The Court House Coffee Bar & Restaurant in Kinross recently hosted a dessert tasting for children, families and staff from the town’s local children’s hospice, Rachel House, which is part of Children’s Hospices Across Scotland – better known as CHAS.
Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS) is on a mission to reach every family in Scotland that needs its care, providing hospice services nation-wide to babies, children and young people with life-shortening conditions.
Our Restaurant Manager Emma Thomson was looking at how to strengthen links with the community in ways that would benefit local organisations. She is a great supporter of children’s charities and hit on the idea of adding a menu item that could promote the work of CHAS and donate a portion of the profits from that dish direct to the charity.
“It is really important to me that we support our local community. We are, first and foremost a neighbourhood restaurant and everything we do, from refurbishing the former Court House and opening it up again for locals to use, to hiring local talent, has that ethos at its heart.”
Head Chef Jordan Lowe created the dishes with childhood in mind and came up with THE P, B &J – a peanut butter crème brûlée served with a homemade jammy dodger on the side and THE MARSHMALLOW ‘SMORES SUNDAE – a combination of vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and homemade cinnamon biscuits filled with melted marshmallow.
Jordan tried hard to find dishes that reflected childhood tastes and flavours but that would appeal to adults too. He tried out a few different recipes (much to the delight of the rest of team) before finally deciding on the top two.
The taste testing team found the decision tough but finally settled on the P, B & J which they agreed was “creamy, buttery and delicious with a crispy top” and that the “jammy dodgers were melt in the mouth and we loved how the jam filling was made with strawberries from the Court House garden”.
Alison Blair, Activities Coordinator at Rachel House said: “We really enjoyed our taste testing session at the Court House Coffee Bar & Restaurant. It’s really important for us at Rachel House to have strong connections with our local community in Kinross and the team at the Court House all made us feel extra special and are fantastic supporters. The winning dish that we chose – the P, B & J – is sure to be as popular with the general public as it was with us.
“Three children die every week in Scotland of a life-shortening condition and right now, CHAS is only reaching one of them. Amazing supporters such as the Court House help us on our mission of reaching every family across Scotland who needs our care.”
CHAS is the only charity in Scotland that provides hospice services for babies, children and young people with life-shortening conditions. The national charity offers palliative care and respite for the whole family via its two hospices, Rachel House in Kinross and Robin House in Balloch, and via its CHAS at Home service and Diana Children’s Nurse, which supports families in their own homes and in clinical settings across the whole of Scotland.
They make sure that no matter how short family’s time together may be, it is filled with happiness and vitality. We keep the joy alive by helping families to celebrate the lives of their children while they are together, and to honour their memory when they are gone.
To find out more about CHAS and their work:
Follow CHAS on Twitter and Instagram: @supportCHAS, or like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/supportCHAS.
For further information, visit CHAS at www.chas.org.uk