24 Hours In Aberdeen

OK, you've got 24 hours in the Granite City, ready? .... Go

First port of call on the way is and always will be The Horn Milk Bar for one of their monster, outstanding, super filled bacon rolls, never had one? Go now, it truly is the "best bacon roll in the world". And in case you don't know, there are only two things that go on a bacon roll, brown sauce and more brown sauce. 

A couple of hours later you've traversed the traffic, dodged the speed cameras and arrived in the old grey toon, it's been at least a couple of hours so you're hungry again, right? For dinner inspo look no further than Yatai Izakaya  for deeeeeelish fresh Japanese sushi, tempura, steamed buns and dumplings. Japanese food novice? Fear not... Yatai also offers omakase style dining meaning you tell your waiter your budget, preferences and dietary requirements and they select the dishes for you, couldn't get much simpler!

So it's like 10pm now and you need cocktails... fear not, I got you gal. Pay for your sushi, grab your coat, walk two paces right of Yatai and you find yourself on the doorstep of Orchid. It's dark, it's sexy, it's mysterious, it's the bar of any millenials dream. And by that I mean there isn't a cocktail you won't want to instagram #drinkypoos. Do yourself a favour and order as many "Pink Orchids" as your bank balance will allow because who doesn't love themselves a li'l pink frothy action.

It's the morning after the night before and you're feeling JUST FABBY after drinking the town dry, or if you're anything like me, its actually already the afternoon, oopsie. Get yo' ass up, and drag yourself down to Melt, Aberdeen's home of grilled cheese,and by George do they do it well! I'm a woman of simple pleasures, so give a gal an enormous oozing grilled cheese sandwich and a lovely little pot of steaming tomato soup and you pretty much won't find a happier soul around. Delicious comfort food to the max!

Is it time for a nap yet?

Loch Tay (with the best oozy baked camembert)

 Here's a li'l question for all my fellow city lovin' slickers. Ever been glamping? I hadn't ... Nor had I any desire to do so, until one day, browsing my way through the explore section of instagram I came across a post so God Damn dreamy it hurt! Picture rolling hills, tumbling streams, glorious picture perfect Scottish countryside at it's best, (queue braveheart style bagpipes interlude). So of course, throwing caution to the wind, I swiftly booked a glamping Geodome for two nights at the gorgeous, welcoming Loch Tay Highland Lodges.

 Now it was March, which of course in the Motherland means still the unholy depths of winter. So after a scenic ass drive we arrived to snow capped mountains, an icy Loch Tay and a Geodome so cold you could write "Laura woz here 2k17" in the frost covering the floor. But, don't you worry your pretty little heads about the temperature, because as soon as you get that log burner roaring expect to be toasty warm and smugly admiring your pyrotechnic skills in no time! (grunt, man make fire, grunt).

The site is gorgeous, set on a hillside that gently slopes down towards the banks of Loch Tay, it's dotted with pretty little log cabins, glamping domes, and woodland lodges, but not at any point does it feel centre parcs style crowded or over developed. There's walking, sailing opportunities and a multitude of other activities to enjoy, the area even has a waterside bistro that unfortunately during the winter months is closed, so instead, we decided to cook for ourselves, campfire styleeee. 

Campfire cooking, as you can imagine, is not something I'm greatly experienced in, but for me, a couple of charred burgers and a flaccid sausage straight off the BBQ just wasn't going to cut it, so instead we opted for an array of all da things that make me go weak at the knees, a gorj bottle of South African red, a selection of oatcakes and crackers, some delicious Rannoch Smoked Duck Pate, my favourite caramelised red onion chutney and a couple of naughty little little cheese huns. I love cheese, in any shape or form, hard, soft, french, austrian, Babybell or Brie De Meaux. I love them all and I just couldn't resist the temptation of a perfectly baked Le Rustique camembert so we tossed one on the fire and enjoyed it, armed with crusty bread, in all its oozy, melted splendour. 

