Wicked waste

As my favourite niece would attest, this phrase is often on my lips.  I got it from one of the characters in Nina Bawden’s  story “Carrie’s War” and I just love to say it to bairns; normally, I’m exaggerating slightly when using it but am thinking more and more that it’s one of the key issues in Scotland now.

I read in last weekend’s Sunday Herald about the scale of our food waste and although I’ve been trying harder recently, I’m as guilty as the next person.  Maybe not with bread (which is the top wasted foodstuff in the UK with approximately 24 million slices a day going in the bin)  because I keep mine in the freezer and I’m trying to stop buying those bags of salad which can go slimy very quickly, buying proper lettuces instead which last for much longer.

I don’t know if this is the place to reveal that I cooked frozen scampi last night that was a year out of date and have suffered no ill effects.  This was discovered at the back of the bottom drawer of the freezer, being down there for an ’emergency’ dining opportunity which hadn’t arisen.  I gave it a good extended blast in the oven and tasted one bit warily before scoffing the rest; it was fine.

I’ve always thought we should just use common sense when it comes to paying attention to these “sell by” and “use by” dates, discarding anything which looks, smells or tastes off, instead of observing these dates as some kind of legal requirement.  Some yoghurts are perfectly fine a week or ten days past their ‘date’; they just need a sniff, a wee taste and a sensible decision.

Zero Waste Scotland recommends freezing a lot more food instead of throwing it out; just do it as it’s about to reach the “use by” date and it’ll be fine.  Make a pot of soup with all the veg that’s lying about or in the summer, you can throw stuff from the fridge into a bowl and have an interesting salad-type meal.

Christmas is going to be a challenge for us all as we buy far too much food.  The Sunday Herald advice was to start eating now what’s in our freezers so there’ll be room for Christmas leftovers which we should remove from the table fairly quickly, cool and freeze.  It’s my firm intention to label things as they go in but this rarely happens and I’ve had many a surprise months later as the ice slowly melts and the contents reveal themselves.

In Denmark, there’s a campaign called “Stop Wasting Food” which has seen a 25% reduction in food waste there.  The best-known name behind it is Selina Juul and she provided a lot of the tips in the Sunday Herald article which seem eminently sensible.

There’s a group called “Food Sharing Edinburgh” which collects food that would otherwise be going to waste and redistributes it but as they acknowledge themselves, what they rescue is a drop in the ocean.   Good on them though!   And the rest of us should be joining in, cutting waste in our own homes and sharing what we have with others.

 

I to the hills

Folk will have their own personal favourites among the mountain views in the north, but I love the road west through Oykel Bridge which gives you the first view of Suilven from the east end of Loch Craggie.  I’m more than happy to admire it from the roadside – though all 3 siblings have stood on its top, as has the loon.

There’s a splendid view of it from the comfort of the Elphin Tea Room which  – praise be – is now functioning again.   On a beautiful day, you can sit outside and drink it all in.  I only pass through Elphin maybe a couple of times in a year and have been so disappointed recently when the Tearoom had the “Closed” sign up.  There are good toilets at Knockan Crag, just beyond Elphin but the Tearoom itself was like an oasis, especially if you’ve just been to the top of Cul Mor in sub-arctic conditions and you don’t have the strength to go on to Ullapool.

When I stopped last month, having seen the new signs and having had my hopes raised, the place was hoaching and the service was perhaps a little eccentric but I later learned that they hadn’t had a customer for two and a half days so no  wonder the rush had caught them off guard.  Yes, I had a bit of a wait but I had a very good pot of tea and a slab of ginger cake.

I called in at Elphin on my way back from Ullapool, having saved the afternoon tea slot for it.  Lunch in Ullapool is always at The Ceilidh Place which thankfully doesn’t change. I did get ice in my glass as I forgot to specify I didn’t want it but nor did I want to make a fuss.  But I will next time: it was October and yes it was a fine day but hardly tropical and the energy wasted on making the ice could be going on something that is actually needed.  Or saved altogether.

By the way, is it a sin to put your oven on for only one item?  This is what I was brought up to believe so after I made a Christmas cake today, I then used up some old eggs, out of date Stork and some poor-looking lemon verbena to make a version of Mary Berry’s lemon drizzle cake but in a loaf tin, not in a tray.  It was ready to go in when the Christmas cake came out.  Then when the lemon loaf came out, I was ready with some fish to put in to bake.  Now the oven is off (after 4 and a half hours) and the kitchen surfaces are littered, I’m wondering if I should be feeling smugly green.

Back to the C P.  A couple who came to sit at the next table left as there was no ham anywhere on the menu and I noticed some salad garnishes being taken away untouched from the plates of teenage boys.  How’re we going to become a healthier nation?  Folk complain loud and long about the supposed deficiencies of the NHS but what’re we doing to help ourselves and reduce the strain on it?

On the way south, I went to the Dairy at Daviot which is a place of calm, less than a mile off the madness of the A9.  It’s easier to get to going south from Inverness if, like me, you’re a bit feart of doing right turns on the A9.  You’re in a woodland setting, with a vast car park and a play area for children but watch out for the heavy wooden chairs – when you pull them in closer to the table , you run the risk of scraping the back of your ankle on a low bar.  They do Black Isle ice cream and try the bramble sorbet though you’ll spend the next hundred miles trying to get the seeds out of your teeth.

I overheard the following exchange there which gladdened my heart:

Young boy (possibly 5 / 6) with a used plate in front of him:  “Daddy, I want …”

Father: “No, you don’t”.

He immediately accepted it and a few minutes later, took his younger brother by the hand out to the play area while his parents were able to finish their breakfast in peace,  keeping an eye on their boys through the huge window.

Though now in the east and on my way south, the hills of the west were still in my mind: that last view of Suilven in the mirror until you get to the end of Loch Craggie and then see it no more.

 

 

To everything there is a season

This used to be true but I spotted my first Christmas item in August and now that Hallowe’en is past, it’s going full throttle.  What happens to the piles and piles of unsold Hallowe’en tat?   I note that plastic pumpkins are now a thing.

Why do we need all this stuff?  Some of the costumes for bairns are really expensive and if you’ve got several to dress up, it must come to a fair sum.  In my day, it was all home-made with apple-dooking and treacle scones.  I blame America – yet again – for commercialising an old festival  –  our old festival, by the way.  And the supermarkets are also in the dock.

I must confess to hollowing out a pumpkin to make my lantern, though in my defence, I used the innards to make soup, mixing them with lentils and adding lots of spices  –  it was ok, nothing special but I couldn’t bring myself to waste the pumpkin bits.  The last time I tried to hollow out a neep, I broke a knife and bent a spoon and gave up.  However, I’ve now watched a lassie on YouTube doing it and she succeeded quite well using a variety of implements, including an apple corer.  Next year, if I’m spared, I’m going to try  carving a neep again, with the toolbox at my side.

Back to the C. word.  I was in a Costa on Thursday there (2 Nov.) and the lassie at the till was wearing a Santa hat.  I asked her if she was going to have to wear it for two months and she said she had it on that day as they were “launching Christmas”.  In the name of the wee man!

I’m someone who’s always loved Christmas and I resent feeling annoyed at the way our faces are being rubbed in it just now.  Fair enough, let’s have dried fruit promoted  for the making of cakes and puddings and maybe the cards could come out in mid-November.  1st December is time enough for all the rest of it.

I want to get back to feeling joy, having something to look forward to in the middle of the long cold.