No, it’s not the title of a new Gene Pitney song (although that might be difficult as he passed away almost exactly six years ago). It’s actually the time that it took for my meat to arrive from Aberdeen!

Here in Pontevedra there are some things that money just can’t buy…. Scottish beef, pork sausages, rack of lamb, Barbary duck to name but a few. Of course you can find one or two reasonable alternatives, but just occasionally you have to push the boat out and treat yourself to the real McCoy (no, that’s not a rare breed of Scottish beef).

When I was in England at Christmas I found a fabulous online butcher, Donald Russell, who deliver all around the UK. I had a rib of beef sent to my sister’s house so that I could cook a traditional roast lunch for her and her husband. The meat was fantastic, but at that time it didn’t even cross my mind that this butcher might be able to do international delivery. The great news for me is that they do, and so I trawled their website looking for all the things that I can’t buy easily in this remote corner of Galicia. Once a month a courier service collects all the meat orders for Spain – shock frozen and packed in dry ice. 25 hours later they’re in your home freezer….. a very impressive and efficient service.

It was just as well that I had one completely empty freezer, because it’s not any more. All I have to do now is get cooking.

No, it’s not the title of a new Gene Pitney song (although that might be difficult as he passed away almost exactly six years ago). It’s actually the time that it took for my meat to arrive from Aberdeen!

Here in Pontevedra there are some things that money just can’t buy…. Scottish beef, pork sausages, rack of lamb, Barbary duck to name but a few. Of course you can find one or two reasonable alternatives, but just occasionally you have to push the boat out and treat yourself to the real McCoy (no, that’s not a rare breed of Scottish beef).

When I was in England at Christmas I found a fabulous online butcher, Donald Russell, who deliver all around the UK. I had a rib of beef sent to my sister’s house so that I could cook a traditional roast lunch for her and her husband. The meat was fantastic, but at that time it didn’t even cross my mind that this butcher might be able to do international delivery. The great news for me is that they do, and so I trawled their website looking for all the things that I can’t buy easily in this remote corner of Galicia. Once a month a courier service collects all the meat orders for Spain – shock frozen and packed in dry ice. 25 hours later they’re in your home freezer….. a very impressive and efficient service.

It was just as well that I had one completely empty freezer, because it’s not any more. All I have to do now is get cooking.