Making Cocktails with Revolution

Revolution is bar chain that graces every great UK city. With an extensive cocktail menu, 30 flavours of vodka and a well-priced food menu: there's something for everyone. I'm very familiar with the Edinburgh branch as they sponsor the Chemistry Society so I've spent many a boozy night there with friends. However, I was recently invited along to a blogger's cocktail class at their Glasgow branch. I've looked at their cocktail masterclasses before as a potential birthday idea and I've seen a few people go to them for hen parties. 

When we arrived we were greeted with a bubblegum daiquiri - a fun blue cocktail topped with flying saucer sweeties. This cocktail is really sweet and made with their bubblegum vodka. If you've ever been to Revs before you'll know that they have lots of flavoured vodkas that are made in Manchester. We were introduced to our barman for the night, Jim, and started learning about the history of Revolution and all about the cocktails. 

Meltmongers, Edinburgh

I've always been a big fan of the humble toastie. But when a grilled cheese sandwich store opened up in the Bruntsfield area of Edinburgh, I have to admit that I didn't quite see the appeal. Toasties are something I've always made for myself at home so I didn't quite get the appeal of going out for one. 

Well, ladies and gentleman, this blog post is about how I was WRONG. 

One very (rainy) day my friends and I decided to go to Meltmongers for lunch after our lab. After walking there (quite a distance from the science campus I'll have you know), we were so happy to escape into somewhere dry! I ordered a cheese and bacon toastie and some fries. The toastie was absolutely delicious! Unfortunately, I found the bacon to be a bit too fatty for my liking so I'd probably order a plain cheese one if I were to go again. So rich!

I'm Moving To The US!

There's a US visa in my passport and a one-way flight to JFK with my name on it. Tomorrow I'll be leaving Scotland to move to the US for 12 months. I've mentioned it before but I thought I'd write a proper blog post about it. I'm moving to undertake an industrial placement as part of my degree so I'll have a full-time job for the next year. I'll be living in the New England area of the US, on the east coast, and will hopefully get to do a lot of travelling whilst I'm there.

Topolabamba, Edinburgh

I am always on the hunt for two things. 

1. New places to go for food in Edinburgh. 

2. Fish tacos. 

So when I was searching for somewhere to have lunch with my friend Kathryn, Topolabamba ticked all the boxes. Situated on Lothian Road, it brings fun, tapas/street-style Mexican food along with more substantial dishes and fresh margaritas. We visited at lunch time and discovered that they have an express lunch menu of three options from a selection for £9.95. That's a great bargain so we decided to order from that. 

The lunchtime deal included fish tacos so I had to order them! They did come with a three chilli warning and I'm glad these did as they were spicy. The tacos were fresh and delicious but the chilli in the coleslaw made them very fiery. In the end, I had to scrap the coleslaw off as I couldn't handle the heat. I still really enjoyed them, however! The fish was lovely and fresh, with really crispy batter. 

Exploring Riga

Considering I'd already booked Berlin and Rome, it was a bit cheeky for me to be looking at more holidays. But seeing as I'm moving to the US for a year, I wanted to make the most of my time in Europe (whilst I still have EU citizenship and easy border crossing!). So when Becky and I started talking about maybe doing a trip together, I just couldn't help but book another holiday. We settled on Riga as we both wanted to go to a new country and it was easy for us both to get to. I went to Latvia with low expectations but it ended up being one of the best trips I'd ever been on...

We arrived too early to check into our hotel so we left our bags and headed out in search of lunch. We'd already spied a cafe on Instagram that served delicious looking pancakes so our minds were pretty made up. Street Fries Kitchen was a good choice! I ordered American pancakes with syrup, bananas and fruit whilst Becky opted for a chocolate and banana pancake. Our meals were both delicious and set us up for a day of exploring. And at only €5.50 each, we considered it to be a bargain!

Afternoon Tea at The Balmoral Hotel

As a good few of my friends are graduating this year, we wanted to celebrate the end of their time at university in style. Plans were made to have afternoon tea at The Balmoral Hotel, one of Edinburgh's most prestigious hotels. Afternoon tea is taken seriously here, it's five courses long, and is a real treat. We were a group of 9 in total, some who had had afternoon tea here before and some novices like myself.

The first option is to pick from the extensive selection of teas and coffees - but don't worry, they're unlimited so you can try as many as you'd like. I started off with the Royal Scottish Balmoral Blend - a blend of Assam and Ceylon teas. Essentially a classic breakfast tea to start me off and then swapped to white peach with flowers after scones for a lighter, fruitier option.

Rome Travel Diary

Due to industrial placements and study abroad, my group of friends is getting flung around the globe next year, from Connecticut to Taiwan. We wanted to have one last hurrah which was when we started to plan a holiday. We settled on Rome as it would have the perfect combo of sunshine, sights to see and of course - Italian food! And what a fantastic trip it was, a few days after I returned from Berlin we went off to the Italian capital for 3 nights.

After we arrived at the apartment we were renting we decided to just walk around the city. We popped by the Trevi Fountain for a look and I have never seen a tourist attraction so busy, it was absolutely crazy. I didn't even get to throw coins into it as it was so crowded I couldn't actually get to the front! We also popped by the Colosseum for a look around the outside before we visited in the morning. After a quick pizza dinner, it was an early night seeing as we had to get up at 4 am for our flight and were all pretty tired!

April & May Reading Wrap Up

As I was very busy with exams towards the end of April I decided to lump my April and May reading wrap-ups together. So I apologise if you missed last month's post but hey - extra long one today! Now that my exams are over I've had much more time for reading which feels like a real treat. I've also been trying to finish all my unread books before I head to the US so I'm racing against the clock. I read a good few books over the past two months, some of which I really enjoyed! 

Spectacles by Sue Perkins

I love Sue Perkins so I was really excited to read her autobiography. And it didn't disappoint! It was funny, personal and a great read. What I liked the most about this was that Sue didn't take a chronological approach per se, but instead selected topics to write about. There were a few bits that didn't pique my interest so this made it a bit easier to skim over them. There's also a pretty big part on GBBO so you get to find out some fun behind the scenes secret. I loved this book but I wish I'd gotten the audiobook as Sue narrates it herself! 5/5 stars.