Perfect Honey & Rosemary Baked Camembert

Ingredients:

• A round of Camembert cheese
• Runny honey
• Fresh rosemary sprigs
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Remove your cheese from it's casing, place in the centre of a large piece of foil, make four shallow, small slits in the top of the cheese, gently insert some sprigs of fresh rosemary and drizzle with around a tablespoon of runny honey. Finally finish up with a good helping of freshly ground salt and pepper, gather all the edges of foil up around the cheese and pinch together to form a package. If like us you're baking the cheese over an open fire then simply place the package directly into the embers for around 15 minutes until bubbling and melted. Alternatively you can place your package into a preheated oven (200 degrees c) and bake for 15 minutes. Enjoy with crusty bread, carrot batons, celery sticks or any dipping implements of your choice!

Now, as you can imagine, we were feeling pretty damn good about life, roaring fire, twinkling stars, both of us full to the brim with french cheese and wine, so as far as I'm concerned I'd call that a hella' great camping trip, it only sweetened the deal that the very next morning we ventured out and managed to find the absolute best and most delicious eggs benedict I've ever tasted! (ohhh I smell another blog post coming on) but for the moment all I can say is, fear not, my glamping virgins, it really isn't all that bad, in fact at Loch Tay Highland Lodges it's actually bloody brilliant.

Easter Egg Brownies

I love Easter, not because I'm in any way religious, but because it's time for some of my favourite things. Spring cherry blossom, glorious spicy hot cross buns, longer, lighter evenings and bright sunny daffodils. Easter is such a babe. Are you ready to take yours to the next level?

Super gooey, rich, chewy chocolate brownie... oozing Cadbury's cream eggs and crunchy Cadbury's mini eggs. What more can I say? You need these in your life.

Ingredients

• 3 Cadbury's Creme Eggs
• 1 pack Cadbury's Mini Eggs
• 200g unsalted butter
• 200g good quality dark chocolate
• 100g plain flour
• 40g cocoa powder
• 3 large eggs
• 275g caster sugar

Method

• Get your oven going at 160 degrees for fan assisted, or 180 degrees for conventional.
• Using an electric hand mixer whisk your eggs and caster sugar until light and creamy, it should take around 4-5 minutes.
• In the microwave gently melt together your butter and dark chocolate then leave to cool. 
• Pour the cooled butter mixture over the whipped eggs and sugar then fold together gently.
• Sieve the flour and cocoa into the mixture and fold it all together very gently.
• Pour your brownie batter into a greased and lined baking tin and gently flatten.
• Bake in the middle of the preheated oven for 20 minutes until just starting to set.
• Halve your Creme Eggs and, using the flat of a knife, bash up your Mini Eggs slightly.
• Take your brownies out of the oven and gently press your halved creme eggs into the surface then sprinkle over the Mini Eggs gently pressing them into the surface of your brownies too.
• Pop them back into the oven for a further 5 minutes until the Creme Eggs start to ooze into the brownies.
• Finally, take your brownies out of the oven and leave to cool in the tin, then slice and enjoy!

Happy Easter my lovers, I hope your Sunday's are full of family, friends, love and chocolate!

Lx

The BEST Cinnamon Buns

When I was just a li'l gal, I fell in love with the doughy ass goodness that is Cinnabon and their little buns of heaven! Along with espresso, mac 'n' cheese and spongebob, they're the love of my life. 

That being said, there's absolutely FECK ALL we Scots can do about our undying love for Cinnabon (it can't just be me right?) as the nearest store to Edinburgh is a gargantuan 305.1 miles away... in Leicester, believe me, I've checked! So, reluctantly admitting defeat, I decided it was time I learned how to make these bad boys and finally put the cravings to bed. The road to creating the perfect cinnamon bun was far from trouble free and by absolutely no means am I proclaiming to have perfected the art, but these buns, which I've baked time and time again, are my very own labour of love.

