Thursday 14 November 2013

Festive Foodie Fundraiser

Our Festive Foodie Fundraiser on Thursday 21st November will see us team up with the Charlie House Appeal charity as well as some of our suppliers to host a fantastic evening of food and fun!

We have committed ourselves to help raise awareness and funds for Charlie House Appeal, a local charity helping families right here in OUR community, which 'engages in activities and projects to support children with complex disabilities and life limiting conditions'.

Tickets are available in advance, and on the night you will receive a welcoming glass of mulled wine, after which you will get a chance to mingle around the shop and tearoom trying different delicious samples from some of our suppliers:

http://www.cocoa-ooze.co.uk/ http://www.downiefish.co.uk/index.html

Cocoa Ooze Chocolates
'Cocoa Ooze Chocolate was set up in October 2008 by award winning chocolatier Jamie Hutcheon to bring a new fresh offering to the local and national marketplace. The team at Cocoa Ooze create a array of mouth watering and scrumptious chocolate delights made in our production faculty in Peterculter, Aberdeen.'

Downies Fish
'As well as top quality fresh Scottish fish, Downies supply frozen fish, naturally smoked fish such as Finnan haddock, hot-smoked mackerel hot-smoked salmon as well as naturally smoked cod, haddock and mackerel fillets.'

http://www.cairnomohr.com/shop/  http://www.haigsdirect.co.uk/  http://www.glengarioch.com/

'Shielded from the world’s prying eyes, deep in the fertile ‘Granary of Aberdeenshire’, and only ever produced in small, precious batches, Glen Garioch is a rare find indeed, but warmly appreciated by those who like a hearty Highland malt, non chill-filtered as nature intended, with a wholesome maltiness, honeyed sweetness and delicious creamy texture to savour.'

'Cairn O'Mohr is a Scottish business promoting local produce with locally sourced ingredients. Owners Ron and Judith strive to make a quality product and are proud of the wines that they produce. Cairn O'Mohr has won several accolades including gold ‘Taste’ awards; the delicious Sparkling Strawberry won the highest prize of a 3 star gold award, one of only 83 awarded from 5000 entrants.'

'Haigs is a small family owned business established in 2007 by James and Julie Haig. They are a specialist food hall situated in the heart of Aberdeen city centre, specialising in fresh meat, fresh fish, fresh fruit and veg, bakery and pies.'

http://www.cambusomay.com/http://www.jg-ross.co.uk/

Cambus o May cheese
All of Cambus O'May's cheeses are handcrafted using unpasteurised milk from traditional recipes. Unlike mass-produced cheese that is standard in consistency and often unexciting in taste, cheese made with raw milk boasts a wealth of interesting flavours and textures. Part of the charm of producing raw milk cheeses is the difference in flavour that comes with different seasons so expect subtle changes in the cheese as the year goes on.'

JG Ross Bakers
'JG Ross Bakers provides an extensive range of high quality bakery, sandwiches and meat goods to satisfy even the most discerning customer. Because JG Ross source ingredients of the highest quality, and many of its products are made during the night, they can provide customers with the assurance that they will receive products which are continuously full of flavour and of an excellent standard.'

As well as these samples, representatives from Charlie House will be attending to host a raffle as well as sell their Charlie beanie bears to raise money for the charity.

There will also of course be an opportunity to browse our range of Christmas hampers; which can be a bespoke creation of your choice, or you can pick from our already designed range!

With every hamper bought or ordered on the night, a donation will be made to Charlie House from us at Mitchells!
Tickets can be purchased in person, by phone (01467 621389) or via email (judy@mitchells-scotland.com) in exchange for a suggested donation price of just £5 to the Charlie House Appeal - we hope to see you all there!

If you want to find out more about how Mitchells contributes to the local community in Inverurie, please feel free to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

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Tuesday 22 October 2013

Yet More Retail Excellence at Mitchells


It has been an excellent year of recognition for us here at Mitchells Dairy in our 85th year- and it just keeps getting better and better!


