of Fife. It's going to be great fun and a wonderful way to share Crail with a wider audience."

The full programme can be found at crailfoodfest.co.uk and here's the event flyer:

Just what the doctor ordered - dining at The Adamson, St Andrews

"Just what the doctor ordered" is the wording on the front of The Adamson's promotional booklet so I recently went along to this St Andrews bar and restaurant to find out whether this wording was indeed good advice.

The doctor in question is Dr John Adamson (1809 - 1870), the famed St Andrean who lived in the building at No. 127 South Street now occupied by the restaurant. The restaurant's cocktail menu also contains "The Physician" in his honour, an amazing elixir of vodka, elderflower, mint, raspberries and lime. As well as being a medical doctor, Adamson was also a pioneer photographer, famously creating the first calotype portrait in Scotland 1841. The calotype was the first type of photograph to use a negative, allowing multiple "positives", i.e. print copies to be made. It seems to me that this was a very important step along the way to the easy photography that we all take for granted today. Dr Adamson also taught the calotype process to his brother Robert, who went on to create many famous photographs of that time with David Octavius Hill. As a nod to this there's a case with an old camera beside the bar area. As a physician, Dr Adamson worked hard to try and clean up the typhoid-ridden Fishergate area of St Andrews - hard to imagine in today's clean, upmarket St Andrews, where one of the main issues is choosing which restaurant to go for an evening! However, it's easy to admire Dr Adamson's pioneering work even today. 

After Adamson's time the building became a post office and still retains a relic of this era. 

Those little touches aside, I doubt the doctor would recognise the interior now, following the restaurant's opening in 2012. There's nothing olde worldy about it. It has a very well thought through modern look, all oversized lampshades, glittery stag's head, photo-collages, striking wallpaper, exposed brick walls, fairy lights, tree branches, high-sheen black surfaces and atmospheric candles. As modern as it is, however, the photo-collages in particular reflect that pioneering, experimental approach of Dr Adamson back in the nineteenth century. And using the Adamson name creates a nice link to the history of the building and town. Perhaps inspired by the spirit of the good doctor I got very snap happy during my visit to The Adamson.

Adamson is not the only famous person to make this restaurant what it is today. Its head chef, Scott Davies has firmly put this place on the map as a result of his appearance in 2013 on much-loved UK TV programme MasterChef the Professionals. It can be no coincidence that tables at The Adamson are much harder to come by since Scott's stint on the show. Much like "The Kitchin" in Edinburgh, The Adamson's open kitchen helps to continue the hype by allowing diners to try and spot the chef at work. "Is he working tonight?", whispers many an excited diner as they crane towards the kitchen. 

Famous names and trendy decor aside, does The Adamson deserve its popularity? It was a Saturday night when Mr ENB and I visited, a night which tends to either make or break a restaurant, a night where you find out if a restaurant has substance as well as style. Key to substance is service and the service we received was not just good, it was faultless. The Adamson staff somehow make you feel genuinely special, which is surely what every customer wants.

After a warm welcome from the staff, we enjoyed a cheeky wee glass of Prosecco while waiting a few moments at the bar area for our table to be ready. Tummies were rumbling but we didn't have long to wait to get that remedied. Almost immediately after being ushered to our table an adorably perfect mini baked loaf of bread (£3.95), warm and steaming from the oven, appeared, much to our delight. It was accompanied by butter, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and an olive tapenade.

Our friendly and highly professional waitress explained the new menu with genuine passion about the food. I was sorely tempted by the tenderstem broccoli risotto and the wild garlic, potato and isle of mull cheddar gnocchi (both available in starter or main courses sizes). In the end I opted for the fresh Scottish mussels with white wine, cream, shallots and foccacia (£6.95) to start and I was not disappointed. It's a classic dish but often goes wrong when the sauce is too watery - not so here: after I'd teased all of the mussels out of their shells I happily polished off the remainder of the smooth, creamy sauce using my bread. 

