Auch aye the noo- it’s St Andrew’s day!

Well, burl ma kilt, toss ma caber, shoot ma haggis and gee us a dram o whisky!  If’ it’s no St Andrew’s day.

Being the 30th November, it is suitably wild outside.  80mph gusts of winds and flood waters creeping towards my doorstep, but I’m snuggled up, fire roaring with a wee cheeky nip to keep me all roasty on the inside.

Since there is very little particularly photogenic outside right now, I will mark the occasion with a wee picture that makes me want to dress head to toe in tartan and head for the braes singing Rabbie Burns….

Happy St Andrew’s Day!

Sun, soup and cycles-a wholesome Easter weekend

It’s been a good week.  A wholesome week.

I have been a busy girl.

First, I feel I should really mention my first whisky tasting experience.  Wednesday night I attended Tam’s Drams’ whisky tasting dinner at MacSorley’s bar in Glasgow. I was worried I was going to be a bit out of my depth.  I had visions of old men with beards and Aran sweaters, scowling at the young pretender.  I was wrong.  It was fabulous.  Informative but unpretentious and nobody was taking themselves too seriously.  Now, I would normally have photos, but please bear in mind there were 6 whiskies to get through- 2 before the starter, 2 between courses and 2 after the main dish.  After the second whisky, thoughts of photos went out of the window, but you can probably imagine….

I have to mention the food, of course.  Brilliant.  Really really brilliant.  The menu is amazing and I can’t wait to go back.  It’s definitely worth checking out the website using the link above to get a sample of how imaginative and tempting everything sounds.  And, they do stovies!   This pleases me lots. Not enough places serve stovies.

Anyway, on with the wholesomeness…

Soup.  I make it all the time, but I was feeling a bit experimental this week and I was so delighted with the result of my Sweet potato and Squash spiced soup with lentils and coconut milk, I have added it as my first recipe in my Small Kitchen Diaries.

Delicious.

Today involved more food, but it was well earned.  Once more I took to my bike and ventured out along the local cycle paths.  It was a beautiful day.  Not too warm, not too windy.  Perfect cycling conditions.  We peddled for hours through the countryside stopping only to do some shopping and eat ice cream.  We finally made it home where we sat on the picnic blanket in the garden and ate olives and drank red wine out of tumblers so not to spill it everywhere, as I so often do when trusted with a wine glass outdoors.

 

An Applecross prawn a day keeps the doctor away

I’ve just spent seven heavenly days in my favourite place in the world and I’m feeling pretty happy and chilled out.  My body may be back behind a boring desk at work for 8 hours today, but my spirit is still firmly in Applecross bay with the prawns and the squat lobsters and all the other lovely edible creatures just waiting to sacrifice themselves to please my belly.

I have eaten a lot this week.  A lot.  I may be having a food baby now, but it was worth every last mouthful.  In keeping with tradition our first meal was at the Applecross Inn where I devoured whole Applecross prawns swimming in garlic butter.  These bad boys were huge and juicy and oh so delicious.  It’s always the first meal of holiday prawns that are the most memorable.  Maybe because, after a few months since I was last in Applecross, my memory of them had started to fade, so when they arrived at the table on the first night there was a fanfare playing in my head.  When placed in front of me I felt like they should leap up off the plate with big jazz hands (or claws) going “ Taaa-Daaaaaa!”.  Yes, I know- that mental picture was pretty awesome, right?

Anyway, moving on from my prawn day dream…

Many other fabulous meals were had, including big beefy steaks, crispy fish and chips, half pints of prawn tails with cocktail sauce and lovely squat lobsters which you can find in abundance in and around Applecross, but not may other places further south.  This is a shame, as they are fantastic.  Apparently they don’t travel well- Perhaps they get car sick?  Let’s not dwell on that mental image.

I also concocted my very own creations in our wee but-n-ben- a slow cooked lamb and haricot bean stew in velvety tomato sauce yumminess, home baked shortbread and the vital scottish breakfast of kings (and queens) square sausage, fried onion and tatty scone in a roll!

Apart from the eating I did some moderate outdoor activities, including a walk to the mast above the Bealach-na-ba. Here is the view from the top:

However,most of my newly acquired protein fuelled energy was burnt on a walk through shin deep cow field muck and rivers to reach a beautiful remote beach only visible when the tide is super low.  It was probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen and not another soul around for miles.  It also helped that this was on the most glorious day of the year so far.  I think I had a bit of a moment and tried to capture it on camera, but it just didn’t do it justice.

On Wednesday we were joined by friends from London who flew to Inverness and completed the journey in true ‘romantic’ highland fashion- by stinky diesel train.  However, I am underselling this as, if you have to travel by train, the route from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh is the one to do it on.

