Wimbledon Weekend

             

Pimms and tennis in the sunshine. The ultimate way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Particularly when the tennis is being played at Wimbledon, and you're actually there to watch it rather than watching it on a tiny screen in the corner of your living room like usual. Ben and I were lucky enough to get tickets for the final Saturday (as it turned out, Ben was lucky enough to go earlier in the week too. Not jealous or anything), so I took an afternoon off work on Friday and we sped down to have a lovely weekend in London.

I almost tried to detail it all in one post, then I realised that was ridiculous, because we ate an awful lot, and the post was starting to rival War and Peace in length. So instead, today I'm just sharing my Wimbledon pictures. 

We sat on Henman Hill to watch the ladies final, and then watched a surpsingly good girls doubles on Court One. We finished off the day watching the invitational doubles with some of the pros from back in the day. You might be able to tell from the photo that they weren't exactly playing by the rules, and it was great fun to watch. For the third set they stopped messing around and actually went for it, and it was seriously impressive. I got even more jealous of Ben being able to see more of the matches earlier in the week. 

We finished off the afternoon with some strawberries and cream. We were at Wimbledon. We couldn't not. Although it was so warm, I sort of wished I'd just got the strawberries. Soaking up the atmosphere put me so much in the mood for tennis, I'm so sad Wimbledon is over for another year! At least there's the American Open to look forward to at the end of the summer. Are you a tennis fan, or do you get confused by thousands of people following the track of a yellow ball like dogs?

 

Sunday in Northumberland

  

Sundays are special. They're for big cups of tea and rooting around in bookshops. For walking up hills or along beaches. Redecorating the living room, or even just reorganising your sock draw. They're for whatever you want them to be.

Today is Sunday, and although my morning was fairly self indulgent, the afternoon has been spent working on my Masters thesis. I'm still in the early stages where you feel like you're swimming through treacle, and I can only look at it for so long. So I thought I'd take a little break and share some of the photographs from a couple of Sundays ago, when I had a wonderful day down near Newcastle with Ben, pootling around National Trust properties and eating the most delicious Sunday roast.

We visited Cherryburn - the birthplace of Thomas Bewick, a name I didn't know until we went in, but then realised I was actually quite familiar with his work. A wood engraver and a naturalist, Bewick revolutionised print art in the middle of the 18th century, illustrating numerous books about natural history, amongst other things. Not only was the printing method he developed much cheaper than other methods, his meticulous attention to detail, and the fact that he based his illustrations off actual specimens meant his books were surprisingly accurate for their time. I think it's amazing that he was so determined to tell such an accurate story all those years ago. The property is tiny, especially compared to other National Trust properties, but as I'm sure you can tell by the lengthy paragraph I've ended up dedicating to it, I really loved it and learnt a lot. I'd highly recommend it if you're in the area!

We stopped into a pub I'd heard good things about, The Feathers Inn for Sunday lunch, and although it was crammed to bursting they managed to find us a seat in a little outside area, which we were more than happy to take in such beautiful sunshine.

As I've mentioned before, I'm a stickler for knowing where my food has come from, especially meat, so I was incredibly impressed to see this map on the back of the menus, detailing exactly where all of the produce the pub uses in food comes from. Funnily, they get some of their vegetables from the same crop share Ben's family uses - Go Local.

The local ingredients really shone in the food that we ate - fish fritters, classic Sunday roast with beef and rabbit pie. I only have one gripe, and that's that we were so full we couldn't sample the dessert menu! Next time we're going to mains and pudding rather than starters and mains.

Lochs and Life Updates

It's been a while since I've written anything about anything other than food, so I thought I'd share a few pictures of today's day out and share a little life update.

On Tuesday this week I handed in my last big piece of work of the semester and, excitingly, of my masters! (other than the small issue of a 12,000 word dissertation, but that is next weeks problem). I have a big list of things I want to do - reply to emails, do some editing, read some blogs, bring the Easter baking ideas I've been dreaming of into the real world, clear out the mess that is my wardrobe... some of these things are more exciting than others!

