Auckland B&B: Braemar on Parliament

It was a conference that took me on an unlikely trip to Auckland.  You only need to look at the pictures of the Bed and Breakfast to see that it was a visit where I was able to enjoy a bit of local hospitality.  I was delighted to find rooms at the historic Braemar on Parliament within budget.

The late Victorian townhouse was built in 1901 as a home, turned into apartments in 1917 and more recently lovingly restored and turned into a bed and breakfast.  I loved the Braemar.  It was full of historic charm and within walking distance of Auckland University, the museum and the city centre.  In fact I am grateful to John and Susan for all their work in restoring the house to its former glory and their generosity in sharing it with their guests.

I arrived off the plane to be greeted by John who asked me to sign the guest book and led me into the grand entrance hall.  He took me up the stairs to settle me into my room first.

He showed me to Jenny's Room which has been booked for me.  It was cosy with a television and a little sink in the corner.  It had an en suite bathroom that was just beautiful.  It had both an old fashioned a claw foot bath and a modern shower.  John proudly showed me that they still used the original sink.

Yet before unpacking I saw that the grand Victoria Room was empty.  So I boldly asked to be upgraded and my wish was graciously granted.  I like to think it was the green decor that attracted me.  Truth be told I don't think I have ever stayed anywhere with with a claw foot bath in my bedroom before.  It was just gorgeous.

The attention to detail was a joy to behold.   The lace curtains at the window, the framed mirror above the open fireplace, the white dressing gown hanging behind the door, the lavendar bath salts.  I walked around the room in delight.

I then returned to the Yellow Room where John kindly showed me a map to help me get my bearings before I headed out to look around Auckland.  It was a short walk downhill to the city centre.  Even returning after being on my feet most of the afternoon, it didn't seem far to walk.

The Yellow Room is hung with many historic photos.  In there you will find an elegant old phone on a retro radio.  Yet for all the historic touches, the Braemar is bang up to date with modern technology.  WiFi is available and a computer is available to those who don't bring their own.  In addition, I was astonished to see that John could set up a projector on the wall of the Guest Lounge to provide a big screen for the television or movies.

After walking all afternoon, it was lovely to relax in the Guest Lounge.  I watched a little television and read a little.  There were so many beautiful rooms to relax in that I was sorry my trip was short and didn't allow me much time to just to sit back and enjoy the ambiance.

I didn't stay in the Guest Lounge for too long.  I had me a date with a book and a clawfoot bath.  No distractions.  No rush.  Luxury!

In the morning, I had the continental breakfast.  Home made yoghurt, fruit salad and toasted muesli.  Followed by toast with peanut butter.  Washed down with kiwi juice.  What so many hotels do in a cynical jaded way, the Braemar did with style.  The fruit was fresh and full of flavour (rather than just melons).  The muesli had a pleasing aroma of honey and the toast was a hearty mutligrain.  The kiwi fruit juice was unusual and not quite as tart as I expected but brought a nice sense of place to the meal.

And of course breakfast was served in yet another room that was beautifully furnished and decorated.  The sunlight streamed in the windows, I was offered the morning's paper and felt more on holiday than off to work.  I hope that some day I might have the opportunity to visit Auckland for pleasure and stay once again at the Braemar.

Braemar on Parliament
Parliament Street
Auckland
Tel: +64 9 377 5463
www.aucklandbedandbreakfast.com

Pea Risotto with Verjuice

E asked for risotto for dinner.  We were able to scrape by without going shopping.  I had peas in the freezer, parmesan in the fridge and verjuice on the kitchen bench.  It seemed a simple enough dish to offer to Sylvia.  She loves rice after all.  I am pleased to say it was a success.

Verjuice is an acidic juice drink (often made with sour grapes) that was widely used in the Middle Ages and in recent times has been popularised in Australia by Maggie Beer. I have finally got on the verjuice wagon thanks to receiving a bottle for my birthday.  It can be used in place or wine or vinegar.  I usually use wine in my risotto but I thought that if I was offering risotto to Sylvia, this would be a good time to try it.  After all I had seen a recipe by Maggie Beer for Pumpkin and Verjuice Risotto.

