Talk of the Town: Some odd recipes squirrelled away

THEY are fluffy invaders from America who have contributed to the demise of the Great British red squirrel. But now a quirky method of pest control can help to cull the population of the pesky grey squirrel - eating them.

Midlothian-based Marie Sinder's Gourmet Treats plans to launch its range of squirrel dishes, including squirrel pie, at FEAST 2011, a celebration of regional Scottish food being held at Jewel and Esk College on April 2.

Marie said: "I like to give my customers flavour combinations they might not otherwise try.

"There have been challenges in developing my recipes, not least because each squirrel does not yield huge amounts of meat."

Band are in tune with unfortunate events

LEITH band The Last Battle has an unfortunate knack for anticipating bad news.

They were just about to upload their cover version of Nate Dogg and Warren G's Regulate when they woke up to hear of Nate Dogg's death on Tuesday. And they tell us: "It's not the first time this has happened. In December our single Nature's Glorious Rage (featuring the lyric "We will brave the snow") had been scheduled for release the week we were to go on tour. The day it was put online Britain was hit with the worst snow in years."

Debate question's a gift

FILLING time in front of a restless audience is a thankless task at the best of times.

So full credit to Edinburgh Pentlands MSP David McLetchie, who was chairing a Q&A session at the Tory conference which acted as a warm-up for Prime Minister David Cameron.

Due to the ongoing crisis in Libya, however, Mr Cameron was delayed, leading organisers to continually prompt Mr McLetchie to keep the debate going.

Eventually, having discussed all the vital policy issues he could think of, Mr McLetchie resorted to asking delegates what present the party should get for Prince William and his bride-to-be.

Some ugly beauty tips

The secrets of the beauty pioneers of Renaissance Italy were presented to city audiences by Edinburgh University's Dr Jill Burke recently.

For those who think Botox extreme, there were some eye-opening revelations. The siren of the age was Catherine Sforza, whose tips included how to disguise bad complexions caused by diseases like smallpox using white lead for a white complexion, red sandalwood for blusher and lipstick, and oats, lemon juice and egg white for face masks.