I’ve been to the Applecross area so many times over the years and I love it a bit more each time, but since my wedding there a few years ago, I forgot how much fun it was to show it to someone for the first time.  The drive over the Bealach-na-ba for starters- it’s a bit like the marmite of the road world. If you love driving, you will love the Bealach-na-ba, but if your not so confident, it’s hell on earth.

Personally, I love it and the views from the summit (on a clear day) are probably the most spectacular roadside views you’ll find in the world…or for at least….20 miles, bearing in mind the coastal road between Applecross and Shieldaig is equally as stunning.  As well as showing off the scenery it was a joy to impart our knowledge of all the food produced locally and share some lovely meals.  We destroyed cheeseboards from the West Highland dairy, decimated venison sausages from Roddy, the butcher in Lochcarron and obliterated all the Torridon and Shieldaig smoked salmon we could find.  Even the honestly box eggs from the roadside cupboard were the best eggs we had ever tasted and, over the week, we cleared out the top shelf leaving only the hats and gloves for sale (they were rather nice too, but it was just too sunny to justify knit wear, it was above 5 degrees after all!).

I can’t think of anywhere else in Scotland there is such a fantastic range of foodie places in such a small area, especially somewhere so remote.  On the down side, we missed the start of ‘the season’ by one week, therefore we missed out on food at the Kishorn seafood bar, The Potting Shed in the Applecross Walled Garden- my very favourite place to eat in all the world, not just because food is amazing, but it is also where I had my wedding- and Nanny’s place in Shieldaig.  Maybe just as well as I don’t think we had enough meals in each day to cover them all.  However, we did pay the Applecross Inn frequent visits and had a lovely lunch at the Shieldaig Bar and Coastal Kitchen where we were very pleased to see Clootie dumping with Drambuie custard on the menu.  I don’t think it surpassed the sticky toffee pudding from the Applecross Inn though- Sweet spongy syrupy magic in a bowl.

In between all this eating and occasional moderate/minimal exercise, we also did a good job of working our way through our very special bottles of whisky from Tam’s Drams in front of the stove, not to mention a good few more on offer behind the bar at the Applecross Inn.

Does this all sound very indulgent?  It was!  …..Most pleasing

Ahhhh, if only it could have gone on forever. I fully intend on moving to Applecross and when I do this will be doing every day.   I also intend on winning the lottery to fund such activities and maybe to invest some sort of cholesterol and calorie burning device.  On a tangent, we did befriend a lovely chap, we shall refer to as Santa, and I came close to negotiating the purchase of a caravan from him once he had finished building his new house and had moved out of said caravan.  I really believe I could have been spending many a happy weekend stuffed into Santa’s wee caravan in the middle of nowhere, full of squats and prawns and whisky….if only we had one more round of drinks to finalise the deal.  However, I was swiftly removed from my bar stool and promptly marched home under the light of the super moon, safely away from the temptation to trade the family jewels for a tin can on wheels….It would have been nice though!

Anyway, it all had to end at some point, so we finished our visit with a grand finale at the Applecross Inn where we had our last prawny supper, a lovely bottle of red (connoisseurs choice, no less) and many many whiskies to fuel our final journey home through the creepy woods, made slightly less creepy by our raised alcohol levels.  On Saturday we made a pit stop at Roddy’s butchers where the London collective bought the remaining stock of smoked fish to take home and we purchased a half cow half venison sausage monster, followed by a quick visit to the Carron Pottery where many tea towels and sheep skin slippers were adopted.  I am pleased to report they are now living happily with their new family in London.

I had a fabulous week and I’m glad everyone else had just as nice a time.  We all plan on a return visit soon, very soon.

Watch out prawns!

In the mean time here is the best of the rest…

Drams and dramas-a trip to whisky central

I’ve had some lovely wee moments this week- From dinner, wine and Irish coffee’s at the Butterfly and Pig, cocktails at the Pony and champagne beers at the Central Bar with a girlfriend, to an unexpected lunchtime burgers and wine treat at AdLib with Mr CL, to an afternoon shopping for bikes and whisky (yip, you heard right) with family in preparation for our trip north next week, followed by curry at Stravaigin, coffee and cakes at Sonny and Vito’s and cocktails at The Left Bank.  I need to take this opportunity to mention Tam’s Drams again.  It’s awesome.  Whisky heaven.  We went with the intention of picking up a nice bottle for ourselves and we were also given the task of selecting a bottle for a friend.  Double the fun.  We spent a good chunk of yesterday afternoon tasting whisky with Tam’s expect guidance and tried everything from Bruichladdich Black Art to Wemyss Malts Autumn Leaves before settling on a Douglas Laing &co Old Malt Cask 20 year old Glenburgie for us and a Glasgow Whisky Festival’s bottling of a 14 year old Highland Park for my friend.  Both were delicious and I can’t wait to crack them open when we get up to Applecross next week……weather permitting that is.

