Easter Fun!

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Queen of Everything

Normally we both work over the Easter Holidays, but due to a special birthday in Stuart’s family we were headed en-masse to Wigtownshire to celebrate with his extended family.

The journey down thankfully started out great, clear blue skies – had spring finally arrived?! But then the remnants of last weeks snow hit, plus our sat nav decided to take us off road and up through the highest point in the county!

Welcome to Dumfries & Galloway! A Little Snow Snow Wall!

Saturday seen a surprise early morning visit from the entire family to a very unsuspecting birthday boy! The day was spent catching up, celebrating and feasting on wonderful food (and cake!).

70 Years Young! Happy Birthday! Dessert!!!!

Stuart’s Uncle has a beautiful garden, and with the beautiful weather we spent plenty of time outside, spotting wildlife and talking to pets. Spring had appeared after all!

One of the many resident ducks! A Tit A Nosey Neighbour Welly Dog Spring Time Crocus Sunny Gardens Daffodil

On Sunday Stuart and I took a wander around Wigtown itself, I love books so this town is perfect for me, well maybe not on Easter Sunday! Though a few were open so we took a look.

Wigtown Colourful Pretty Houses The one stop shop! Books Galore! Wigtown Church

Then it was back to Stuart’s Uncles’ for more food, egg painting (for the children of course) and a little Easter Egg Hunt – sadly also for the children! There were squeals of excitement and delight as more and more chocolate was discovered!

Hidden Eggs Painted Masterpieces! More Hidden Eggs Eggscellent Decorated Eggs! (sorry!)

It was soon time to leave, say our goodbyes and head back up to Edinburgh, not without stopping first of course at Bladnoch Distillery for a tour and a wee dram (for me, Stuart got to inhale as he was driving!).

Bladnoch Distillery Malting Barn Angels at Work River Bladnoch

Monday saw a lazy day, starting with a long breakfast (finishing off the last of the hot cross buns), and then onto the newly opened The Walled Garden at Archerfield, before walking off all that food and the excesses of the weekend along Gullane Beach. And then rounding the walk off with an ice cream – well why not , the sun was out!

Hot Cross Buns Gullane Beach A Mr Whippy!!!! The Walled Garden The Beach

A lovely relaxing and fun weekend, maybe we will take the holidays again next year!

Japan Part 3: Kyoto and Nara

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Queen of Everything

Ok, so this post has been a long time coming (almost 10 months in fact!). After our stay on Miyajima we hopped on a train up to Kyoto. I was really looking forward to going here, I had read so much about it and the history (geeky I know) and wanted to see these places in real life. It didn’t disappoint!

Kyoto is kind of split, there is old ancient Kyoto and modern business Kyoto. The city and surrounding area is full of some beautiful temples and shrines, I won’t bore you with details about each one, but some things they have in common are that they are peaceful places, colourful and beautifully decorated, each with their own differences. Some even have Nightingale Floors that sing as you walk!

We stayed in the more modern part of town in a little studio apartment, which was great being able to go to the shop and try random things. I think Stuart tried every flavour of ‘Pot Noodle’, not quite the culinary experience I had in mind!! We did eat out a couple of times, in the old town and also quite randomly at the train station, which had restaurants on the top two floors, we had the best Katsu there (Wagamama certainly don’t make it like that!)

Kyoto is just nice for wandering, and stopping for cake (a lot, which I didn’t think would happen in Japan!). They are very much into their patisserie, and we enjoyed Cream Puff (took me back to being a kid!) and a nice tasting platter from a rather trendy tea house

The indoor market is also amazing, it spans about 3 blocks and sells everything including fish lollipops and other random sea creatures and veg that I couldn’t tell you what it was!

Not far from Kyoto is Nara, the ancient capital, where deer roam free. So we took a day trip. It was such a lovely place, with again lots of temples and gardens, but a large park in centre where the deer roamed free and tried to eat your ice cream!