Mr ENB started with the hot smoked salmon with wasabi, burnt lemon puree, brown bread crumble and cucumber (£8.50). He enthused about the fresh tastes of the dish and quality of the salmon. From my side of the table it was clearly a fantastic-looking plate:

I decided to dive into the taste of Spring for my main with the confit lamb shoulder with cauliflower cheese puree and lemon thyme sage (£15.50) plus a side of skinny fries with parmesan and truffle oil (£3.50). I'm guessing that the "skinny" refers to the size of the fries and not the eater as I'm not sure the doctor would have approved of these. Their naughtiness just made them all the more enjoyable though! Combined with the superb softness of the lamb, it was a lovely Spring dish.

Mr ENB is a bit of steak-fiend so he went for the ribeye 220g (£25.95) with a bearnaise sauce which was quickly and appreciatively polished off, with the sole exception of the rocket (aka "rabbit food").

We washed our mains down with a pretty damn special 2004 bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape from Chateau Mont-Redan (Rhone, France) - for medicinal purposes naturally!

With time flying by it was already time for desserts, which are created with a Dr Adamson-worthy mixture of surgical precision and experimentation for lucky diners at The Adamson. I'm pretty sure The Adamson sundae: coffee ice cream, mascarpone and amarettto biscuit (£6.95) would make any under the weather patient feel a whole lot better - Mr ENB would agree albeit I was firmly told I had "no chance" of getting a bit.

This was not a problem, however, as I was quickly engrossed with savouring my own dessert of almond cream - salt baked pinneaple and thyme biscuit (£7.50), marvelling in its separate but cleverly complimentary elements and beautiful whole. Our waitress had recommended it, saying that it was her favourite, even though she normally hated pineapple!

Throughout the meal the atmosphere had been great - that busy, happy buzz of Saturday night dining in a place that knows exactly how to treat its customers. 

Is it just what the doctor ordered? We left full, content and with smiling faces, with an overriding feeling of having had a very special time dining at The Adamson. It thoroughly deserves its status as THE go-to place for a classsy meal out in St Andrews - no mean feat in a town where diners are spoilt for choice. It's a modern place with a strong history and I very much hope it continues that with a great, pioneering future. We'll definitely be back for more culinary treatment from the master physician soon!

The Adamson, 127 South Street, St Andrews, KY16 9UH

www.theadamson.com 

Tel - 01334 479191

Text and photos copyright of Sara Scott, 2014.

Love is in the (Sea) Air

St Andrews is a pretty romantic place so where better to spend Valentine's Day with your loved one! Follow four easy steps and you can't go wrong. Find out more in this blog I penned for the Visit St Andrews website: http://www.visitstandrews.com/valentines-day-st-andrews/

Four easy steps to beating the January blues

Happy New Year! Apologies that I've been a little quiet on the blog recently but I thought I'd change all that in 2014, starting off with a wee blog about four easy steps to beating those pesky January blues, all with a connection to the East Neuk and St Andrews of course!

Step 1 - Enjoy your lovely Christmas presents

I was lucky enough to get this painting for Christmas, which is now brightening up my house with its gorgeous colours:

Boats in Crail Harbour by Robin Forsyth; Close-up of the blue sea

The artist is Robin Forsyth, one of the Cellardyke-based artists who opened his home studio to visitors as part of East Neuk Open Studios (ENOS) in November. 

It's a painting of two cute little fishing boats in Crail harbour, so I loved the subject matter. I was also really struck by the intensity of the blue water, in striking contrast to the pure white of the frame. It's cheering me up in the dark, damp horribleness of January by reminding me of a sunny Summer's day by the sea!

Hopefully you have some equally lovely presents you can enjoy this January. 

Step 2 - Escapism

Speaking of presents, if Santa didn't bring you any reading material to get you through the dark Winter evenings, maybe it's time to get some new books for some blues-busting escapism.

Transport yourself to the life of a musician by reading the excellent "Songs in the Key of Fife". This is DJ Vic Galloway's collection of the intertwining stories of the artists who created a musical revolution from the East Neuk including KT Tunstall, King Creosote, the Beta Band, James Yorkston and more. Listening to some of these locally-raised gems is also a great blues-buster - I particularly love King Creosote's "Diamond Mine" album. Another local up-and-coming artist who is not in the book but is also worth listening to is Lidh, who has the voice of an angel. Check them out on iTunes or, better still, see them live.