Judy recently had her 15 minutes of fame in London, and we cannot forget about the rest of the Mitchells team, that’s why we were delighted to be awarded the SGF (Scottish Grocers’ Federation) Healthy Option Retailer of the Year at the first ever Retail Excellence awards!

The SGF promotes responsible community retailing and works with the government and the media to encourage a greater understanding of the contribution convenience retailers make to Scotland’s communities.

Our fantastic team always strive to provide the freshest, tastiest and healthiest products to our local community in Inverurie, so we were over the moon to be rewarded for our efforts.

There were only eight awards available on the day and for us to win the award, with the size of the SGF community, is truly humbling.

Keith, who was presented with the award at the 5-star Prestonfield House in Edinburgh, said: “I am delighted for everyone - all our local suppliers here at Mitchells, and I cannot express how happy we are to be recognised in such a way for our efforts in promoting healthy eating.”

Here is Keith being handed the award by Barry Cuthbertson (Muller Wiseman Dairies) and Robert Sider (SGF President) and Kaye Adams at the ceremony:



Everyone at Mitchells echoes Keith’s sentiments, and we would just like to reiterate how proud we are to be awarded this fantastic honour.

If you want to find out more about how Mitchells contributes to the local community in Inverurie, please feel free to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

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Monday 21 October 2013

Privilege to be in Pies and Puds

As Britons, it is not news to hear that two of our favourite foods as a nation are Pies and Puddings. 

Both of which are perfectly encapsulated in Paul Hollywood’s new book, “Pies and Puds”.

Hollywood said: "Man cannot live by bread alone—not even if the man is me. With this book, I want to rekindle our affection for straightforward, honest food.

Pies and puddings really sum up the strengths of our culinary culture—there's something about a home-baked deep golden pie or simple steamed pud that warms the cockles of your heart like nothing else."

The new book has countless recipes on sweet and savoury pies, as well as many delicious pudding recipes.

You will find “meat and potato pie, pork, apple and cider pie, lamb kidney and rosemary suet pudding, sausage plait and luxury fish pie” amongst the pie roster.

As well as these, the ‘Queen of puddings’, spiced plum pizza (yes, pizza), chocolate volcanoes and apple and Wensleydale pie will all be gracing the pages under the “Puddings” heading.
Turn to p.197 and you will find the Crannachan Cheesecake recipe that our oatcakes are used in!

Whether you're a sweet or a savoury person, a keen novice or an expert baker: it's time to get baking pies and puds.

The book will be released on Thursday 24th October on Bloomsbury publishing.
It will be available in all supermarkets, WHSmith and online.

The “Pies and Puds” tv series will air in November also, so keep an eye out for Mitchells and Judy!

 
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Tuesday 15 October 2013

Mitchells Films in Hollywood

In last week’s blog post, we spoke about Judy and her adventure down to London, to film with none other than the ‘artisan of baking’; Paul Hollywood!

And since word got out of Judy’s London adventure, she’s become quite the celebrity herself, featuring on the front pages of two of Inverurie's local newspapers last week!

Today, we’ll fill you in on some of the information and tasty details of the episode that Judy and Mitchells will be featured in!

“Each of the 45-minute shows will see Paul cook three mouth-watering recipes. He’ll produce a signature pie and a signature pudding, but in between he’ll create something a little bit different, inspired by a guest expert.

Paul and his guest expert will cook the dish together, often showing off their unique technical skills such as sugar spinning or fondant icing.” - Sourced from BBC.

First of all, in August we hosted the Spun Gold tv crew, who travelled up to Inverurie to film our delicious oatcakes being baked on the girdle (“griddle”)

They filmed the handmade process in our bakehouse, that has used the family recipe of Great Grandmother Agnes Mitchell since 1928.
It can sometimes be a slow process but as the old saying goes, “Quality over Quantity”!

