Category Archives: Stories

Oatmeal drizzled with cream, rotund pork sausages sizzling with fat, eggs both simple and fancy, bread thick with butter and strawberry jam, scones with clotted cream, calves liver, bacon, lobscouse, crispbreads, tea, coffee, Turkish coffee… At some point you stop … Continue reading →

Englishman Dr. Samuel Johnson’s dictionary once slammed porridge, defining oats as ‘a grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.’ Obviously he never had a good bowl of hot porridge with applesauce mixed … Continue reading →

Dear Anna, Imagine an old forest witch, a crone with a cackle and gnarled hands. Well, Justina did one of those when she was here the first time. Alas the Troll proved more elusive in design. Much more elusive. And … Continue reading →

Making chicken pies starts with slaughtering enough chickens to feed twenty-five or so hungry folk. A chicken dressed out yields two pounds of meat which is enough for four to six people depending on what else gets added in. All of … Continue reading →

It’s been jocularly observed that the presence of many books in one place can actually warp both space and time. I’m Iain MacKenzie, the Head Librarian here at the Kinrowan Estate, and I’m not sure that this view is so … Continue reading →

Dear friend, First, I’m glad that you’ll be joining us here shortly. The Steward has made your travel arrangements and has set aside one of the crofter cottages we renovated a few years back for you to use as a … Continue reading →

A letter from Lady Alexandra Margaret Quinn, Head Gardener here in the Reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India, to Tessa, her botanist friend who … Continue reading →

Let me tell the tale of Irish coffee while I fix you one. It is said the very first Irish coffee was invented by Joseph Sheridan, a barkeep at an airbase located in Foynes, a small town in the West … Continue reading →