A Walk to the Shopping Centre

Looking out our sitting room window this morning, the beautiful pink rose that has been there since we arrived on Monday is still lovely!


We tried online grocery shopping with delivery early in the week (that's very common here), but not knowing what is available here versus what was available in the US and/or what some things are called, it made it hard to shop. So, we took a walk (well, technically I took a ride since Russ pushed me in my wheelchair) about 5 minutes from our home to the closest shopping centre which has a supermarket. We had been there earlier in the week and knew they had a good selection and are very reasonably priced.

So, here are some pictures from our walk to the shopping centre. This is heading down the sidewalk just outside our front door.


These lovely bushes with flowers are just down the sidewalk from our front door.


A tiny snail next to the brick wall


Gosh, all these trees sure clutter up Scotland. ;-) LOL!


Just a few minutes later, we turn onto this path and can see the shopping centre ahead of us.


Such a beautiful blue sky today!


We've arrived at the shopping centre.


I love the skylights in the shopping centre. The natural light is wonderful! Not only is there a supermarket, but a few other choices as well including the Pound Store (essentially a dollar store like in the US, but it's a pound store because the pound is the currency here), pharmacy, a couple of clothes stores, mobile phone stores, and I'm not sure what else.


We went into the supermarket and actually started by walking through all the aisles to see what was available. Then we made a meal plan for the next week and then walked through the store again to get what we needed.

Finished up our shopping and began the walk home. I adore these rock and brick walls that line the paths.


There's even a stream on our way home (all of this is within a 5 minute walk of our flat).


Had to take another picture of the stream because it's just so beautiful!!!!


Almost home and still not used to the fact that vehicles drive on the opposite side of the road.


Made it home and put away the groceries. Put a chicken and rice casserole in the oven after I first converted the required temperature from Fahrenheit to Celsius. Drank a cuppa tea with Damaris while watching Red Dwarf (a British sci-fi comedy). Ate some dinner and shared a Toblerone (OMG! Amazing!!!!) with Russ and Damaris for dessert. Finishing this post up and then I'm going to work on the knitting sock pattern that I'm currently designing.

That's it for today. Oh, I wanted to mention, Damaris and I co-host a weekly video podcast called Geeky Girls Knit. We recorded a new episode yesterday titled Episode 53 ~ In Which We Celebrate Our 1st Podiversary IN SCOTLAND! If you aren't interested in the whole episode, that's fine, but if you want to, you can fast-forward to 23:55 and watch through 48:58 to hear all about our travels and first few days here in Scotland.

Cooking With C.C. ~ Gluten Free Maple Blueberry Doughnuts with a LemonGlaze

It's time for the 12th installment of Cooking with C.C. Katie, Damaris, and I made this recipe on Monday - our last time to cook together before we move back to Texas. I wanted to bake something we hadn't tried before so when I found this recipe for doughnuts, I knew we had to try it.


First, gather all your ingredients.


In a large bowl, combine 1 3/4 cups all-purpose gluten free flour,


3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum,


1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder,


1/4 teaspoon baking soda,


1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar,


1/4 teaspoon salt,


and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg.


Stir to combine.


Slice 1 cup of frozen blueberries in half in a small bowl.


Add 1 tablespoon of the dry ingredients and stir to coat the blueberries.


In a saucepan, combine 1/2 cup maple syrup,


4 tablespoons unsalted butter,


and 4 tablespoons vegetable shortening.


Heat over medium-high flame stirring frequently until butter and shortening have melted and the syrup is simmering.


Remove from heat and stir in 3/4 cup plain yogurt (room temperature).


Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the syrup mixture into the well. Stir to combine.


In a separate bowl, beat 2 eggs.


Stir beaten eggs into other ingredients.


Add the coated blueberries and fold them into the batter until evenly distributed.


We didn't have doughnut pans, so we made these in muffin pans. Spray the muffin pans with cooking spray. Fill the muffin tins until 3/4 of the way full.


Preheat oven to 350*. Place muffin pans into oven.


Bake until doughnuts spring back quickly when lightly pressed. That was about 13-14 minutes for us. Remove from oven and cool doughnuts in their pans for 10 minutes.


Remove doughnuts from pans to cooling rack.


In a bowl, combine 1 cup powdered sugar


and the juice of 1 lemon.


Stir until mixture goes from paste to thick glaze (add more lemon juice as necessary).


After completely cooled, dip each doughnut in glaze mixture.


Place onto wax paper until glaze is set.

Damaris insisted that these could not be called doughnuts since they were actually muffins, so she coined them "duffins, copyright Damaris Almon 2012" (her words exactly). These had a really rich flavor. They tasted really good right after the glaze set. However, I saved one to eat later and the glaze and gotten runny and it seemed to me that the "duffins" were too moist. So, I'd say make them and eat them immediately!

This recipe came from Gluten Free On a Shoestring. Make sure and check out her website for tons of great recipes.

Hope you've enjoyed this episode of Cooking with C.C. Not sure when I'll be back with another recipe with our move next week, but I hope soon! Let me know if you try this recipe. Can't wait to hear what you think. Enjoy!

Cooking With C.C. ~ Gluten Free Snickerdoodles

It's time for the 11th installment of Cooking with C.C. This is a recipe we made just before Christmas. Snickerdoodles are a favorite cookie of mine and until I was looking for something for us to bake together, I hadn't even thought of making them gluten free. Thankfully, I ran across a simple recipe, so let's get baking.


In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups sugar


and 13 tablespoons room temperature butter (this is 1 stick plus 5 tablespoons).


Beat with mixer until light and fluffy.


Beat in 2 eggs, 1 at a time, until well blended.


Beat in 2 teaspoons vanilla extract.


To the mixture, add 2 1/2 cups gluten free all purpose flour,


1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum,


1/4 teaspoon salt,


1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon,


1 teaspoon baking soda,


and 2 teaspoons cream of tartar. Beat batter until it is thick and elastic.


Divide batter in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Chill in fridge or freezer. We figured out the hard way that if you only have a short time to chill before baking, chill it in the freezer for about an hour. If you can chill it for around 12 hours, chill in fridge.


In a small bowl, combine 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon and 6 tablespoons sugar (this is double what the recipe calls for, but it makes coating the cookies much easier).


Grease hands with cooking spray. Roll small ball of dough and then smush flat. Coat both sides of dough in the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Place on foil lined (and sprayed with cooking spray) pan with 2 inches between cookies. Place pan in freezer for about 10 minutes until dough is firm again. Coat both sides of dough in the cinnamon/sugar mixture again.


Preheat oven to 375*. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes (I like them soft, so we baked them around 8-9 minutes).


Cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes and then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.

I'm very pleased with how these turned out. I couldn't even tell a difference in the taste between these and those that are not gluten free. I liked these so much that they disappeared way too quickly. Oops! This recipe will definitely be added to my arsenal for repeat baking!

This recipe came from Gluten Free On a Shoestring. I made a few minor edits to the recipe which I explained above. Make sure and check out her website for tons of great recipes.

Hope you've enjoyed this episode of Cooking with C.C. I'll be back soon with another recipe. Let me know if you try this recipe. Can't wait to hear what you think. Enjoy!