In our featured episode, the kitchen saw Paul welcome Sharon and Chris Peacock from Cockerham Goats. Cockerham Goats is a family run business that is one of the UK’s longest established pedigree goat herders.

Their premium Boer goat meat provided the main ingredient for the Goat-herders pie and is featured in Paul’s new book “Pies and Puds”.

Rachel Allen is the guest Chef featured in this episode. Rachel is a celebrity chef from Ireland who has written four best selling cookery books. She is regularly on the BBC’s Saturday Kitchen and she even has her own show on RTE: "Easy Meals".

Paul and Rachel cooked up a tasty baked brie brioche and a coconut raspberry pudding.

Finally, after eagerly awaiting on the sidelines Judy gets her air time! After a dusting of powder from the make up artist, she enters the kitchen to make a crannachan pudding while Paul bake’s the Crannachan cheesecake.

Cheesecake is usually made with crushed sweet biscuits , however Paul’s recipe imaginatively used savoury oatcakes as the base of the dessert. Melted butter, raspberries and Highland Fine Cheeses Crowdie cheese made up the rest of the ingredients in the Cheesecake.

After all the food was prepared and cooked, Judy, Paul and the others all sat around a table and tasted the food. We know that Chris DEFINITELY loved the Crannachan as we have a photo of him. enjoying the leftovers!

Keep an eye on the Mitchells Dairy Blog over the next few weeks to keep up to date with Judy’s Adventure and the Mitchells’ involvement in Paul Hollywood’s TV show & his new book!

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Thursday 10 October 2013

Mitchells goes to Hollywood

Those of you who are friends with Judy on Facebook will know that she recently went on a “secret mission”.

At the time of her mission, we couldn't tell you anything about it, but now we can reveal all. She was away in London to film with Paul Hollywood on his new show “Paul Hollywood’s Pies and Puds”.

It all started at the Taste of Grampian in June. The Taste of Grampian is a one day food and drink festival which allows visitors to “discover and sample the wide range of high quality food and drink products from Grampian in the north east of Scotland.”

It was a very successful event that saw the likes of celebrity Chefs Nick Nairn and the Sunday Brunch’s Simon Rimmer.

We showcased our Hand Baked Oatcakes as well as our Milk and Ice Cream. A food researcher tried our oatcakes and instantly fell in love with them.

She asked if she could use our Oatcakes in a recipe to be featured in a cookery book she was working on with a celebrity chef, but wasn't allowed to tell us whose recipe it was.

It later turned out to be Paul Hollywood’s recipe for a Crannachan Cheesecake and a TV series was being filmed to accompany the book!

Judy was given the honour of being flown to London by the TV production company (Spun Gold) where she would film the television show.

Luckily, Judy has a friend who lives close to where filming was taking place, so decided to take the opportunity to enjoy a day of “market research” in London before returning home.

Whilst she was there she visited Harrods and Fortnum & Mason’s to have a “wee look at the competition”, to see if their hampers were on par with Mitchells hampers.

She said they were good, but still nothing could beat one of our Bespoke Hampers!

Keep an eye on the Mitchells Dairy Blog over the next few weeks to keep up to date with Judy’s Adventure and the Mitchells’ involvement in Paul Hollywood’s TV show & his new book!

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Wednesday 25 September 2013

Mitchells Dairy Supporting Macmillan

On Friday morning Mitchells Dairy will yet again, be taking part in the world’s biggest coffee morning in aid of Macmillan.

Following on from the huge success of the event last year, we’ve decided to take part again. Hopefully this year will be bigger and better, so we can raise even more than we did last year.

In 2012, 115,000 people signed up, raising a record £15 million, and we’re absolutely delighted that we were a part of that.

Throughout the morning, a donation from all coffees and cakes sold in the Dairy Tearoom before noon on Friday will be donated to Macmillan.

