Edinburgh Farmers Market

How to cook scallops and other news

bruceonthefringe 2025, Another European Trip, Edinburgh Festivals, Edinburgh Fringe, European trip 2025, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Hi peeps! It’s the first full weekend in June, so that means it’s Meadows Festival time, but this year I’m going leave off going until tomorrow. There’s heavy downpours out there, you know, already been caught in two just going to the Farmers Market, thank heavens for my oversized brolly! When I’ve finished this I’m going to pop along to Whistlebinkies where Jed Potts and Nicole Smit will be starting the afternoon set soon. There’s lots of music going on down in Leith for the Leith Jazz & Blues Festival this weekend; indeed, the Scat Rats are playing some place called The Volley at four o’clock today and tomorrow (I have no idea where it is, besides in Leith), I may pop down tomorrow, make that, most likely will pop along.

If I’d just gotten up when I first woke, around nine, I could have been home before the first deluge, but, well. So glad to get some eggs (never buy them from supermarkets these days), also some chicken thighs and honey from Brewsters, then across to Annanwater to see what they had left, oo, cutlets (exquisitely tasty) and two small frozen packs of liver (very handy as one pack is perfect for a solo meal, and it will defrost very quickly in a bowl of water). A chap behind me asked if I was queuing for a mutton pie like himself (they are exceedingly popular), oh no, I was holding off for scallops from Creelers for my lunch; as so often happens, that prompted a follow-up question of how I cook them, in butter first, then add a slosh of dry white wine, a little salt and black pepper, some frozen chopped parsley, finally double cream. Bloody marvellous if I do say so myself!

Oh, and a slice of bread of butter with a glass of the wine. He said he’d be round at twelve! Haha. Scallops in bag, last port of call was Thistle and Churn for another fine ice cream, this week’s was a Clootie Dumpling, with some actual clootie dumpling as part of the garnish!

I think partly the reason why I’m not fussed about getting to the Meadows Festival is that I’ve already had a big flea market fix just last week in Brussels, oh my god, it was so wonderful to gaze on it all! If you enjoy a good rummage and you’re ever in Brussels, head to Place du Jeu de Balle, and of course, being away means you can’t actually buy that ridiculous wotsit, ’cause how would you get it home?!

Yes, that is a pogo stick! ~~~~~ Some might call it junk ~~~~~~ I was tempted!

Similarly, I feel like my Fringe started early this year, not only did I treat myself to seeing Grubby Little Mitts performing Eyes Closed, Mouths Open when I was in London, but back four weeks ago I went to see John-Luke Roberts: It Is Better + Best Of at the Monkey Barrel. Honestly, I’m not quite sure what month it is, Meadows Fair, so it’s June. Yes, I have picked up copies of the Fringe programme, yes, I’ve done an extra quick sweep of comedy and theatre, and yes, I’ve bought my first eight tickets! I’m somewhat disgruntled that the box office has now upped the maximum booking fees for one purchase from £5 to £7.50, grrrr (yes, I know it’s not much to quibble over but it irks me). My purchases? A few previews, the new one from Batisfera, thought I should get in quick as Luke Rollason is only doing a few dates, and a ticket for Troy Hawke who is usually rather expensive but yay, he’s doing a WIP this year (been loving his stuff on Instagram).

More later, right now, there’s two rather talented musicians making sweet sounds, that I need to see. Toodle oo!

Summer is on it’s way

bruceonthefringe 2025, Bats, Edinburgh Farmers Market, Eurovision, Holyrood Park, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Summer is definitely on the way, last night the bats were out to play! I went down to St Margaret’s Loch a couple of weeks ago, the day had been warm so I reckoned there’d be plenty flying things for the bats to feed up on – I saw a measly two! Bah. Yesterday evening I took myself off for a walk around Queen’s Drive, going anticlockwise from St Leonard’s Crag to catch the end of the sunset over the city. Also because I know that the bats around Dunsapie Loch (the top pond) emerge earlier than those down at St Margaret’s Loch (the bottom pond). Yep, they were out flitting about, what a joy to just stand and watch them! Oh, and there was a fine layer of evening mist drifting over the water, it was almost ethereal.

