Far North of Scotland Newsletter
March 2013
Fa r No rth of Sco tland Ne wsle tte rM a rc h 2013
Who to contact
Far North Group
Co-ordinator
Marchael Dunnet
Tel: 01955 611434
Welcome to the Far North Group Newsletter
Secretary
Kay Renwick
Tel: 001955
604942
It has been some time since our last Newsletter and we hope this latest
outpouring will be of interest and bring you up to date.
We are always interested in ideas, suggestions and recommendations for eating
out and for suppliers of GF products. Our group covers a very large area – in-
Treasurer
Val Mackay
Tel: 01955 603855
cluding (from the top down!) Shetland, Orkney, Caithness, Sutherland, and the
Western Isles – and we would love to hear from outlying members as well as
those in and near Caithness.
As a result of our last newsletter, a number of members contacted us with recommendations for eating out. Many thanks to all who contacted us. These are of
help to visitors as well as locals. You can see their recommendations on page 3.
If you have more suggestions please let us know.
You can email us at [email protected]
or write Kay at
Inside this issue:
Inside this issue:
Welcome
Welcome
21
AGM
AGM
21
Inside
Updates
Story
22
Inside Story
Soup & Pudding
lunches
31&2
Inside Story
Eating Out
43
Inside Story
Mailing List
53
Recipe
64
Inside Story
5 Langley Park, Wick, Caithness, KW1 5LD
Soup and Pudding Lunch March 2013
The latest Soup and Pudding lunch was held on Saturday 23rd March in the hall of Thurso
West Church. Eight members attended, including Maggie who exhibited impressive driving
skills in negotiating the entrance “chicane” on her motorised buggy. As usual, we had an
excess of splendid home-made food, with three different soups, rolls, hot cross buns
(the proximity to Easter was a happy coincidence, short bread, and assorted puddings.
Sadly, none was calorie free, but that appeared not to inhibit the participants, all of
whom attacked the food with obvious relish!
Our fare on this occasion was augmented by many goodies from Annie’s Bakery (see Eating Out), and by two boxes of free samples of Warburton rolls from the manufacturers.
Given the home baking on offer, there was really little need for the extra rolls, but those
that were uneaten were distributed amongst us, and will doubtless have been much appreciated.
As usual, much of the conversation revolved round coeliac related topics - how to stop
your pastry replicating concrete, where to find the best gluten-free foods, where to find
catering establishments that offer gluten-free fare and actually understand that chips
fried in the same deep-fat fryer as battered fish might actually be a problem! And much
else!
Far North of Scotland Newsletter March 2013
Page 2
Food and Drink Directory updates
Unfortunately the Food and Drink Directory updates will not be available on the BBC
red button service from the end of March
The community pages have been discontinued on the BBC red button service. The BBC
television text service has switched from being powered through the analogue signal to a
digital one, and there are restrictions on the space available. Unfortunately this means
that the updates that were available through this service will be discontinued from the
end of March. There are other ways you can access the monthly updates to the Food and
Drink Directory:
on our website www.coeliac.org.uk


by following the links on the electronic newsletter, eXG
via a 24-hour recorded message on the Helpline 0845 305 2060, selection option 1
via post – please call 0845 305 2060 to request a copy.
AGMs
AGM 26th April, 2012
For Langley Park, turn
into Thurso Road at
Francis Street traffic
lights, Wick, go past
the Co-op, take 2nd
right into Langley
Lane and continue into
Langley Park.
Parking for a number
of cars
Unfortunately, only 4 attended but we were very pleased to appoint Val MacKay as our
new treasurer.
Our next AGM is Thursday, 25th April, 2013
It will be held at Kay’s house,
5 Langley Park, Wick, Caithness, KW1 5 LD
at 7.30pm
Please come along. Even if you don’t want to be an office bearer we want to hear your
suggestions and ideas. Please, we want more than 4 to come along this year!
And there may even be cakes!
Jubilee & December Soup and Pudding lunches
In June we held a Jubilee themed soup and pudding lunch in Wick when members really
got into the spirit of the celebrations with union jack hats and table decorations and produced some beautifully decorated cakes and goodies.
We held another soup & pudding lunch in Wick in December and, although it was still
three weeks before Christmas, we tucked into mincemeat pies and other Christmas fare
and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Jubilee Soup & Pudding
Lunch,
Wick June 2012
Neither lunches did the waistline any good as we stuffed ourselves and took home goodie
bags of the left over food but we had a good time chatting and exchanging useful useful
coeliac related information.
Page 3
Eating Out
Western Isles
Harris Hotel, Tarbert,
Harris
Tel: 01859 502154
Isle of Harris Inn, Tarbert, Harris
Tel: 01859 502566
An Lanntair Arts Centre,
Kenneth Street, Stornoway
Tel: 01851 703307
Eoropie Tearoom, Ness,
Lewis
01851 810729
Caledonia MacBrayne Ferries
Shetland
Frankies Fish & Chip Shop,
Brae, Shetland
Orkney
Appie Pie Tea Room,
Sandwick, Orkney
Caithness
The Lunch Box, 1-2 Francis
Street, Wick
Tel: 01955 604141
www.kkc-food.co.uk
Annie Bodie
Bridle Way,Upper Gills
01955 611497
www.anniesbakery.co.uk
Flavours, John O’Groats
Cups
Scrabster
Further Afield
Courtyard Café, Harper’s
Court, Dingwall
Costa Coffee shops
Starbucks Coffee shop
Eating Out
Eating Out
Gluten-free-onthego.com
Visit this website to view
recommended places to eat
and stay that cater for people with coeliac disease.
www.gluten-freeonthego.com
Pizza Hut restaurants
Note !
Owners and restaurants can
Domino’s Pizza
change at any time. We rec-
Ask Italian
You will get a selection of
GF options in these restaurants.
ommend that those on a
gluten-free
We fully realise that not
everyone has email but, if
you do, we would really appreciate if you could give us
your email address so that
we can contact you by email
rather than by post.
It costs us nothing to send
email
contact
any venue in advance to confirm
their
requirements
with the establishment before visiting.
Mailing List
diet
Are any members
experiencing any
difficulties or
restrictions
obtaining GF items
on prescription?
Let us know.
Far North of Scotland Newsletter March 2013
Far North of Scotland web page
We now have our own Far North of Scotland web page on the Coeliac
UK web site which, once you have logged into the members section, go
to Local Voluntary Support Group and follow the links to regions.
We have expanded the number of listings but are always keen to hear
of more. This part of the web site is useful not only for people within
Recipes
Do you have a favourite GF
recipe you would like to share
with us?
the group area but also for people visiting the area.
We will also post events and newsletters on our web page.
Send it to us and we could
include it in a newsletter
Recipe Creamy Sweetcorn Soup
Ingredients (serves 2)
2 tbsp olive oil
50g/1¾oz unsalted butter
1 glove garlic clove, finely chopped
150g/5½oz potato, cut into small cubes
200g/7oz sweetcorn
600ml/20fl oz hot vegetable stock
50ml/2fl oz double cream
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
1tsp fresh chives, finely chopped
Method
Don’t forget!
AGM
Thursday
25th May
Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan, add the garlic, onion and potato
and sauté for 5 minutes, until softened.
Add the sweetcorn and continue to cook for 2 more minutes.
Add the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes, until the
potato has cooked through.
Stir in the cream, season to taste and then pour into a food processor
and blend until smooth.
To serve, pour into a warm bowl and garnish with chives.
This soup was very much enjoyed at our last soup and pudding lunch and
was made by Marchael