We had a ceremonial opening of the verjuice.  I stuck my finger in the juice and licked it.  I had expected something milder.  It was quite tart.  E had a taste.  Not terribly impressed.  Sylvia had a taste, and another, and another.  She was smitten.  Not surprising as she loves lemons and limes and sour worm lollies.  I poured her a couple of tiny glassfuls that she drank.

A quick web search turned up some pea risotto recipes that included pea puree, mint, parsley or feta.  My risotto was fairly plain.  I was delighted the Sylvia ate it.  She didn't like the onion but tried a few pieces.  She wasn't keen on the peas in the risotto (but had eaten some half defrosted ones earlier while I was preparing it).  Seems I might be making some plain risottos and adding our vegies at the end for a while.

I have written what I did below.  I only had a little less than a cup of arborio rice left in the pantry and then I forgot I had put salt in when I added the stock powder.  It was quite soupy but the liquid was absorbed as it cooled.  I am recording it as a reminder but may try and tweak the recipe slightly at some stage.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: MLLA Nicki's vegetarian dumplings with fried rice
Two years ago:  Samosa Pie
Three years ago: NCR Bann’s Parsnip Soup with Walnut Ravioli and Carrot Cream
Four years ago: Jam-Making Reflections by a Novice
Five years ago: Rumi Carrots with Dukkah and Tahini

Pea Risotto with Verjuice
An original recipe with guidance from this recipe and Maggie Beer
Serves about 3

good slurp of olive oil
2 -3 tsp butter (I used margarine)
1 onion, well chopped
1 scant cup of arborio rice (because I ran out)
1/2 cup verjuice (or white wine if you don't have verjuice)
1 tsp coarse salt
2 tsp stock powder (or less)
4 cups boiling water
200g frozen peas
finely grated parmesan cheese, to serve

Fill the kettle and bring to the boil while you start the risotto.

Heat large saucepan and add olive oil and butter.  Cook the onion in the oil and butter for a few minutes, stirring every now and again.  The onion should be translucent but not brown.  I add a pinch of salt to it at the start which apparently stops it browning.  Add the rice and stir frequently for a couple of minutes until a translucent halo appears around the outside of the rice with a white core.

Add verjuice and stir frequently until mostly absorbed.  Now add 3 cups of boiling water, a cup at a time, letting the rice absorb most of the liquid each time.  Stir in the peas and then add the last cup gradually as you may not need all of it.  Keep checking if the rice is cooked by tasting it and once it is cooked turn off the heat.

Serve with finely grated parmesan.

Variations:  Serve with lightly toasted pine nuts instead of parmesan cheese.

On the Stereo:
No Earthly Man: Alasdair Roberts

In my kitchen - February 2013

It seems that life has been busier than my kitchen activities lately.  However in my kitchen is much to remind me of the good things in my life.  Starting with the top photo of some of the everyday.  Most days start with porridge for breakfast.  Sylvia is loving her dolly from her cousin, is constantly carting around tiny and little things.  And is the background is one of our beloved tea towels.

In my kitchen are reminders of our holiday to Edinburgh late last year.  I was very excited to be able to buy smoked salt at the supermarket by where we were staying.  Back in Melbourne I have to go to a specialty shop.  Though would I appreciate it as much if it was as easy to buy.

In my kitchen are mini fudge chunks I bought at Sainsbury's in Edinburgh.  They are precious because I've never seen them in Melbourne.  I still haven't used them as I want to use them in something special.  I am still not sure what.  I never expected them to get through Customs.  Yet I did.  I had been more excited about the yellow and purple popping corn.  They took that away from me.  Australian Customs works in mysterious ways!

In my kitchen is Scottish food.  The Campbells shortbread was a gift.  I didn't eat it but E found it pleasing.  The oatcakes are from David Jones department store in Melbourne.  I bought them for us because we all loved them so much in Edinburgh.

In my kitchen are edible confetti stars.  So so cute.  I bought them intending to make these chocolate witches hats or maybe it was these Christmas tree brownies.  Thus far I have only used them to decorate chocolate almond fudge.

