January 2, 2010
Or is it . . .Kami-politan? You pick. Tis the season for the ‘blue hour’, that is time for cocktails. I’ve returned the tomes that guided me over a decade ago. And in the spirit of invention, thought this worked nicely as tasty aperitif. Juice of one lime 2 shots (or two parts) Grand Marnier 3 shots (or three parts) premium Vodka Splash or 2 of Cranberry juice (juice not sweetened drink) Shake with ice, strain into well-chilled 70-90 ml 'shot-style' glasses. Serve immediately.  cosmokaze ingredients
Oh....... and Happy New Year!
Posted by John McKenna. Posted In :
Cocktails
December 24, 2009
barefootbandit  Right. The Guardian is still my preferred daily though I see it much less frequently. I truly enjoyed a recent report (15 Dec) from the US by Ed Pilkington on the “barefoot bandit,” Colton (great name) Harris-Moore. Eighteen years old and somewhere between 6’2” and 6’5”, this young scofflaw steals anything from credit cards to Cessnas, having apparently learned to fly from the internet and manuals purchased using the pinched plastic. Though this is probably old news ...
Posted by John McKenna. Posted In :
Year In Review - 2009
December 23, 2009
Let’s begin on a humorous note. I couldn’t really improve on the Craig Brown diary of Barack Obama in Private Eye (date lost). It recounts Obama and his daughter waiting to buy an ice-cream at the beach:  private eye
‘ “Next!” says the gentleman in the ice-cream truck. And then he addresses me in this way. “Sir, if you can’t make up your mind, I’m gonna have to ask you to move. Others are waiting.”
I step aside and turn to Malia Ann. “This is a defining moment, Malia Ann,” ... Continue reading...
Posted by John McKenna. Posted In :
Year In Review - 2009
December 11, 2009
. . . well, there’s fish. In this case a bit of locally landed haddock that I’ve home smoked out by the byre.
brook's original home smoker  I couldn’t be bothered with making a full-on brine as I will be using the smoked fish immediately in a Cullen skink and the fish doesn’t need to be ‘preserved’ for any time. That said, I gave two fillets a short, sharp cure for an hour or so in Maldon’s seasalt with some dried thyme. salted fish (with dog)  Next I remove all the excess salt and ...
Posted by John McKenna. Posted In :
Crofting
December 1, 2009
The titter is back. This time it is from reading an anthology of the late Hector MacDonald’s columns, originally published by the West Highland Free Press. I recently met the charming widow MacDonald, or as she is apparently known at the hospital Maggie Leurbost. (Get out your atlases -- or is it atlai?)
Anywho, Mr MacDonald wrote using the pseudonym Aimsir Eachainn, which I am certain has some double entendre and whenever I manage to learn the Gaelic, I’ll share it with you. He... Continue reading...
Posted by John McKenna. Posted In :
Crofting
November 24, 2009
Broadcasting “across the Western Isles from the heart of the Hebrides,” Isles FM is a bit of misnomer. Based in a tiny Stornoway studio, our community and volunteer-run radio station, 103 MHz on the dial (not that anyone has dials these days), is more than slightly preoccupied with the Isle of Lewis. Generally speaking the station’s signal disappears once you’re in Harris (though people on the western coastal mainland apparently hear it loud and clear).  Isles FM might strike the unknow...
Posted by John McKenna. Posted In :
Crofting
November 11, 2009
. . . When I'm in the middle of a dream, stay in bed and float upstream . . . I was sitting by the peat fire recently when I heard some news of February Burns. Some of you may remember him.
peat fire  He was the one mixed up in that strange but appealing scheme to “fight fur with fur” back in the late 1980s. Homeless people in the East Village and Lower East Side of NYC were paid to catch rats. Then Burns and some cohorts sewed the pelts into odd bits of garments. Gloves were the least o...
Posted by John McKenna. Posted In :
Crofting
November 11, 2009
Last night was our first carnivorous meal featuring croft livestock. The Indian Runners are not ideal for the table, but seeing as how we need to cull a couple of drakes, we might as well not let them go to waste. I followed the basic outlines of a Jamie Oliver recipe.
before  Roughly chopped veg (onions, carrots, celery, garlic) go in the bottom of the pan. Fresh sage leaves are mashed with salt using mortar and pestal, and then rubbed all over the bird. Citrus (lemon or orange, halved) gets ... Continue reading...
Posted by John McKenna. Posted In :
Crofting
October 25, 2009
(As a preamble, this all went on to the compost heap.) It was collected on a recent hike to Aird Toranais (Torranish).  mushrooms, mainly
Yes, that's sheep dung and an urchin shell. Aird Toranais is due west along the shoreline, amid the common grazing, old stone walls and a modern shepherd bothy (complete with generator, cooker, full ash tray, and TV (why? - why not?). spore pattern
 To repeat, binned as I don't know for certain whether or not this will destroy my kidneys. Continue reading...
Posted by John McKenna. Posted In :
Crofting
October 19, 2009
One of the nicer hikes is out the back of the apportionment and
south into the hills of the Earshader Common Grazings.
crumpled OS map of the area
I did it back in April with the camera. Along the banks of Loch Fhreunadail
I found a dead ewe. The carcass was still furry. But we like to collect sheep
skulls so I thought I should go back.
rotting corpse
And I did Sunday. And to my slight surprise, I found the remains of the beast. But not at all as I left them in the ... Continue reading...
Posted by John McKenna. Posted In :
Crofting
 |
About Me
Barry Shelby, American-gone-native-Scotsperson, Journalist , Photographer, Author and....Crofter located now at Earshader on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. Barry, based for years in Glasgow, is now with his wife Elizabeth on the Islands off the North-West Coast of Scotland.
|
Lewis (Scottish Gaelic: Leòdhas, also Isle of Lewis) is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides (an archipelago) of Scotland. The total area of Lewis is 683 square miles (1,770 km2).
Lewis is, in general, the lower lying part of Lewis and Harris, with the other part, Harris, being more mountainous. The flatter, more fertile land means Lewis contains the only town, Stornoway and three-quarters of the population of the Western Isles. Beyond human habitation, the island's diverse habitats are home to an assortment of flora and fauna, such as the golden eagle, red deer and seals and are recognised in a number of conservation areas.
Lewis is of Presbyterian tradition with a rich history, having once been part of the Norse Kingdom of Mann and the Isles. Today, life is very different to elsewhere in Scotland with Sabbath observance, the Gaelic language and peat cutting retaining more importance than elsewhere. Lewis has a rich cultural heritage as can be seen from its myths and legends as well as the local literary and musical traditions.
(source Wikipedia) |