Also we will have a cake to raffle which we hope will help raise some more money for this very worthwhile cause.

This coffee morning isn’t just about Mitchells Dairy though; it’s about Macmillan. If you don’t reside in the Aberdeenshire area, then you can click here and enter your postcode to find the closest coffee morning to you.

And for those of you holding your very own coffee morning for Macmillan, be sure to share the details of it on the Macmillan Coffee Morning website, so it’s easily accessible to the public.

We hope that no matter where in the country you are, that you find the time to get yourself down to a Macmillan Coffee Morning and show your support for a charity which delivers, in many cases, invaluable support to cancer patients which can make a world of difference.

Cancer is a terrible illness and this is a way we can all to try and support those affected by the disease.

So please, join us on Friday and help Mitchells Dairy help Macmillan, and ease the suffering of those struggling with cancer.

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Friday 6 September 2013

Scotland - The Land of Food and Drink


We are delighted to announce that from Monday 9th September,  Mitchells will be taking part in the Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight!

For anyone who is a fan of the fantastic cuisine Scotland has to offer, this is a celebration you will definitely want to sink your teeth into!

Food and Drink Fortnight has grown every year as more people across the country get involved in events such as foraging and farmers' markets, to cooking demos and butchery classes.

The fortnight, organised by Scotland Food & Drink, is for everyone who wants to share in the success of our beautiful country's produce - and we are thrilled to be a part of it with our #ScottishDishoftheDay event.


Throughout the next fortnight, we will have a different Scottish Dish of the Day every single day in the Dairy Tearoom, as well as information of products that we may be sampling in the shop.

Some of the foods that we will be sharing and celebrating include mince and tatties, skirlie, stovies, broth, cullen skink, and haggis neeps and tatties!

You can find recipes for these delicious dishes on the Recipes and Tips section of our website, and remember, most of these foods are also available in our shop as Mitchells' home cooked ready meals or from the Downies Fish counter.

So, if you're a fan of good Scottish food, then please come and join us in The Dairy over the next two weeks and we can enjoy the best products that the land of food and drink has to offer!


The Dairy tearoom's opening hours:
Monday to Saturday: 7.30am - 5.00pm (hot food served until 4pm)
Sunday: 11am - 4pm (hot food served until 3pm)

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Monday 19 August 2013

#LunchOnMitchells

After a long, enjoyable (and even sometimes sunny) summer, it is finally time for the children of Inverurie and Aberdeenshire to go back to school - and to celebrate, we are going to run a fun, little competition for them to win some #LunchOnMitchells.

We know some parents will be looking forward to getting some peace and quiet, but we must admit, we are looking forward to welcoming our lunch customers back, and seeing some new and familiar faces!

In the Dairy Tearoom, we do an exclusive sit in or takeaway 'school kids special' for £2 – where there's always a bowl of chips with cheese or gravy and a can of juice, or a bowl of salad and a can of juice available for school kids.

Additionally, there will be another daily special depending on the day’s menu (eg macaroni, chicken nuggets, pie, pizza or sausage roll) and a can of juice for £2 and at the deli counter in the shop, we also do a popular lunch offer of a takeaway 'Homemade Soup and Quiche' or 'Homemade Soup and Sandwich' for just £2!

And if you're not quite full enough or if you need some dessert to wash down your lunch, we also have lots of delicious fruit and ice cream available in the Grocery Shop.

COMPETITION

To celebrate the kids going back to school, we are running a competition for them to win some #LunchOnMitchells.

All you have do to, whether you're a parent or pupil, is post photos of either your first day at school or your first day back at school on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #LunchOnMitchells - and you could win some free vouchers and get your (yes, you guessed it) lunch on Mitchells!

If you're a parent or an older pupil, why not join in the fun and upload your old pictures of your first day back at school? If you win, you can treat your son, daugher, niece or nephew to school lunch and gain some brownie points in the family!

