The Mayflower Cybercafe

Mayflower: Floral Emblem of New Scotland (Nova Scotia); Click to enlarge [jpeg:18K]

The Mayflower Cybercafe is dedicated in memory of my Aunt Grace, with whom I had the privilege of living with for two years, and sharing a rich friendship during all my early years until her death in 1982. It was Aunt Grace who inspired others in the joys of basic cooking, with a flair for trying unusual combinations of vegetables in pastry and sweets.

One year, an esteemed MacKay received a big blank card for her birthday. Her daughter included individual letters, cut out and decorated with a pleasant design. "You told me that if I ever wanted to get anything done right," said the note, "I have to do it myself. If you want the best `Happy Birthday,' then you must assemble it yourself."

And, so it is in The Mayflower Cybercafe. By the medium of Cyberspace, we offer you the wisdom and knowledge. But, you must make your food and drink yourself.

During my first visit to Scotland, the tea was the best I had ever tasted. I could not drink enough of it. The Scots also know how to serve tea in a restaurant. In Canada, we are often presented a small aluminum or glass teapot with one cup worth, and half another cup getting cold. Tea in Scotland comes in large china teapots with pleasant floral (or similar) designs, along with a second large teapot filled with boiling water. As you serve your companions and yourself, you refill the teapot with hot water -- for an almost endless supply of that good Scottish tea!

With always more Scottish tea in the pot, we tended to linger after our meal in the serendipity of good conversation over tea. Friendships were enriched, experiences and adventures were enhanced for the retelling and charing, and we went back to our sortees relaxed and energized. Ah, the Scots do know how to live!

Bringing the same spirit across the Atlantic, but in a different venue, Clan Matheson in Nova Scotia offers Friendship Tea

In Scotland, you can have your tea naked. That is, you drink your tea with neither sugar nor milk.

"Red Rose Tea. Only in Canada. Pity!" So the TV commercials say, when advertising this great Canadian blend of tea. It is an excellent tea, though not nearly as nice as what is served in Scotland. George Orwell tells us how to brew A Nice Pot of Tea

Breads

The Bannock
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Tea Biscuits
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Drop Biscuits
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Lucky Clovers
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Blueberry Scones
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Cranberry Scones

Tempting Toppings

Among the many inventions attributed to the Scots, is the discovery of marmalade. Marmalade, like haggis, is made from the remnants of the food source, the parts that most folks normally throw away. Trust the Scots, they take such remnants and make elegant meals and feasts from them. Consider the pomp and pageantry with which haggis is marched into banquet halls, with bagpipes and whisky, and addressed solemnly in ritual.

Yet, haggis is made from the pluck of the animal, usually sheep. Marmalade is made from the skin and rind of the citrus fruit, that too usually discarded after the orange, grapefruit or whatever is eaten. From these same skins and rinds comes the exquisite marmalade that graces our breakfast tables and gives that tangy mild "wake-up" flavour to enhance morning toast and breads. Recent research has proven that the same skin and rind of citrus fruit is an active fighter in preventing or retarding the growth of cancer. Yes, marmalade is good for you!

Dr. Johnson once told Boswell that, no matter where he dined, he wished he could always breakfast in Scotland, so impressed was he by the wide variety and excellence of Scottish marmalade and preserves.

{*} Blueberry Marmalade
{*} Carrot Jam
{*} Carrot Marmalade
{*} Cranberry Marmalade
{*} Cranberry Jelly
{*} Rhubarb Marmalade
{*} Rhubarb Jam
{*} Rhubarb Spread
{*} Apple Butter

Muffin Mania

Apple Muffins
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Blueberry Muffins
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Blueberry Corn Muffins
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Cranberry Muffins
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Blueberry Scones
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Cranberry Scones
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Oven Doughnuts
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Apple Crisp Coffee Cake
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Cranberry Raisin Coffee Cake

Snow Balls

In earlier times, before the Battle of Culloden ruined the clan system and life as our ancestors knew it in the Highlands, Clan MacIntyre had the convenient opportunity to pay the rent for their lands in the summer time, with snowballs! In tribute to the MacIntyre folks at ALMAC, we offer two varieties of snowballs. These will melt in your mouth, but not in your hand.

