At the close of business today, Sunday 23rd January, we pulled down the shutter and unfortunately I have decided that it must remain that way and that TurtleDove Play Café will cease trading with immediate effect.
It is a very sad day, but due to low levels of sales since early December, the business is no longer viable to run in the long term and I must take the hard decision to do what is right for the business.
I would like to thank our many loyal customers from over the years, all staff who have worked for us and suppliers who have helped us produce what was once a vibrant, thriving café.
The UK wants to go dry, new data has shown a 22% increase of people searching to go dry compared to the previous year 17,000 people in the UK have searched for mocktails over the past 30 days alone.
20.4% of the UK is tee total, new data shows
Virgin mojito was the fifth most searched alcohol-free drink, and the most searched mocktail
The UK loves wine, even if it is non-alcoholic. There have been 9,900 searches for non-alcoholic wine in the past month alone.
The UK’s favourite non-alcoholic drink is Heineken 0.0, the non-alcoholic twist on the classic beer has been searched 43,200 times in the past 12 months.
This year has seen a 22% increase in Brits taking part in Dry January as people around the UK, look to opt out of booze and replace it for a non-alcoholic alternative. A study by kitchen experts Maxima Kitchen Equipmentused Google data to find out what exactly were the UK’s favourite non-alcoholic drinks.
The research revealed UK’s favourite non-alcoholic drink is a Heineken 0.0, the beer has been searched 43,200 times in the past year alone. The brand was first launched in the UK in 2017, and is set to be made available on draught in pubs this year after a successful pilot scheme in the summer of 2021.
The study found Becks Blue in second place with 39,600 searches in the past 12 months alone. It is followed by Lucky Saint beer in third place with 38,400 searches and Guinness Zero in fourth with 36,000 searches.
Virgin Mojito, a twist on the classic cocktail came in fifth place overall, making it the nation’s favourite mocktail, with 33,600 searches in the past year.
A mixture of other classic mocktails made the list as well such as Virgin Mary in eighth place, as well as the prosecco alternative Nozeco in 13th place.
The term Non-alcoholic beer has been searched 8,100 times and non-alcoholic wine 9,900 times in the past 30 days.
A spokesperson for Maxima Kitchen Equipment said: “Lots of people spend months looking forward to Christmas, and the chance to indulge a little more than usual, in both food and drink.
“However, in January it’s becoming more and more popular to try and start the year with a health-conscious mindset, whether it be going dry for the month or just trying to drink a little bit less than usual. It is interesting to see the growing popularity in non-alcoholic drinks and which ones are the nation’s favourites.”
The research was carried out by Maxima Kitchen Equipment, which has more than 40 years of experience in the supply and maintenance of professional kitchen equipment.
Morrisons is helping customers celebrate Burns Night on the 25th January, with a selection of Scottish staples, a special bouquet and deals on bottles to raise a dram.
Highlights include:
Glayva Liqueur – £12 down from £18 in Scotland until 25th Jan
Paul Wilson, Personal Finance Expert at CashLady.com, shares his ideas on how to keep going with Veganuary if you’re on a budget.
Veganuary is a great time to try starting some new habits and making a change to your lifestyle. If you’re not used to a plant-based diet, you might be starting to find it tricky to stay on track.
We know more about money than making delicious meals, but with a few weeks left of January, here’s some tips on how you can keep up with Veganuary without it costing the earth:
1.Yellow labels
Fresh produce is by far the most likely to be reduced in the supermarket. Different supermarkets generally reduce their stock at different times; ask in store when they start marking down prices and make sure you get there when they do. You can pick up lots of reduced fruit and vegetables to whip up stews and curries with.
2.Bulk buy
If you’ve found a few recipes you know you like and have gotten the hang of cooking plant based meals, then stock up on the things you know you’ll use. You can make savings by buying multipacks rather than individual items every time you need them
3.Save your leftovers
Don’t throw away what you don’t eat. Save it and use it for lunch the next day. Saving money by not buying yet another meal deal could help see you through until the end of January.
4.Shop online
Type ‘meat free’ or vegan into your shopping app and it will bring up all the relevant options. You can then see which are on offer or are cheaper and choose those instead of more expensive options. Rather than planning what you are eating and then buying those ingredients, do it the other way round and buy the items on offer then make a meal from them.
5.Offers everywhere
If you’ve had enough of cooking and fancy a Friday night off, January couldn’t be a better time. There are a huge number of restaurants trying to tempt us back in with 50% offers. Be sure to search for offers in your area before you book anywhere to make sure you’re getting a good deal alongside a good meal.
6.Eat more veg
Meat or dairy substitutes can be costly. Eating meals that are vegetable based means you aren’t forking out for big name brands or packaging. Cooking from scratch can really help you keep a handle on what you spend and also be much more exciting than a pre-packed burger.
7.Visit the greengrocer
If you have the time, get down to the greengrocers. Just as with the yellow labels, you can ask if they have any produce that is near it’s best before and ask for a discount. You can also buy in singles rather than pre-packed bundles, and find items that might not be in the supermarket to give your diet variety and inspire you to keep going.
