The Southside is where it’s at. A lot of indie coffee shops have been popping up, including Market Coffee. If you want to drink great coffee in a surrounding that’s perfect for Instagram, this is the place! Shawshank and I could have spent hours here, but 2 coffees and 1 cake was our limit. We’ll definitely be back.
Americano and Apple Tart
It’s been almost a year since I visited Cottonrake Bakery, despite finding myself on Great Western Road often. On Saturday I returned with my friend, Rab. It’s a lovely spot for fresh cakes, but make sure you visit early—they usually sell out.
Fig + Sparrow
This coffee shop caught my eye while walking around Manchester. It’s a design store and speciality coffee bar. I had a long black and coffee cake. If I lived in Manchester I’d be a regular!
Glasgow Coffee Festival 2017
Glasgow Coffee Festival returned for another year. Rab and I went on the Sunday as we had a wedding on Saturday. I’m always tired the day after a wedding as it’s both physically and mentally demanding, so coffee was definitely needed!
We complimented our flat white with cakes from CakeSmiths, then washed it down with #rawsoda. We also saw a lot of cute dogs.
Popping My Cottonrake Cherry
One of the (many) upsides of having Laura visit is food. Laura works at a bakery in Nottingham and makes me appreciate what goes into the process of hand-making food.
We visited Cottonrake Bakery on Saturday. All the croissants were gone by the time we arrived, so I settled for a pear tart. I say settled, but it was delicious. I washed it down with a black coffee. I’m carb loading before participating in tomorrow’s Great Edinburgh Run! That’s my excuse anyway.
Leeds
Leeds is a city I knew nothing about. Needing to escape for a couple of days, my friend – Harry – spent 48 hours introducing me to its array of indie coffee shops, great restaurants, and getting me into beer (albeit fruity, cherry flavoured beer) and gin. Not a particularly healthy few days, which is why I spent some money I’d earned on a Jawbone Up (already hit my 10,000 steps by 10am today. YALDI).
My favourite spots in Leeds;
Banana Bread
It’s very unusual to see me in the kitchen. I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve never taken the time to learn to cook or bake. Recently, though, I’ve taken more of an interest in my diet (which is ironic, given I’m showing you a stodgy banana and raspberry bread I baked) and am spending more time preparing food for myself. My first attempt at baking was ridiculed on its presentation, but it doesn’t matter when it’s so tasty.
Unrelated: Thanks to Jonathan for helping me iron out the kinks with my photo blog.
Afternoon Tea
It’s been a suh-weet weekend, with afternoon tea at the esteemed Hidden Lane Tearoom. Ayden and I enjoyed finger sandwiches and cakes, washed down with two pots of tea. We went for the bog standard Afternoon Tea on the menu and found ourselves walking away with adequate food babies, so I’m glad we didn’t opt for the Luxury Afternoon Tea (perhaps next time).
Edinburger
This weekend didn’t exactly turn out as planned. With The Met Office issuing an amber weather warning, I figured it was safer I give driving to Manchester a miss. All geared up for an adventure, though, I boosted to my sister’s in Edinburgh and proceeded to have one of the best weekends I’ve experienced in a while.
My sister has been telling me about frozen yoghurt since she spent summer in LA a few years ago. I finally got to try it after Edinburgh’s opening of a frozen yoghurt bar, and it was every bit as good as my sister had been telling me. Open one of these in Glasgow, please.
We also stopped off at what is becoming a regular haunt for us, The Chocolate Tree on Bruntsfield Place. They are dog friendly and do a mean hot chocolate.
That’s not all. We drank afternoon cocktails, splurged on steak sandwiches, visited a secret shoe shop (where photos were forbidden) and window shopped at vintage stores. We also did the tourist thing, spending a bit of time on Royal Mile and climbing Arthur’s Seat. A bit of indulgence followed with a lot of fresh air makes for a happy Ashley.
I like visiting Edinburgh, and after this weekend I think I’ll visit even more.
