What About the Food?

So, one of the things that defines a culture is it's food.  We have been trying some different things over the past week, and want to share them.  We will start adding either a separate post, or an insert in the regular posts about new things we have learned about food.

1.  A very popular breakfast item we have found (although we have also found it on lunch menus) is a breakfast egg and bacon, or egg and sausage roll.  The first one I tried was at the Brasserie (see jazz pictures in the prior blog).  This was a wonderful restaurant, and the food was very good.  Becky had a BLT, and I had the breakfast roll. 

 The egg was fresh and cooked perfectly, and the bacon was a cross between Canadian bacon, bacon and ham. Salty and the perfect compliment to the egg and the wonderful soft, seedy roll.

2.  When you order coffee, you will be asked "black or white".  White coffee is hot milk and coffee.  Rather like a latte.  The coffee here in the UK has been very good, although very strong.  An Americano, which in the US is just hot water and coffee, is more like a "shot in the dark" would be in the US:  Regular coffee with a shot of espresso.  Quite strong.  I have decided to order a pot of hot water with my americano to extend the coffee, and not overdose on a straight hit of caffeine.  Oh, and you don't get "free refills" here, at least not anywhere that I have been. 

A side note:  It has also been hard to figure out the tipping procedure here. Do you or don't you, and how much? I was just talking with the man who runs the hostel, and he says it is very much up to you.  The tendency is to tip less than in America, he says "usually 12-12 1/2 % is the suggested amount in some restaurants, but there won't be any verbal abuse if you don't."
3.  Spotted Dick:  We were shopping for some bread and cheese in a co-op market in Rothesay, and found a package of "spotted dick" in the mark down bin.  We had just recently seen it on a menu in a nice restaurant we had visited the first night in the town, but didn't quite have the nerve to ask what it was. According to Carol, a woman from Cheshire, England who we met in the hostel, it is a very common dessert on school menues, and is either loved or hated by school children (she hated it) .  It didn't sound particularily appetizing:  Suet sponge with raisins, and a custard sauce.  Well, Becky and I have decided after experimenting with several desserts, that anything with custard sauce is wonderful (see following note), so we decided for 99p that we would take the chance, especially since the package said it was a "co-operative spotted dick".  It was actually pretty good. We also had a good laugh discussing the name, whether the discount would affect the quality of a "spotted dick", what happens to a due-to-expire spotted dick, and would "reducing" the price also reduce the size of the.....  well, you get the idea, and you can take it from there. 

4.  Custard sauce:  I have always said that you could put cream cheese on anything and it would be good.  Likewise, you can put kennel ration on a Ritz cracker, and it would be yummy.  Well, add to these truths one about custard sauce.  It is an amazing creation, and guaranteed to make ANYTHING not only yummy, but incredibly so (see above suet recipe).  It should be packaged and placed on the table along with salt, pepper, and butter so you could put it on whatever you wanted.  Pancakes, check.  Oatmeal, check.  Vegetables, yeh, probably check.  Ice cream, absolutely.  It makes any cake immediately better than on its own.  It is so good, you can eat it with a spoon.  I think it could be produced and sold in cans rather like evaporated or condensed milk.  There could be a real market for it. 

Sticky Toffee Pudding with custard sauce

 This is another wonderful item which on it's own is worth eating.  It is a toffee cake drowning in caramel, and the you have the option (like who wouldn't) of adding the Amazing Custard Sauce (and yes, it should be capitalized).

Becky and I both admitted it was actually better than the cocolate cake below.

Chocolate cake with custard sauce

The chocolate cake was moist and not too sweet, so adding the Amazing Custard Sauce didn't make it sweeter.  That is one of the things about it that makes it Amazing.... it isn't actually overly sweet.  Just rich and creamy.

5.  Last night, we went to a pub to listen to traditional Scottish music (more about that later), and we had dinner there.  For £3.95 I had a toasted cheese sandwich and a wonderful parsnip and honey soup.  It was blended smooth with the consistency of thin applesauce, and had a really wonderful flavor.  Just a hint of sweetness, and a subtle parsnip flavor. It wasn't overly woody tasting, but had the earthiness that parsnip lovers like.

Ok, enough about food.  I hope to post a bit about our pub experience last night last night, and we also have another one planned for tonight.  Were we were lacking in "pubness" in Rothesay, we are making up for it here in Inverness.   

We are going to go out and try to find another interesting breakfast, and will update as needed. 


Dee