8.Meal boxes
If you’re really struggling to come up with new dinner ideas in Veganuary, then you could try signing up to a meal subscription service. They always offer introductory discounts, like 50% off your first box, and you can cancel any time. You can select only vegan meals and they send you recipe cards with step-by-step instructions. Keep the recipe cards, and once you’ve got the hang of it, cancel the subscription and start buying and making the recipes yourself.
9.Pin It
There are so many resources on the internet to find new vegan recipes, but it’s easy to forget where you saw them. Create a board on Pinterest and save all your favourite meals on there. That way, you won’t run out of ideas and end up spending too much on takeaways or meals out.
Paul Wilson is a Consumer Finance Expert at Financial Conduct Authority authorised and regulated credit broker CashLady.com
Raise a dram to Robert Burns in style at The Ivy on the Square, where guests will be treated to a limited-edition menu featuring some traditional Scottish favourites with an Ivy twist.
On Tuesday, 25 January, diners can enjoy a good helping of Scottish cuisine with classic Burns Night dishes, including a Haggis Neeps and Tatties Shepherd’s Pie, and the regular favourite Oatmeal-rolled Lathallan Haggis Bon Bons. For those with a sweet tooth, the menu also features a Hazelnut Praline Parfait.
Additional themed cocktails will be available alongside entertainment that will pay tribute to Robert Burns and his work. Get ready for some poetry, pipes and drams!
Cocktails include My Love Is Like a Red, Red, Rose (£9.75) a whisky lover’s twist on the classic Bramble cocktail with Highland Park 12 Year Old Whisky, lemon juice, sugar and a float of Crème de Mure; and My Heart Is In The Highlands (£12.75) a wonderfully indulgent champagne cocktail with Highland Park 12 Year Old Whisky, Grand Marnier & The Ivy Champagne poured carefully over a sugar cube soaked in Angostura Bitters.
To view the full menu and make a reservation, visit TheIvyEdinburgh.com
Two million turkeys, 74 million mince pies and five million Christmas puddings. Sounds like a feast fit for a small nation? Well that’s the estimated number of otherwise edible festive food items that ended up in landfill this Christmas in the UK – and that’s not even taking into account things like vegetables, cheeses and unwanted party food that found their way to the bin.
In fact, a UK survey in 2021 revealed that over 45 per cent of people admitted to buying too much food over Christmas* with cheese, biscuits and chocolate coming out as the most overbought products. But with government figures showing that the amount of household food waste collected by local authorities across the UK rose by 11% to 485 thousand tonnes**, food waste isn’t just a Yuletide problem.
It’s also not just down to us as consumers, as food industry expert Hannah Anderson, Managing Director of ethical online food retailer 44 Foods explains: “Many of us would have seen first hand the supermarket shelves this Christmas Eve, still piled high with turkeys, vegetables and other perishable items that sadly, would likely have ended up in landfill.
“It’s a particularly sobering thought when you consider that five million people in the UK are living in food poverty.
“The major food retailers are an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to reducing food waste and as we’ve seen with the likes of Morrisons and their decision to remove use by dates from its milk bottles, steps are being made in the right direction.
“More support for UK producers is crucial too. Behind each item of wasted food is the wasted time, money and effort of a producer and with so many across the farming industry struggling, they need our support more than ever.”
But there’s plenty that we as consumers can do too, Hannah, who has worked in the food buying industry for over 20 years says. “As a consumer, shopping more mindfully is one of the biggest ways to reduce food waste.
“Part of that is spending more and buying less. With the cost of living on the rise, that might seem counterproductive, but spending slightly more on quality products and buying only what you need to buy can actually save you money in the long-run as you won’t be throwing as much of your hard earned cash straight into the bin at the end of every week.
“Swapping those big name retailers for smaller, local producers can make a huge difference. Supermarkets by their nature deal in bulk, meaning that you often have little choice but to overbuy, especially when it comes to things like vegetables or meat products. They also reel you in with the promise of cheaper prices by buying more than you really need.
“Buying your food straight from the farm can not only give you a better quality product but it also gives you more control over the amounts that you’re buying so the fridge won’t be full of stuff you’ll never get around to using.
“It also means that what you’re buying is as fresh as it possibly can be without first having been wrapped in plastic and sat in an industrial chiller for days.”
You won’t need to don your wellies or make a trip to the farm shop either, Hannah explains.
“Sites like 44 Foods give you access to producers across the UK – think of it like a nationwide farm shop that lets you pick and choose ethically homegrown produce which is then delivered to your door.
“We also don’t do next day delivery which means that everything you order is at it’s very best when it reaches you. We even do bundles which means that whether you’re cooking a Sunday roast or a weekday meal, we’ll pull together everything you need, in the right quantities, and all you need to do is the cooking.”
So, when it comes to reducing food waste, it’s about shopping smaller, shopping smarter and focusing your food budget where it really matters.