We will give away 5 x £2 vouchers as a prize - which could be lunch for a week for one person, or the winner could even use them to treat their friends to lunch at 'The Dairy'.

The competition will run until Friday 23rd August and the winner will be chosen at random by the Mitchells Dairy team.

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Friday 5 July 2013

Celebrate Ice Cream Month at Mitchells

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month, so since it’s official, what better month to dig into your favourite flavours at Mitchells Dairy!

Even though it’s an American tradition, we don’t think anyone will mind that we’re going to celebrate ice cream throughout the month of July - do you?

Made using Aberdeenshire grown ingredients in partnership with Rizza's of Huntly, Mitchells ice cream is available in 3 delicious flavours – Luxury Dairy, Crannachan and Blueberries & Cream.

Our hugely popular Blueberries & Cream ice cream is made using Castleton Farm Shop’s delicious blueberries, and incidentally, we have been selected by Castleton Farm Shop as their supplier of the month for July!

If you can’t choose between the flavours (we can't blame you...) we are currently running a competition on Facebook where you can win all three!

All you have to do is log onto the Mitchells Dairy Facebook page and guess how many red, white and blue balloons were on display in our window to celebrate Inverurie4u’s Independent Retailers Day.

Although our current range is Luxury Dairy, Crannachan and Blueberries & Cream, we did recently experiment in the kitchen at home with something a little more unusual.

After we got chatting to Fi Bird at Taste of Grampian, we made some sea lettuce ice cream from her book The Forager's Kitchen!

Now, we’re not sure whether it will ever become a Mitchells flavour, but if it proves popular, you just never know...

Have you ever tried any other unusual ice cream flavours? If so, what’s your favourite? Let us know by commenting on this post below, or by getting in touch on Facebook or Twitter.

And if you would like to stock Mitchells ice cream or find out more, please phone 01467 621 389.
 
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Tuesday 2 July 2013

Inverurie4u Independent Retailers Day

In Inverurie, we are immensely proud of the range of independent shops and businesses still on our high streets, so, inspired by Independent Retailer Month, the members of Inverurie4u are holding a showcase late night shopping event to help people 'open their eyes to Inverurie'.

Taking place on Thursday 4 July, Inverurie4u Independent Retailers Day will highlight the important role that local, independent retailers play in Inverurie and help make people aware of how buying locally can boost our local economy.

To tie in with Independence Day in America, member businesses will decorate their shop windows in red, white and blue, helping you to identify the shops and businesses who work together to promote Inverurie as a great destination to shop, dine and spend time.

Local Olympian, swimmer Hannah Miley, will open the event in the town square, just outside our shop at 4pm, and there will be lots of family fun going on, including a treasure hunt around the town and live music from local music groups.

Here at Mitchells Dairy, we will have a 'guess how many balloons are in the window' competition and the Shop and Tearoom will both be open until 8pm.

There will also be tastings to sample in the shop including some delicious products at the Downies Fish counter, and in the Tearoom we are sticking with the Independence Day theme and selling hot dogs and thick shakes (made, of course, with yummy Mitchells ice cream) as well as snacks, home bakes, tea and coffees to revive you during all the fun!

What a great way to kick start the school holidays (well, the children will only have one more day of school after this!) with a bit of fun at Inverurie’s inaugural Independent Retailers Day.

Come along and open YOUR eyes to Inverurie - there really is something for everyone here!

If you want to find out more about Inverurie4u Independent Retailers Day, you can like Inverurie4u on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

And remember - you can pick up an Inverurie4u I LOVE LOCAL card in any participating business to claim your exclusive offers. Check out the Inverurie4u website for more information. 

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Wednesday 26 June 2013

Get Served by Mitchells Dairy this Wimbledon

Fans flocked to SW19 yesterday for the first day of Wimbledon, but at Mitchells Dairy, we're more excited by a fortnight of strawberries and cream than serves and challenges!