In my kitchen is curly kale.  From the supermarket!  It is quite exciting because until recently I have only found black kale (aka Tuscan kale, cavolo nere or dinosaur kale) in Melbourne, and once I found purple kale.  This curly green kale cooks quicker than black kale and I think it is the one that is used in the oft-blogged massaged kale salad.  Another salad to try.

In my kitchen is the handset for our landline.  We lost it recently for a few days.  Sylvia found it in an unexpected hidey hole in her room.  We don't know how it got there but have a few theories.  I include it here as I realise that landlines are becoming quite old fashioned.  Yet I am very attached to ours.

In my kitchen are rice cakes.  When we went to Edinburgh my sister-in-law kindly asked for suggestions of food to leave for us when we arrived in our holiday flat.  I suggested rice crackers because Sylvia loves them.  It seems that rice crackers aren't so common in Scottish supermarkets.  My sister-in-law bought us rice cakes instead.  We have been eating them a lot ever since.  I love the soy and linseed ones.  E loves the balsamic vinegar and sea salt ones.  Sylvia loves the chocolate ones.

In my kitchen is verjuice.  It was a birthday present.  Hitherto a mystery to me.  Now a delight.  I have only used it once in a risotto that I will share soon.  I can't wait to try it in more recipes.

In my kitchen we had Dal Makhani and Palak Paneer for dinner recently.  It was inspired by leftover cream and yoghurt from my birthday cranachan.  It was satisfying to eat them together.  When I first blogged the Dal Makhani I meant to make Palak Paneer on the same night to eat with it.  My gut instinct in serving them together was right.  Delicious!

In my kitchen is yoghurt cheese.  I am intrigued but yet to find a way to serve it.  I had thought it would go well on kale and olive pizza.  Perhaps it would be good in a salad but I am not sure which one.  Or spread on a sturdy slice of bread.

In my kitchen are new cookbooks that I received for my birthday.  My sister in Ireland sent me a cookbook from her neck of the woods.  Bread scones stories and songs is written by Breezy.  I have already tried one loaf of bread and will write more about it soon.  The other book is the River Cottage Veg Every Day cookbook.

In my kitchen is another intriguing birthday present.  Lemon myrtle shortbread.  Now that is one shortbread I had to taste.  We haven't finished it yet but I will be very sad when I do.  It is absolutely delicious.  Buttery with just a hint of lemon myrtle.

In my kitchen are souvenirs from my trip to Auckland, New Zealand last week.  I wasn't there long but it was very enjoyable.  My favourite purchase was the cat babushka dolls.  Just perfect for my little Sylvia.  More on the trip soon.  Meanwhile it has left me quite tired.

I am sending this post to Celia for her In my Kitchen event.

Chocolate and berry pizza

Sylvia's best friend came over to play on the weekend.  We made pizza.  Somehow the pizzas didn't seem to stretch as far as I would have liked.  I gave up my plans to make kale pizza with the leftover dough and made chocolate pizza instead.  Such a sacrifice!!!

I love doing a dessert pizza with cream cheese, choc chips and raspberries.  I just didn't have the ingredients at hand.  So I messed about.  I melted some choc chips and caramel chips with too much coconut milk.  I tipped out a lot of the mixture and melted in more dark chocolate (about 3 rows or maybe 80g of Whittakers dark chocolate).  I spread this thickly on the pizza dough.  Then I scattered it with frozen berries and baked it for about 15 minutes at 230 C (in my slow oven) til the crust was golden brown.  When the pizza came out of the oven I worried the chocolate would be too bitter.  So I scattered it with more caramel chips and a some spiced sugar.

I don't know that I will ever repeat this exactly nor that I would actually recommend it.  Yet it was delicious.  Dark, rich, with some berries to cut through the intensity.  It was soggy in the middle and messy to eat.  However, delicious enough for me to want to tweak my muddled method into a recipe that I can repeat.  Stay tuned...

On the stereo:
The Rip Tide: Beirut

Cranachan

I finally did it.  I made cranachan.  While it is a simple Scottish dessert of cream, oats, raspberries, honey and whisky, I have not been sure that so much cream would be my thing.  After all I was the kid in the family of seven children that couldn't stand cream on my dessert.  But it was my birthday, raspberries are in season, I had some extra yoghurt and a bit of time.