With Burns Night fast approaching wild flavour innovators Buck & Birch felt it was a great time to share possibly the most indulgent and decadent Burn’s supper recipes going – The Forager’s Haggis!
A Burn’s Supper would traditionally consist of Haggis, neeps and tatties but head chef, master forager and flavour expert at Buck & Birch, Rupert Waites has elevated the dish with foraged ingredients, wild game and a mound of sweet, sticky, braised red cabbage made with a generous glug of Buck & Birch’s award-winning elderberry liqueur, Aleder Elixir.
This recipe may seem a little daunting to make from scratch, but a butcher bought haggis will work just fine but don’t forget the Aleder Elixir braised cabbage – it makes all the difference!
FOR THE HAGGIS
Beef bung for stuffing
500g toasted pinhead oatmeal
200g of well cared for, organic, minced pork fat or belly.
1.4kg wild game pluck (heart, lungs liver), ½ diced, ½ minced
500g of mixed wild game trimmings
100g finely diced onion
3 cloves of garlic chopped fine
1.5 litres game stock
SEASONING
6g juniper berries
6g dried coriander seed
2g ground mace
6g cracked black pepper
6g fresh thyme
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt to taste
METHOD
Toast the oatmeal and set aside. In a large pan fry the onion, garlic and dried spices until onions are translucent before adding the meat and browning for 5 minutes (some prefer to cook the meat first but this method keeps the finished haggis more juicy).
Add the oatmeal and ½ the stock and keep stirring, adding the remainder of the stock gradually until the oatmeal is al dente. Once done, season with lemon juice, fresh thyme and salt to taste.
Let the haggis cool before spooning the mixture into the soaked, rinsed ox bung. Be aware the filling swells as it cooks, so pack quite loosely, and keep a little bung at each end. When the haggis is the size required, expel any extra air, pinch, tie with string and cut with scissors.
Tie the new end of the bung, and continue stuffing. Freeze any spare haggises.
To cook the final haggis poach gently at about 83 deg c for half an hour to 45 minutes.
FOR THE AELDER BRAISED CABBAGE
1 small red cabbage
1 sliced red onion
70g soft light brown sugar
70ml cider vinegar
100 ml Aelder elixir
One large knob of butter
Sprigs of thyme
METHOD
Quarter the red cabbage and remove the core, then finely shred. Tip into a large pan with the red onion, brown sugar, cider vinegar, Aelder Elixir, thyme and butter and season well.
Bring to a simmer, then cover with a lid, lower the heat and cook for 1 1/ 2 hrs, stirring every so often.
Remove the lid and continue cooking for 30 mins until tender and the liquid is reduced and glossy .
To help Scot’s mark one of the most celebrated days in the calendar, Aldi Scotland has unveiled its Burns Night Specialbuy range, which includes Macaulay’s haggis for just 99p.
Available at all 102 Scottish stores from 13th January, Scots are guaranteed unbeatable bargains on all essential food and drink in honour of the country’s foremost poet.
Those looking for quality products at a fraction of the price will not be disappointed as Aldi Scotland’s everyday haggis range has both the traditional fare and a vegetarian option available for only 99p (offer available 13th – 25th Jan). While Simon Howie’s Gluten Free Haggis makes sure no one is left out of the fun for just £1.99.
The supermarket, which was awarded Multiple Fruit and Vegetable Retailer of the Year 2021 by the Fresh Produce Consortium, will also be launching an exclusive Burns Supper Super Six veg offering, complete with tatties, neeps and all the trimmings supplied by local producers from just 35p.
Customers looking for the perfect centrepiece to their Burns Night celebrations, can pick up a Specially Selected Chieftain Haggis for only £2.99 and no celebration would be complete without ‘tak’ing a cup of kindness’ and with multi award-winning Glen Marnoch 12 year-old Speyside Single Malt reduced to just £17.99 (offer available 13th – 25th Jan) Aldi has all the essentials covered.
Not a fan of the ‘Great chieftain o the puddin’-race’? No problem, Aldi Scotland has a fantastic range of both traditional and unique Scottish products available, including Punjab Pakora’s Iron Brew Pakora (£1.79) which is back on shelves due to popular demand.
And those looking for a twist on Scotland’s national dish are spoilt for choice with Punjab Pakora’s Haggis Pakora (£1.49), Curried Haggis Bites by Simon Howie (£1.99) and Bell’s Steak and Haggis Pie (£2.99) all included in the retailer’s Best of Scotland range.
Graham Nicolson, Group Buying Director, Aldi Scotland, said: “Burns Night is our chance to celebrate everything which is great about Scotland, and this year our Burns Night range has something for everyone.
“As well as offering great prices on classic dishes, we are offering vegetarian and gluten-free options, as well as some more unique Scots’ products like Iron Brew Pakora and Curried Haggis Bites.
“In 2021 we continued to underline our commitment to Scottish suppliers and produce, supplying over 450 Scottish products from over 90 local suppliers to our shoppers. We are now pleased to be kicking of 2022 by once again working with so many of our long-standing suppliers in Scotland to offer our customers a fantastic range of products.”