They also have the worlds largest Buddha!! Yeah, check out the size of this guy:

Then it was back on the Shinkansen (still makes me smile thinking about them, they are so cool) and Hello Tokyo!

Milan

Posted on February 2, 2013 by Queen of Everything

Having booked a few days off back in October and not really knowing what to do with them (well besides DIY – but that’s boring right?) we took to the Edinburgh Airport website to see where you could fly to and then checked out where was offering the cheapest flights. Milan won.

In keeping with our trying to keep it cheap plan, we rented a little studio apartment in the Brera area of Milan, a sort of ‘Bohemian’ area full of arty types and young professionals. So far so good. When flying with Easyjet you land at Malpensa airport about 1 hour outside Milan, but with a mixture of the airport bus and the Milano Card (which I would recommend) its pretty straight forward to get into the centre and then onto wherever you are going.

We left the beautiful crisp sunny day weather behind in Edinburgh and landed in a foggy and rainy Milan. Milan is not really known as a tourist hotspot, there isn’t a huge amount to do there, however its a really good place to wander, soak up the atmosphere and enjoy a lot of café, gelato or something a little stronger!

When we arrived it was late and rainy so we headed to the first place we could find to eat – a little local pizzeria! Where I got stuck in to all things typically Italian – pizza, gelato and wine! I also spotted a late opening bakery, so popped in and spent a small fortune on patisserie and wonderful breads for breakfast (or a late night snack!)

We spent the next day wandering around Milan. We walked the roof of the Duomo with its amazing views over Milan, we ate Panzeroti, seen La Scala, nearly got run over by a tram and couldn’t get in to The Last Supper. Of course there was a stop for Patisserie at Patisserie Marchesi the oldest in Milan, a shot of espresso and an over-indulgence in gelato (is that even possible?!)

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We spent dusk at the majestic Castello Sforzesco and seen a big fat Italian gypsy wedding! Then it was a walk back to the Duomo through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II all lit up and glistening in the dark, past the smell of roasted chestnut vendors filling the air with the smell of winter and to a Mozzarella bar for dinner high up on the 7th floor over looking a twinkling Milan.

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The next day it rained heavily, but we weren’t put off! We visited the Pinacoteco di Brera, an art gallery and college, resembling what may have been an old jail back in the day. We wandered through the Quadrilatero d’Oro, daydreaming at all the beautiful items in the windows of the high end shops. Ending up at Milan Triennale, where we were lost for hours in the myriad of exhibitions, before walking out into the dark and in search of some aperitivo, in the Navigli district. We stumbled across a little bar with apertivo and a jazz band. It was warm and cosy, we had to tear ourselves away (eventually) to get the tram back to our apartment, for an early start was required the next morning.

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And then we were off, back to the airport and typically the rain had stopped and the sun came out. Milan, only a short hop from Edinburgh – I think we will be back!

St George’s Market

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Queen of Everything

Every time I am back in Belfast, I make sure I always have time to visit St George’s Market. Edinburgh has some great weekly markets, but nothing beat St George’s – partly because its indoor!

Little has changed with the market since I used to visit as a kid, other than a few refurbishments over the years. But still every Friday is the Variety Market, which is jammed packed with Fruit and veg stalls, meat and fish counters as well as the odd antique and book stalls. Saturday sees less fruit and veg, meat and fish and more craft stalls with live music and still the same lively atmosphere. This particular Saturday I lost Stuart and myself in the place for over an hour

I ended up going on a bit of spree, picking up some old favourites such as coffee beans from S.D.Bells, Aunt Sandra’s Honeycomb and Suki Tea’s Belfast Brew, which they don’t appear to stock in Edinburgh. I also picked up some new finds, Harnetts Rapeseed Oil, Mahoosive traybakes and tasty popcorn flavourings (popcorn being my latest obsession!) from the Naked Cob Popcorn Company. Oh and I how could I forget the Belfast Bap the size of my head!

I also bought 2 tea towels from Starling Bridge, featuring my favourite hot beverage – Tea! They also made an appearance in this months Image Magazine. They will be perfect in my new kitchen, once I buy it and it gets fitted!

