Stockbridge Market in Edinburgh

My lovely friend and I had a fabulous walk into Stockbridge Market along the Water of Leith today. There is no way from the photos below you would think that this is in the centre of a capital city - but it is!

The walk is glorious at this time of year and the lucky tourists who discover it are transported to a lush cool walkway with the illusion at times of being deep in the Scottish countryside. The locals, including me, take it for granted that this winding path will take us into town bypassing all traffic, noise and pollution (apart from the odd bike whizzing past). I feel the urge to purchase a vintage bike with a wicker basket on the front for cycling along to the market to buy my weekly artisan bread and cheese. Pictures to come!

Thumper, the dog, has grown up walking, sniffing and playing with his friends along here and it's the perfect safe place for him off lead - I think he actually believes this is his back garden that he kindly shares with others!

Entrance to the market...

Paella Stall - this has a very long queue every week.....

  Too delicious to even try to describe

It's a vibrant market, especially on a sunny Sunday.

There are cheese stalls, meat stalls, artisan bread stalls, brownie stalls, soap and handmade potion stalls, and even a doggy treat stall (yes, Thumper did get a bag of Liver Cake Treats)

The lovely walk back home.....

St Bernards Well was open today and we had a peek inside.

And isn't it beautiful?!

Thumper struck a pose and I fudged it ;)

Gardens along the path - these are private gardens for the New Town flats above, just out of view.

A magical walk into the shade.

Stockbridge Market is open every Sunday 10am til 5pm. 

http://www.stockbridgemarket.com/stockbridge.html

We walked along the Water of Leith from Roseburn to Stockbridge and back. 

http://www.waterofleith.org.uk/

The sun shines on us

Yesterday was such a beautiful day in Edinburgh. I left my desk and called a friend to come over for afternoon tea.  It was truly a blue sky day.

These days are not to be missed, it often rains in Edinburgh in summer and is often cold. When the sun shines we get out into it!

A pot of tea and a quickly rustled up chocolate cake, still slightly warm from the oven.

And as the day faded I went for a walk with Thumper and picked some cow parsley. It's so beautiful lit by the evening sun coming in through the sittingroom window. 

Beautiful Doors

Yes, beautiful doors. I always think there is something mysterious and hidden behind an old wooden door. Secrets within. I never know whether to be thrilled or scared when I push open a long closed door, as it grates against the floor and the hinges grumble, threatening to abandon their appendage altogether. You never quite know what's behind. Sometimes its rats, sometimes old dusty boxes waiting to be explored, sometimes, well, nothing. Always a bit of a disappointment but if the room is empty and the walls peeling there is also that sense of wonder of what could be - if the room was once more warmed with a fire and the walls painted with limewash. Old pieces of furniture pushed into place to bring the room alive again.

I was recently in Beaugency on the Loire Valley, staying with family. I know the little town quite well now and I always spend time wandering the streets looking at the ancient architecture, the old houses, the gardens hidden behind walls - peeking here and there. Last time I was there though I noticed the beautiful doors that were all over the place.

They promised such hidden delights! Only known to a few. Or no one! Closed up for decades and forgotten. I can tell you I was desperate to get a look behind them but feared I might get into trouble with the locals......

 

Some were elegant, promising beautiful rooms beyond. If only I could have just had one glance to satisfy my curious eyes. Alas, I was destined to remain frustrated!

Some were just grand.

And some were surrounded by ancient stone.

And then we drove to Orleans for a day out. That city is lovely too, with ancient buildings on tight narrow streets in the old town, and the more elegant pale stone city buildings with trams trundling past in the newer part.

 

 I found this shop, how romantic is this to step into?

There is magic in the every day. Even just in a front door!

Christmas in Edinburgh

Dear Readers

Edinburgh is now a blaze of Christmas lights and sounds and smells. The Christmas markets have arrived and the bustle of people buying trinkets and handmade decorations and gingerbread and hot toddies is all around when you go into town.

We went in to see for ourselves all the fun, as we always do every year. It gets better as our wee one gets older and understands more and can join in the fun and get excited about all the sights and sounds. The markets are truly magical and they are one quick way of getting you into the Christmas spirit if you're struggling to find it!

This year Princes Street Gardens has a magical garden for children to delight in. This is where you can meet Santa in his cabin and then after you've said hello you're led through a magical wardrobe into a fairy tale of pretty lights and trees to make your way through the maze of fairy lights and trees to the Elves cabin. It's lovely. There is a little red train circling the garden and above it all, in the German markets buzzing with shoppers, there is an ice rink too.

I will post more Christmas pictures from Edinburgh soon.

