Food Is A Rewarding Business In Edinburgh

Within a very short radius of Edinburgh are some stunning places to eat, although a few have yet to be recognised in the new Michelin Guide (out today).  Edinburgh maintains its five one-star restaurants: Number One at the Balmoral Hotel on Princes Street; 21212 in New Town; The Kitchin, Martin Wishart and the Plumed Horse all at The Shore.  Slightly out of town Champany Inn in Linlithgow maintains its star as do the Peat Inn and Sangster's, both over the water in Fife (about an hour away).  That's six Michelin-starred restaurants within the Lothian region and still leaves Rhubard (at Prestonfield House) bereft of deserved star.

Slightly disappointingly was the loss of two Bib Gourmands, which are awarded to establishments that represent value for money regardless of price.  Tony’s Table in the city and The Wee Restaurant in North Queensferry (first stop over the Forth) both lost theirs, however Osso in Peebles gained one.  Finally the Rising Star is strangely still held by the same place, which caused a lot of confusion to other people reporting on it (until yours truly corrected them, thanks to the guidance of my culinary-guru Neil McRobie).  For the last four years Abstract on Castle Terrace was given a Rising Star award however last July it was replaced by a new venture, co-founded by Tom Kitchin, simply called Castle Terrace on the very same site.  This now has rightly received a due praise and received a Rising Star.  It all bodes well for the future, if they simply decided to recognise Rhubard...

One Of The Best Car Stickers Ever!

Who concurs? I do, if anyone cares...! :-P

How Capriciously My Mood Has Swung To One Of Solemn Tender

I hate Januarys, the month of l'arnacoeur (and not in the great film way)...  Meanwhile, this non-news just in; Phill Gillespie is found to be being overly dramatically and should abdicate his Drama Queen title for the good of everyone... 

You Get An Awful Lot For Your Pound At B&Q...

I'm guessing the might want to add a quantifier in that heading, like 'each'...

Happy Christmas From A Winter Wonderland!

What better way to celebrate Christmas than let someone else do all the hard work, both in the kitchen and behind the lens?  I present you, two great shots from the soon-to-be-winner of a Michelin star Neil McRobie!

Apologies To Iceman, Seems He's A Do-Gooder After All!

Yesterday I accused Iceman (think cartoon of The Amazing Spiderman) of being captured on CCTV trying to steal so icicles.  Well, having returned to the site today they have increased in size proving Iceman was clearly adding to the icicles rather than trying to swipe them!  Bobby Drake, I apologise!  In other news, I think the idea of winter-madness is clearly proposterous...

Life's A Beach With Snow-Where To Hide...

So before the snow returned to Edinburgh, Liverpool was hit so hard that the sea froze, the Liver Birds put on red scarves and the sand changed it's chemical structure. Either that or it snowed so hard funny scousers built an igloo on the beach of the Mersey (right next to Gormley's Another Place).  Credit for the photo goes to 'me Ma'...

And Snow It Begins... Set to hit -283°C

Weather update: it's started snowing in the centre of Edinburgh, albeit very lightly.  Is this going to be the once-in-a-generation blizzrds they are predicting?  Heresay figures suggest that it will get down to a few degress above absolute zero, however with wind chill it will feel like 10 degress below absolute zero (thanks to P5ychofox for verifying that this is theortetically possible and a doubly funny gag from Futurama).  Ah well, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Waiter, There's Glass In My Snow...

Lovely shards of 'glass' in the day-old snow today.  Beautiful refraction of the late-afternoon wintery sun.  Only downside is I wish I had a decent camera on my phone!  One of the rare occasions I miss my Satio...  Please release a good camera with good options on a good Android and I'll be first in line (unless it snows)!

A Birthday Week: An Introductory Guide

An I have been asked, by those interested parties, to explain the rules of one of my greatest inventions, the Birthday Week.  I am firmly of the opinion that a birthday should be celebrated and not just the day, but you should be treated for a period around your birthday.  The name "Birthday Week" is a slight misnomer as it doesn't necessarily last a full week, it depends on what day your birthday falls (much like the "Royal Mile" isn't actually a mile in length or a "light year" does last a full year... ;-)  FWIW if I had my way everyone would get their birthday as a day off work each year.

During your Birthday Week you are like a child again: get to choose what happens, where you go, what you eat and when it all takes places.  You are not a dictator but treated like a prince or princess for that time.  If you fancy something then why not, it's your Birthday Week.  A normal Birthday Week lasts 5 days, although it could on rare occasions be as long as 6 or as little as 4.  It starts 2-3 days before the big day and runs 1-2 days afterwards.  This can vary depending on what milestone it is and when exactly it is in the year (if it clashes with anything else).

If your birthday lands on a Monday then probably it would run from the Friday before through to the Tuesday (just one day after).  By then you should have had more than enough time celebrating and turning into your next year.  A Tuesday birthday could plausible start on the Friday and run to the Wednesday.  Wednesdays are interesting as you would start on the Monday and then run through to the following Saturday, although in this case you are celebrating more after the event.  Thursdays would probably do similar, although start on the Tuesday and Fridays most likely start back on the Wednesday and run through to Sunday.  Weekend birthdays usually start on a Thursday and end on the Monday, again depending on how important the year is.