After all this I needed food and settled for a Crepe from Le Crepiere – just a simple Nutella one, but apparently their Spanish Bonfire is legendary! Stuart opted for a more exotic chicken curry flatbread wrap, which was very tasty. We munched away on these while taking in the atmosphere and the music from the Smokin’ Guns

If you are ever in Belfast at the weekend I would suggest you make this one of your stops. The perfect place to sample some real craic!

Japan Part 2: Miyajima

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Queen of Everything

Late afternoon, after tearing ourselves away from Hiroshima we took a short train ride and ferry (all included in the handy Japan rail pass!) to Miyajima, which is a small island just off the coast, and home to the Itsukushima Shrine for which it is famous. On arrival our hosts collected us and transported us to our accommodation for the night; we choose to stay in a Ryokan, a traditional Japanese Guest House

Waiting for us at the Ryokan were two kimono clad women who insisted in carrying our oversized bags (which were roughly the size of the two women!), they then showed us into the reception area – it really did ooze zen!. We checked in and were shown to our traditional room where waiting for us was freshly made matcha tea and Japanese cookies.

Off we then went to explore the town. About 20 steps from the Ryokan we were greeted by deer. In fact the deer were everywhere!

The afternoon was spent wandering round the main part of the island, visiting temples, shrines, the worlds largest rice paddle, eating freshly steamed buns and just taking in our beautiful and peaceful surroundings.

We then made our way back to the Ryokan for our evening meal, served in many stages in our room. We were served the most amazing Kaiseki meal. I won’t bore you with the details of what a Kaiseki consists of – you can read that here. But the dishes kept coming, I lost count. The Ryokan also kindly created a vegetarian one for me, which was fantastic. Here are some of the beautifully presented dishes we had:

After this feast (which took ages to finish due to my lack of ability to use chopsticks!), our room was transformed into a bedroom, with futons laid out with nice plump duvets.

The next morning, breakfast was another multi-course meal. This time I chose a western breakfast, while Stuart got stuck in with a traditional Japanese breakfast.

Our plan for the day was to see the rest of the island, which included Mount Misen the big mountain in the middle. We took the cable car up as far as we could go, which had marvellous views, we took a peek in the shrines dotted en route, and made cookies half way up. The final reward was finding a cafe on the summit, which sold a very cold refreshing beer!

We had only planned to spend the morning doing this, but ended up taking most of the day. So we had to hot foot it down the mountain back to the Ryokan to pick up our luggage and head to the ferry back to the mainland. Next stop on our tour was Kyoto!

Japan Part 1: Hiroshima

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Queen of Everything

Watching the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday reminded me of our holiday to Japan in May, and the fact that I never posted about it! So here at last is the first part of our wonderful trip! After talking about going for ages we eventually booked our trip for the end of May. Before we knew it we were en-route to Tokyo via Paris, and feeling slightly unprepared!

Our plan was to fly into Tokyo and to take the bullet train straight to Hiroshima, in the south of Japan. One concern was how would we cope doing this after coming off a 14 hour flight! Easy – Japanese efficiency helps…a lot. Everything was a breeze from the moment we stepped off the plane, and we arrived about 5 hours later in Hiroshima feeling strangely relaxed and not tired at all!!!

The Bullet train was an interesting experience, so smooth, so quiet, so fast! I was quite taken by their unique shape and got excited in a childish way every time I seen one at a station!

In Hiroshima we stayed near the station, up high on the 17th floor. While surveying the view over the city Stuart noticed a baseball stadium and people flocking towards it. So we went to check it out – and it was indeed a Hiroshima Carps game. Locals were heading into the local supermarket to buy provisions for the game, so we followed suit and stocked up on unknown Japanese snacks!

Once in the stadium the atmosphere was amazing! They really know how to cheer on their teams. Some spectators in front us took it upon themselves to get us involved in their songs and celebrations which was really lovely and welcoming!

