Pastries, broccoli, tartan skirt, and carrot lox

Foodstory Café in Aberdeen have started making sourdough pastry. Their sourdough bread is already well-known in Aberdeen for its deliciousness so we decided to sample the sourdough pastry, strictly for academic purposes. https://www.facebook.com/TheFoodstoryCafe/posts/3907322326030066 Foodstory is still only open for takeaways but not long now - they'll be allowed to open fully at the end of… Continue reading Pastries, broccoli, tartan skirt, and carrot lox

In the paper, cat news, a kilt in a cargo bike, Foodstory, and zombies

I'm in The Scottish Daily Record today in an article about the state of cycling in Scotland. This is in response to the tragic death of a young woman in Edinburgh this week. It's a good article that got a full double page spread and my photo spans from top to bottom of the paper!… Continue reading In the paper, cat news, a kilt in a cargo bike, Foodstory, and zombies

May you live through interesting times

There's a Chinese curse, may you live through interesting times. On a personal level, the Christchurch earthquakes make this pandemic seem like a walk in the park because that was a much tougher period of time for us. Nevertheless, both events brought strange changes and have made me think of the Chinese curse. But there… Continue reading May you live through interesting times

Emotional attachment to a place and good bread

Have you ever felt an emotional attachment to a place or even a landscape? A feeling of belonging when you go there even when you've never been there before? I feel that way about Scotland and to a lesser extent, England. It puzzles me a bit because the environment I grew up in was so… Continue reading Emotional attachment to a place and good bread

The mighty River Dee

The River Dee is looking particularly beautiful today. I've never seen it with so much ice, not this close to the harbour. Much of Scotland has been blanketed in snow over the past week except for Aberdeenshire. We've had crisp, dry, cold, but sunny days. If I can't have snow then my second choice is… Continue reading The mighty River Dee

Duthie Park in October

This afternoon I told the kids we were going to a vegetarian restaurant for dinner and there was an explosion of complaint. I thought I might have accidentally pulled off their finger nails one-by-one given the level of protest. But I checked their fingernails and they're all still intact. So then I offered an alternative: vegetarian restaurant… Continue reading Duthie Park in October

The best birthday ever

A conversation at school this morning. Elizabeth (to her friend): It's my mum's birthday today and she's 41. Elizabeth's friend: Wow, my mum's heaps younger than your mum but your mum looks heaps younger than my mum. The best birthday present ever 🙂 I had a nice day today. I did one of my favourite things which… Continue reading The best birthday ever