FOODIE HEAVEN

This post is out of order, as I’m wayyyy behind in keeping up, but I want to get it up for our benefactors, Meghan, John, and Isla.  Loni was overjoyed to help them out just prior to our trip when their nanny went south on them.  Frankly, she would have paid them for the chance to spend that much time with our first grandchild.  However, with gratitude running amok, M&J set up a fabulous dinner for the four of us (Chuck & Alice, our traveling companions) at Scotland’s best restaurant (as so voted) and Michelin star holder, the Castle Terrace in Edinburgh. 

We sat essentially at the table in the foreground in the picture.  We were a bit paranoid about showing up in street clothes, but we needn’t have worried.  The clientele was in everything from tweed and tie to bluejeans with shirtail out.  And then there was the guy who was suffused with himself, sporting some sort of red and black Chinese-silk dinner jacket that went down to his knees (he was Anglo, reminded me of Robert Downey Jr.).  But, I digress.  We were here to eat!  We chose the tasting menu, as it covered many of the dishes on the a la carte one, so we’d get to taste a representative sampling of the chef’s work.  Glad we did, as we had an amazing assortment of flavors, textures, and colors.  Below, we had:  1) Canapes mimicking r to l) a caper and cumin burger, salt cod barbajuan (??), and Caesar salad; 2) a tomato gazpacho, which got slurped before the picture; 3) a tartare of salmon served sushi style, a top crusting of crackly rice, and a dollop of Wasabi ice cream on top (this photo was of Chuck’s dish and he’s allergic to salmon, so they substituted a whitefish); 4) a seared “hand-dived” Orkney scallop with an olive-tapinade and carmelized onion tart sitting on stripes of pureed lettuce.  Since Loni is allergic to scallops, they substituted a roe deer pate en croute with prune (the dots) and pear puree (look closely, it was shaped like a pear).

Next, 5) a risotto of organic spelt (a dinkel, or hulled wheat) served with crispy ox tongue squares and pinky-fingernail slices of chorizo; 6) roasted fillet of North Sea hake served in an Asian-style broth, and a side of one crab ravioli; 7) Scottish borders wild grouse (shot that day, it was the opening of the season just a few days ago), served with sauteed wild mushrooms, bread sauce and watercress; 8) souffle of strawberries with a chocolate ganache and some mascarpone sorbet (the white ball) on shortbread crumbs; 9) with coffees or expresso, a selection of petit fours to taste like carrot cake, chocolate almandine, and pistachio macaroon. 

We also had a nice sauvignon blanc from the Loire Valley (yes, even I had some) to lubricate things.  All of this took about 3 1/2 hours.  We started at 6:30, and weren’t even the first ones there.  What I couldn’t believe was they were seating new parties as we left!  Those folks would be there into the morning!  We were, of course, very happy campers.

That is, until I tried to navigate us back to the train station and managed to bring us full circle back to the front of the restaurant.  I plead lack of brain oxygen from too much food.  We did make it home all right, albeit close to midnight.

THANK YOU JOHN, MEGHAN, AND ISLA!