The Enchanted Forest

A couple of weekends ago I spent the evening feeling like a real life Alice in Wonderland at an event called Enlighten at Scone Palace. The grounds of the palace, which is where many Kings of Scotland were crowned in years gone by, were transformed in to an enchanted forest with fairy lights, fire, music and projections all around.

 The trail took 2 hours to walk around and it is probably one of the most beautiful nights I've ever had. Even the pictures don't quite do it justice but hopefully you can ooo and ahh anyway!

The moon was amazing!

Projections on to the Palace

Haggis Chasing and Tartan Wearing

I was brought up in a teeny tiny little village in the North West of Scotland where I spent my childhood Highland Dancing on the pier and playing Kerby outside my house. There is no cinema – unless you count the infamous ‘Screen Machine’, which is basically a lorry which comes to the village every couple of months, parks up for 3 days and opens out into a 50-odd seated “cinema” showing the finest in 4 month old films which are probably already out on DVD. There are no clothes shops and there is no train station.

And I love it :-)

I left home 7 years ago to hit the bright lights of the city, but I do try to make the 4 hour journey back as much as possible – which isn’t too often due to this pesky little 9-5 I have that eats most of my time! The village is absolutely beautiful - cosied away in the hills on the edge of the loch, it really is my go-to place when I just need some time to step away from it all and relax with my family and old school friends.

Last weekend I got a full 3 days at home which were spent drinking endless cups of tea with parents, grandparents and in laws (you can read about my boyfriend’s Mum’s gorgeous cottage here), a run around the hills in gale force winds (it is Scotland afterall), steak and wine night with my Mum and her partner and of course I managed to fit in a wee 3am party…

Saturday’s lazy and hungover outfit consisted of an H&M jumpsuit covered with an H&M cosy jumper and Primark tartan scarf, worn with my trusty Supergas.

A Cottage in the Village

If you have read any of my other posts, you will know I'm a sucker for all things vintage, polka dotty and flowery. You can read about how I have decorated my little flat here, but today's post is about my boyfriend's Mum's beautiful rustic cottage which is nestled between some trees on a hill looking right down the loch. She has spent years and years making this place into the cosiest little haven, complete with a gorgeous red Rayburn and plenty of polka dots and bunting! My favourite thing about the cottage has to be the big pine kitchen table which sits right in the middle of the room, it's such a sociable place to be and when visiting, the majority of time is spent drinking coffee or wine, eating and chatting around it. I think it's really important to have that space in a house when nowadays so many people eat dinner staring at the TV rather than enjoying each other's company. 
Of course the other bonus to the cottage is that there are no neighbours and this served us well last Boxing Day when an afternoon family get-together ended up in a very noisy and drunken "cottage party"..!

A Seaside Trip

For my boyfriend's birthday, we took a trip to the west coast of Scotland to Ayr, a little seaside town. Considering I've lived in Scotland my whole life, I had never visited the town, but I must say I will be back! We spent the evening at a Murder Mystery event from the Sonic Boom Theatre Company which I'd highly recommend if you fancy something a bit different and interactive. Two bottles of wine later and we were doing karaoke with the couple who we met at our table!

Saturday was spent blowing away the hangover along the super windy but super lovely Ayr beachfront, followed by tea in a little vintage tearoom and lunch at The Social in Glasgow - great food, cheap cocktails and always buzzing! A perfect weekend all in all and does it really have to be Monday tomorrow?!

My outfit: tartan bodysuit from Motel (buy here), H&M shorts, Red Herring boots, Jane Norman coat and vintage belt

Rose and pistachio meringues

Fentimans rose lemonade is to DIE for!

The street where we stayed

Anti V Day roses

Train journeys are always a great excuse for picnics! This time I brought rose wine, sweet and salted popcorn and strawberry macarons....mmm!

How was everyone else's Valentine's weekend?

American Diner Style Birthday

It's fast becoming tradition that on my boyfriend's birthday, I cook a big slap up meal for us and of course, bake the obligatory chocolate cake! Who's idea was this "tradition", hmmm?!

This year I decided, after seeing an absolutely mouth watering post on a homemade burger with pulled pork by The Londoner (here), to go for an all out American diner style theme. Now, I do like to cook and I'm not a complete kitchen disaster (although the broken ceramic dish in my bin would tell you a different story), but I'm by no means a chef, so I beg of you to try this if Ultimate Burgers are your thang!

So, here's what I went for:

Southern fried chicken burgers (gluten free)

BBQ pulled pork

Paprika sweet potato fries

Toasted marshmallow milkshakes

Chocolate cake (gluten free)

And I'm sooo happy to say it was all a roaring success! 

For the Southern Fried chicken burgers, take 200g of gluten-free flour (I try to eat GF as much as possible) and sift with some salt, paprika and piri piri salt in a big bowl. Beat an egg in a separate bowl. Take two chicken breasts and score along the top and flatten a little, then dip in the flour, then the egg, then the flour again so it's coated well. Pan fry in hot oil for about 10 mins and then whack in the oven at 220 degrees celcius for 20-30 mins. 

The trick here is making sure you take the chicken out the oven as soon as it's cooked and white all the way through - I used to be so guilty of leaving chicken in the oven for an hour "to make sure it's cooked" but all that happens is you get bone dry chewy chicken! Take it out as soon as it's cooked and it'll be soo tender!

For the pulled pork, I did exactly as The Londoner did in her post, which I've linked above. Cooked in the slow cooker for 4 hours (after work meaning I did not see my bed till 1.50am by the time I'd taken it out and pulled off the bone, so maybe try this at the weekend when you have more time!), then pull the softest meat off the bone and mix with some more BBQ sauce, and it's honestly that simple. And let me tell you, it tastes AMAZING!

I didn't make the bread buns (shoot me) and they aren't gluten free (because GF bread SUCKS), but I did put an egg wash on the top, sprinkled with sesame seeds and baked in the oven for 10 mins to try and get that American diner bun feel!

Now, layer up in a loaded, messy style, serve with some sweet potatoes roasted with plenty of salt and paprika, and enjoy!!

Oh, and not forgetting the marshmallow milkshakes, which are a Spike Mendelsohn recipe, find it here...mmmmmmm!

I used a Nigella chocolate cake recipe (here) and decorated with baby bunting which was somewhat a by-product of the real, life-size bunting which I made as part of Hamish's birthday present. I will be doing a post about the making of that next week! As I'm sure you can imagine, Pinterest provided oodles of inspiration for the decorations!

Here's the birthday boy himself, badge and all, getting tucked right in <3

 PHEW! I'm almost as tired writing what I did as I was preparing it all! We ended the evening shacked up in a tiny little pub drinking Disaronno and coke listening to some brilliant open mic, and are off on a trip to the West coast of Scotland this weekend. I like birthdays, even if they aren't my own!

Let me know if you have a go at the burgers, or have any advice to give!