German Christmas Market

Aidan's brother and girlfriend were up in Scotland visiting and at this time of year there is nothing better to do than visit the Edinburgh Christmas Market. Unless of course you hate crowds and were feeling particularly fragile following a staff party - both applied to me. 

I decided that instead of feeling sorry for myself I would cure my prosecco headache with the only way I knew how... feeding it. I started off with the most delicious sausage I have ever had!

^ You can practically see the sparkle return to my misty eyes... 

After refuelling we wandered round all of the amazing food stalls, trying little morsels as we went.

My favourite stall was the Olive stall - you get handed a cocktail stick and are allowed to eat as many as you wanted! I am a huge fan of garlic stuffed olives and the ones I had here were delicious!

Aidan even found some new specs!

After a wander I decided it was time to sniff out some pudding to accompany the sausage I had demolished earlier. It came in the form of fresh doughnuts topped with chocolate sauce and lashings of cream.

Very hard to eat without getting it all over your face but, that's half the fun isn't it?!

What is better than one pudding?

Why, two of course! Off I marched to find my all-time favourite christmas market treat. 

Churros.

I succeeded and valiantly appeared through the crowds clutching my prized pudding (half of it already stuffed elegantly into my mouth).

After doing another, very slow, lap of the market we headed for our train back to Stirling. Not before taking in the beautiful skies and lights that come with the dark winter's evenings.

What is your favourite part of the chrismas markets that are open at this time of year? I would love to hear them, leave yours in the comments below!

Pinky Promise

After fleeting visits, and by fleeting I mean literally hours spent in Newcastle, I finally got to spend a whole weekend exploring!

If anyone has ever done the East Coast journey from London to Edinburgh you'll know that it goes through Newcastle and over the Tyne with the best views of the river and all of Newcastle's amazing bridges. I have done this journey more times than I dare to count and every single time I eagerly gaze out at the stunning view drinking it in and hoping one day I'll get to explore.

When I actually got to step off the train in Newcastle, ready to explore, I felt like I was meeting a celebrity! Spending the weekend with Aidan walking through streets, over bridges and looking at buildings I had admired for so many years was so exciting!

Our first morning in Newcastle was spent on the coffee hunt, I am a huge Cafe lover and Aidan loves coffee so we headed to Pink Lane Coffee for our first cup. Tucked away down a little lane just metres from Central station it is the perfect spot for coffee lovers and commuters sick of chain coffee shops alike.

The Coffee Shop has a really industrial feel to it with loads of lights hanging from the ceiling and plenty of well loved pieces of furniture. There is even a seating area outside made from wooden pallets!

I loved that the coffee theme ran through the whole cafe, coffee bean sacks featured on cushions, the coffee map on the wall and even seats were covered in the coffee bean sacks for a really cosy feel.

There was a huge selection of cakes and other sweet treats on offer, Aidan chose a piece of Salted Caramel Cake but I abstained - very uncharacteristically, I know -having had a huge bacon and egg roll only an hour before!



We settled at a cosy looking table at the back of the shop, admired the ingenious flower decoration (fake sunflowers in a jar filled with coffee beans) and eagerly awaited our coffees and cake. We had both chosen coffees off of their expresso menu which meant we could order our coffees however we wanted! Luxury.

I chose a lighter sounding bean as a Latte and Aidan chose the stronger bean as an Americano.

The coffees looked so beautiful when they arrived and Aidan's was so dark and glossy looking!

Although they didn't have any cream, Aidan's favourite, they did serve the coffee with the creamiest milk I have ever seen! And I hear it is all locally sourced too, which earns Pink Lane a few brownie points.

Now, I'm not too sure what to say about this cake because I didn't actually get to taste it.

The reason?

Aidan hoovered it up before I even got the chance! I'm going to assume, unless he informs me otherwise, that it was a delicious cake!

I definitely didn't hear any complaints...

Now, I do have something to admit, of late I haven't been the biggest coffee fan.

I'm not sure why, but I just haven't been enjoying the taste. However, I felt obliged to try one seeing as we were in such a coffee loving place and I didn't regret it!

The Latte was absolutely beautiful, so tasty and I didn't even put my usual sugar in it!

I polished off the coffee and I would've gone for another but we had to move on to our next adventure...

If you're ever in Newcastle or even have a long connection in Newcastle I would definitely recommend making a pit-stop at this Coffee Shop!

The guys really know their stuff when it comes to coffee and its definitely the best cup of coffee I have had in a long time!

A Suffolk Birthday

So, I've been a bad blogger recently but (I think) with good reason. I have been busy every single weekend for, what feels like, eternity! My contract at work was extended (hurray!) and changed which means I am doing more of what I love doing and I also get to work on some amazing projects.