But on Wednesday morning when the sunshine was tempting me out of the front door I decided that the to do list could wait until Thursday and Friday, and five of use headed for the hills and went for a wander around Loch Leven. It's only half an hour North of Edinburgh and it's absolutely beautiful. Sadly it was very late in the day before we arrived, so we didn't manage the whole 21km lap of the lake, but we'll definitely be back another day to complete the walk. The small part of the path we explored was peppered with hidden doors and secret pools so I can only try and imagine the rest of it.

I will be honest though, there was more tempting me out into the great outdoors than just the sunshine. For almost five years I've been living a very luxurious lifestyle, it has to be said. Yes there's been countless hours spent in the library, more bowls of lentils than I care to remember and that one time I sat on the floor of the lab and cried because there was seawater pouring everywhere and I didn't know how to stop it, but overall the student lifestyle is undeniably wonderful. Even as a science student your time is relatively flexible, and when the sun shines you can drop your plans and run to the nearest loch to explore.

However, I am very pleased to be able to say I have been offered a full time, "grown up" job. And whilst it's more than I ever could have hoped for, before graduation and within an organisation whose work combines so many of my passions I can't believe my luck, it does mean I'll have to wait until the weekends to head for the hills in the future.

So I'm trying to make the most of my last couple of weeks. Last weekend explored some more of Newcastle, I'm off to Amsterdam with Ben later this week, and then I'm going to spend a bit more time in the nooks and crannies of Edinburgh. It's been a long time since I visited Amsterdam so if you have any recommendations about what to do and where to eat I'd love to hear them.

And now I'm going to end this excessive amount of text now and leave you with some more pictures of a lovely day out. I hope the sun is showing its face where you are and that you're enjoying it too.

The Boiler Shop Steamer - Newcastle

Hidden in an enormous warehouse behind the train station in Newcastle is an amazing feast for the senses, called The Boilershop Steamer. It pops up the first weekend of every month and is filled with bands, bars and, most importantly, food!

It's free entry before 6pm on a Saturday, otherwise there's a small entry fee, I think £4 or £5, I can't remember. You then buy tokens, one token is £2, and this is how you pay for your food. Dishes range from 1 to 3 tokens, and overall I found it really excellent value for money.

After doing a quick loop to check out the options, we first visited Cellini's, a stall from the popular Newcastle Italian. It was a difficult choice, but we went for the Deep Fried Shin Beef Calzone, and my god it was amazing. It looked innocent enough from the outside, like a little deep fried samosa, but when it was opened up it was stuffed full of flavourful, melt in the mouth tomatoey beef.

We followed it with a spicy chicken wrap from a Lebanese stall, and I feel terrible because I can't remember the name of the stall! It was really delicious though, and it was much easier to eat than the first because it was wrapped in a paper plate as well as foil (note how I don't have it all down me in the photo below. If only you could have seen me trying to eat the calzone...). Also, top points for you being able to choose how spicy you want your wrap - the meat was set with a medium to low spice, and then you could pick your toppings and sauce. 

I think really we should have stopped there, but could I resist raclette (potatoes smothered in melted cheese)? No, I could not. They had a whole half a cheese that they were melting layer by layer and then pouring over the potatoes. I loved it - Ben thought it was dull. 

We finished up with crepes, which were absolutely delicious, but pretty standard. Churros were the other sweet option, and although all good, I felt like the whole thing could bonus from more sweet options. I have a sweet tooth though, so I'm biased, and the stalls that are there switch up every month, so I'd be curious to go back and see what's there other weeks.

I'll definitely be going back another week - something I didn't try this time was the gin bar because I had an early morning the next day, and gin plus an early morning are not friends!

There's some more information about The Boiler Shop Steamer on their website, right here.

