Our general chit-chat thread!

Hi @Jenny Walter is soooo cute! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

Yes, we stayed a night at MishNish and had dinner, thoroughly enjoyed our time there. You are making me hungry now thinking about the food there! :sweat_smile:

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It’s wonderful isn’t it! I keep thinking I’ll go back to Mull one day for a visit, but haven’t managed to yet!

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@Jenny we buy a similar hand made spice blend at Redcliffe Markets near Brisbane, Australia (the best markets I’ve ever been to). You can buy any amount of so many different spices and blends. We love sprinkling it on fish before we BBQ it or on a Vietnamese style salad.

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On some YouTube videos, folks make their own. Like dry the rind of various citrus, add spices and pulverize them in coffee grinders or such. My husband has a coffee grinder that he’s used for spices he’s bought, but he does that rarely.

On social media, there was a post someone created on some kind of farm drying tomatoes and turning them into tomato powder for sale. They mentioned that farms used to discard fresh tomatoes they couldn’t sell and they’ve since figured out how to repurpose them for powder.

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One of my best friends has been living near Brisbane for the last five years or so @Crookie - I will have to ask them if they’ve been to Redcliffe markets and if they can try the spice mixes for me :rofl:

What else is good at the markets?

@Carla and other Brits in the U.S. who are missing foods from the U.K., I was at Cost Plus World Market, a chain in the U.S. that stocks plenty of goodies from abroad. Some random shots below. The chain is especially flush with foods from many parts of the world during the holiday season. If you can’t find a location near you, they also do online sales. But going in person offers way more selection. The prices are reasonable.

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@Maggie8K Oh my goodness, that is so very kind of you to take those photos and share this recommendation. In each photo, I was so happy to see another one of my favourites.
HP sauce, Branston Pickle and don’t get me started on all of the biscuits!! I am on Google now and looking for this store. Thank you - oh and Cadbury fingers yum :yum: Which ones have you tried?

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I haven’t tried that many Cadbury’s. My husband and I are partial to Hobnobs. I steered clear of the gluten-free ones and bought all remaining seven or eight tubes of the regular kind today at Cost Plus.

Decades ago, my husband and I loved them, but it was hard and expensive to find them in the U.S. So when I visited the U.K., I would take home a carry-on suitcase of nothing but Hobnobs, which we’d ration ourselves to, LOL. Nowadays, we can get many U.K. treats in the U.S. much more easily and more reasonably priced, thanks to Cost Plus, Amazon and such.

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@Maggie8K My husband loves Hobnobs! We haven’t had any in the USA yet so will be tracking those down, to dunk into a cup of tea :rofl:

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Oh, they have holiday goodies in stock as well. Some examples:

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@Maggie8K Oh No I just saw the mince pies… I think I will end up with a cart full and have to save some for Christmas :laughing:

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Puppies came to lunch :dog: :dog: :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: a cafe fundraiser for Helen Woodward Animal Rescue Centre

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LOL. From here: Cats

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@Angela_L how lovely :dog::heart:

Dog in a dress alert! This is one of my sister’s pups, doesn’t she look adorable? My sister tells me the chiahuaua like to wear extra layers to keep cosy in the Scottish autumn!

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I’m still giggling at this @Maggie8K - I feel quite strongly that choice A is the correct one :rofl:

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Happy Friday everyone! Does anyone have any nice plans for the weekend?

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ohmigosh! I just paid for Meyer lemons to put in tea and water and whatever else I can think of…lavender & lemon shortbread perhaps…

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Try, if you haven’t already, Gruyere and aged cheddar in baked macaroni & cheese! Made a batch for the freezer but ended up eating it all within a week. Oopsey, will have to make more.

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Hello! I just joined a few days ago and am figuring out where and how to find things. For now I’m only window shopping existing opportunities to get an idea of what’s out there.

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