(Picture: Vic Galloway at the launch event of the book at Cambo Estate last year; The book itself)

If you're more into to immersing yourself in a gritty crime novel then check out TF Muir's books about DCI Andy Gilchrist ("Eye for an Eye", "Tooth for a Tooth" etc.), who is the Inspector Rebus of St Andrews.

See my local books page for more ideas.

Step 3 - Celebrate our bard

What could be more cheering than a celebration of the bard, Rabbie Burns, and all things Scottish? And where better to enjoy the fun evening that is Burns' Night (25 January 2014) than in St Andrews! You could sample some haggis or other delicious Scottish dishes at The Dolls' House or The Vine Leaf on South Street. The Vine Leaf are offering their haggis neeps and tatties as "a potato basket filled with haggis, thyme poached turnip and drambuie cream" plus an equally tasty dish with veggie haggis too. Or for something a bit more spicy the award-winning Nahm-Jim's on Market Street, which I've blogged about before, offers Scottish-Thai fusions extraordinaire such as "Thai Haggis Bombs" (haggis in crunch pastry with a spicy dip) or the "Nahm-Jim Thai Haggis" (haggis combined with chilli, basil and Thai omelette).

An after dinner drink at the new St Andrews Brewing Company pub on South Street would be an obvious next step - sample craft beer and cider (check out the Thistly Cross Ginger Cider) in cosy, chalet-like surrounds. A special Burns' Night tasting event is being held at 7.30 with tutoring (by Douglas Clement from the Kingsbarns Distillery - more on that below), tunes and tapas (£10 a ticket, available in advance at the bar).

Then burn off some of those calories you just consumed with some lively traditional ceilidh dancing in Forgan's on Market Street (Forgan's are also doing a Burn's Supper event if you wanted to eat there too).

(Picture: Sample of craft beer at The St Andrews Brewing Company pub; Robert Burns biscuits from Fisher & Donaldson confectionary and bakery, St Andrews)

(Picture: Forgan's bar, including one of their inviting bothies in top right, ceilidh band in bottom right and unusual lighting in bottom left)

If you know about other things happening in St Andrews on Burns' Night then let me know. Enjoy!

Step 4 - New year, new social calendar

January is a month of planning ahead so plan your 2014 social calendar and give yourself masses of events to look forward to! To help you do this, check out my handy East Neuk and St Andrews Events Calendar.

The brand newly opened Dreel Halls venue in Anstruther may be the location for some new events this year - I'll keep you posted. 

Something to look forward to later this year is the opening of the Kingsbarns Distillery, which I'm really excited about. I sneaked a peak at the site last year and it is already looking very promising as they convert historical buildings on the edge of the Cambo Estate. They're hoping to open the doors on St Andrew's Day (November) and I can't wait!

I'm also looking forward to more blogging for this blog, the Visit St Andrews website and the Crail Food Festival. In the meantime I hope these blues-blasters lift your spirits!

More information:

www.paintingsilove.com/artist/robinforsyth

www.eastneukopenstudios.org

www.dollshouse-restaurant.co.uk

www.vineleafstandrews.co.uk

www.nahm-jim.co.uk

www.standrewsbrewingcompany.com/thebrewpub

www.forganstandrews.co.uk

kingsbarns.wordpress.com

Copyright Sara Scott 2014

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

Auld Alliance, alive and cooking in the East Neuk!

My guest blog has now been published on the Crail Food Festival website! It's about La Petite Epicerie, a little French deli in Anstruther with an amazing mixture of local and continental products extraordinaire. You'll find it right here: Crail Food Festival Blog.

Don't forget that the festival is taking place 15-16 June 2013 - should be lots of fun for anyone who likes good food and drink!

Meercats, sharks and ice cream - a fun family day out in St Andrews, whatever the weather

You can read my first ever guest blog on the Visit St Andrews site (the official website for visitors to St Andrews, Scotland). It's about two family-friendly things to do whether it's rain or shine, snowy or fine: (1) the delights of the Aquarium (meerkats, sharks, Nemo and much more) and (2) St Andrews' famous ice cream emporium, B. Jannettas. You'll find it right here: Visit St Andrews Blog 

May 2013 update: The St Andrews Aquarium now has some news - it will be getting Humboldt Penguins on 23 May 2013. Lets hope the penguins like their new home in St Andrews and you enjoy seeing them!