St Margaret’s Loch in Holyrood Park

There were the usual few bats darting around, between the trees on either side of the road, as I headed down the drive, but I was to be disappointed by a lack of bats at the end of St Margaret’s Loch, had some calamity befallen them? I’ve seen so many around there in the past, but not a one! Oh well, on to the next spot (there are five particular spots around the pond that the bats favour), yay, plenty! And the next two as well. By now it was getting pretty dark but my night vision is good (until a car drives past, leaving me briefly blinded); I really can just stand for ages with bats swooping around me, and the longer you stay still the closer and closer they’ll flit past, I never want to break the spell and leave, but this time after a rather spectacular acrobatic pair disappeared into the gloom, I knew I should make that the finale and plodded home. It was just after half eleven when I put the kettle on for a bedtime brew!

The light was seriously fading but still I stood

And it’s yet another hot, sunny day today (I predict a wet Fringe!), its also Eurovision today! Yay! I will admit I wasn’t bothering to be interested this year as I really wasn’t impressed by the UK’s entry; it’s been played plenty on the radio but nah, right-hand side of the scoreboard for that. Then Thursday evening I watched the second Semi-final; the UK as one of the “big five” are straight into the final but they do sing in the Semi’s. Wow, Geez Louise, watching Remember Monday perform What The Hell Just Happened? well, blimey Charlie, I am converted! Those girls know a thing or two about how to sell a song, they nailed it! I will be very disappointed if it doesn’t finish on the left-hand side of the board (I’m not so delusional to think it could win, ‘twould be nice, but it won’t). I have listened to the contenders on the Eurovision playlist on Spotify but nothing has screamed absolute winner for me. I’ve also been checking out Accordion Ryan‘s takes on all the songs, always a joy, and pretty impressive that he sings in all the various languages, well it sounds impressive to me. Do check him out on Instagram, this is the third year he’s been doing it, Eurovision on accordion, it was meant to be.

I’ll have to pop out soon, buy some snacky stuff for the evening. I have some Birra Moretti in the fridge, and a small bottle of sparkling that been in there for ages, perfect for Song No.9 (to toast Sir Terry). This morning I picked up some of Levantine’s excellent Baba Ganoush at the Edinburgh Farmers Market and after great deliberation, a slice of the black cherry from Hometown Cheesecakes (it was between that and the mango’n’passionfruit, tough choice). I rustle up something with the hogget liver that i bought from Annanwater, something paprikary, yum.

Oh, and on the Farmers Market – there’s a new stall, and it sells the most amazing ice cream!! But, not only do Thistle & Churn make their own ice cream, the cones are all made by in house too, and they’re incredible! When investigating buying cones, the lovely man discovered the shelf life was fifteen months, like, what’s in them to last so long? So he rolled up his sleeves and came up with his own recipe; the ice cream recipes are divine, and by’eck if the cones aren’t the perfect accompaniment! Oh, I had a lovely chat with him, that’s how I know he’s a lovely, interesting chap. I like to find out a bit about new stallholders, and they’re usually very pleased when someone takes an interest. God, I’m so lucky, artisan chocolates and now ice creams!

Thistle & Churn’s Caledonian Cream

Anyhoo, must go. Toodle pip!

Friday Night, Saturday Afternoon

bruceonthefringe 2025, Bands, Gigs, Live bands, Pubs, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Yay! Normal service has resumed on my telly! Well, I got a man in. New aerial and cable, apparently it’s a great view from the roof of my tenement block (not sure that will ever tempt me up there). I stayed inside and watched for the cable reel when he dropped it down the front of the building (in case there was anyone passing below!), the bit when he was more outside my window than in the flat, trying to put the cable neatly by the downpipe was unnerving, honestly, I had a strong urge to grab hold of his legs, convinced that he was going to tip right out! He didn’t.

I celebrated with a Strawberry Shortbread snacking bar I bought at the Farmers Market last Saturday from the wonderful Co Co Co. Oh, my goodness, Rob has come up with another masterpiece, they are divine! White chocolate, strawberry mallow and blondie shortbread with a dash of strawberry white chocolate for decoration. All those flavours and textures in every bite!! He’s a chocolate alchemist.

I thought I could do some clever twist there, something about music alchemists turning the same old notes, instruments and voices into a magical, awesome sound. Would you have gone with that or is it only me?! I googled alchemy in music for some validation of my thoughts, hmmm, yeah, no. So anyhoo, Awkward Family Portraits played the Speakeasy at the Voodoo Rooms a couple of weeks ago.