After a busy few weeks I decided to take a trip home to visit the family and brand new puppy! She is a little bit older now though but still just as cute...

Below is when I very first got to meet her - she was having a strop at this particular moment in time because I had started to walk her the wrong way down the street!

Being a puppy everything is very new and exciting particularly, in Isla's case, lights! She goes mad when you trace the laser pen around the floor. I teased her, with great hilarity, one morning until she got too over-excited and peed on the floor... safe to say I learned my lesson!

And, although she has grown up a bit...

She is still just as silly!

The weekend I was home it was my brother Hamish's 18th birthday so we went to our favourite local pub The Doberman for some lunch with Granny, Grandad and the rest of the clan...

Love a pub lunch #suffolk #pub #lunch

A photo posted by Lucy Harvey (@lucylouharvey) on Jan 1, 2013 at 7:35am PST

We settled in next to the huge log fire, Grandad made a speech which thoroughly embarrassed Hamish, presented him with his birthday present and then it was time for food!

Unfortunately I didn't get many photos of the food but it is all delicious, home-cooked pub food. A few of us had the crunchy veg and garlic mayo to start....

And I, being a creature of habit, had the squid rings for my main. Again, with lashing of garlic mayo!

I did manage to squeeze in a delicious bit of brownie with extra cream (naturally) and then it was time to say our farewells and roll back to the house for an early night. I was awake early the next morning to walk the dog, say goodbye to the beautiful Suffolk views and head back on the train to Scotland.

Been To | Glasgow Gin Club

Gin and I have a love hate relationship. I love it, I just hate what it does to me. When Lauren invited me to meet her in Glasgow for a drink I was excited, when I found out exactly what the drink entailed I was more than excited.

We were off to the Glasgow Gin Club, a collection of gin lovers that meet in various locations and are always trying new gin.

This week is was No.3 in a hairdressers! A great place to have a gathering for a snap happy blogger...

The evening started off with a No. 3 and fever-tree tonic (my favourite!) and Amanda from No. 3 giving us an amazing talk through the history of the brand and how they make gin.

We then got handed a glass with straight No. 3 in - something which I was dreading - I just can't do spirits straight!

I got an incredibly pleasant surprise. Yes, it was strong. But it was delicious and I loved being able to really taste the gin.

After this Amanda shared with us the spices they put into No. 3 to make it so special and it was great to see the ingredients in a raw form, smelling each one and being able to place it in the gin we had to taste.

Following the talk we were presented with some amazing cocktails all made with my new favourite - No. 3! First off we had a Negroni - this smelled like christmas in a cup. It was incredibly strong and full of spices. I enjoyed it but a few sips in and I had had enough for the evening!

If the Negroni had been christmas in a cup the next cocktail was heaven in a cup. We were served No.3 with tonic, lime, lemongrass and coriander.

So fresh.

It was like cut-grass made tasty and I was desperate for a huge plate of mexican food to nibble alongside it.

After being treated to gin after gin Lauren and I were two very happy ladies and toddled off back to the station to head to our beds.

If you're in the Glasgow Area and a gin lover like us then all the information you need for the Glasgow Gin Club is right here.

Update | Lucy Has Been MIA

Some of you may or may not have noticed I've been a little MIA lately...

After starting a new job in social media, moving flats and being a busy bee this summer A Spectator Sport did fall a little by the wayside but with everything finally settled down I'm back and bursting with ideas!

In the meantime here is a little photo update of what I've been up to...

A few of our colleagues roped us into playing 5 a-side for Africa on the Ball. We got a nice team photo for the wall...

And then a not so nice team photo... for fun. 

 A week or so after that as part of my previous job I got to organise the Clubs and Societies Ball, this year a 'Skyball' James Bond themed party...

Aidan and I both dressed up nice and fancy for the event.

We had some nice and fancy food too, loved the puddings!

After the Clubs and Societies ball it was the Sports Ball and the turn of Bex to organise the party, this time in Murrayfield! Aidan and I had another chance to dress all fancy...

The puddings were just as fancy too...

And eaten slightly differently...

I've also been out and about a lot in Glasgow and Edinburgh visiting friends and relatives. In Edinburgh recently the statues had some interesting headgear...

St Andrews square was filled with a pretty installation - we didn't get to hang around to see if they lit up. Anyone any idea if they do?!

You may be wondering what on earth I'veeaten over the past few weeks?! Well, I've been a bad blogger but not that bad - I have plenty of tempting pictures waiting to be sorted through and blogged about, I can feel my tummy rumbling at the thought of it all!