Pancake Day Crepe Cake

Happy Pancake Day! I do love pancakes; they are a kind of staple in our house. From American Fluffy ones for a weekend lazy brunch or a French crepe for a evening meal stuffed with something tasty, or even just with a squeeze of lemon. For this pancake day though I decided to do something…

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Chocolate Chip Shortbread

I do like to have a biscuit with my morning cuppa, but quite often it just tends to be something plain, like a Digestive or a Rich Tea.  I decided this week I needed something different, and so threw together this batch of Chocolate Chip Shortbread. Chocolate Chip Shortbread (Makes approx. 16 pieces) Ingredients 250g…

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Pomegranate

A drizzly grey day in Edinburgh, just before Christmas seen Stuart and I pop into Pomegranate on Antigua Street for a late lunch. We were warmly welcomed into the bright and cheery restaurant, just what we needed to break through the greyness! Pomegranate is the sister restaurant of Hanam’s up near the Castle, which is…

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The Chop Shop

When we were last in London Stuart and I made an effort to eat in places we haven’t been to before.  When you are down there working its easy to fall into the trap of the same old restaurants.  So I did my research before we went and I set my eyes on The Chop…

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Pasteis de Nata

Writing up my posts on Porto and Lisbon has made me crave some Pasteis de Nata.  What is better than some warm custardy, pastry goodness on a cold wet winters day like today! When we were in Portugal during the summer they became my staple breakfast food from a local cafe, a coffee and a…

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Lisbon

Lisbon was the next stop on our mini Portuguese adventure, with Porto having been the first.  An easy three hour train journey from Porto takes you to the heart of Lisbon.  Again, we opted to use Airbnb, and stayed in a lovely one bedroom apartment in a quiet central area of the city. Lisbon is…

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Nutella and Banana Smoothie

Happy World Nutella Day! Nutella is truly worthy of a day dedicated to it, though I certainly don’t need a special day to have an excuse to tuck into some!   However, there is no better way to start such a today than to have a Nutella and Banana Smoothie.  Not exactly healthy, but definitely tasty!…

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Cranachan

No Burns Feast can be complete without Cranachan.  I made this using some raspberries I picked during the summer (and froze!) from Stuart’s Dad’s garden near Stirling, so these are truly Scottish Raspberries!  Cranachan requires whisky so a choice needs to be made about which one to use.  As with the Whisky Sauce, this is…

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Burns Night Whisky Sauce

I hope everyone got into the swing of Rabbie Burns and feasted well on haggis and whisky! Whilst haggis is consumed in this household at any point in the year, Burns Night always sees us tucking into the full shebang of haggis, neeps and tatties (real for him, veggie for me!) and this year I…

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Portavadie Marina

Back in September we were looking for a few days away and after some recommendations we packed up the car and headed to Portavadie Marina.  Portavadie is situated on the Cowal Pennisula on the West coast in what is often referred to as Argyll’s Secret Coast.  Looking at the map there are two ways to…

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