My Kind of Cooking

Wendy and Martin and the children know exactly what sort of cooking I do! My birthday pressie!!

I Have Returned

I have returned from Ayr Hospital where I had my CT Bone Scan and MRI Scan. I go back there next Friday for the results. It would have liked to Blog on the hospital itself because it is a lovely hospital and, like the Western Isles Hospital in Stornoway, it has lots of greenery and attractive spaces which helped to create a very pleasant environment. The hospital was built on the outskirts of Ayr in 1991 and replaced a number of old hospitals. It is surrounded by trees and fields. The x-ray and nuclear medicine departments that I visited were attractive and the staff were brilliant, helpful and friendly. Needless to say, despite having acres of car parking, cars were parked on any space anywhere were a car would fit. I went by public transport - a bus!

I would have loved to have taken photos - the dining room with it's huge conservatory area overlooking the countryside was a joy to be in - but somehow photographing a hospital doesn't seem the thing to do. I did, however, take a photo of some of its visitors: a family of Oystercatchers in one of the inter-ward green spaces.

A Night Out With Gaz (Part One)

After a lovely lunch at a café near the flat we spent the afternoon in Glasgow so that I could get some odds and ends. We walked from the Tollbooth end of Argyle Street to John Lewis (got what I wanted) and then set off up Sauchiehall Street until we hit the motorway and then returned. Quite a good walk. In the evening we decided to go out to the Corinthian (worth a blog posting all of its own) for an aperitif and the Rogano for dinner. I've tried to eat at the Rogano many times but never managed it. This was a Tuesday night at 2030 - surely no problem. Wrong. Full. So we set of for Babbity Bowser in the Merchant City. It's a gastro pub (don't you just love the jargon) but it doesn't have a website. I've lunched here many times but had never been upstairs in the restaurant. It was well worth it.

Afterwards we returned to the Rogano for a digestif. On the counter were bottles of Champagne (a fair number of glasses were being poured) including a pretty large one. We discovered that a 4.5 l bottle was a Rehoboam (of which neither of us had heard) (after Rehoboam, son of Solomon, King of Judah, 922-908 BC) but the largest they had on the counter held 6 l and was a Methuselah (after the Biblical patriarch who lived to the age of 969).

An excellent night out.

Ready for the off

A few of the many cocktails at the Corinthian

We chose this bar - one of many.

Gaz with his Mojito (the barman visibly blanched when Gaz asked for one - it's the most timeconsuming of cocktails. I just had Campari and Soda (V P E!)

The Corinthian's entrance hall

A Night Out With Gaz (Part Two - Babbity Bowster)

The Babbity Bowster. Superb food. Excellent friendly service.

Panseared Scallop on Stornoway Black Pudding

Monkfish in Bacon on Basil with Marsala Sauce

Creme Brulée - what else?