{*} Snowballs
{*} Crumbly Snowballs
{*} Deep Fried Snowballs
{*} Snowball Cake
{*} Apple Snow

Nova Scotia Clover

I sometimes theorize that clover is Nova Scotia's answer to the heather that grows in abundance on Scotland's fields and hills. Clover, like heather, is found with pink-purples flower and white flowers. White heather is rare, and a sign of impending luck for those who discover it. White clover is quite abundant, but clover is not without its opportunity to provide luck for the patient and persistent seeker. It's in the leaves! Most clover leaves are arranged in clusters of three; the "lucky clover" is one with a cluster of four leaves.

Clover grows wild, freely of its own will, over the hills and fields of the Nova Scotia countryside and even on lawns and boulevards of the towns and cities. It is an attractive, gentle plant which enhances its environment. Haggis in Scotland feast on the seeds of heather plants, while in Nova Scotia cows enjoy a treat of clover whenever it grows in their pastures.

{*} Lucky Clovers

From the Apple Tree

Nova Scotis is renown for its apples. Every "well dressed family farm" in Nova Scotia has a large apple orchard, and many commercial apple growers maintain farms in the Annapolis Valley. One such firm is "Stirling Apple Farms," founded in the early years of this century by a grandson of Rev. Alexander Stirling of Darvel, Ayrshire, who emigrated to the Maritimes in 1856 and served Presbyterian congregations in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

"An apple a day, keeps the doctor away! is an old adage within Nova Scotia. Apples are marvellous little fast-food packages of healthy snacks, and environmentally friendly too! Their packaging, the hearty red or yellow skins, are edible -- and oh so delicious.

A few years back, at election time in Nova Scotia, Progressive Conservative (PC) candidate Donald Cameron (a Highland Scot from Pictou County) was running against the Liberal candidate, Dr. John Savage (an emigrant from Wales). Dr. Savage had established a busy medical practice in the city of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. At one of the PC rallies during the election campaigns, Donald Cameron brought in bushel baskets of red apples from his orchards in Pictou County, for his party members to munch on. "You see," Mr. Cameron told them, "An apply a day keeps the doctor away!"

Hon. Donald Cameron was indeed the successful candidate, and served Nova Scotia well as its Premier.

{*} Apple Snow
{*} Apple Butter
{*} Apple Crumble
{*} Apple Crisp
{*} Apple Crisp Coffee Cake
{*} Apple Sauce Cake
{*} Nobby Apple Cake
{*} Apple Walnut Cake
{*} Dried Apple Fruit Cake
{*} Apple Muffins
{*} Coddled Apples
{*} Baked Apples
{*} Exquisite Apple Pie
{*} Poached Apples Supreme

From the Cranberry Bog

Duelling was banished in Nova Scotia by 1850 with the last military duel at Halifax proving to be quite an amusing affair. The seconds had loaded the pistols with powder and mashed cranberries. The duellists, quite prepared to see blood, were nonetheless shocked by the ensuing results. [Marie Nightingale, in "Out of Old Nova Scotia Kitchens"]

{*} Cranberry Jelly
{*} Cranberry Squares
{*} Cranberry Muffins
{*} Cranberry Scones
{*} Burgundy Pie
{*} Mock Cherry Pie
{*} Cranberry Raisin Coffee Cake

From the Blueberry Bushes

Blueberries covered several fields on my grandparents' farm. They make excellent use of rocky ground, and offered delightful hours of picking. Here in Nova Scotia, blueberries are found in abundance on the banks beside the railway tracks which are fast disappearing from our landscape.

Oxford, in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, is known as the "Blueberry Capital of the World." My Great-great-great-grandfather, Richard Thompson, who came out on the Ship Albion from Yorkshire, England in 1774, is credited as Founder of this town, which is named for Oxford in England. Blueberries are grown and harvested commercially by the Bragg farms, in conjunction with other farm lands in the Cumberland County area. About 80% of Nova Scotian blueberries come from Cumberland County.

In Scotland, the blueberry is known as the "blaeberry." The Gaelic word "blae" translates into English as "blackish-blue," an appropriate colour description for this berry. Fresh blueberries or blaeberries have a soft powdery look over the blue.

Blaeberry Jam is very popular in Scotland, especially when served with scones. Blueberry Jam (same berry, across the water) is equally popular in New Scotland (Nova Scotia).