On my birthday I had leftover haggis from our Burns Supper so we ate haggis nachos followed by cranachan.  I'd noticed Jacqueline suggesting that Greek yoghurt might be substituted for cream.  I sat on the fence and used half cream and half yoghurt.  The cream and yoghurt were both thick so I didn't bother to whip the cream.

I served it in some glasses with a Rennie Mackintosh design that I bought in Scotland years ago but don't use often.  We ate it in front of a movie called Peterson.  I am not sure I would recommend it with a few disturbing scenes but it was an interesting insight into 1970s Melbourne.

The cranachan was lovely.  Rich, yes!  But also full of flavour and fruit.  The oats weren't quite as crispy as I would have liked.  (Surely the quick photos I took for the blog didn't make them go soggy in the cream mixture.)  Mixing the cream and yoghurt was good.  The yoghurt cut through a little of the richness.  And the raspberries were superb. 

I am sending this dessert to Caroline of Cake, Crumbs and Cooking for this month's Simple and in Season event, founded by Ren of Fabulicious Food.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Bush birthday banana cake and other self catering ...
Two years ago:  Gang of Four meme
Three years ago: Pizza for the Working Woman
Four years ago: Harvest Café - country bounty
Five years ago: Polenta and Tomato Comforts

Cranachan
Adapted from Jac and Nigel
serves 2

125g punnet of raspberries
1 heaped tsp icing sugar
100g cream*
100g greek yoghurt
2 tbsp whisky
1 and 1/2 tbsp honey
1/2 cup rolled oats

• Dry fry oats on a frypan until they smell toasted.
• Mash half raspberries and the icing sugar with fork.
• Mix cream, yoghurt whiskey and honey.
• Gently fold the raspberry mixture, the cream mixture and the oats together so that the berry mixture is distributed by not mixed in too thoroughly.
• Dollop the mixture into two drinking glasses (fancy if you want to impress) and top with the remaining fresh raspberries.  
• Eat immediately.

Note: I used the leftover cream and yoghurt to make Dal Makhani and Palak Paneer.

On stereo:
Cruel Sister: Rachel Unthank and the Winterset

Lamingtons at the beach

Lamingtons are one of the recipes that fill me with a sense of responsibility to both my past generations who taught me about them and to my daughter so that she will have the same lovely memories that I have of making them with my mum.  Sponge cake, chocolate icing and coconut all featured heavily in my childhood.  Yet I have never made them before because they intimidate me.  Too many eggs.  Making sure a sponge rises.  Getting the chocolate icing consistency right.  Fiddly.  So I was excited to make these for my birthday celebrations with my family this year.

Lamingtons do maketh the birthday.  Presents are also fun.  Especially if you are 3 years old.  Below is the package that Sylvia wrapped for me all by herself.  Full of her own toys and cut up paper.  And a little ballerina and angel for me.  Bless!  Before I tell you about my lamingtons, I can't resist giving you a little insight into their history and culture.

It is no coincidence that I made these lamingtons soon after Australia Day.  They are an iconic Aussie cake.  There are a few different stories about how they originated.  Stale cake needed to be used, the maid dropped cake in the icing, named after a Homburg hat, made out of lemmings, similar to Leamington cakes or they were made in a cookery school and named in honour of the patron Lady Lamington.  Apparently New Zealanders and Scots also take credit.  The Scots attribute them to being made by sheep shearer's wif in the village of Lamington.  Take your pick!

The name is usually atrributed to Charles Wallace Alexander Napier Cochrane-Baillie, Governor of Queensland between 1895 and 1901.  There is a story that he hated the cakes, referring to them as "those bloody poofy woolly biscuits", but it seems it is a myth.  More likely is that their popularity can be partly attributed to the chocolate icing keeping the cake fresher in our warm climate.

No matter how lamingtons have made their way into our culture, they have found a special place in our hearts and our culture:

• Lamingtons have been so popular in fundraising that we now talk about 'lamington drives'.
• In classic Australian children's book, Possum Magic, lamingtons are one of the Aussie foods that create the magic that keep Hush visible.
• In Australian comedy Mother and Son, Maggie, without knowing it, promises to make 216 lamingtons for various groups at a cake stall.
• We have a book of Australian children's verse called Four and Twenty Lamingtons.
• Our Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, had lamingtons at The Lodge this year for Australia Day.

