Scotland: The Food Edition

For Spring Break, I had the amazing opportunity to visit my sister while she was working in Edinburgh, Scotland. My family and I went for two weeks. And of course, one of my MAIN focuses was the food. I think it's the best way to experience anywhere.

Our very first dinner after we had just arrived - gotta be fish 'n' chips. There was a little place right across the street from Afsan's (my sister's) flat (aka apartment). Also - they call takeout "takeaway" there. We got some with the mysterious brown sauce - that is so heavenly. It wasn't super greasy and the batter on the fish was just crispy enough. Their chips... (what we call fries they call chips, what we call chips they call crisps - it's all English but feels like a foreign language!) are thicker cut, which I actually really liked. I fooled myself into thinking they were "healthier" - you know, less surface area to soak up grease. Right??

Dear Costa, Please come to America? Love, Ladan.

Costa = Starbucks in Scotland, except sooo much better. There was one Costa that sat on top of a bunch of stores on Princes Street, the main busy street where it's always hoppin. It also overlooks a bunch of hills, parks, and castles.. I sat there and had a tea and sketched for a little while. SO peaceful!!! Here we have a hazelnut latte and a rocky road cupcake. My sister knows me so well.....

Another food perk about Afsan's flat: there was a "Cheesemonger" shop literally... 100 years away. Oh man, I was in heaven. They had some of the most delicious cheeses I have ever tasted (and I've tasted alot). Since we had been eating out alot, we decided one night to have a light dinner... so healthy! We had brie, two other different kinds of cheeses (I forgot), fruits.... and well you can see. Those round cracker looking things are called Oatcakes. Not sure how it's made, but it's an ESSENTIAL with their delicious cheeses. I could eat this for lunch every day.

TEACAKES! The very first night we were there, Afsan said she had some teacakes for us. If you know me I have a crazy intense sweet tooth, but for some reason a "teacake" didn't seem like it would hit the spot, so I ate Girl Scout cookies instead. Little did I know......

It's like a S'more inside!! It's covered with chocolate, and at the bottom is a graham cracker with a marshmallow on top! SO delicious, and they sell them everywhere.... a box of 6 is about 1.20 (pounds). Mmmm.

We got this crepe from a street cart vendor. The way he made it kinda reminded me of something similar that I had in China. This had spinach, mushrooms, one egg, and CHEESE on the inside. My goodness it was delicious. I took my parents back to get some, too :)

What a fatty. Right after we ate crepes, Afsan wanted to go out of our way (we were on our way to the Pound Stretcher) to get french fries. I was thinking, ok, she's going to get a small fries, or even a medium. No. She went for the Super Jumbo. I think it was 2 pounds. And then she got persnickety when I went in for a taste or two. She's lookin all stylish ...... with her bag of Burger King. 2x4!!

Frommer's had suggested Clarinda's Tea Room, so we decided to check it out. It was the most adorable little place! All the tables had fancy table cloths and the decorations were so quaint. We, of course, had tea for three (Afsan was at work) and a few sweets. The sweet in bottom right hand corner is called Caramel Shortbread (I think). It's basically a hard sugar cookie on the bottom, then a layer of caramel, then chocolate on top. Even for my sweet tooth it was a little intense. But lovely.

My dad loved the scones. And who wouldn't? They truly knew how to put in those butter pieces to make it oh-so-flaky. And look how fancy the whipped cream (?) and jam is. They take their tea time very seriously in Scotland.

Another dinner night in... this is me trying to make an appetizer of bread (fresh baguette from the Cheesemonger!) with fresh melted cheese... Miss 2x4 couldn't wait for them to be melted in the oven so she was trying to grab them from me.

Salad, ravioli with rocket (some greens that looked like arugula), and salmon. I'm not sure how I made the salmon.... olive oil, soy sauce, honey, and mustard on top then baked in the oven. It ended up working out!

Afsan found nachos at a pizza place right down the street from her flat. Looks pretty generic but the chips and the cheese were way different. And by different I mean amazing. It tasted healthier. Or maybe once again I was fooling myself....

