Eating in Edinburgh

So our study abroad program put on Thanksgiving for us in Edinburgh (where the study centre is located) because England doesn't observe this American tradition. (I've gotten my flat mates to agree that they should-- here's how WE celebrated Thanksgiving: CLICK HERE) Here's how Thanksgiving in Edinburgh went down:

Seems pretty typical with mashed potatoes, turkey, cranberry sauce, creamed corn... but...

Yeah, they don't have pumpkin pie in the U.K. But these tarts with fruit paste and clotted cream were good anyways.

So apart from the Thxgiving dinner, we went around to sample some goodies. Here's a candy shop we stumbled upon:




My goodness, I LOVE hedgehogs (little guys on the right)!

And more traipsing around Edinburgh led us to a pub called Arcade...

This is a dish called 'haggis, neeps, and tatties' or ground sheep innards, turnips and potatoes. All on a beautiful moat of gravy. Very tasty!
I was a little more/less "adventurous" and ordered Hunter's Stew:

It was quite a heavy stew and definitely triggered a good ol' "food hangover."

FUN FACT: Scottish cuisine gets a lot of crap from other countries (i.e. England) for having so much fried food. This is the impression I've gotten from my English friends anyways.

Munchies in Madrid

Jessica and I went out for tapas on our first night hanging out in Madrid! We ordered a plate of spicy potatoes and a plate of mussels! It came with really great bread as well. :) To celebrate our meeting, we got some lovely wine with lemon. :)
The only thing I don't care for about Spain is that smoking indoors is legal and completely acceptable; some places prohibit smoking indoors, but they are few and far in between. My poor, poor lungs. No fumar por favor! <- My poor Spanish...


Meet what the Spanish call bocadillos! My lovely flat mate, Laura, who is a local of Madrid, Spain, showed me around on my first night there! She also treated me to these lovely sandwiches. Here's her little tour of some of the different kinds:

The restaurant we went to was called 'Cervezeria 100 Montaditos.' There were ACTUALLY 100 different kinds of sandwiches!
Anyways, Laura, made me a fantastic and very complete list of things to do, and of course, things to eat, in Madrid. She's wonderful and I can't thank her enough!


Laura put 'churros con chocolate' on her list, so Jessica, Ryan and I went out to grab some for breakfast one morning! It's just what it says it is: churros (like the Disneyland kind, but without the sugar and cinnamon) with thick, syrupy, melted chocolate! Delish. If you do order it, don't necessarily expect the chocolate to be super sweet.
Here's a close up:



Calamari bocadillo is fried calamari rings in a baguette. Very simple, salted, and yummy! Again, something that Laura recommended. Apart from it being typically chewy, I loved it!