cooking up a storm at the edge of the world
A weekend of great company and excellent food. Food Blogger Connect (FBC) is (in their words) “the world’s leading International food blogging conference” held annually in London, England. Founded in 2009 it brings together food bloggers, industry representatives and educational speakers for a packed weekend of networking and community. After hearing so many positive reviews …
Plus some other rather delicious morsels in the city of lights! I’m going to be 40 soon, so I’ve compiled a list of 40 Things I’d Like to Do Before I Turn 40. Drinking coffee in Paris was #2 on this list. You know – a street side cafe, sunglasses, watching the passerbys passing by, …
Exploring the city of lights one geocache at a time… It’s funny how one thing can lead to another. How chance encounters and random events can shape our lives and create lasting memories. Earlier this spring I found myself bumping across the North Sea in a tiny seven seater aircraft returning from the most fantastic …
Hams of Muckle Roe: old Norse for havens (or harbours) of the big red island. I lost the entire month of July to working full time and then August seems to have flown by. The winter weather is going to be starting up again soon, confining us indoors again. This last week has given us …
The Iron Age in Europe occurred between 1200 BCE – 1 BCE. I’ve rekindled my geocaching bug – well, my friend Julia’s rekindled my geocaching bug. In 2010 a crafty friend of mine (Julia – who blogs over at Jaydee’s Ramblings) introduced me to the wonderful world of geocaching. For those of you who don’t …
No electricity, no wifi – 48 wonderful disconnected hours. After our unfortunate attempt at camping on the top of Rona’s Hill, Shetland’s highest hill, for the Simmer Dim (summer solstice), my family (ie: my husband!) inwardly groaned when I suggested we go camping again, this time for the whole weekend. I didn’t bother checking the …
#24 Kayak into a sea cave. Complete. Earlier this Spring I completed my one star kayak training with the Shetland Canoe Club, meaning I was qualified to go out on trips with the club this summer. We’ve done a few small (5-6 mile) trips on club nights and I’m delighted to say that thanks to …
Simmer Dim – Shetlandic for ‘summer twilight’ Sometimes I have good ideas. Sometimes I don’t. I’m not sure where on the spectrum of good-bad ideas this camping trip idea lies – somewhere in between, perhaps?
Spelunking: the exploration of caves, especially as a hobby. There are approximately 1679 miles of indented coastline in Shetland punctuated by the regular appearance of caves, most only accessible by sea if they are accessible at all. The cave at the far end of St. Ninian’s tombolo is one of our family’s favourite haunts, but last …
Road trip! Caravans, vikings and a food festival! Living on a remote island archipelago, travelling to the mainland is not something we do very often. Travel costs to get off the island, especially for our whole family, tend to be rather on the dear extortionate side, so we tend to spend our holidays exploring Shetland. …
A small quartered log and a few pieces of kindling can provide enough fuel for one meal. Regular readers will be aware that I contribute to Promote Shetland’s A Taste of Shetland food blog – a collection of recipes and stories featuring ingredients from the UK’s most northerly island archipelago, my home, Shetland. I am …
Because the first 40 years of childhood are the hardest! I am not getting any younger. The years just seem to be flying by faster and faster. Why is this?
A whole lot of science and a little bit of cake. The beauty of waking up each morning, for me, is that bit after you dreamily return to reality and that subsequent anticipation of what might happen that day. It’s a new day! What adventures could possibly lay before you in the following 24 hours? A …
Going back in time to a Middle Devonian lake bottom! It’s the Easter Holidays. I completely forgot about the Easter Holidays until the Thursday before the schools broke up for the Spring Break. This meant that I had to take the kids to work with me (there being no childminders around where I live, and …
An adventure story involving an airplane! Have you ever had one of those days where you say to yourself (and anyone else who will listen) – I love my life! Monday was one of those days for me, when my adventures took me to Fair Isle, a tiny island midway between the Orkney and Shetland …
A fantastic Mother’s Day adventure out! The Muckle Roe lighthouse has long been on my bucket list of places to visit, by land, when I first saw it from the sea: an intriguing beacon of light warning sailors of the dangerous cliffs ahead and marking the entrance to Swarbacks Minn. I’ve explored the base of the …
I’m sorry, ye old weather gods, I’ve come to the realization that I have taken you for granted. I have paid the price of this negligence; the result of a mighty fine summer 2014 spent mostly indoors writing and trying to meet copy deadlines. I am truly sorry. This atrocious winter you have precipitated on me …
An adventure had in between hurricane force winds. No, this post isn’t about that film of the same name Between Weathers, which was allegedly supposed to have been filmed here in Shetland years ago (what ever happened to those plans?!); it’s about how we, as a family, escaped the confines of our house for one …
This post was updated April 25, 2018, with photographs of my great-grandfather next to the Robert the Bruce monument in progress. Photos are from hard copies owned by my grandfather, David Bowie, in Canada. Look at the detail in this sculpture, isn’t it stunning? This is the sculpture of Robert de Bruce located in Bannockburn, …
The pursuit of unique and memorable eating and drinking experiences, both near and far. The term ‘culinary tourism’ was first coined by Lucy Long in 1999 and was used to describe the increasing use of food as “a subject and medium, destination and vehicle, for tourism. It is about individuals exploring foods new to them …