Clerk's Bar

The idea of one day living in Edinburgh has always been the dream for me. Some people want to climb Everest, others want a different pair of shoes for every day of the week - I just wanted Edinburgh. I never had a rational explanation for it, the closest I could get is that my Dad's never ending, as yet unexplained fascination with the city rubbed off on me.

When moving suddenly and quite unexpectedly became a reality, I was both completely overexcited and completely terrified. Terror that it wouldn't live up to my expectations, excitement that, well, it would! One of the things that most excited me was the prospect of some really good food (shocker). Not to put down the Frozen North, but after four years in a pretty small city, I was well versed in all of the affordable yet delicious options out there.

So far, I've struck lucky with eating out, very lucky. One of the first places I stumbled into was Clerk's Bar. It specialises in slow cooked meat and craft beers, and I've been back three times. In three weeks. The food is that good (their Monday night quiz is a good one too!)

On my first trip I basically fell through the door after climbing Arthur's Seat on just a bowl of weetabix. Spoilt for choice by the menu, I was pleased that there was a good variety of food ordered by the table, and I got to have a little nose at each thing.

First up, a burger, which comes with onion rings and salad anyway, but a hungry climber also topped it with cheese, bacon and pulled pork. Personally I think I would have died from the sheer volume of meat if I'd have eaten it, but it got a big thumbs up from the person who had to actually eat it, and that's all that matters!

I opted for a small portion of ribs and some sweet potato fries, and I'm not sure which bit was better. There was heaps of meat on the ribs and it fell off the bone as soon as you started to pick them up. The sauce was tangy and, happily, not overwhelming. The fries were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and there's a high chance that I could happily live off them for the foreseeable future if I had to.

Although the both the pulled pork (below) and chicken burritos hit the spot after our energetic afternoon, it has since been concluded (after rigorous taste testing) that actually, the beef is the one to go for.

With it's cool decor, mouthwatering food and a beer collection that gets the boys very excited, I'm not surprised Clerk's is packed out every time I go in. It's got a fantastic atmosphere. But, really, top marks go to the staff, who are possibly some of the nicest I've ever encountered.

You can find all of this goodness at: 

74-78 South Clerk Street

Edinburgh

99 Bar and Kitchen, Aberdeen

The week before last Ben and I went out for dinner with our flatmates. Now I'm always excited for a meal out, but this time I was particularly excited, because this was where I'd been promised to be taken for Valentines Day, but plans (*cough* badminton match *cough*) changed, and it took us until July to get to the same place! 

I am delighted to say that 99 Bar and Kitchen was absolutely worth the wait! We started out with cocktails for the girls, gin for Anna and rum for me. I'll be honest, the way they looked would have been enough to impress me (such a pushover for cute) but they completely followed through with the taste.

We were just as happy when the food arrived. We shared nachos piled high with cheese and homemade salsa, with guac and sour cream on the side. The salsa was the highlight, simply because it was so fresh.

The mains were just as delicious, and equally as well presented, as the cocktails. We particularly enjoyed the homemade tomato sauce in the teeny tiny mason jars!  At the table there were two beef burgers, one veggie burger and one steak sandwich.

We had a veggie burger, two beef burgers and a steak sandwich at the table. The burgers definitely had the edge on the steak sandwich, except in one small factor - the sides. The steak sandwich came with vegetable crisps, which were homemade, and absolutely to die for! I'm a little bit addicted to Tyrells vegetable crisps, and I really just expected a pile of those (and probably would have been relatively happy), but the homemade ones were really something else. I think I'm going to have to look into making them myself.

Close up of the crisps!

We finished off with sticky toffee pudding, and even more cocktails. Pleasingly, my last cocktail could have come straight off a valentines day menu!

You can find 99 Bar and Kitchen at 1, Back Wynd, Aberdeen, and they have lots more information on their website just here. If you're ever in the Frozen North I highly recommend it, even if it's just for a drink. The staff are really friendly, they have their own menu of special cocktails, but will also make you anything you can dream of. Perfection!