For me, lamingtons are vaguely associated with fundraising but mostly they make me think of my Nan.  In my memory she never made us a meal without a plate of lamingtons for afters, bought from the store with a middle layer of jam.  She would always cut them in half on the diagonal and I would always try to find a lamington with lots of jam in the middle.  (I don't know why she always bought them as she baked lots of other cakes.)  My memories of homemade lamingtons comes from my mum.

It is not surprising that my mum is a whizz at lamingtons.  She has perfected the art of making the sponge cake.  There are two different cakes that go into lamingtons.  One has butter and the other is like an Aussie sponge with lots of eggs and no shortening.  As my mother's daughter I chose the sponge recipe.  It had 6 eggs.  That is more than I am comfortable with.  Sponge cakes are not easy.  They have to be treated with kid gloves or they will never rise into cakes that are light as a feather.

I got into my head that I would make pumpkin lamingtons but I ended up just substituting some pumpkin for 2 eggs.   (I don't think you would have known there was pumpkin in there unless you were told.)  I got out my beaters and beat the egg a long time anyway.  The creamy batter tasted of cooking at my mum's.  My sponge took 30 minutes (thanks dodgy oven) and was quite damp.  Perhaps it was my fault for adding some pumpkin or forgetting to take it out of the tin after a few minutes.  When I got up the next morning to cut into into squares, it was quite a challenge to take it off the tea towel (with an eggflip).  It was so sticky on the outside that I worried the cake was unbaked but it was ok inside.

As a kid my favourite part of making lamingtons was dipping them in chocolate icing and coconut.  I loved dipping the cake in chocolate and coconut and ending up with fingers coated like lamingtons.  I loved all the icing that drizzled off the lamingtons beneath the wire rack.  I still loved doing it but now I use two forks and aim for minimum mess.

Making the icing was a bit scary.  I am not usually a big fan of icing so I don't make it a lot.  Icing for the lamingtons has to be just right.  Thin enough to dip a wedge of cake in but thick enough so it clings to the cake and doesn't slide off.  There are recipes using melted chocolate but I chose to use a traditional one using milk and water.  I had to make extra icing as I ran out (and adjusted this in the recipe), though I still had heaps of coconut left at the end.  I had thought I might make the lamingtons early by myself but was sort of glad that Sylvia got up to help.  I want her to remember making lamingtons as a child, just like I do.

One reason I decided to make lamingtons rather than the large cake I usually have with my family was that I am starting to embrace my summer birthday and decided I would like fish and chips on the beach with them this year.   No I didn't have fish but I still call them "fish and chips" as I have discussed before.  Our order took a while and when it came, the chip portions were mingy.  We decided they must have given us diet portions.  No one was full as a state school, as we often find ourselves if the chip portions are generous.  However not only did we have dessert but we sat very near an ice cream van.

Lamingtons seemed a good Aussie dessert and also very portable.  I also took along some cherries and watermelon.  (Unfortunately we forgot to bring my sister's GF lamingtons).  I brought along some sparklers leftover from New Years Eve.  I had learnt last year the folly of trying to light candles outdoors.  It was a perfect birthday lunch, if not the healthiest.

We had a great time at Torquay in a piece of beach that my sister Susie says is called Cosy Corner.  It was not a particularly hot day.  Which probably helped us park our cars.  We found a spot in the shade to eat lunch.  E spent most of his time there playing his ukele.  Baby Stella also stayed there in her pram.  Some of the kids, Sylvia included, had sandcastle wars, while others went in the water.  It was cold at first but lovely once you got used to it.  I might spend more time going to the beach if E and Sylvia would go in the water.  It was great to spend time there with my siblings and nieces and nephew.

E said how nice the fresh lamingtons were.  Much nicer than those he has had from cafes.  It makes a difference if the lamingtons are fresh with the chocolate soaking in to the cake rather than hardened on the outside.  I was really pleased with my first attempt by myself.  They were as good as I remembered making with my mum.  I am a fan of Mr P's Delicious Delicious Delicious Lamington Challenges and quite fancy trying some different versions of the classic recipe.

