Leila-Land has been a busy place of late, and recent foodie adventures have nicely rounded off what has been a treat of a first year for my blog. Back in June 2009, for some as yet unexplained reason, I decided to get the food in, and made a new connection with getting some words out.
As most bloggers do, I started with a vague idea of what I wanted to achieve, and so without any specific (self-imposed) remit have put a few thoughts down for the sake of prosperity. With some common theme, I guess in broad terms it’s what’s called a food blog. There’ve been random recipes, some reviews, a little bit of travel and events, and a few booze-related posts too. Not to mention the obligatory macro photos of eats that I’ve made, or (Giles Coren, look away now…) photos of things I’ve ordered in restaurants.
Whilst by no means an oeuvre for all time’s sake, it will at least prove helpful in my twilight years, those hopefully long-away days when I might not instantly be able to recall ‘that dinner we had at…’. My boyfriend (AKA the Silver Fox) has had to put up with many a breathless, arm-waving extolling of what to him just looked like ‘food’. My mum suspects she may have created a monster who can easily re-tell the recipe for macarons in real time. My camera now sports a giant of a 8GB memory card, just in case something exciting and edible should cross my lens before it crosses my lips.
Recent fun include having been invited by AEG to a grand day out at The Taste of Edinburgh Festival, writing a review for Bite Magazine, and the making of my first Hollandaise sauce. Some of the girth-related effects of my tendency of bon manger have been combated more recently with a course with fantastic personal trainer Tracy Griffin . Ohh, and get this, a gift of bottle of Egyptian Leila wine from Ian at The Wine Experience.
It’s also been a year of discovering that this town (some say village) of Edinburgh, has some super-fine dining spots to become more than a little fond of.
As a birthday treat, here’s my fantasy dinner, based on the past 12 months of munching.
Amuse bouche- A bowl of The Basement‘s behemoth olives.
Starter – The scallops with bacon and leek tart from A Room In Leith – pastry was amazing.
Main course- Hotel du Vin’s succulent Donald Russell steak and crunchy frites- simple perfection which I’m still known to rave about, six months later.
Dessert – The wacky lime and peppercorn meringues from L’Artichaut, with chocolate sauce
Random Dish that just has to be mentioned- CentoTre’s frighteningly addictive Pasta Contadino.
Random Dish that just has to be mentioned- CentoTre’s frighteningly addictive Pasta Contadino.
To Drink: Another bottle of the 1998 Vintage Pol Roger, please!
To totally fudge some Neil Young lyrics- keep on rockin’ in the food world!
Happy Birthday Leila. Long may your appetite stay sharp.
Jonathan
Thanks!