I was about to start moaning about us entering our third winter this year, however, when you see what else is going on around the world right now, a bit of snow is a minor issue.  I realise how I am lucky I am to live somewhere we don’t have to worry much about natural disasters or oppressive regimes, and I am suddenly very grateful cold weather is the worst we have to contend with.  As such, I am all the more appreciative of the time I have been able to spend with good friends and family this week and I am thinking of all those who are not in such a fortunate position.

The Lorne way round

So, after a long dark winter eating and drinking my way round Partick, I finally hit the road just in time for spring to burst onto the scene.  Precision timing.  With tunes on the stereo, sunglasses dusted down and perched upon my nose, an empty belly and camera round my neck, I was really to adventure off to discover uncharted Argyll territory.  First, a fundamental fuel stop at the Loch Fyne Oyster bar for lunch-  Beautiful shiny seafood linguine in a ginger cream sauce- exactly what my mouth was shaped for.

After a leisurely drive through roller coaster hillsides and moors, we emerged to join the Sounds of Jura where we pottered by dopy yachts bobbing about on the sparkly sheltered waters by the marina before arriving at our hotel, The Galley of Lorne.  A lovely wee sailor friendly pub/inn on the waters edge.  Fortunately, they were friendly to non sailors too and we were pleased to find somebody with a bit of imagination had recently refurbished the rooms to a standard you don’t often find in wee remote abodes.  After a quick wander to get our bearings we assumed our positions in the bar and commenced our journey through the food and drink menu.  Ok, it wasn’t the most amazing meal I have ever had, but somebody was clearly trying hard and put a bit of thought into the menu.  The winner of the evening was the sticky date pudding in toffee sauce- Often this can go so wrong, but they nailed it.  We spent the rest of the evening slowly working our way through the whisky selection while watching the locals get steadily drunker, louder and dancier…..All very amusing then, but not so when we got up the next morning for breakfast to find all the other hotel guests roaming the corridors, bewildered at finding the whole place locked up and in darkness without a member of staff in sight.  They seemed to have forgotten the breakfast part of ‘bed and breakfast’.  I’ve never experienced this before, nor had anyone else so nobody really knew what the drill was.  We tried calling the contact number on the front door- no answer.  After more corridor pacing and rattling of locked doors we were starting to resemble breakfast zombies, so we took a wee walk in the morning sun to de-zombiefy and take a few pictures.

When we returned breakfast was in full swing, so we filled up on lots of fried stuff before venturing off for a walk in the sunshine at a wee spot called Aird, we then took a driving taking in Kilmartin, Crinal canal and Loch Fyne where we stopped frequently for wanderings and photo taking opportunities.

Here are some things I saw:

Instead of returning home to sleepyville, we treated ourselves to a wee night at the Lorne Hotel in Glasgow.  Lunch was at La Vallee Blanche, one of my favourite restaurants in Glasgow, where we caught up with family over steak frite followed by cocktails at Booly Mardy’s.  I know I know, it’s a tough life.  As if that wasn’t hard enough, dinner was at Bukharah where I had the most delicious dosa with spicy chicken, curry and peshwari naan followed by more cocktails at the Bilerry bar.  This is where I finally learned you can have too much of a good thing when it comes to food.  My guts have never hurt so much, but like a real trooper, I fought through it and enjoyed a wee session at the Ben Nevis bar where gid tunes and a wee Balvenie aided the digestion process.

Next morning, after barely touching breakfast, we took a long walk through Kelvingrove Park stopping at Sonny and Vito’s deli for coffee where it was so lovely we sat outside in the spring sunshine.  I know!  Outside!  How exciting.  We finally pottered back through the park before having lunch and afternoon drinks at The Goat.  The final pit stop was a true find, Tam’s Drams, a specialist whisky shop on Argyle Street.  Tam was a lovely man with great chat and a wealth of knowledge on the rare selection of whiskies stocked.  A brilliant shop- I can’t wait to go back and stock up before my next trip up north, which is only two weeks away!  Hurrah!

Culinary cure for colds

I appear to have developed man flu.  I have been working on a cure…

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First of all, the most delicious wine ever.  Honestly, this stuff is fruity juicy loveliness in a glass.  It’s normally about £9 a bottle but currently on offer in Morrison’s at about half that.  Stock up now!  Next stop, a steaming mountain of rich and heavenly smoked haddock and mustard cream bean stew with spinach.  My lovely husband channelled our food God, Nigel Slater, to create this dish and it was amazing.  It’s tastiness was off the scale.  Despite it’s cold curing abilities (although, this is probably the reason it was so effective), it’s fat and calorie content is through the roof.  I consumed the lot before I realised how I may have just reduced my life expectancy by a day or two.  It should come with a public health warning.  Having already done the damage, I thought there was really no point in stopping there so I reclined on the sofa with a toasty, boozy and creamy Gaelic coffee to help complete the healing process. Ahhhh.  This worked wonders.  Finally, feeling slightly closer to human, I had a cheeky wee Cuba Libre as a digestif.  Havana Club with four fat wedges of lime squished over ice and topped with full fat cola.

