Food Fest !

I did not need to set my alarm to awaken me this morning for my journey up to this years Taste of Edinburgh food festival as at 5.30am the sound of thunder followed by the sound of heavy rain drops exploding again on the bedroom window soon brought me from my wonderful dreamy Uma Thurman infused sleep to the horrible reality that the weather forecasters were right and we were going to receive apocalyptic weather for the next few days !
As this weekend is probably the only thing relating to a Summer Holiday I am going to get due to work commitments until the end of November was I going to let Apocalyptic weather dampen my Holiday vacation (Well day trip to Edinburgh !!) no way.
I hatched a plan which meant I was going to take those Hiking boots I brought 3 months ago out of their box and use them !! Ok when I brought them my plan was to climb Mount Everest and not splash about in a Scottish field full of Glastonbury type mud but I am glad I brought them now. The other plan was that last weeks north-east rain had caused a landslide on the rail route up north but if this was going to happen on my journey it was only going happen on the journey back therefore I would stock up with the wonderful produce you can get from the show and when we were trapped I was going to park my ass in the buffet car next to the man selling beer and drink and eat until rescued.
I have gone off on one their a bit as fortunately apart from the early morning rain in Ashington nothing like that happened and although it threatened to rain all day it did not. Yes parts of the field were pretty bad but the organisers did what they could to make the event safe and if I say so myself  a pretty special day for all.
Yes Beer drinking, I mean tasting, was mixed up with the odd nip of Whiskey to help fight the "wee occasional nip in the air" but once again The Taste of Edinburgh was a Food lovers heaven !

Safety mats were used as paths to wander from stand to stand. Not sure what these roman numerals meant on this ladies ankles ? thought it wise not to ask !

Their were many cookery demonstrations for you to have a look at. This is chef Valentine Warner giving it large trying to sell us the virtues of the BBQ ! not quite the weather for it but he did try !

Mark Greenaway a great Scottish Chef kind enough to have a chat with me. He was on the The Great British menu this year. That is one of the things that is special about this show just like Rachel Allen and Gary Rhodes last year all the so called celebrity chefs are very approachable and not surrounded by burly security guards and worst still PA 's !

Another Great British Menu Chef Micheal Smith he is Head Chef at the 'Three Chimmneys' on the Isle of Skye which sounds such a wonderful place to be a chef. I am sorry Micheal that this is not the best picture of you but a nicer one of the pretty girl next you ! Old photographic habits die hard I am afraid ! ha ha !

The Food.

Halloumi chips with lime and chilli ketchup. Cafe Gandolfi

Hawabi laziz kebab. chicken,ginger and ground whole spices cooked in a tandoori oven with mint chutney. Kama Sutra.

Red Mullet with seaside pickle salad and meon-ginger preserve. First floor restaurant.

Seared Scallops, pea espuma, ham, lemon and pea shoots. Angels with Bagpipes.

Orkney Crab with Cucumber Veloute. Balfour Castle.

Strawberry Balsamic Verrine. Forth floor restaurant.

Extra pics

Waitresses in Wellies ! I like it ! ha ha !

Storm clouds and mud !

Edinburgh Sights !

The painter.

A typical historic edinburgh street scene with historical Sky dishes ! ha ha !

A lovely Edinburgh pub with a lovely welcome to a lovely Geordie tourist. "That's £7.50 Sir !" for 2 pints of beer. Don't think the Scots like the English ! ha ha !

Waverly Station !

Another big event hitting Edinburgh !

Time for tea.....

....and then the rain did arrive !

Just a foot note to this blog as I am writing it on Saturday I have just found out that today's sold out sessions at the Edinburgh food Festival have had to be cancelled due to the weather. I feel very sorry for all these people who did not get to enjoy the Festival like I did. Bloody British Summer strikes again  !

Cheers !