The next day we got down to serious sightseeing, and visited the site of the Atomic Bomb, the Peace Park and Museum. It was sad and sombre, yet it was lovely to hear and see the school kids running around laughing. We saw school children presenting their paper cranes to the memorial which was very sweet and we were asked so many times for our photos – we are now famous in most Japanese classrooms!

Hiroshima was a lovely place, with the nicest people. We were made to feel very welcome there, and I would recommend making the trip there if you were planning to visit Japan. Tearing ourselves away was a problem, but our next stop was the beautiful island of Miyajima….

Cornish Capers

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Queen of Everything

I love Cornwall, I used to go down there as a kid in the summers playing on the beach, visiting family, it was great and I had hoped that it wouldn’t have changed. And it hadn’t.

The next stop on our little road trip was Padstow. We camped here. I was dubious, but it turned out fine. We stayed at the Padstow Touring Park, which I can thoroughly recommend, and the added bonus was there was a path from campsite down into Padstow – which was lucky as we had booked a table at Rick Steins Seafood Restaurant, but more on that later!

Before setting out on a spot of sightseeing, first we needed breakfast and I had found that not too far away there was a cafe with a bit of a good view! The Rest A While Tea Garden, along the coastal path of the Camel Estuary. After parking up, walking about a mile through what seemed to be peoples gardens we came across this little garden at the back of someone’s house, where amazing cakes and cream teas where served through their back window! It was great and this is certainly cake with a view

As Stuart had never been down in Cornwall before, we decided to take a trip to Lands End – there really isn’t anything there other than a tourist centre and the sea. But now we can say we have been!

So after getting our fivers worth (that’s how much the car park cost!) we headed back up towards Padstow to St Ives. Another beautiful seaside village. We walked round the lovely little streets, watching people fishing for crabs and ate a Cornish Pasty, which we decided to share but in hindsight we should have really had one each as they were so tasty.

After some more walking around and people watching we stopped for some dinner and brass band started playing on the harbour wall, which was a tuneful end to the day. This was followed by a beautiful sunset as we left St Ives behind and headed back to Padstow.

On our final morning in Cornwall we headed into Padstow itself in the search of some breakfast (I do like my breakfast!). And boy did we find it in the form of Cherry Trees Coffee House. Stuart ordered a huge Cornish Breakfast and I went for the Fluffy pancakes with Strawberries and Greek Yogurt. Both delicious and they had the most amazing cakes on display too!

Padstow is another lovely little seaside town, though it would seem that Rick Stein owns most of it – well it isn’t nicknamed Padstein for nothing! He has about 3 restaurants, a chip shop, deli, cook school – you name it he has it! Walking round the harbour walls there again was many children fishing for crabs, and also speed boat rides up the estuary!

Sadly though our time in Cornwall had come to and end, but we managed to make one last stop at the Camel Valley Vineyard. A family run business on the slopes of the Camel Valley near Bodmin. Stuart was unfortunately driving (for him!!) so I got to sample quite a few of the wines before purchasing a box to take home!

I had a little snooze in the car after all that tasting, as we made our way onto our next stop!

Bath

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Queen of Everything

A couple of weeks ago we went on a bit of a tour of the South Coast of England, going to places we have fancied checking out but could never find the excuse to go there! This time we had one – Olympic Sailing in Weymouth!

The first stop on our tour was the Spa City of Bath. A supposed 7 hour drive from Edinburgh (ended up nearly 10!), and not, in some parts, a very scenic journey. We arrived at hotel at tea time, and what better way to unwind after that drive but to spend the evening at Bath Thermae Spa.

The Thermae Spa is a modern take on the old Roman Baths but still uses the same water source, the bubbling geothermal waters. We arrived just in time for the last 2 hour session! There are 3 areas to choose from, in the basement is a large pool, with Jacuzzi and a lazy river (which I have to confess we spent a lot of time going round on like big kids!). On the first floor, there was a large room containing 4 steam chambers, each with different scents and a waterfall shower for cooling down after. On the roof was an outdoor pool with Jacuzzi areas and amazing views over Bath. Unfortunately you aren’t allowed to take photos, so I have none of the beautiful sunset we seen that evening.

