It is the season of Christmas markets and we’ve been to two so far and counting. Last weekend was the Christmas market at Ardoe House, a Baronial 19th century mansion about 3 miles from Aberdeen that’s used as a hotel.
It’s in a lovely picturesque spot beside the River Dee.
The market was extremely crowded to the point of becoming hot and unpleasant. For this reason we decided to go first thing to the market at Milton on Crathes this morning to avoid the crowds and it was a smart move. We arrived just after 10am to very small numbers. Milton on Crathes is about 18 miles from Aberdeen, just across the road from Crathes Castle. I enjoyed this market a lot more not just because it was less crowded but because it had more local produce including fresh vegetables of the kind you eat at Christmas like parsnips, turnips and potatoes.
I could have spent hours there but we had to dash back as Daniel has been having golf lessons and had one today we needed to get him to.
Last weekend we put up our Christmas tree.
Today I made some black butter for the first time. There is no butter in it as the name suggests so I hope all those people who object to vegans using the word “sausage” or “milk” are now protesting the use of butter in this ancient recipe for black butter. Otherwise that would be hypocritical and demonstrate an innate hostility towards vegans. I don’t eat meat for the same reason I don’t eat dogs. I think that just makes me consistent. And in the spirit of consistency, if it’s ok to say black butter, coconut cream and peanut butter for products without dairy then I’m fine with vegan sausages and vegan milk.
So what is in black butter? I made mine using green apples from the tree in our backyard, cider, sugar, cloves, cinnamon, ginger and treacle. It tastes delicious and the spices give it a Christmassy smell and flavour.
It is typically smeared on bread. Speaking of which I made a wonderful sourdough this week although the loaf today didn’t turn out so well.
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