I am sending these to Jacqueline's Bookmarked Recipes event.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Lorne - beach, bush and eating out
Two years ago:  CC Soba noodle salad
Three years ago: Emergency Zucchini and Rice Burgers
Four years ago: Apricot and Orange Glazed Tofu
Five years ago: Muhammara by Moonlight

Lamingtons
Adapted from taste.com.au

75g (1/2 cup) self-raising flour
75g (1/2 cup) plain flour
70g (1/2 cup) cornflour
4 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup mashed pumpkin
215g (1 cup) caster sugar
1 tbs boiling water
170g (2 cups) desiccated coconut

Chocolate icing

300g (2 cups) icing sugar mixture
55g (1/2 cup) cocoa powder
60ml (1/4 cup) milk (I used soy)
60ml (1/4 cup) boiling water

Sift the flours into a medium bowl.  Place eggs in a large bowl and beat well with electric beaters until pale and creamy.  Add mashed pumpkin and beat well.  Gradually add the sugar until the mixture is creamy and the sugar dissolved.  Dribble the boiling water down the side of the bowl and very gently fold in the flours.  Bake in a lined lamington tin (31 x  24cm - according to the supermarket tin labels is the same as a swiss roll tin) and for 20 minutes at 160 C.  (It took me 30 minutes.)  The cake is ready when it is a pale golden brown and a skewer comes out clean.

Turn cake onto a tea towel covered wire rack and cover with a tea towel.  Leave overnight.  The next morning cut into squares (I think I made 15 - the recipe said to trim but I didn't need to because mine were so sticky around the edges.)  Mix up the chocolate icing ingredients with a spoon in a wide bowl.  Place the coconut in a large shallow bowl.  (The bowl shouldn't be too full or the coconut will spill over the sides when dipping.)

Using two forks dip each piece of cake into the chocolate icing until well coated and drop into the coconut.  Use another pair of forks to gently toss coconut over the chocolate icing until covered.  Carefully lift with your fingers and place on a wire rack to set for about 1 hour.  (Lifting the lamginton out of the coconut was most tricky because it was hard to do without leaving marks in the coconut.)  The recipe said that the icing should set but I am not sure that mine did.  After about an hour I was able to pile them onto a serving plate.

On the Stereo:
Les Misérables: Highlights from the Motion Picture

Edinburgh Reflections

I have written about so many places we visited in Scotland late last year, but I still have some photos and reflections to share.  Here are some random thoughts about bus conversations, tramworks and tramworks.  I have also shared my reminders about places I would like to visit on our next visit.

We have a calendar on our wall with a picture of Princes Street in the early Twentieth Century.  It doesn't look very different to today.  Edinburgh is like that.  Unchanging.   Calton Hill (top photo) never changes.  Though the nearby Council offices have.  Many older buildings are so magnificent that their purpose might change but they still look the same.  The above Scotsman building has changed internally from a newspaper office to a hotel but still looks the same on the outside.

One of the biggest changes is the plan to bring back trams.  On our last visit in 2009, Princes Street was a mess with roadworks to lay the new tram tracks.  I was certain they would be finished by our 2012.  You just have to look at the above photo to see that they aren't.  It seems to be a comedy of errors. 

I don't think we met with one person where the topic of trams didn't come up.  The plans were shelved and then started again.  According to those we spoke to, the tram line was planned to go to the airport but now they wont go all the way and people have been told they can't take large bags on the trams.

Another constant topic of conversation was the proposed referendum on Scottish Independence.  Not a lot of enthusiasm for it was heard.  I would need more information to be able to make more comment.  It sounds like that is part of the problem.  The impression I got was that there was a lot of Braveheart-style nationalism without deeper understanding.

Meanwhile another news story broke while we were in Edinburgh.  I was walking past this Santa Bear in Cameron Toll when I saw big screen headlines about 'Kate Middleton' being hospitalised for morning sickness. At the time, I was amazed that her morning sickness would hit the headlines.  Then came the prank call from the Aussie radio station and the subsequent suicide of the nurse involved.  It made me sad her family and for William and Kate to have such a dark cloud over what should be a happy time for them.