After splashing about for 2 hours and now looking a little prune like, we got changed and headed out to find somewhere to eat. Using our trusted FourSquare app (its served us well in many places – especially the US) we got the recommendation of Jamie’s Italian. We tried to get a table at the one in Edinburgh the other week, but they were full, so we took this opportunity to try it out. It was great, I had my new favourite of Stuffed Courgette Flowers for Starter, while Stuart went for the Pea Bruschetta with Smoked Mackerel. For mains, I went for the Pasta Genovese and Stuart the burger – both delicious and washed down with some tasty cocktails!!

The next day we visited the Roman Baths, which were fascinating – a really great museum and it was nice to see the original baths and learn a bit of the history of the baths and Roman times! We went for a walk round the city and a long the river, Bath is a really lovely place!

In order to prepare us for the journey onto Padstow we made a stop at Sally Lunn’s, the oldest house in Bath for their legendary Bath Buns, which were the size of my head!. Stuart had his with smoked salmon, I couldn’t decide what to have with mine until I seen this

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Well, if its good enough for Russell Grant, its good enough for me!!

And Russell was right, it was very very tasty!

We had to tear ourselves away from Bath, as we had to get to Padstow – the next stop on our whirlwind tour!

East London Calling

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Queen of Everything

Last weekend we went to London. Instead of staying in our usual areas around Camden we ventured a little further east, into Shoreditch and Hoxton. Verdict: brilliant – this area doesn’t have a cool reputation for nothing and we’ll definitely be back. Here’s a little photo-tour of our adventures.

The Hoxton Hotel and Grill

10^th Anniversary Street Party for Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Restaurant

Brick Lane, Redchurch Street and Shoreditch High Street

Flower Market , Columbia Road

Pizza East

The Albion

The Breakfast Club

Hoboken Baby!

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Queen of Everything

On my recent holiday to America last month we made an essential stop in New York. I have been here a lot and it is one of my favourite places to visit – especially for shopping! On this particular trip we wanted to do things that we hadn’t done before or were a bit different; unfortunately for my poor husband I discovered that the home of one of my favourite programmes was not that far from Manhattan on the PATH train in Hoboken. I have a minor addiction to Cake Boss and decided we had to seize this opportunity to visit, and my very kind husband obliged, a decision I think he later regretted!

After a leisurely walk down the ‘High Line’ (which I would thoroughly recommend) we arrived at Gansevoort Street, which is where the High Line ends. Christopher Street PATH station is a short walk away. Here we hopped on to the next train and in 15 mins we were in Hoboken!

Carlo's Bakery, Hoboken NJ Unfortunately, I hadn’t really looked into where in Hoboken Carlo’s Bakery was, so we wandered around for a bit , and then we seen it… and then we seen the queue.

I had read about people waiting 2 – 3 hours to get their pastry delights – surely it was a myth? err… nope, it most certainly wasn’t! We joined the queue at 3pm, we were given a ticket with a number on which would be called when we got inside. We stood in the queue for 2 hours – before getting into the shop! Once in the shop we thought woohoo we are getting served… err…nope again. It was another 1 hour before we emerged clutching 2 lobster tails and 2 cupcakes!

Lobster Tails Cupcakes

One question that had crossed our minds several times was ‘Are these going to be any good after all this?’. In short – Yes. They were very very tasty! It was cool finally being in the shop that I see on TV regularly and being able to taste all the yumminess that you see being made! Though unfortunately none of the ‘cast’ were onsite at the time, so I didn’t get to see Buddy and his Famiglia.

In short, if you are in the area I would recommend a visit, they were in a way worth it! It is open until 7pm, and the people who arrived in the queue around 6pm definitely didn’t have as long of a wait as us – so be late is my advice!!

Queen of Everything

A blog about… well… everything!

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