So, if you aren't lucky enough to have centre court tickets, or aren't willing to queue for hours for ground passes, you haven't missed the chance to watch Wimbledon in style.

You can cheer on Andy Murray from the comfort of your own home, with some tasty treats that will make you feel like you're supporting him from the stands!

We have locally grown strawberries and raspberries from Barra Berries, which will of course be absolutely perfect served with Mitchells cream or ice cream.

Once you have devoured those, you can then move on to some Berry Scrumptious Strawberry and Cream chocolate, washed down with Cairn O’Mohr Sparkling Scottish Strawberry wine.

For those of you too busy watching the action to cook, we can even help you stack up on some scrumptious, but simple meals for dinnertime.

There is plenty to choose from the Mitchells deli counter, including cooked hams, cheese, homemade quiche and pate, as well as a whole host of crisps, snacks, wines and beers from our Grocery Shop

So, if you're looking for some delicious Wimbledon-inspired treats this summer, make sure you're served by Mitchells!


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Friday 7 June 2013

Father's Day Favourites at Mitchells

With Father's Day just around the corner, why not get your dad an extra-special gift this year from Mitchells Dairy?

There’s so much to choose from at Mitchells; we have a fantastic selection of cheeses and chutneys, as well as beers, wines and whiskies which are certain to go down well with your dad.

If these don’t take your fancy, why not take a look at our special hampers on our Hamper Store? If our fathers are anything to go by, the Beers and Snacks Hamper is sure to be a firm favourite with all the dads out there.

For just £48, you will get a hamper crammed full with daddy's favourites, including Tyrrells Crisps, Mackies of Scotland Crisps, Deeside Brewery Beer, Innis & Gunn Oak Aged, and of course, good old Tunnocks Teacakes.

If this doesn't whet your appetite, we can make up hampers to your individual requirements. Just be sure to let us know all your dad’s favourites and we’ll do our best to include them.

If your old man is a little fussy, you are still struggling to find the perfect gift, why not let him choose his own? Mitchells' gift vouchers can be purchased, allowing your dad to browse and make his own selection.

We know the date is fast approaching, but don't worry - if you don't have time to pop into store, phone us on 01467 621389 or visit us online and we can then arrange to courier to mainland UK addresses.

We hope we have helped give you some ideas for Fathers Day, and we hope you all have a wonderful day shared with the most special man in your life.

Remember everyone - think gift, think Mitchells.

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What a Delicious Taste of Grampian

We would like to say a huge Mitchells Dairy thank you to all our wonderful customers and friends who stopped by to see us last Saturday at Taste of Grampian, the one-day food and drink festival.

Taste of Grampian is always a fantastic day out, and this year's event, which took place at the Thainstone Centre in good old Inverurie, was certainly no different.

Our stand was situated just underneath the clock in the main concourse, and although it was incredibly busy, we were able to keep everyone happy with samples of Mitchells milk, our handmade oatcakes, and of course, our delicious Mitchells ice cream.

We managed to have a look around and see celebrity chefs Simon Rimmer, Nick Nairn and Lady Claire MacDonald doing demos, as well as get the chance to sample the wide range of high quality food and drink products from Grampian.

Don't get us wrong, we know more than most how good the produce and producers in Aberdeenshire are - but Taste of Grampian just showcases how lucky we really are.

While we were having a look around, we also got a chance to read a new publication, Aberdeenshire Larder, which launched at the event. Aberdeenshire Larder is part of The List series of food and drink publications, featuring places to eat and where to buy the best produce from the region.

Mitchells has a listing in the publication, and if you want to have a read and find more of the best food and drink in Aberdeenshire, they are available for free from our shop and tearoom.

You can see some of our pictures from the day below, including one of Judy and the aforementioned Mr. Rimmer, who happened to tweet us afterwards saying 'it's always a treat coming to Grampian!'.

It is indeed Simon, it is indeed!



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