Pure gold, an enchanting, other world atmosphere! Their sound transports you on whims of fancy, a tour through a golden age Hollywood movie lot; there’s some soft shoe shuffle on one stage, a hoedown next door, a charleston, americano, every scene a gem with light and shade, wit and melancholy. The mixture of AFP‘s upright bass, violin and guitar along with Julen Santamaria’s very distinctive voice and the harmonies, all blended to perfection in the intimate setting of the Speakeasy. Oh, my heartses 💛

I floated out afterwards with a contented grin and a need to stroll in the Edinburgh night air. My meanderings took me by the Jolly Judge and through the Grassmarket, where bless my soul, if I wasn’t catching a faint strain of Babestation somewhere nearby! Ah yes, Mr Marah was in Maggie Dickson’s, I’ve never been in before, so obviously it was time I gave it the once over! Not really my style, but I liked it and the bar staff were great, and it’s always fun to hear Carl in pub singer mode. We had a wee chat in his break, then I headed home, er, via Whistlebinkies where The Full Kitkat were in full swing rocking the joint. Yes, one more for the road. Hey, as Friday nights go, it was up there.

The following afternoon I was back in Whistlebinkies to catch the Scat Rats but not until the around the start of the second set (it was a sunny day outside). Now I regularly turn up into the second or third song of the first Scat Rats set, which, by coincidence is often Babestation, a fact that had made Friday night’s encounter extra amusing to me; so imagine my complete surprise that I walked into Binkies and they were playing, yes, you’ve guessed it Babestation! They never play it in the second set, never. I was freaked, but not as much as them…

It being a lovely sunny Saturday afternoon, Binkies was dead, so the guys decided to have fun, mix things up, play whatever came to mind (wish I’d bloody turned up earlier now!) When I still hadn’t appeared by the second set, Carl jokingly suggested they play Babestation as it was a surefire way to conjure me up. Yes, they were more freaked than me when I sauntered in, hahaha!! I was treated to In The Morning (not played in ages), Give It To Me a Logan’s Close classic that I don’t think I’ve ever heard the Rats play before, and newby White Lies played at the last Logan’s Close gig ( I’ve put a reel on my Instagram with two very bad splices between the two versions).

I’ll leave you with one more picture taken on that Friday evening, the old Bank of Scotland building has never looked lovelier. Toodle pip!

Best laid plans of mice and moose

bruceonthefringe 2024, Films, Good listens, Live bands in Edinburgh, Live music venues, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

After my last post a week ago, I fully intended to knuckle down and write every other day about my European wanderings, and make a serious start on this year’s Fringe programme. Unfortunately the gods had other ideas and laid the moose matriarch low, very low, so everything went out the window. It’s been a busy, taut time; thank god for the NHS, they’ve been brilliant. I’m in Edinburgh for just a couple of days to sort some things out, a wee chill out, then back down to Yorkshireland tomorrow.

I arrived yesterday at noon, so was able to trot along to the Farmers Market to stock up on some good quality frozen meats to take back down (for some good, quality, hearty frozen dishes for mother’s freezer). Co Co Co. were at the Market with another new chocolate, Strawberries & Cream, well, I had to, and a packet of Crème Brûlée (mother’s favourites).

Later in the afternoon the R&R really began when I popped in Whistlebinkies to catch Jed Potts and Nicole Smit doing their thing, just what the doctor ordered! Washed down with some Olicana, Stewart’s latest brew. I’ve since checked out their tasting notes, Stewart’s say mango, grapefruit and passionfruit; I say peapod. Honestly, the first sniff was like opening a bag of peapods, the taste did nothing to change that thought. Oh, I did like it in some weird way, but I couldn’t drink a lot of it.

There’s a film in cinemas at the moment with Austin Butler, Jodie Comer and Tom Hardy, oh my heartses. The Bikeriders is one hell of a movie with a soundtrack to match (currently playing on my Spotify). The writer/director Jeff Nichols was inspired by a photo book by one Danny Lyon who took photographs and tape recordings of a chapter of outlaw motorcyclists between 1963 and 1967. Apparently the recordings Lyon made of Kathy, played by Comer in the film, are still around to listen to, gonna have to check them out. All three of the leads are mesmerising to watch, and another accent nailed by Comer! Hopefully I’ll get to see it again before it disappears from the big screen.

Time for my bed, still got a lot to do tomorrow before I hit the road south. Still no sign of a drought in Yorkshireland this summer….

G’night!

A feast for all senses

bruceonthefringe 2023, Easter, Live bands, Live bands in Edinburgh, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

No more chocolate for a while, methinks. I hopped along to the Farmers Market just in time to grab the last white chocolate and raspberry easter egg from Co Co Co. huzzah! And it had some white chocolate passionfruit eggs with it, honestly probably the best easter egg I’ve ever had. I’ll wait til the memory fades before I eat more chocolate, I don’t want it tainted!

