BOWLAND BREWERY - BASHALL, LANCASHIRE

The Bowland Beer Company Ltd. started operating in April 2003, brewing on a one Brewers Barrel (BBL) plant in a store room at the Bashall Barn farm shop a few miles North West of Clitheroe. The brewery was moved to Bashall, England's smallest town, in late January and brewing started again in February 2004. Every aspect of the brewery business is continually reviewed in our efforts to produce beer that is loved by landlords and their customers. These efforts were rewarded in 2004 with a silver medal at the Peterborough beer festival and Best Bitter for Sawley Tempted at the Norfolk and Norwich festival

LIZZIE'S HOME MADE - PENRITH, CUMBRIA

LIZZIE'S HOME MADE - PENRITH, CUMBRIA

The inspiration for Cumbrian Frutta Cotta came from a family holiday in Umbria, Italy. The local restaurants were fascinating and delicious, inspiring an exploration of Italian recipes when back home in Cumbria. From this exploration came Cumbrian Frutta Cotta (Cumbrian cooked fruit) inspired by Gennaro Contaldo's recipe. Cumbria meets Umbria! Bottling with glass jars takes me right back to my Granny's kitchen with us testing jam for setting wrinkles in a saucer!

DENT BREWERY - DENT, CUMBRIA

Nestling in picturesque Dentdale, in that corner of the Yorkshire Dales National Park that is actually in Cumbria, is one of the most remote breweries in the Country. Originally, the intention was to sell Dent beer only at the Sun Inn, but such was its popularity that other landlords in the Dales and Lakes asked for supplies and the brewery was soon operating at capacity. Many visitors that came to the area and enjoyed Dent ales went back to their home towns and persuaded their local licensees to obtain a cask or two as a 'guest' beer. As a result, draught Dent beer has been known to travel as far as Jersey in the Channel Islands and is regularly on sale in at least one good pub in Manchester, Liverpool or Leeds.

STRAWBERRY BANK LIQUEURS - KENDAL, CUMBRIA

Mike and Helen Walsh established Strawberry Bank Liqueurs in 2001 at The Masons Arms, at pub they owned on Cartmel Fell. 2001 was the year foot and mouth struck and as so many footpaths where closed to walkers the pub when very quiet. As damson beer used to be made on the premises the couple started to produce damson gin to give them extra income.

The damson gin, produced from the juice of local Damsons grow in the Lyth valley, prove so popular that they decided to sell the Masons Arms and concentrate on the production of liqueurs with a view to increase the range.
They increased the range to five, Damson Gin, Sloe Gin, Blackberry Gin, Strawberry Vodka and Blackberry Liqueur (whiskey base).

Weekends are for resting - yeah, right!

The end of another hectic weekend is upon us - having just returned from an afternoon down in Hamilton for a most excellent wedding. With all the kids now into the football (soccer) season, Saturday mornings are a logistical exercise in getting the four of them to four different venues on a Saturday morning (think, traveling salesman problem), and then all the other things that are on at the moment. Last weekend it was football (x4), a birthday party to attend, and an out of town visitor for the night on Saturday, followed by a most of the day inter-school Krypton Factor that two of the kids were in on the Sunday. This weekend it was football (x4), first-born’s birthday, an engagement party, family staying over night and then the wedding in Hamilton today.

And anyone who thinks watching your kids playing football is relaxing needs their head checked. I’m still recovering from the highs and lows of yesterday’s performances.

I’m thinking it’s time to look at the next few weekends and see what can be culled from the events calendar. These things are all good (like all the people we saw today at the wedding who we haven’t seen for ages) but every Monday we’re a little more tired going to work.

Col-Pop: Fast Food Drink Caddie for Snacks

I actually went and had one around lunch time yesterday at the Manhattan location. First off, they aren't cheap... the large Col-Pop is around 5$. Secondly, while the idea of the container itself is pretty cool, the resulting product was just okay. The chicken balls (thats really what they are, balls of chicken, no need to pretty this up for you) were okay. BBQ Chicken actually fries their chicken in olive oil, which they claim makes it "healthier", but I was under the impression that only using raw olive oil made it a healthier oil. Basically anything fried is gonna make you fatter and more heart attack worthy. Flavour wise, big step up from KFC, which I don't eat, because, well, its gross. The chicken was very lightly breadded, and was, unlike the KFC popcorn chicken, actually contained meat, not just breadded fat. Basically crispy and tender. The major flaw was not that the chicken affected the soda, nor soda the chicken, but that the cup itself began to get soft and flimsy feeling by the end of my snack gorging. So, end result, as I said before, I felt it was an okay product, just that was a little expensive for my taste, and probably wouldn't buy again.

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