Copyright Sara Scott 2013

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

5 great things to do in the East Neuk right now

Do you think that February/ March is not a good time to holiday in Scotland? Think again - there's lots to do at this time of year in the East Neuk of Fife. Here are 5 ideas:

1. CATCH THE SNOWDROPS IN BLOOM - you may have missed the Snowdrops by Starlight event but the famous snowdrops at the Cambo Estate are still making an appearance by daylight and they are gorgeous! The sheer volume of them creates a lovely effect, especially alongside the Cambo burn. The unusual varieties near the house are also worth a look for their delicate perfection (there are over 350 varieties of snowdrops at Cambo). You can also buy snowdrops from the plant shop in the hope of recreating Cambo at home (I'm not known for my survival rate with plants so let's see how my efforts in the Rose Cottage garden go!).

Kids love to see the Cambo piglets as well and I must admit I did too - they have bags of energy, charging about, play fighting and eating.  (Cambo Estate, Near Kingsbarns; Open daily 10-5)



Piglets at Cambo

2. BUY LOCAL - have yourself a cheese board with the St Andrews Farmhouse Cheddar and Anster Red cheeses from the St Andrews Farmhouse Cheese Company. The shop there also has quality Scottish produce such as the posh, award-winning Summer Harvest rapeseed oil, which I suppose is Scotland's answer to olive oil (from £4). We took some of this to dinner with friends and it got plaudits for being something different, with a nice smoothness and subtlety, for dipping bread into. There's also a tearoom at the cheese farm where you can enjoy homemade cheese scones, cheese toasties, cakes etc, while enjoying the views over the fields and out to the Isle of May. It's a nice child-friendly place for lunch or a daytime snack in the country, with the chance to learn about how the cheese is made. (St Andrews Farmhouse Cheese Company, Falside Farm, Near Anstruther & Pittenweem; Tel: 01333-312580)

 



Ratatouille & goats cheese tart Fresh basil & pine nut pesto

3. EAT LOCAL FOOD AT THE PITTENWEEM INN - R and I recently tried this family-run restaurant out for the first time and we were impressed. Chef Brian Murphy does great things with fresh, seasonal local produce, including a weekly market menu. Prices are reasonable, service is friendly, the dining room inviting (with local art on the walls) and the atmosphere nice and informal. My mouth still waters when I look at this picture of the appetising goats' cheese starter from the a la carte menu (OK all this talk of cheese is really making me hungry now!). If you haven't been yet, you definitely owe it to your taste buds to pay a visit ASAP. (Pittenweem Inn, 42 Charles Street, Pittenweem; Tel: 01333 311326, Thu-Sun only)

4. PUT A LITTLE BIRDHOUSE IN YOUR SOUL - Susie Lacombe at the Crail Gallery has made a new batch of birdhouses shaped like historic Crail houses for 2013 (£40 each). I was lucky enough to be in the Gallery when she was painting them (with Farrow and Ball paint no less) so I even got to have a say in the design process of mine! Susie told me that birds look for a mate round about Valentine's day so now is definitely the time to do your bit for birdlife and put a birdhouse in your garden. Speaking of birds, daily boat trips from Anstruther to the Isle of May kick off for 2013 on 29 March, so it will soon be puffin-spotting season. (Crail Gallery, High Street, Crail; Tel: 01333 450316; Open 10-5 Mon-Sat & 12-5 Sun)



5. ENJOY A UNIQUE EVENT - Go to Scotland's only regular poetry festival - StAnza in St Andrews (6-10 March). It's international in outlook and was founded 15 years ago. Then there's the Fife Science Festival, also in St Andrews, at venues including the Castle and University (15-25 March). You could also plan ahead by booking tickets for the ninth East Neuk Festival (3-7 July) now before the events sell out. The Scotsman newspaper said the festival "promises more big names in intimate surroundings...so book ahead". I'm looking forward to experiencing it for the first time this year. For more details on these and other events see the Events page of this blog.

Like I said, lots to do so what are you waiting for?

Text and photos copyright Sara Scott 2013.