james test

After more than a week of walking and eating and discovering, I was obliged to fulfill my work commitments. First up, I was attending a conference at Scotland's oldest university in St Andrews. This glimpse of the town from the bus station was all I saw of the outside world for a couple of days. I merely oscillated between two of the newer buildings on campus, sleeping and listening, note-taking and occasionally talking, subsisting on catered food. The one break in my temporary routine was watching the rabbits - when I opened the window in my room in the mornings I could usually see a dozen of them, and there were many more on the lawns between our accommodation and meeting rooms. On the second night I had a chance to wander around town with a colleague I hadn't seen in years. The chilly breeze and grey skies were the perfect setting for the castle and cathedral ruins. But this is a food blog, isn't it? While the catering was adequate it was nothing to write home abo...

Tuesday was our last day of shared holiday time, with Cindy heading to St Andrews in the evening and me to Tokyo the next day. We were a bit done with sightseeing, but mustered up the energy (helped by an absurdly gigantic vegie breakfast at some pub near our hostel) to tackle Edinburgh's Camera Obscura . The Camera Obscura, built in early 1850s, uses a combination of mirrors to project live images of the city onto a white table. It's not particularly technologically sophisticated, but it's still pretty impressive to see live - it's like someone is training a video camera on the streets outside. The mirrors are adjustable, so you get a run through Edinburgh's history as the operator guides the camera across the inner city. It was great fun, and it's well worth ignoring the cheesiness of the exterior and giving it a look. As well as the camera obscura itself, you get great views across the city from the roof of the building. Back up the Royal Mile Across the ...

We had another half day in Plockton before heading back to Edinburgh. I'd finally run out of enthusiasm for cooked breakfasts, so we both started the day with porridge (with a bit of jam mushed on top). It was a warming start to the day, and I'm sure my heart appreciated the break from fried eggs. Our original plan was to spend our last couple of hours in the Plockton hotel enjoying their hospitality and free wireless internet. Alas, the internet was broken, so we were driven back out into nature. Following the recommendation of the hotel staff, we headed for a walk up a track in the northern section of the town. Something about the scenery reminded Cindy of a particular scene in Monkey Island , so she spent the whole stroll singing the midi-style tunes that are eternally lodged in her brain. It really added to the highland ambiance. The weather was a bit crappy, but the walk was still wonderful. A fitting finale to our couple of days in the highlands. Afterwards, it was...

Since our hostel in Edinburgh didn't include breakfast with our lodgings, the Plockton Hotel provided our first taste of the traditional Scottish breakfast. Most of the cooked plates included various types of fish, though our waiter was happy to accommodate Michael's interest in a vegetarian version. I hope I'm not being too condescending when I say that there's nothing much cuter than one grown man asking another if he'd like tattie cakes with his breakfast! To me, they really sound like a treat a mother might whip up to comfort her child. I was expecting something round and puffy like a scone, though funnily enough they are more like Johanna's potato scones : flat, dense pancakes consisting mainly of mashed potato and flour. The gummy texture didn't win me over on first bite, but they are actually quite addictive. The other novelty for us was the couple of oatcakes that were served with our tray of toast. They looked a little like digestive biscuit...