The Scotsman Bulletin Tuesday December 03 2024 #Christmas

The Scotsman

Dale looks forward to Christmas with Food & Drink Editor Rosalind Erskine, an expert on all the things you need for the festive season

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's daily video bulletin for this Tuesday. My name is Dale Miller,

00:05I'm deputy editor of the Scotsman and I'm joined by our food and drink editor Rosalind Erskine.

00:12Ros, let's get to talking about all things Christmas soon because like it or not it is

00:16December, it's the third now, so we're allowed to talk about it. I know you've been doing a

00:21lot of writing about it but we'll touch base on the front page. Firstly of today's Scotsman

00:26leading in on the NHS dilemma as services face the axe to free up funds. This is based on a

00:32warning from Audit Scotland suggesting that if more money in tomorrow's budget needs to go into

00:38the areas where it should for health then it's going to need to be used, moved some of it from

00:45other areas, meaning there will be services that will face the axe within the health system.

00:50Certainly John Swinney's spoken about health being a focus and we also know house building

00:56is going to be a big focus heading into tomorrow's Scottish budget. We'll be bringing

01:01you every area where there will be spending cuts as well because that does feel inevitable

01:07heading into Wednesday. Ros, back on the cheerier stuff, Christmas. Yeah, we've all got parties to

01:14prepare for going to, we've all got Christmas dinners and if you're anything like my household

01:21it tends to run across a few days over Christmas in Hogmanay. Firstly, just tell me about whiskies

01:29because it's a great Christmas present and there's a fair bit of interest on the market about

01:35what people can look at this year. Yeah, so there's a lot of different price points for

01:40whisky if you're buying a whisky for yourself or for someone else. I've been looking into whisky's

01:45£50 and under which is on the food and drink site just now. I'm also looking at whisky, luxury

01:51whisky gifts and whisky gifts for people who are just getting into it. So you don't have to spend

01:56a lot of money and you could go and get a really nice bottle for about £30. Supermarkets do deals

02:02but also there's independent shops around Scotland that'd be good to support. So I think if you're

02:09looking for something for someone who's just getting into whisky, don't want to spend a lot

02:12of money, some of the big brands like Glenmorangie, Glenlivet, they're really good, Glenfiddich,

02:19you'll get really good deals on them. But maybe something a little bit different if you've got

02:23someone who loves whisky but maybe has quite a lot of bottles, you can get accessories, you can

02:28get tasting packs, the jam team do a really good find your new favourite so you can get like little

02:33miniatures and they do like a survey on what you like, what you don't like and it becomes quite

02:38personalised. You could also go on a distillery tour. So yeah, there's lots out there,

02:44lots of choice. It can be a bit overwhelming but if you get an idea of what the person likes

02:48and what they drink already, there's lots of different things that you can sort of segue into,

02:52not just bottles of whisky. Ros, I know I'm always telling any family that asks about me, even that,

02:58get some whisky. So it's one of those presents that does go down well. Food and drink wise as

03:04well, you know, a lot of people be preparing for what they put on at home but there's a lot of

03:09markets across the country, isn't there, in the lead up to Christmas with a big food and drink

03:14focus? Yeah, so all the big Christmas markets within the city, so Glasgow, Edinburgh have all

03:19kicked off. You can go there, get your usual sort of Christmas market fair, Christmas market fair

03:26and foods, you know, hot dogs and mulled wine and things. But if you're looking for something a bit

03:30more specialised, Bow House up in Fife, they've got their Christmas market coming up the weekends

03:36of the 13th, 14th, 15th. There's also Bute Yard, there's one in Stirling, there is a few sort of

03:46more like farm-led ones out in Perthshire. Dunkeld as a town have a really nice sort of Christmas

03:53weekend coming up, the same weekend as Bow House. So yeah, there's a lot going on to support more

03:59independent Scottish businesses and the Christmas episode of Scran, the first one that's coming out

04:05on Friday, we've spoken to some people at Bow House to get some good inspiration for kind of

04:10foodie gifts for people, whether it's charcuterie or game, whether you're going to do something

04:15different instead of turkey. Yeah, there's lots going on so it's quite, it's nice. And Ros, just

04:20give the viewers an insight into what Christmas is going to look like at your end, you know.

04:25I know food and drink wise, you love it. Anything special that you're preparing this year?

04:31Well, I go to my sister's for Christmas, so I don't really tend to get too hands-on. I used

04:35to, I used to cook Christmas dinner and did for years, so my brother-in-law does all that, and

04:40then on Boxing Day I have the family here, an extended family here, which is fun because I don't

04:45really have a very big flat, so there's a lot of just sitting on the couch, sitting at the table,

04:49but I'll do a cooked ham, a vegetarian or fish dish for people who don't eat meat,

04:55and a lot of different kinds of pudding. So, I love to just get inspiration from

05:01the Food Network and people I've met over the course of the year and a couple of different

05:06things. But yeah, it's generally a buffet because I do not have the space for about 10 people,

05:10which is the many, as many people that comes on Boxing Day. So, yeah, it's good, it's exciting,

05:14looking forward to it. Well, look, if your mouth is watering like mine and you're thinking about

05:20Christmas because we're not that far out now, you can go to the Scotsman's Personalised Food

05:24and Drink site. Ros has been writing pieces, as she's discussed, about whiskeys, 50 pounds and

05:31under. If you're not sure what to get as a gift, it's worth, while reading some of Ros's coverage,

05:37there's some excellent tip ideas in there, ranging for all budgets, really,

05:42as we come into Christmas. Please, talking about Christmas as well, we're running a news campaign

05:48linked to the Syrenians. It's to help people who are homeless on the streets at this time of year.

05:53I know a lot of us are thinking about what we can put on the table and what presents to get

05:58and how to make it special for the kids at Christmas, but this cause is hugely important.

06:03There has been a rise in homelessness across the country this year. It's at the pointy end

06:09and almost worse in places like Edinburgh. You may have visibly seen evidence of this yourself.

06:16If you've got anything extra you can give, I would encourage you to give towards that

06:20Syrenians campaign. You can find all the latest coverage on our website linked to that as well.

06:26Ros, thank you very much for joining us. Please follow us on Facebook,

06:29Instagram, Blue Sky as well, and go out and buy a copy of the Scotsman tomorrow

06:34for all the last minute updates ahead of the Scottish budget.

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