What’s the Haps in Edinburgh

While Cath has been entertaining you with lovely fashion in Atlanta, Matt and I have been desperately trying to soak up the wee bit of sun coming our way in what is known as Scottish summer: a slight breeze, just above 60 degrees — and that’s as hot as it gets all year round. Interspersed between these “hot” days is the usual weather: 38-50 degrees, windy, mostly cloudy and sometimes rainy.

But one way Matt and I are coping with this mostly-winter-all-year-round business is by embracing all things that make rainy, dark-skied living bearable: becoming members of the Scottish Malt Whisky Society (oolala), dragging our visitors around town and reminding ourselves how beautiful ole Edinburgh is, and eating good food.

Last month Matt became an official member of the Scottish Malt Whisky Society. How do you become a member, you ask? Love whisky and hand over some  moola, et voila! Not only do you get exclusive rights to sit in the Society’s leather-chaired club rooms around the city, you also get to swirl more drams of whisky (sniff, sniff, glug, glug) and pretend you taste all the 32 different notes you are supposed to taste in each cask.

These days I’m not actually tippling (the above photo is all a farce! deep sigh) but I still love going with Matt to the whisky rooms. The arm chairs are so comfy, I love the smell of whisky (and think you can get tipsy after a few deep inhales of this 60% cask strength dram) and you get to read all the descriptions and tips for how to drink the stuff. The text is all a bit tongue-and-cheek (or at least, I think it’s supposed to be!). Here’s one suggestion for a whisky from the peaty regions of Scotland:

And here are some of the descriptors I pulled from another cask entry in their whisky bible. Even if you aren’t a big drinker and particularly dislike the intensity of whisky, doesn’t this make you want a tipple?

So good, isn’t it? The doughnuts are just on there because I liked the way they looked and think a whisky that tastes of doughnuts would be pretty high up there on the lists of things I would drink daily.

If you aren’t a big whisky drinker and know very little about the stuff, the next time you want to impress someone do this: pour yourself a wee dram (no water until after the first sip, and definitely no ice), swirl, sniff (with mouth partially open — yes you will look a bit dopey, but impressively so), sip and then say something like “a note of vanilla with a bit of peatyness.” Not nearly all whisky is either of those things, but hopefully the person you are trying to impress won’t know that, and vanilla and peat seem like fairly common notes in whisky. Or you can be inspired by the descriptions above and make up your own favorite meal and pretend you taste that in your dram.

Ever wonder what peat is/looked like anyway? Now you know:

I leave you with one last delightful swirl of a description:

But we aren’t just pretentiously sniffing amber liquids over here, Matt and I have also been playing tour guide to our lovely friends from the states! Here’s a classic Edinburgh Tourist Photo:

Edinburgh very rarely looks this (above) sunny, but I’m so glad she was all sun-shiney and almost-T-shirt weathery for Alison and Greg (note: the hardened Scot in the T-shirt on the right, reasonably attired Atlantans on the left).

And of course, no good haps wrap-up is any good without food pics! These are a little subdued on the food front because I’ve been following a wheat-free, mostly dairy-free, meat-free diet for months and months. At times the old foodie in me cries a little at having to eat another bowl of beans and rice, but it’s all in the name of hopefully going pain free one day. And it’s not all bad — just look at the deliciousness below:

I hope you guys have been enjoying a lovely spring/summer too. And if this kind of weather isn’t your thing (you love layers and roaring fires), come for a visit in Scotland the other 11 months of the year. You’ll be in love!

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Dear Cath,

I’m sorry that you always have to slog through my mishmash posts. You always have such beautiful fashiony things going on in the ATL. My fashion awareness I believe is at an all-time low. The strange thing is I don’t miss it until I see how lovely you look and I’m like “ooo I should wear a dress again.” I blame it mostly on the chilly weather here and my inability to wear contact lenses any more. I will give it a try once we are in Italy though! Speaking of which, I’m actually getting really excited for our trip. It seemed too far away to dream about until recently.

I hit up the library yesterday and got all of this:

That Eat, Pray, Love in Rome book is actually by the guy (Luca Spaghetti) that Elizabeth Gilbert met in Italy. I thought it would be kind of cheesy and as if he were just coat-tailing it (maybe just a tad), but it’s totally gotten me so excited to go to Rome. You should see if the DeKalb Library has a copy. Unofficial AsianCajun Book Club, book one.

Hope you are having a wonderful time at the Southern Blogger Society brunch today! Wish I could be there with you!

LOVE,

Lar