What a day it was – scrumptious eggs for breakfast, succulent roast lamb for lunch and ol’ time rock’n’roll for supper, feasting for all the senses. After a day of tastebuds overload, my ears were filled with such sweet sounds harking back to classic 70s rock, my eyes beheld showmanship delivered with easy swagger and charm. Oh yay, Ol’ Times packed out Whistlebinkies and whisked the room up into a rocking frenzy (all that plugging the gig on Waverley Bridge really paid off).

It’s good old style headbanging, hipswaying music; really, if your body remains motionless on hearing Ol’ Times, well, there’s no hope for you! I remember a conversation with my mother about headbanging, no, I have no idea how we got on to it, but it always appalled her, “You never did that, did you?” Er, how could I not? It was purely instinctive, still is (never did the air guitar thing, mind).

Ol’ Times are not just another Irish rock band, for one thing (or two) they’re not all Irish, there’s Argentine and Italian in the mix. Not that you’d know the singer, Gabriele is Italian (pic right), oh he’s something else for sure, a wiry larrikin sparking with charisma, a natural showman. The few times I’ve seen them, the drummer came across (to me anyway) as spokesman and leader of the band, personable, quietly authoritative, oh and there’s a bit of a Tom Hardy look to him.

The band are now over in Glasgow, playing Malones on Thursday 13th, then Penicuik (yeah, if you know it you’re probably as bemused as me), before heading South for ten gigs around England. It’s all there on their social media, you should check it out; there isn’t a gig near my hometown in Yorkshireland, shame that (and yet they’re playing Penicuik!?) Hopefully it won’t be too long before Ol’ Times return to Scotland but for the meantime I picked up their CD (one song Word After Word can be heard on Spotify). Sweet!

Other musical notes, I was back in Binkies last night for Dr Salad and The Scat Rats – a double dose of Mr Rough! The good Doctor was laying down some heavy, heated grooves for the fans in their very own heavy romance genre. The grooving was not for stopping, but as half the next band was already on the stage and the other half was happy enjoying the music, the Salad course somewhat overran. Plenty Salad-lovers stayed around for some rhythm and blues, so in the time left, the lads piled on banger after banger for the dance floor freaks. For a late Tuesday night it was very boisterous!

Toodle pip, mes amis!

Chocolate, comedy and a little porn

bruceonthefringe 2023, Comedy, Edinburgh Fringe 2022, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

March is galloping to it’s close, April Fools Day on Saturday. They call it April Fools Day but as pranks should only be played up until noon (here in the UK, anyway) why isn’t it April Fools Morning? Do the younger generations even go in for it all these days? As some foresee the demise of comedy, won’t pranking have similar problems of insensitivity/oversensitivity (depending on your viewpoint of these things)?

Oo, yeah, almost forgot about it, My Dad Wrote A Porno , I finally got round to checking it out this week (it only started nearly eight years ago!). A friend mentioned it when we were drinking in the Jolly Judge, so on their recommendation that it is indeed very very funny, I had a listen and got through four episodes in one go! My Dad Wrote A Porno is a podcast by a chap (along with two friends) who having found out his dad had written some, ahem, adult literature decided to share it with his friends and anyone else who cared to listen.

Millions have since listened to the three’s hilarious commentary to Jamie Morton’s dad’s bad porn. There’s been two sell-out world tours, an HBO comedy special and there’s a book of the original book Belinda Blinked annotated with all the commentary from the podcast and extras. Oh, and his dad’s up to book six now, I think! Comedy is far from going under, I reckon.

Glasgow and Melbourne have been fighting the good cause with their comedy festivals currently ongoing. One of my favourite shows from Edinburgh last year, Grubby Little Mitts are on at Glasgow Comedy Festival on 1st April; and across the world at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival another of my favourites John-Luke Roberts is performing the wonderful A World Just Like Our Own, But… just four shows until 2nd April. Just thought I’d mention it, you know.

And back to Scotland, my favourite artisan chocolates stall CoCo Co. won’t be at Edinburgh Farmers Market this weekend, but they will be at West Linton Market and Portpatrick Market on Saturday and Dumfries Farmers Market on Sunday, with plenty of Easter treats besides their usual range.

They’ll be back in Edinburgh next Saturday, hopefully with a white chocolate and raspberry version of the Nest Egg. I may be at the market somewhat earlier than my usual, next week!