{*} Blueberry Marmalade
{*} Blueberry Grunt
{*} Blueberry Buckle
{*} Blueberry Muffins
{*} Blueberry Corn Muffins
{*} Blueberry Cake
{*} Blueberry Scones
{*} Blueberry Gingerbread
{*} Blueberry Pie
{*} Burgundy Pie

From the Strawberry Fields

Strawberries grow wild in Nova Scotia. I remember the small patch of wild strawberries found in a corner of the hay field, where one of our three brooks jutted to the right for about 10 feet, then to the left to continue flowing eastward. Wild strawberries were found in seasonm within the elbow of that junction. They grow quite small in the wild, but their flavour is exquisite. Commercial strawberries just cannot match it.

But most strawberries eaten in Nova Scotia are from commercial sources, which have the means to enhance the growth of these plants. There are many U-Pick strawberry enterprises, which open fields of strawberries for the picking, and the quart-sized wooden boxes to hold them. This offers a pleasant outing in the country, and the opportunity to get strawberries fresh off the vine without the fuss and muss of maintaining a strawberry patch in the garden. They are usually cheaper than in the grocery stores.

I have made an annual ritual of feasts of vanilla ice cream in which I have cut up an ample supply of strawberries. There is just no treat like it. I make sure it happens to me, every July.

{*} Strawberry Long Cake

The Rhubarb Connection

Rhubarb leaves are poisonous. If eaten, they will prevent breathing by causing the tongue and throat to swell. However, they make an excellent insecticide to rid your garden of leaf eating pests (see the Rhubarb Compendium).

The long stalks of the rhubarb plants, which we enjoy in desserts, have earned a treasured place in the medicine of China for more than 4500 years. Rhubarb serves as an excellent purgative, and is welcomed today as a natural spring tonic which comes, not as medicine but as a tasty dessert or spread. Rhubarb, though considered a dessert food, in its true identity is a vegetable.

Rhubarb was considered a spring tonic by our wise grandmothers and their grandmothers before them. It is one of the first "fruits" of the season, and is a particular favourite food of mine. Stewed rhubarb, whether cold or hot out of the pot, is wonderful over vanilla ice-cream and very tasty when blended in plain yogurt.

More than you ever cared to know about rhubarb, or were even afraid to ask, can be found in the The Rhubarb Compendium

{*} Rhubarb Marmalade
{*} Rhubarb Spread
{*} Rhubarb Jam
{*} Rhubarb Pudding
{*} Rhubarb Cake
{*} Rhubarb Pie
{*} Rhubarb Custard Pie

From the Carrot Patch

Carrot Marmalade
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Carrot Cake
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California Raisin Carrot Cake
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Golden Carrot Cookies
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Cream of Carrot Soup

Oats

I have often wondered at folks spending tomes of money on fancy cereals in boxes, costing at least four times as much as a good supply of rolled oats for porridge. The boxed cereal, with fancy designs and prizes and whatever, is often loaded with white sugar. Where is nutrition? Perhaps in the shredded wheat varieties, or other concoctions of corn, oats, wheat and other grains, but can it beat the morning bowl of porridge? I don't think so.

Oats were a vital part of the diet and life of the Scots long before they left for Nova Scotia. Dr. Stuart MacIntosh in Brora, told us in 1983, of how oats were separated from chaff in his grandmother's time. On a suitably windy day, they were thrown into the air from a container. What didn't get blown away, and fell down into the container was the oats. They were ground with a hand mill, made of two small circular millstones one on top of the other. The top stone had a grip, by which it could be turned readily. One of these hand mills is on display at the Grist Mill in Balmoral Mills, Nova Scotia.

As soon as possible, after the Highlanders arrived in northern Nova Scotia, they built grist mills. One was constructed in Earltown by John MacKay who had come out with his brother Neil from the croft of Rossal, in Rogart, Sutherland. One of his sons built a grist mill in Balmoral Mills, and that mill today is part of the Nova Scotia Museum complex as a fully working mill. See Balmoral Grist Mill

Oats have found their way into numerous types of food, whether breakfast cereal, cookies, cakes, muffins, meat loaves, whatever. An early recipe shows how leftover porridge may be baked into muffins.