A Christmas Mantlepiece

Well, Christmas has crept up on me and suddenly I realised it was mid December. I've had a very busy schedule recently with setting up a new business and another big project that has taken up a lot of my time, but I decided to take some time out and start preparing for Christmas rather then pretending it wasn't really just round the corner.Yikes!

One of my favourite areas to decorate is the mantlepiece. We have a real fire in our sittingroom and there is nothing nicer on a winters night than a  log fire roaring away sending out warmth and golden light into the room. It can cheer the gloomiest of spirits any day. So decorating this space to make it look special and ready for Christmas is really fun.

And here it is with the lights off, looking cosy.

I always use lots of ivy at Christmas time, and holly when I can find it, they are both so pretty and natural. 

How do you make your home look Christmassy?

 

Here are some glass angels I always put out on the sideboard in the hall with some candles.

 Are you ready for Christmas?????!!! I'm getting there.............I think!

Weekend Pancakes

We have a weekend ritual that every morning we have pancakes made fresh at home and kept warm inside a linen cloth on a plate on the breakfast table. On these mornings I am invariably woken up by our little one asking if we can make pancakes. It's now something that we all look forward to as breakfasts just wouldn't be the same without making pancakes.


Now these pancakes are the traditional Scottish 'drop scones', not french pancakes or 'crepes', but they are similar to the American pancakes which are often eaten with blueberries, maple syrup or even bacon. The recipe is like most pancake recipes, basic with few ingredients. The difficulty in these pancakes is in the cooking - in some ways it should be straight forward and just a case of 'dropping' the batter in the pan and then flipping them over to cook on the other side. However, getting the lovely glossy chestnut coloured smooth top can take a few goes. It's not as straight forward as it should be!

 Scottish 'Drop Scones' or pancakes are chestnut coloured with a smooth top and a fluffy interior.

The Recipe

9oz Self Raising flour
3oz Caster Sugar
2 tablespoons golden syrup (not thick black treacle!)
3 eggs

Milk to mix

Put the flour and sugar in a mixing bowl and add the eggs to a hollow in the middle, then plop in the syrup and add a dash of milk to make a soft cake batter mix. Add more milk to the consistency you need.

 

The trick at this stage is getting the right consistency - you need it runny enough to come off the spoon easily but not too runny that you end up with a thin pancake that only rises a little. We're aiming for a thick fluffy interior so it's a balance of not too thick and not too thin. In the picture above you can see that the batter is running of the spoon but forming a soft pile in the bowl, not sinking and disappearing into liquid once more.

Once you've perfected this stage (!) you can get to the cooking part. 

 

You need a thick bottomed pan like a frying pan. (You can get traditional griddles or girdles here in Scotland for the purpose but they are rare now, usually only found in traditional hardware shops, which I love mooching about in. These are the kind of places you can buy all sorts of cooking paraphernalia.) You'll see above that I've dropped two spoonfuls into the pan together. they are about 3 inches in diameter. Now the key point at this stage is that the pan needs to be medium hot and LIGHTLY oiled with butter. If it too oily you will get a patchwork blotchy top to your pancake and you are looking for a glossy chestnut smoothness instead. I drop a tiny spot of butter in the pan, let it melt, then wipe the bottom of the pan over with a kitchen towl to spread the butter and soak up the excess. 

Each pancake will take a couple of minutes to cook on either side but the important bit here is to wait to see the bubbles appearing on the top. When there are quite a lot of bubbles then the pancake is ready to turn over using a fish slice. This is when you learn whether the pan is too cool or too hot or just right! You should have a nice smooth pancake with a rich colouring, anything from golden brown to a rich chestnut. But you don't want it to be too dark or it will taste bitter (although this is how my father likes then *sigh*)

  

Once they are cooked on both sides then pass them to a warm plate covered in a cotton or linen cloth to keep them warm. We eat ours with Nutella or jam, or just with butter. Actually, pancakes are traditionally eaten for afternoon tea in Scotland, we are a little unusual eating them for breakfast but they are really delicious with your morning cup of tea!

Enjoy your Scottish pancakes!

  

  

A Few Of My Favourite Things

I've been a bit remiss in posting these last few weeks, for two reasons. First, I've been setting up my new business which has taken up a lot of time. It's really exciting and I'm champing at the bit to really get going and I'm hoping things will get moving soon once I've finished the prep! And second, the camera broke. I usually always use my own photos so not having a camera made it a bit difficult.

Anyway, I thought I would share with you some of my favourite things that I use on a regular basis that make my life better. I always like passing on good things in the chance it might help someone else as well. 