When we had our recent Burns Night Supper, we were flabbergasted at how little tartan tat we brought home from our Edinburgh trip at the end of last year.   There is just never enough room in the suitcase for everything we want to take home.  Above is the sort of Scottish stoneware I would love to bring home if only I wasn't so anxious it would be too heavy and too breakable.  (Maybe I will need to order something like these.)

This photo is of a tattoo parlour we passed regularly on the bus.  I love how it boasts that it both does tattoos and removes them.  Reminds me of my only time in a tattoo parlour, which incidentally was in Edinburgh.  A young woman I met in a hostel (many years ago) wanted a tattoo so I went along with her.  The tattooist was an artist and suggested a negative of an image.  When she saw the tattoo they had done on her back she burst into tears.  The moral of the story is that you check what tattoo they are putting on you before it is there for good.

We spent a lot of time going back and forth into the city on the bus.  Past tattoo parlours, Arthur's seat, the church where Sylvia was christened, Santa waving at us from a Christmas tree sales, Christmas trees in B&Bs, and lots of charity shops.  Here is Dolly on the bus above.  It was often dark by the time we were going home.  Sylvia loved going upstairs on the double decker buses.  E and I got tired of rummaging for the right change in coins for our bus fare.  I loved some of the bus conversations:

• I met an old lady who chatted away about kids and the snow and then launched into telling me that she had been queuing all her life and anyone who thought they could jump ahead of her in the bus queue could go up a gum tree.  I didn't tell her that I've never mastered the art of queuing for Edinburgh buses.
• We overheard a couple behind us talking about skiing.  The man then said that he found downhill skiing as pointless as golf.  My father-in-law - a golf enthusiast - was most displeased when we relayed the comment.  In fact Sylvia thinks she has now discovered what golf is - according to her you go up a mountain and put a ball in a hole.
• We met an old guy on a bus who told us that now he had his seniors bus pass he spent time travelling for free around Scotland.  He said he would love to go to Australia because of Kylie Minogue.  We didn't tell him that she is more likely to be in the UK and that he was probably not her type!

This is my sister-in-law's cat Tiggy.  With the Christmas tree she had knocked over.  It was lovely staying near to family.  They made the trip so much easier.  They made us meals, gave local advice, loaned us a stroller and a brolly when we needed it.  And of course kept us entertained.  One of E's nephews amused me when he asked if we had television in Australia.  And at the end of the trip we were able to leave them our surplus food and even a few of Sylvia's clothes for her younger cousin.

 

Yes there were some things that weren't great.  The lack of good local fresh fruit and vegetables in the supermarket, drying our loads of laundry inside in our flat and being unwelcome in too many pubs because we were accompanied by a 3 year old. Not enough time to go to Next, Tesco or souvenir shops.  Most things were good.  E loved listening to BBC Scotland and the bargains at the 'new' Primark department store.  We were pleased at finding some great cafes, and the Christmas decorations everywhere just added to the magic of the trip.

As with our last visit there were a few places I would have liked to have visited and am making notes of them for our next trip.  I also found that the Good Soup Guide and Trip Advisor were places I found useful information on Edinburgh cafes.

Edinburgh:

• Wedgewood, Royal Mile
• Fruitmarket Gallery, Market Street
• Baked potato shop, top of Cockburn Street (not easy with a stroller)
• Dubh Prais , Royal Mile 
• The Grain Store, Victoria Street
• Russian Passion Cafe, Canonmills
• Peter’s Yard Coffee House and Bakery, Quartermile, Simpson Loan
• Clarinda's Tea Rooms, Canongate

Peebles:

• Sunflower Restaurant, Bridgegate
• Oven Door Tearoom, High Street
• Tontine Hotel, High Street
• (and remember to visit Couchee Righ gift shop)

North Berwick:

• Charlie's Cafe, High Street
• Cake Cafe, High Street
• Westgate Gallery

So that is the end of my Edinburgh posts.  A list of all my posts from both my 2009 and 2012 trips can be found towards the bottom of my Reflections and Reviews page.

Update August 2013: just saw Emma's post on her places to eat vegan food in Edinburgh on her recent trip - must check out some of these on our next trip if they are still about.