And so to bed, just two last pics for you. Remember that reservoir down in deepest Yorkshireland? It’s finally back up t’ top.

See the bridge at the left? that’s where I took the earlier pics
The dam runneth over

A good score and mellow beats

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Another rugby weekend is done, the Welsh will all be back home, plenty probably still nursing their hangovers. They do like to party, it’s always a great atmosphere when the Welsh are in town for the Six Nations Rugby. Even at noon when I was just heading to the Farmers Market on Saturday, the Three Sisters pub was already busy with a queue waiting to get in. I suspect some of them may not remember anything about the game, not after five hours drinking before the match got under way!

Of course, all the pubs in the Grassmarket were busy as I walked along to Castle Terrace, red-topped folk everywhere, not all would be heading to Murrayfield later in the afternoon, some do just come up and watch in one of the many pubs that show the games. Six Nations Rugby weekends are great for pubs, especially the home game weekends; Stramash had a band on at noon to attract folk in before the first match.

It was a gloriously sunny morning, a tad chilly but hey. The Farmers Market was nicely busy, Annanwater had almost sold out of fresh produce but they usually have some frozen cuts too, just as well when I’m so often quite late getting there. I got the last fresh lamb fillet which I had for tea tonight as a pasta sauce (with enough leftover for another meal) and some frozen lamb’s liver for later in the week.

Next to Brewsters Smallholding to stock up on more honey for my daily morning porridge, plus eggs and chicken thighs. I was tempted by the Hometown Cheesecake stall, but held off as CoCo Company were finally back (first time this year), back with some gorgeous new chocolates for Valentines Day. I say gorgeous, they look yummy but haven’t actually tasted them yet, I just take it for granted they’ll be as excellent as I’ve come to expect. Yes, I bought myself a small box, well, they do say you have to love yourself before you can love others (that’s my excuse, anyway!)

Once home, I stayed in to watch the rugby, I was saving myself til the evening to have a drink. The final score of 35-7 to Scotland ensured a very lively night out, the town would be buzzing! I’d seen that the seven o’clock band at Whistlebinkies were called The Breeze which I correctly guessed was a reference to the JJ Cale song Call Me The Breeze, I love that song, his original version and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s, so I was intrigued enough to pop along. Oh my, they were good, the female singer (and guitarist) has a great voice. I don’t really know too much about JJ Cale aside from his album Naturally but I do like his kinda lazy mellow sound.

Indeed, Binkies was hooching, god knows what it was like by late evening! I was quite happy to quit the place after The Breeze finished their second set as I was feeling peckish, so wandered home grabbing a chicken shawarma for my supper on the way, humming Cocaine (a hit for Clapton but written by Cale) deciding to go with that theme – I would finally get around to watching the boxset of Breaking Bad that I received, oo, a couple of Christmases ago. Just three episodes so far, yeah, I can see why folk rave about it. So, a pretty good day, all in all!

G’ night, sweet dreams!

say it with scrumptious chocolates ❤️

Cheesecake with blues

bruceonthefringe 2023, Beer, Edinburgh bands, Live bands in Edinburgh, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

As weekends go, that was quite a good one. More frozen turkey bits from the Farmers Market (two wings this time, bloody big they are!); also treated myself to some baba ganoush from a relatively new stall which turned out to be seriously yummy. On my way home from the Market, the shop I popped in for a newspaper had Hagan Das Strawberry Cheesecake ice-cream on offer at £3.50!! Oh yes, another treat for my tum.

Plenty of musical delights as well (as previously anticipated) Bones, Rats and a Jam, a veritable cornucopia of rhythm and blues. The double helping of The Scat Rats was great, both in the early evening too, nice. It has occurred to me that the Rats were quite a highlight of last year for me; since their continental jaunts in the first half of the year Messrs Marah and Rough have played Stramash and Whistlebinkies plenty times in their Scat Rats guise – two voices, two guitars, great rhythm’n’blues, love’em!

Sunday evening saw the 100th Handsome House Jam at Stramash with host Tim Elliott, invited along as it was he who hosted the very first Handsome House Jam, nice touch. There were a few guest musicians joining the band on stage, including one of my favourites, Jed Potts. It was a cool, laidback evening, helped along by a couple of pints of Pentland IPA from Stewart’s, the current guest ale; it’s rather nice. I’ll put a couple of clips on my Instagram, for pics check out Waysted Photography on Facebook, he gets amazing shots at gigs around town; last night’s are up on Facebook now.

I’ll leave you with a still of Scott Rough clocking me filming The Scat Rats on Friday evening ….