Mama A. loves her tea. She believed it tasted so much better when it was served in your own personal tea pot.

I was obsessed with the "pies" that they had in Scotland. This one was a Beef and Ale pie. Savory, not sweet. There was a really rich brown gravy inside that had flavors I had never tasted before. Perfect crust. I might attempt a pie of my own..... details to come.

This was some fancy broccoli & cheese soup.

Oh Costa, how I miss you so.... I would love to spend my Sunday afternoons with a tea service like this. No wonder European life is so much more relaxing.

So, Afsan doesn't work in Edinburgh.. she works in Livingston, about 30 minutes away. One of her co-workers suggested she get the Chicken Curry and Chips. You take chips and pour this delicious chicken curry over it. Even though it was slightly soggy by the time she got home, it was so delicious. We had this right before getting on the train to go to London. Talk about food coma.

Finally, London! Our first stop was Portobello Road/Notting Hill.... we walked through the marketplace that Hugh Grant walked through & it was changing seasons (amazing scene). And it was filled with delicious FOOD! We would barely swallow one dish & already be ordering another.

This was a hot dog place that we went to.. beef hot dogs, no less! It had some onions and crunchy stuff on top. Might give Chicago a run for its money.... luckily I will be able to judge that for myself come July!

Seafood PAELLA!!! Those are the largest pots/pans that I have ever seen! This vendor had a line waiting for 20 minutes for the paella to be ready.

We found a bookshop that catered to cooks. So naturally, I had to go in. And of course a shop that is filled with books about food absolutely has to have food outside. We got a lemon cupcake that apparently had just recently won an award in a baking competition. I was a believer. We also bought fresh raspberries (because my mom felt like we should at least eat something healthy, or pretend to).

Bruschetta! When Afsan first moved to Edinburgh, she asked me how to make bruschetta because she saw it on Julie/Julia. Or heard about it. This stuff was really great (I think the bread was what made it perfect). Added bonus: we saved one of the breads & ate it during the intermission of Wicked. Oh we went there.

Found our kindreds right as we were leaving London.. had to get some Zool-bee-ah - one of my favorite Iranian sweets, and a definite must around Noruz! (Persian New Year)

Ok so.. this might be cheating. I am very much the kind of person who really wants to experience culture through food, and I find myself very willing to try new, and perhaps unusual foods. After having donkey in China, I realized you really can't judge the food by the animal it comes from.

I had a true Scottish breakfast at a little cafe. Well ok, maybe not true: the sausage and haggis is vegetarian. But at least I tried.

Another big thing in Scottish/English breakfasts is mushrooms and tomatoes. I'm not complaining! The bread was sundried tomato bread. Slurp!

GREYFRIAR'S BOBBY! Our very last dinner in Edinburgh. We went to a very famous restaurant/pub. Like everything else, it was within 10 minutes walking distance of Afsan's flat.

Bangers & Mash aka Lamb Sausage & mashed potatoes. I think it had some sort of apricot sauce on it. The lamb sausage had some really intense flavoring/seasonings, but still overall quite good.

I could not resist one last pie. This one was Chicken and Leek pie, which was by far my favorite of the two. It had a lighter gravy/sauce on the inside. Give me this + fresh cheese every day for the rest of my life.. and I'm a happy camper.

The FINALE: Treacle Tart.

Yes, the very same treacle tart that you read about in Harry Potter and drooled over and thought, is that something real, or did JK Rowling make it up so that my stomach would growl unnecessarily at 2 am when I should be sleeping and not reading Harry Potter? Well, it is a real dessert, and it tastes just as good as it sounds! There were some berries underneath the ice cream and we couldn't quite figure out what they were but they went perfectly with the tart/pie. It was rather sweet but didn't taste like anything but... sugar. It was slightly warm and really put the perfect ending onto an amazing trip.

Thanks to Afsan for being an amazing host. And thanks to Edinburgh for being my favorite city in Europe!! (so far)