White Chocolate and Raspberry Baked Cheesecake

It was our friends annual BBQ a couple of weeks ago (we were optimistic that we would get nice weather, but we didn’t, it rained all day!) and as usual I was tasked with providing dessert. I have had a craving for a baked cheesecake for a while, and so I went about scouring the…

Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

One afternoon while passing the time reading twitter, I spotted a request from the lovely people at Sugar & Crumbs for willing bakers to try out some of their new naturally flavoured icing sugar range.  Not one for letting an opportunity to try something new to pass by, I responded and a few days later…

Bistro Moderne, Edinburgh

Having dined at Restaurant Mark Greenaway a couple of times, I knew that I had to try his new(ish) venture – Bistro Moderne.  Situated in the old Cafe Fish (previously Zanzero) in Stockbridge it was an easy dander for us one Sunday lunchtime.  I had heard great things already, especially about the Sunday lunch so…

Istanbul

Istanbul is somewhere I have wanted to visit for a while, not for any particular reason other than it looked amazing (and also Ottolenghi’s ‘Mediterranean’ did nothing to put me off!).  Luckily in January Turkish Airlines had a sale on and we managed to get bargainous flights direct to Istanbul for some springtime sunshine!  We…

Gooseberry and Elderflower Jam

Having gone a bit crazy at a Pick your Own Farm, I now have a freezer full of fruit waiting to be turned into tasty jams or crumbles.  I decided to make a Gooseberry and Elderflower Jam with the mountain of delicious gooseberries I picked.  The jam is relatively straight forward to make, I have…

Feis Ile 2014: Islay & Jura

Back in May myself, Stuart and 6 of our friends headed off for a weeks holiday to the beautiful Island of Islay. Our main reason for visiting was for the Annual Feis Ile – an 8 day festival of all things whisky and music related – not for the faint hearted I assure you! But…

Mango Smoothie

I am really getting into Smoothies at the moment, I think the excesses of the Edinburgh Festival is taking its toll on me and I am craving something tasty yet a little bit healthy! For this Smoothie I actually cheated and used pre-chopped mango – tastes the same just quicker to make! Mango Smoothie (Makes…

Burger Meats Bun (meets Belly!)

Friday seen the opening of the latest venture by Glasgow’s Burger Meats Bun people in Edinburgh.  BMB Edinburgh occupies the former residence of Urban Angel on Forth Street and as luck would have it, today we passed here at lunchtime!  We had been meaning to visit the Glasgow branch for a while, so it was…

Chocolate Bourbon Milkshake

I’m a big fan of food with alcohol in it and since it’s the 4th of July, I decided to whip up a Chocolate Bourbon Milkshake.  This was also an attempt to use up my never ending bottle of Jack Daniels (though technically its a Tennessee Whisky not a Bourbon!). This is by no means…

The Lobster Shack, North Berwick

Last year I had planned to go to the Lobster Shack in North Berwick at some point over its open season, but never quite made it – I think the rain put paid to the plans mainly.  So, this year we seized the opportunity last weekend when the weather was nice and had nothing else…