INGREDIENTS

For the rolls

• 350g Plain Flour
• 3 Tablespoons Caster Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 7g (packet) Fast Action Dried Yeast
• 100ml Water
• 40ml Milk 
• 40g Unsalted Butter
• 1 Large egg

For the Filling

• 50g Unsalted butter (softened)
• 2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon 
• 50g Granulated sugar 

For the Cream Cheese Glaze

• 100g Softened butter
• 300g Cream cheese
• 1tsp Vanilla extract
• 150g Icing sugar

METHOD

First of all make the dough, in a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt and yeast together and mix thoroughly until evenly dispersed, set this aside til later. Next heat up the water, milk and butter in a pan or microwave until the butter is completely melted and it feels hot to the touch. In a seperate bowl whisk the egg, then combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and knead together to form a soft, slightly sticky dough (you may have to add a little more flour if the dough feels too sticky)

Flour your work surface and knead the dough for about 5 minutes, once ready it should feel soft, springy and elastic. Place the dough in a floured bowl and leave to rest for 10 minutes while you make the filling. Once the dough has rested roll it out into a rectangle around 15x10 inches, the dough shouldn't be thicker than a pound coin. Spread the softened butter onto the dough followed by the sugar and then sprinkle the cinnamon all over, making sure not to miss out any of the edges. Be generous gurrrrrl!

The next step is to roll up your dough lengthways, try to keep it nice and tight but don't push down when rolling, you don't want any of that filling escaping!

Once rolled, using a very sharp knife, slice your dough into ten equal pieces and place them into your well oiled baking tin, the tin will look sparsely filled at this stage but fear not my little bakers, these buns are growers! Next loosely cover your baking tin with cling film and a warm dish towel and leave to rise in a warm place for at least an hour, I usually set my oven on it's lowest setting for 5 minutes, turn it off, pop the buns in and let them do their thang!

After an hour check on the progress of your cinnamon buns, they should have at least doubled in size, and already look and smell amazing!

Next put the risen buns into your preheated oven (190 degrees c) and bake for 25 minutes! I usually cover my buns with a little tin foil after about 15 minutes to avoid them being heavily browned. Once ready just set the little beauties to the side to cool and try to avoid pinching any! Meanwhile make your cream cheese glaze, in a bowl whisk together (using a hand mixer) your cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla extract and softened butter until smooth, you can add a little milk or water to thin it if it's too thick.

Now all that's left to do is smother your freshly baked cinnamon buns with oozy cream cheese glaze and watch your family and friends battle over who gets the last one!

And there we have it, badass cinnamon buns with a gorgeous glaze, go on, wash dem hands, dig out that pinny and thank me later. Lx

Breakfast at Maxis (now Cowan & Sons)

Well, here I go, poised and ready to pen not only my first ever review... but also my first ever blog post! I'm sitting here as unashamedly excited as a child in a sweetie shop, scratch that, myself in a sweetie shop (who was I kidding, right?). Admittedly, the blog is still in that freshly thought up, dreamy, honeymoon stage, the kind where I find myself itching to sit down, take pen to paper (or keyboard) and ferociously gush about all the foodie delights I'm just dying to share with you all. But lets be frank, its a rare occasion  to find me doing anything other than gushing about food so lets get this God dayuum show on the road!

Choosing the subject of my first review wasn't hard, I wanted somewhere local, dependably great and more importantly I wanted to write about somewhere I'd be more than happy to recommend again and again. Maxi's of Stockbridge is all of these things and so much more. Sitting smack bang in the middle of busy Raeburn Place, this unassuming shabby chic cafe has been serving up breakfast, brunch and lunch to the hungry locals of Stockbridge since 1997.

I confess, I love the decor in Maxi's, I always have, and always will. The bench style seating, ramshackle wall tiling, and quirky crockery has you feeling like, yes you really are as urban hipster as you think you are (you go girl), and the simple counter service adds to the informal, laid back "grab yourself a seat" kinda vibe.

