Help!

I love science, I absolutely do. I plan on spending the rest of my life trying to persuade other people to love science. But I write this blog as a distraction from science, as a way to clear my head. And so I don't normally bring science into it, other than maybe a quick photo of the day now and then. 

But I break my rule, just this once, today.

 I depart from my "normal" blogging and ask you a favour. I'm currently Editor-in-Chief of a student run science magazine, which you can read here. We print around 6000 copies a year, which are available for free, all around Aberdeen and sometimes further afield. 

We provide unrivalled opportunities for students to get into science writing, into science communication (I definitely have my position to thank for my last job and my future post-grad). However, we are completely self funded, relying mainly on selling advertising space and sponsorship.

We're currently in the finals of a competition run by RBS, which could mean we win £5000. 

£5000 will fund the magazine for a full year. But we only win £5000 if we have the most views on our video, after that it goes down and down and down... So, after much more waffle than I intended, I get to my point. 

Please watch the video above, and if you can, share it! Both my team and I will be forever appreciative. 

Revisiting the Sand Dollar

I've taken you to the Sand Dollar before. It's my very favourite place to eat, and last time I took you for breakfast. But today I'm taking you for an evening meal. I was lucky enough to be visited by some very old family friends, and after a glorious day in the sunshine at Balmoral, we headed the best place in Aberdeen for dinner. Sad that she couldn't make it, Mum had surprised us and arranged for a bottle of bubbly to be waiting for us at the table. Cheers!

We were first presented with some canapes, a bowl of tapenade and some hunks of bread to start us off. The pastry on the canapes was perfectly crispy, and although the pesto was good, the smoked salmon was the star of this little show.

The following starters consisted of "one of the best bruschettas" ever tasted, a creamy seafood bisque and chargrilled pigeon. The pigeon was perfectly pink and served with rocket, toasted pine nuts and balsamic dressing - to die for. And whilst the servings weren't meagre, they weren't so large that you couldn't find room for mains (and dessert!) too. 

Onto the main event. Scottish hake with pearl barley risotto and fennel. So good. Flaky fish, wholesome risotto, zingy fennel. A really summery dish.

Crusted lamb loin with roasties, veg and red wine jus. The satisfying crunch from the crust contrasted nicely with the pink lamb.

Char grilled rib eye steak with thick crunchy wedges, onion rings and peppercorn sauce, described as "melt in the mouth".

Finally, dessert. A bit stuffed, we shared warm chocolate tart with clotted cream, and a balieys cheesecake, topped with peanut butter sugar and raspberry dust. When we ordered we anticipated loving the cheesecake and finding the chocolate pretty standard. But although the cheesecake was good, the tart was a thousand times better. The warm chocolate and the clotted cream were not a groundbreaking combination to be fair, but the quality really made it.

And to finish? Scottish tablet. An enormous sugar hit, ever so naughty, but ever so delicious. We had a great evening, it was a perfect way to round off a great day, and so kind to be taken out for a treat. The Sand Dollar is definitely worth a visit if you're ever up in the Frozen North.

You can find the Sand Dollar at:

2, Beach Esplanade, 

Aberdeen,

AB24 5NS,

and you can find their opening hours on their website here.

Pitmedden Gardens

After handing in our final piece of coursework last week, we felt like we deserved a day off before the revision for finals started. When we opened the curtains on Friday to discover glorious sunshine, we thought we'd take a drive to Pitmedden Gardens, just North of Aberdeen.

A glorious expanse of beautifully manicured grass and hedges greets you as you pass through the gates, and it's easy to see why these Oystercatchers chose to set up shop and nest in the gardens. Who wouldn't want to nest in the birdy equivalent of the Ritz?

Unfortunately that meant we couldn't get too close to the flowering beds, but I managed to find a few wall creepers to test out the close up capabilities of my new camera on. Thus far, I'm pretty impressed! When I've given it a proper work out I'll pop up a full post on it I think.

The gardens are accompanied by the original outbuildings and cottages, which you can still have a good nose around today. You can take your time, they're full to the brim of gardening and farming machinery, personal belongings and home furnishings, and it's a lovely way to while away an afternoon.

Taking full advantage of the sunshine, we made friends with some bunnies and tucked into a picnic - the first picnic of the year! We even managed to remember to take a photograph of ourselves, a true miracle.

How have you been enjoying the sunshine? I'm writing this post from the library in a little revision break, and I'd love to live vicariously through you!

Pitmedden Gardens are open 10 - 5:30pm daily, May - September. You can find more information here.