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Shepherd and Flock

Valentines Menu … Thursday 14^th February

Champagne and canapés upon arrival

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Seafood salad with sweet pickled vegetables

Duck rillette, tender shredded duck meat with fig and red onion chutney

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Homemade pink champagne sorbet

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Roast loin of South Downs lamb, pea and mint puree, fondant potato,

caramelised shallot and pancetta

Pan seared salmon with herb crust, crab and ginger sauce, spring onions

and sliced new potatoes

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Lemon soufflé with pistachio tuille

Trio of chocolate mousse with almond praline

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Coffee and homemade fudge

These three courses @ £25.00

All 6 courses @ £32.95

All 6 courses and cheese and biscuits to follow@ £38.50

Vegetarian options available upon request

Interesting facts about Scotland’s Robert Burns

Burns Night is an annual festival that celebrates the life and works of Scottish poet and lyricist Robert Burns … also known as ‘Rabbie’ to his friends.

Burns Night also has a strong association with Whisky!

‘Rabbie’ is widely regarded as Scotland’s national poet and the festival has become Scotland’s unofficial national day.

It is celebrated on January 25th the date of Burn’s birth.

Burns Night has a rich heritage in Scottish culture and combines two of the nation’s favourite pastimes, eating and drinking whisky, with the legendary poetry of Robert Burns.

Burns was born in 1759. Over the years his work became more renowned … as did his reputation for liking whisky and women.

His heavy drinking and adultery gained him notoriety and scorn within literary circles, although the quality and output of his work remained consistently high.

So, how did Burns Night begin and what does it involve?

It is believed that the first Burns Night took place over 200 years ago in 1801 – less than five years after Burns’ death … and was celebrated by a group of scholars who were fans of his work.

In the early days it was seen as the perfect platform to celebrate Scotland and being Scottish … incorporating Burns’ poetry, Scottish food (most notably haggis, neeps and tatties) … and, of course, copious amounts of whisky!

The popularity and celebrations grew year on year until we have the Burns Night that we know today.

And a couple of interesting facts about ‘Rabbie’ …

‘Auld Lang Syne’ – composed by Burns – is recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as being one of the top three most popular songs in the English language. The other two are ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘For he’s a jolly good fellow’

Robert Burns was the first person to appear on a commemorative bottle of Coca-Cola, in 2009, according to the Daily Telegraph, previous promotional bottles had featured The Fifa World Cup and the Olympic Games, but never individuals.

Cheers!

New Year’s Resolutions … What’s Yours?

As we come to the end of the season to be jolly … we enter a new season to make optimistic vows to give up something or start something new!

Do they work? Will you make any?

Go to the gym, give up junk food, give up smoking are bound to feature highly on people’s wishlists as we enter a New Year.

Being optimistic for the New Year is no bad thing, but setting unreasonable objectives can place pressure on us as we strive for that rich reward of a better more rewarding lifestyle.

Research also suggests that many of us do make such resolutions, so it would be great to hear from you…

Do you believe in making promises to yourself on New Year’s Day?  

If so, have you ever kept any of them for an entire year or beyond?

Can you remember the ones you made a year back as we entered 2012…. And what are your resolutions for 2013?

And. Just a thought … as it’s now past January, have you broken any yet?!

Don’t be shy; be good to hear from you …

Mayan apocalypse looms large for this Friday!

Bad enough that the Christmas shopping is still not done, some people are preparing for the end of the world later this week …!

Some New Age spiritualists are convinced that this Friday – 21^st December 2012 – will be the “doomsday” as foretold by the Mayan Calendar.

The precise manner of Armageddon remains vague, ranging from a catastrophic celestial collision between Earth and the mythical planet Nibiru (also known as Planet X), a disastrous crash with a comet, or the annihilation of civilisation by a giant solar storm.

But it’s the Mayan Calendar that is featuring here. Their calendar, the so-called long count cycle has a 5,126 year cycle. The Mayan Calendar is divided into bak’tuns – 144,000 day cycles. And the last cycle on the calendar is fast approaching …

Some people are already preparing. From Italy come reports of a lawyer who plans to ride out Armageddon in a bunker built under his villa.

In parts of Russia, the shelves were emptied of fuel, matches, sugar and candles, supposedly in anticipation of something worse than winter in Russia.

The French government’s sect watchdog ‘Miviludes’ has an eye on the idyllic mountain village of Bugarach … in case doomsday cults arrive, after word got around it will be the only place left standing.

But for every person who takes the predictions seriously, many more find it harmless fun. And for some it’s seen as a business opportunity. Dedicated websites flog dried food, gas masks and other cheerless items.

Brewers have also chipped in with a range of apocalypse-themed beers.

I know it’s only Tuesday, but Friday is not far away … Cheers to that!

Raise a glass to the great Christmas Pud!

Christmas pudding was made for … Christmas!

And, of course, it is the only seasonal food that is alcoholic!

The allure of the Christmas pudding is quite extraordinary … few foods have such iconic power as that brandy-soaked, fruit-filled, deliciously dense concoction … which is the set alight and carried to the table with such ceremony!

It was Charles Dickens who captured the familiar scene in a Christmas Carol (1843) where he describes the pudding thus: “Like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a- quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight (adorned) with Christmas holly stuck in the top”

But what’s really intriguing is that the Christmas pudding is considered so important that, even though we eat it only once a year … it has its own national day – Stir-Up Sunday!

Stir –Up Sunday

This is the traditional day when families gather round the kitchen table to stir the Christmas pudding mixture. It falls four or five weeks before Christmas Day, on the last Sunday before the season of Advent.

A long time ago Christmas pud was actually porridge … with fruit and alcohol (of course)!

In Henry V111’s time the King went a-hunting, and, hungry, he was fed at a woodcutter’s cottage – and was served “plum pottage”. He liked it so much; he got the royal cooks to make it!

In the next century Oliver Cromwell, the Puritan, banned it … which showed that it must be good stuff.

And it was in the Victorian era that despite being utter prudes, the Victorians made the pud the centre of their Xmas table …. Hooray for the Victorians….

In fact, let’s raise a glass to the Pud!