Fried Green Tomatoes

We reread Fannie Flagg's book as one of our holiday reads and so, when we pulled the tomato plants today before they went blighty, we decided to make Sipsey's recipe. We passed on the milk gravy and dressed it with cajun rémoulade and a slaw side. We were all outta strawberry soda so we washed it down with A&W instead.

This has got us thinking about "What We'll Do Next Summer". We are both in agreement: MORE TOMATOES.

Having listened to inspirational What’cha Growin? Podcast Episode #4 Kelly Gilliam by Gayla Trail of You Grow Girl we plan to try growing something a little more exotic, possibly Zapotec Pink Pleated which Gayla puts in her top five.

I Say Tomato

Our adventures continue. Now for the something new:

We tried a Parsi recipe 'Bombay Eggs' from our new cook book 'Made in India' by Meera Sodha...

...with a side of garden green beans with mustard seeds and ginger also from Meera's recipe book. "Deelish"! These are going to become seasonal favourites.

You Say Tomato

Having been on hols we've come back to a glut of tomatoes which we've decided to splurge on something new and something old. First for the something tried and tested as it's a recipe we could cook up using kitchen cupboard essentials and ingredients from the corner shop...

♥... and it is a seasonal treat we look forward to every year. ♥

To make the sauce we halved the tomatoes, laid them out in roasting pans,sprinkled them with mace and cayenne pepper and roasted them until all juices were reduced.

We sieved the roasted tomatoes to remove the skins and pips. We fried up a chopped onion, stirred in a 50g tin of anchovies until they disintegrated then added the tomato pulp. We added a little cream and seasoning to taste.

Cawdor Castle

We spent a lazy morning following the Painted Ladies around the Cawdor Castle gardens. The holly maze was closed to the public but the severely clipped hedges cut a captivating contrast to the chaotic, branched canopy of the two Laburnum(?)arched avenues that flank the maze.

We ♥ Scotland.

And so ends our adventure, it was hard to tear ourselves away but on the other hand we couldn't wait to see our very own Plot 57b and the kitteh.

A Boat trip from Avoch

"Please do not throw stones for the dog". It proved easier to train the humans than discourage the dog from asking for stones to be thrown. It was very difficult to resist the wheedling.

♥ Poppet ♥

The trip took an hour and we went out as far as Fort George and idled. The dolphins moved away from the fort bank and swam in a slow but determined arc so that they could pass close by the boat and take a good look at us before swimming off. A heartwarming encounter and the thrill of a heady experience of a vast water, land and sky scape... and the smell of the sea.

Stornoway to Ullapool

We were able to visit the Stornoway Smokehouse shop before we boarded the ferry back to Ullapool on the mainland.

We stopped briefly in Ullapool to have a bowl of homemade soup at the tiny Tea by The Sea cafe before heading to Inverness.

Whistle-stop Lewis

On our drive to St Moluag we happened across this and numerous other humorous creations on display for sale along the verge of 16a An Cnoc Ard, Eoropaidh

Callanish Stones

Gearrannan Blackhouse village

Roddy gave us a demonstration on the Hattersley treadle loom. Our favourite Harris tweed experience was an unrushed, friendly and interesting conversation and demonstration by Norman Mackenzie in his Carloway shed.

We managed to squeeze in a visit to the Shawbost Norse Mill and Kiln and marvel at the engineering ingenuity of the folk in harnessing and channelling a stream to their end purpose.

Uig to Harris

View over Uig before taking the ferry to Tarbet. There was enough time to visit the Isle of Skye Brewery shop and put store by a couple of bottles of Isle of Skye, Red Cuillin ale.

Suzy drove the hair-raising Golden Road to the sixteenth century St Clements, Rodel, in squalling rain and diminishing light.

We then made our way up to Lewis.

Hairy Coos and Fairy Pools

A fine beastie.

Sligachan and views of the Black Cuillin.

View of the stream Allt Coir a Mhadaidh coursing past the pinnacle of Sgurr an Fheadain.

We unwittingly beat the crowds by first driving through Glen Brittle before heading to the Fairy Pools of Allt Coir a Mhadaidh. We arrived just as the crowds were beating a hasty retreat from the midges and back to their cars for lunch.

After a short stop at the Talisker Distillery we headed onwards for late afternoon lunch. The folks at the Carbost Oyster Shack were starting to scrub down when we arrived.

Once again, judging by the mountains of detritus in the bins, we found we'd beaten the crowds. Only thing to do but to tuck into the fresh seafood and take our time in enjoying the picturesque view.

The Old Man of Storr

We headed on to Uig ready to catch the ferry to Harris the next day.