I feel better, thanks for asking

bruceonthefringe 2023, Eats, Live bands in Edinburgh, Places to go Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Finally I feel moose again! That lurgy was a real mean one, I hope you haven’t had the misfortune to start your year with such as I had. I’ve been battling mine with turkey curry! January is a great time for buying turkey carcases and frozen turkey legs from Brewsters Smalling at Edinburgh Farmers Market. Hurrah for folk who just want turkey crowns for Christmas lunch, that leaves extra legs and wings for later. A turkey carcass I bought last weekend made a splendid broth; a long, slow simmer allowed all the meat to be stripped from the bones. I left out the leg I bought yesterday morning to defrost and roasted it in the evening, oh my, it was really hard to stop after a little taste!

With my health just about restored, I finally caught up with The Scat Rats at Whistlebinkies on Friday evening, yay. It was fairly quiet – dry January? Personally I prefer to support my local drinking establishments, someone has to when so many abstain for a month, it was my duty! The Moanin Bones played the late night shift at a packed Stramash (the students were well up for a party before the next term gets under way), I had a quick peek in on my way home.

Oo, other news from Friday, Logan’s Close released another single Dans Le Jardin, do check it out! There’s clips of Messrs Marah & Rough looking very come-hither in Dr Neil’s Garden to help promote it on Instagram and Facebook; I’m not sure about the beret, though (why?! well, see for yourself do). I felt inspired to take a walk round there for myself. The garden used to be closed during the winter months, it’s good to be able to visit all year round now.

Dans le jardin du Brucie

Earlier in the week I was delighted to see that Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan both won Golden Globes for Everything Everywhere All At Once (Jamie Lee Curtis was nominated but sadly didn’t win), the weirdest film of 2022, probably the decade too. The Banshees of Inisherin did well too, picking up three awards and Austin Butler won one for playing Elvis (though Bill Nighy would have been equally deserving for his brilliant performance in Living). Not that I need my film choices to win awards to feel vindicated or anything, but it’s nice when they do.

Anyway, there’s a cooked turkey leg in my kitchen calling out to have a few slices removed and placed between two chunks of bread. Toodle oo!

I had the Salted Caramel

bruceonthefringe 2022, Christmas, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Farmers Market, Live bands in Edinburgh, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

…. And very nice it was too! That’s the Salted Caramel chocolate from the Co Co Co. Festive Selection, a packet of six different christmassy chocolates. No, I’m not starting my christmas this early, its purely research for presents, honest, but I did hold back from trying them since last Saturday when I bought them at the Edinburgh Farmer’s Market at Castle Terrace.

Co Co Co. are usually at the Farmer’s Market fortnightly, selling an amazing array of sumptuous chocolates all made by Rob, naturally at this time of year he’s turned his hand to a few Christmas treats. Edinburgh is just one of a number of markets he goes to around the South of Scotland, and this weekend he’s back in Edinburgh at the 3D2D Christmas Art, Craft and Design Fair in the Assembly Rooms. Stalls with amazing stuff from all over the UK, it’s always worth a visit, maybe find a Christmas present or two!

Stramash had their Christmas decorations up when I went along on Sunday evening, it looks very nice, nothing too much, just right. It was Chris Buckley from Moanin Bones with the Handsome House Band, a shame that I only caught the last few numbers; mind, the Handsome House Jams are filmed so I can watch it on Facebook (Carl Marah‘s night will be on there too, if you’re interested!)

Stramash was nicely busy by the time the Scat Rats came on. Plenty of the seats around the balcony were taken and on the ground level any vacated tables, with a view of the lads, were immediately swooped on by eagle-eyed drinkers. Luckily I had a lovely Spanish couple next to me, who were happy to guard my seat for me whenever I got up (that’s one snag of solo drinking – keeping a good seat!) A stand-out for me was the Rats Norwegian Wood especially the intro; they like playing around with long intros and this time Carl threw in a snippet of a Scottish melody, nice! Not as good as his intro to Runaway, that’s very special.

A recent addition (at least to me) is Willie Nelson’s On The Road Again a jaunty country number. I was singing it as I wandered down home afterwards and just had to google the chords to have a bash at it when I got in. Not sure what the neighbours must have thought!? Well, they never banged on the wall – I’m counting that as approval!

It’s rather late, so I’ll leave you with pics from a recent walk up in the Park. Oh yeah, and exciting news – the video for Heart-shaped Jacuzzi comes out tomorrow! Yay! ❤