First things first, it's important to know that Maxi's is always busy. Not overbearingly loud, children screaming, phones ringing, elbows in your dinner busy, but the kind of busy where it reassures you that, yes, this place really must be as good as the hype, why else would there be a queue out the door right? It's best to keep this in mind, especially if you're hoping to visit for brunch at the weekend, arrive early rather than late to avoid losing out on a table and then the inevitable onset of the "I'm going to miss brunch" related tears I'm all too familiar with (just kidding... or am I?)

Once you finally get yourself a seat, a look at the small but varied menu and that unavoidable peek at the cake counter (oh, we'll get to those delights later) it's time to order yourself one of Maxi's expertly crafted, beautifully decorated artisan coffees. The unmistakable, irresistible scent of roast coffee beans greets you like a hug from an old friend as soon as you walk through the door, (I'm not quite sure there's anything else I love more than that smell) Their coffee beans hail locally, from neighbours Artisan Roast, and on their hot drinks menu you can expect to find all the usual suspects like my favourite, the small but mighty flat white. Coffee from Maxi's ranges in price from around £1.80 for a small to around £2.50 for a more substantial cupful, and if coffee just isn't your thaaang (who even are you?) you can always order one of their monstrous prized hot chocolates, complete with whipped cream, marshmallows and chocolate buttons, oh my!

But, enough about that, and on to the really good stuff. What ultimately keeps me coming back to Maxi's, over and above the top notch coffee, great chilled atmosphere, friendly staff and the ability to park outside (you can take the girl out the country) is the food. Maxi's has a small, fairly simple but extremely varied menu that truth be told, I'm completely obsessed with. Consisting of two sections, one for breakfast (served everyday til 3pm) and the other for lunch dishes, I promise you'll be very hard pushed to find anything on it you won't instantly instagram #brunchgoals #avotoast #sexyeggs (no judgement please). The menu is one of those rare finds, the kind where you're scrolling through the options thinking "Butchers Breakfast, oh that's what I'll have... no wait French Toast with Bacon! Oh but hang on the Grilled Cheese Sandwich sounds amazing" and eventually you reach the conclusion that you'll just have to order all three and be done with it! (just me? um ok). Anyway I shan't bore you by listing every item on the menu as I'm hoping this article might inspire you to try Maxi's out for yourself, but what I will do is tell all you lovely foodies about my favourite dish of the moment. The absolutely delicious, subtly warming, gloriously photogenic Spicy Eggs

Now, come Sunday morning, I always find it extremely hard when perusing a menu to see past any form of egg dish. So (to quote the late, great Cilla Black) surprise, surprise, I couldn't resist, when I saw that Maxi's were serving up spicy eggs I simply had to have it and oh boy was I glad I did! There's nothing better on a chilly, November morning than being presented with two perfectly runny eggs, poached in a gently spiced tomato, chilli and garlic sauce, topped with salty parmesan cheese, the dish comes out steaming hot, delightfully aromatic and served with a big hunk of warm sourdough bread to mop up all the delicious juices. Gorgeous and healthy it's perfect breakfast, brunch, lunch or anytime of the day nosh, needless to say my plate was shamelessly devoured in 4 seconds flat.

I'm going to finish up with a li'l special mention to Maxi's baked goods, I know, I know ... as if you need any more encouragement right? Just go already! Seriously though, if you find yourself with a little room left after your coffee, hot chocolate, french toast or delicious eggs then be 100% sure to grab yourself something from their cake counter. Especially if, by some kind of unprecedented miracle, they happen to be offering up the raspberry cheesecake chocolate brownie, because trust me lovers, this brownie CHANGES. LIVES.

L,x

You can find Maxi's at 33 Raeburn Place, Stockbridge, Edinburgh, EH4 1HX
Instagram ~ @maxiscafe
Facebook ~ @maxiscafe