Today I am functioning at about 90%.  A definite improvement.  Magic.

Velvet Elvis to The Park Bar- a West End Odyssey.

“Keep Partick‘s Weird”  The mural on the wall of Velvet Elvis, an ex butcher shop turned groovy drinking den on Dumbarton Road in Partick, declares and does a pretty good job.  I love this place. It’s comfy and friendly and has tasty food and does a mean mojito.  We started off Saturday’s afternoon outing here with an ice cold glass of chenin blanc and a bowl of skinny fries with alioli.  I would like to point out, I don’t normally eat chips with every drink, but I do admit my last few posts would contradict this statement.  Sticking with this healthy eating plan, our next stop was Little Italy on Byers Road for pizza then coffee.  They do gooood pizza.  We then turned back on our route and headed to The Lismore to catch up with some old pals over a Malt of the Month…or two.  Highland Park was the current tipple on offer and it went down rather nicely.  The Lismore is a crackin pub, full of local characters with great banter.  Combined with some live music provided by musicians in town for Celtic Connections, it was a great afternoon.  It was also our downfall, as we had intended catching an early train home but instead found ourselves having too much fun to end it here.  The natural progression was a quick taxi ride to the institution that is the Park Bar, where Heilan’ lads and lassies gather in vast numbers for some ceilidh chaos.  The last train home came and went and we were still propping up the bar and talking mince.  I pity the poor taxi driver who scooped us up for the journey home at approximately 12.30, six hours after we originally intended to head home.  Still, what’s the point in working hard all week if you can’t throw caution to the wind and go with the proverbial flow?  I love nights like this- Unplanned joy.  It’s random nights in places like this I think helps keep Partick, and the rest of the West End, a wee bit weird but totally wonderful.

The hangover

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I must be about 8.2 on the Teucheter-scale today.  I would have been about 8.9 on friday night but I’ve managed to bring it down a notch or two to a less catastrophic state.

Celtic Connection festivities lived up to expectations.  After checking into our 12th floor, ahem, “penthouse” room the evening got underway with that most traditional of Scottish beverages, and one of my all time favourites-  The Daiquiri.  Well, washed down with a side of chilli and parmesan chips and it’s a definite Celt-Cuban classic!  This was followed by…another Daiquiri but this one was in the grand surroundings of the Blythswood Hotel- not a deep fried tatty in sight. After a bit of eavesdropping on some lovies who swore blind they new best friend was the manager of the Black Eyed Peas (really?…but really though?) we moved on to line our stomaches before doing some serious damage.  Anyway, we weren’t friends with anyones manager so clearly were not going to fit in.  Not with the kind of night we had in mind.

Bring on the trumpets!…and fiddles and banjos and flutes, pipes, guitars and drums!

Celtic Connections festival commences this weekend. I predict carnage on friday night and I canny wait. Chances of being fit to cook mother-in-laws birthday dinner on Saturday?….Aye, we’ll see. Drink tea before bed and just say no to whisky. Just say no to whisky? …JUST SAY NO TO WHISKY!

I’ll be grand.

Devouring Scotland.

So………a blog.  What a unique idea

I suppose I should explain why.  Basically, I love to travel.  Seeing breathtaking places, eating outrageously good food (ok, sometimes bad, but good bad), people watching, being transfixed by stupidly talented musicians, soaking up atmosphere, smells, sun, wind, snow, rain, discovering places that seem like nobody else has ever been there before.  I also love to procrastinate.  I don’t know why it has never before occurred to me to write a blog- my perfect outlet.

What makes this different from other blogs then?  Well, most travelly type blogs are about  far off exotic lands of the unknown.  Not me.  Luckily I am totally and utterly in love with my own back yard, Scotland.  Which is just as well, as although I do also love to don my passport and head for distant shores, the chance doesn’t come up quite as often as I would like.   So, rather that write as a tourist discovering another country, I am here to tell you all about the secrets of Scotland from the inside out.

Now for the public health warning, this blog will feature a lot of food.  A lot.  It will also feature cocktails and whisky and music and more food, the great outdoors, hills, glens, beaches, woods, islands, sneaky hidden foody gems, highland games, ceilidhs, more food, remote destination, off the beaten track pubs and slick city bars and eateries….and places that deep fry stuff.  Basically anything I judge to be Scotland’s finest.  In particular, it’s about promoting what’s local- local produce, local restaurants, local recipes, local bands, local festivals, local sights….From time to time I will stray and report back on what I discover outside Scotland but for the most part, you get the idea.

I’m a lucky lassie to have an abundance of brilliant stuff on my doorstep.

CL