Eating and drinking

Churros are a favourite snack all over Spain.  They are so popular that there is a specific type of shop for them: a 'churreria'. 

Generally, I'm not big on churros - deep-fried lumps of sweet dough are not my sort of thing, even when they are made in Spain.  However, churros are part of Spanish culture, and Lonely Planet particularly recommends Churreria Manolo in the La Chanca barrio of Almería, so we decided to give it a go. 

We have a couple of spare days between our house sit in Kandersteg in Switzerland and our next housesit in Castronno in northern Italy, so we decided to explore Como on our route, a resort town on the edge of the Italian Alps.  The surrounds of Como are known as a playground of the rich and famous; but the old town is a popular destination for ordinary visitors, and a nice northern Italian village with a medieval centre.

Portugal is known for its own fortified wine, port, and Porto is the centre of the port producing industry.  A large area of land at Vila Nova de Gaia, on the opposite side of the Douro River from Porto, is dedicated to port wine production and is covered in the warehouses of several port cellars.  

Portugal has a long coastline on the Atlantic, and, because of its shape, much of Portugal is close to the coast.  This means that Portugal has a long history of eating sea food.  We didn't get to the fish market in Faro, but if the fish market in nearby Cadiz, Spain, also on the Atlantic coast, is comparable, I'm sure it would have been marvellous. 

When we got our house-sit in Ireland I realised that we would not be too far from Kilkenny, where one of my favourite famous Irish beers comes from; so I was very much looking forward to visiting Kilkenny to check out the brewery, and try some Kilkenny Draught Irish Cream Ale in its home town.  

In most place that we stay for more than a day or two, we find a particular food item, or food establishment, or both, that we consider to be exeptional.  In Melrose, our favourite food place is Russell's of Melrose on Market Square, but I'm going to talk about my favorite food item, which comes from Dalgetty's Bakers and Tearoom in High Street.

We are all long-term porridge eaters, and here we are, in the land of porridge!  

Much of the oats that's available in supermarkets in Scotland  is foreign oats ground almost to dust so that it can be used to make instant microwaved porridge. However, there are one or two brands that are Scottish whole rolled oats, which makes much better, if not more time consuming, porridge.  But the quality of the oats is not the only reason that we buy the brand that we use, which is Scott's; another reason, and probably the major reason, is the fabulous package design!