Edinburgh is chock full of all these little nooks and crannies.
It was….the last full day in Scotland.
Cue the tears.
Amilia had some shopping she wanted to accomplish, and I wanted one more spin at Mimi’s for some serious sketching.
I decided that I was going to have the September specials….
A peppermint “aero” bar—Aero being, I think, like our crunch bars? It was really good.
Cookies and Cream hot chocolate!
Mimi’s had such a variety of things that it really made me wish coffee shops here provided this sort of spread—brunch, sandwiches, but also a variety of bakes that weren’t just brownies and scones. I’d take fewer cookies and more tray bake variety of things! But that’s probably just me. (Mimi, if you’re reading this, please give us a cookbook! PLEASE!)
At our hotel—public art!
I loved these flowers by the hotel’s Market Street door.
A look at the steps.
(There is a lot of graffiti in Edinburgh, which was a little bit dismaying, especially on things that are public art displays or otherwise tourist-y location spots.)
Lunch was our last (sob) afternoon tea, this time at the Grand Cafe in our hotel.
Allllll the velvet
My first Battenberg cake!
Here I had the Isle of Harris Gin tea, which was actually really good! I would really recommend not letting the tea continue to steep, though, because by the end of the pot, it was very “gin” tasting in an overwhelming way.
Dinner that night was at The Ivy on the Square, but before that, I began packing. Would everything fit in my suitcase?
Answer: YES
For our last meal, we wanted to go out with a bang, so to speak, so I chose the Ivy.
I decided to introduce Amilia to the delights of arancini….
Arancini are little balls of leftover risotto that have been fried. Leftover risotto is one of the many delights of the Italian kitchen, but I’m guessing the Ivy made fresh risotto and let it chill or something instead of using old risotto. :) These had truffle in them which gave them an extra touch of loveliness.
For my entree I chose a salmon with an Asian kick and it was delicious. One of the things that I noticed when dining in Edinburgh was that sides can be ordered separately—in this case I ordered a small bowl of jasmine rice. Portions weren’t huge anywhere we went but they weren’t tiny, either. They were what I’d call reasonable portions.
Sorbet for dessert? Yes!
Mmmmmm dessert. The Ivy was on our list of Afternoon Tea places to try but we never got there for tea, so I’m glad we got there for dinner!
A note on the tea: Infusions are what we’d call “herbal tea” in the States. Infusions is actually the correct term since there’s no tea in herbal tea (as in, tea leaves).
And then….the meal was over.
And it was time to go back to the hotel and pack up to go home.
View from our room of the Balmoral Hotel, where JK Rowling finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.