{*} Oatcakes
{*} Pineapple Oat Bars
{*} Macaroons
{*} Oatmeal Cookies
{*} Oatmeal Date Cookies
{*} Oatmeal Date Squares
{*} Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Delicious Soups and Chowders

Fish Chowder
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Corn Chowder
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Cream of Carrot Soup
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Garden Chowder

Cakes

"If I had known you were coming, I would have baked a cake!", is an old expression in Nova Scotia. Cakes have a special honour in the significant events of our lives, more so than the casual fare offered by cookies and muffins.

Rituals are built around cakes, or cakes are prepared to commemorate rituals. No wedding reception or birthday party can ever be complete, without the traditional cake made and decorated for that purpose. The bride and groom must cut the wedding cake in ceremony. We must blow out all the candles on our birthday cake, make a wish and then share the cake with our assembled friends and family. Pictures retain memories of those cakes for future generations

We prepare cakes, with congratulatory messages written in icing, to present to our honoured guests and friends on significant occasions. Fruit cake is a traditional ritual for Christmas entertaining.

Cakes are elegant desserts, with a versatile nature. It may be a

{*} Nova Scotia Cake
{*} Canada Cake
{*} Balmoral Cake
{*} Carrot Cake
{*} California Raisin Carrot Cake
{*} Fairy Gingerbread
{*} Blueberry Gingerbread
{*} Nobby Apple Cake
{*} Apple Sauce Cake
{*} Beet & Chocolate Cake
{*} Snowball Cake
{*} Blueberry Cake
{*} Dried Apple Fruit Cake
{*} Rhubarb Cake
{*} Strawberry Long Cake

Cookies

Cookies are the delight of children, and the delight of the child within most sensible adults. Canadian and American TV bring us Sesame Street, an entertaining and cleverly educational programme for young children. The Cookie Monster is a favourite character, well loved by his young friends on the set or out in viewer land, watching from their homes.

At the local children's hospital, children would came in the door with their parents with unhappy expressions on their faces, for they dreaded some of the medical treatments they needed. Suddenly they saw the Cookie Monster and Big Bird waiting to greet them. I have often watched their squeals of delight as they left their parents to run and give their old friends big big hugs. Their worries turned to smiles, and they went on their way with their parents, knowing that the Children's Hospital was indeed a friendly place and medical nuisances weren't that bad, after all, if Cookie Monster and Big Bird stood by.

Molasses is a by-product in the process of refining sugar. Like the skin and rinds of citrus fruit and the pluck of the sheep, it is the often discarded portion of the food source. But, in molasses, one finds an ample supply of iron and other nutrients. During the depression of the 1930s, country doctors would advise parents to put molasses on their children's porridge to ensure they were receiving sufficient iron in their diet. It gives a wonderful flavour to the porridge. Try it sometime, soon.

Bread fresh out of the oven, buttered and covered with molasses; add a cup of cold milk, and the treat is complete. As children, we loved it. We still do. Molasses cookies were also a favourite, with or without raisins. We include some here.

{*} Molasses Cookies
{*} Molasses Ginger Cookies
{*} Oatmeal Cookies
{*} Oatmeal Date Cookies
{*} Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
{*} Golden Carrot Cookies
{*} Macaroons (`Scratch Me Backs')
{*} Oatmeal Date Squares

The Perfect Piece of Pie

Exquisite Apple Pie
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Blueberry Pie
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Maple Syrup Pie
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Burgundy Pie
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Rhubarb Custard Pie

Other Nova Scotian Desserts

Rhubarb Custard Pie
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Apple Snow
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Apple Crumble
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Baked Apples
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Quick Vanilla Rice Pudding
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Traditional Rice Pudding
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Poached Apples Supreme

Food for Cowards

Clan Matheson offers a recipe for Potshead; do not feed it to any Matheson or MacKay!

A Wee Dram

Sherry

Dandelion Wine
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Parsnip Wine
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Rhubarb Wine

Haggis

Platter of Synthetic Haggis: served on Robbie Burns Birthday, at Halifax, Nova Scotia; Click to enlarge [jpeg:18K]

There is no haggis served in The Mayflower Cybercafe. Hamish forbids it. If you would like to visit with Hamish for a bit, go to his childhood home, The Garden of Eden, in the south-west corner of Pictou County, Nova Scotia.

[Back to MacKay Hall] {*}