NUMBER 1.  WHEATGRASS & BARLEY GRASS

I am a number one fan of these grasses and I take them every day. They have helped clear my psoriasis and my rosacea and I cannot be more grateful. I have had trouble with my skin since I was 14 years old after being diagnosed with psoriasis. Later I got rosacea on my face, as then as a kind of acne that started in my 40's. There have been stays in hospital to try to control the flaking painful skin and countless doctors appointments and different treatments. However I have found that apart from reducing stress in my life which is really important too, the green superfood grasses are superb for detoxing, reducing inflammation and clearing the skin. My psoriasis is now nearly 95% gone (rough guestimate). When I was a teenager I had the map of the world on my back and around my waist like a belt, and it hurt! It burned like the kind of burning heat you get when someone gives you a chinese burn on your wrist. I had a scalp that regularly reduced me to tears for the sheer embarressment of having flakes and dandruff that I couldn't control, as well as the medications that were a torment in themselves to use, even when trying to wash them out again. All in all it was pretty distressing and awful and left me with no confidence as a teenager and young woman in my twenties. Anyone who has suffered this condition will know how miserable it can make you feel and how it strips away your self esteem and confidence, especially when you are young and vulnerable. However, I absolutely swear by the improvement that wheatgrass and barleygrass has brought to my skin. It's a burst of vitamins and minerals to your system as well as a detoxifier and I think it strengthens you from within which shows in your skin after a while.  It also cleared up the rosacea flushing and the red irritated spotty face I would wake up with every morning, no matter what creams and potions I used to try to sooth, calm and clear my face. Now my face is clear I use simple cleaners and moisturisers- I stick to good quality budget brands that use good ingredients, but that's it, nothing fancy. I drink lots of water which most of us now know is essential to good skin. But the biggest difference has been the daily consumption of dried wheatgrass and barleygrass in capsule form. You can get it fresh etc or in powder form but for me, swigging down three capsules twice a day with water is the quickest way to get the goodness in.

NUMBER 2. YVES SAINT LAURENT LE TEINT TOUCHE ECLAT FOUNDATION

Still on a skin theme, I have to recommend this lovely foundation. It was recommended on the blog of the great make up artist Lisa Eldridge. I took her advice and bought some for my summer make up look and I'm so glad I did. It really is a beautiful foundation - it blends into your skin to look competely natural and is barely visible on the skin. You can wear it as a light coverage or build it for a more glamorous look. Generally I wear foundation for a natural everyday look to cover my pinky tones as I am quite pale with red cheeks (I have a thoroughly Celtic heritage) and this foundation was just lovely to put on in the morning, so easy, it never caused me any problems with blending or streaking. It is pricey but it is worth it. There are some things I think you need to spend money on to get quality, shoes being one, and foundation is sometimes another as there are so many chalky or badly pigmented ones out there (although there are some excellent budget brands as well, I will not deny!). Having moved into winter now, my skin has lost the little colour it caught being out and about with my dog during the summer months and I've had to change to another foundation because I am so pale. It can be difficult to get really good colours for pale skin and the Yves St Laurent Foundation wasn't the best for paler skin tones I found (a little too yellow). But as a summer foundation it was fantastic and a joy to use.

However....I have also bought another of Lisa Eldridge's recommendations - Bourjois' 'Healthy Mix Foundation' which is another lovely lovely foundation with the same excellent natural coverage as the more expensive Yves St Laurent. It's about a third of the price too. This will be my winter foundation as it is also a little more hydrating than the other one and a paler soft cream colour which is perfect for my Scottish colouring.





NUMBER 3. A JUICER

I have juiced for many years now with the odd interuption but generally I've juiced consistently for about 15 years. It is the one thing that really makes my skin glow along with the wheatgrass and barley grass. I got into juicing for both health and beauty reasons and the benefits have always shown themselves in my skin. I usually just juice apples, carrots and ginger but occasionally will get a bit more daring and juice some green vegetables etc. I recommend juicing though, it really gives you a glow.



NUMBER 4. LUSH HENNA

I love Lush's Henna. It conditions and colours your hair whilst making it smell gorgeous and shine like polished wood. They do four colours - caca brun, caca noir, caca marron and caca rouge. I use caca marron for my chestnut coloured hair and it enhances the natural colour and just gives it a burst of colour and shine. I get lots of compliments about my hair and it's because of Lush's henna! It's also totally natural with none of the nasties you get from salon dyes. And it costs probably a tenth of what you'd pay to have those nasties put on your hair in a salon too! I've used it for years and it's become a staple in my beauty routine.


Do you have any 'must haves' in your life that you always depend on?