Loch Lomond, Scotland

Our little getaway was the perfect place to pretty much eat and sleep our way through the weekend.  After a 3 1/2 hour drive from Aberdeen to the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond, we arrived at the Cameron House Hotel & Spa, checked in to the luxurious room and grabbed some grub at the Great Scots Bar.

After lunch, we hopped in the courtesy shuttle and went 5 minutes down the road to the Carrick Spa, where we enjoyed 2 hours of hydo & thermal treatments at the Spa Experience and rooftop hydro pool. I could have sat here forever, but I was getting pretty wrinkled after 25 minutes, so it was time to hit the other amenities: hammam, infrared sauna, dry sauna, tepidarium, caldarium, aromatherapy room, and experience showers. Well worth the £39 pounds per person we had to dish out, since we couldn't get a booking for a massage. We will just have to come back for that another time.

The Cameron House is pretty much like a resort with restaurants and activities right on the grounds, which was super convenient. We didn't have to leave the hotel for dinner. After sweating our way through the spa, we were both pretty hungry so went to the Cameron House Grill for some steak and all the trimmings. This restaurant is the closest thing to a steakhouse that we've found in Scotland so far. Just look at the size of Gerald's bone-in ribeye, add in some cream corn, cream spinach, and au gratin and we're back in TX! Anyhow, our eyes were bigger than our stomachs and we couldn't finish everything but we sure did enjoy it. Like I said, we're pretty much eating our way through the weekend...

The next morning, we planned on going out to Conic Hill for a walk, but since I forgot my hiking boots at home (not on purpose), I went online to check out the path again to make sure it wasn't going to be too difficult to hike in my Uggs, and saw that the walk was CLOSED, until April 2013. Oooops, I guess it wasn't meant to be. So we got some info from the concierge and they recommended that we head off to Lomond shores to find an activity. We decided on a 1 hr cruise around the Loch.

 That's where I got all these beautiful photos =)







We still had a beautiful afternoon left after the cruise so decided to visit the nearby village of Luss for a stroll.













And because it was that time of the day, we had to get some afternoon tea; I loved all the Tain Pottery this little cafe served everything in. The lovely tartan is the family's own tartan and the whole place was decked out in it, our waiter was even wearing a kilt.

Anyhow, because cruising was so tiring (we walked 4 miles roundtrip to and from the cruise pick up/drop off), and the scone and hot chocolate was so filling, we had to take a wee nap before our dinner reservation at the Boathouse in a few hours. Here's us sleeping our way through the weekend... I woke up about 20 minutes before it was time for dinner and walked my sleepy little butt  a few minutes to the restaurant where we enjoyed some fresh seafood from Loch Fyne: oysters, crab, langoustines and calamari. After our meal the first night, we knew not to go overboard this time, so this was pretty much all we ate. No heavy carbs and no dessert tonight, however, we did have a couple of after dinner drinks =P

By the time we woke up for brekkie at 9:30 am (like I said, we were sleeping our way through the weekend), I was starving. Gerald saw that they do Breakfast in Bed for no extra charge, so we opted for that on our last morning. It's always nice to have breakfast in your pj's when you're on vacation. At this point, we were well fed and well rested for our drive back to Aberdeen via Stirling. Ta-Ta Cameron House!

Surprise Yourself!

Back in January, CNN featured an article on top places to visit for 2013, and what do you know...Scotland was #1!

The past two and half years of living here, Gerald and I have been focusing on traveling around Europe, but this year, our focus is on Scotland, considering it's suppose to be our last year and all. There are so many beautiful places to visit and I'm hoping we get to see most of them before we leave. VisitScotland.com has been putting out ads to inspire people to get out and explore, which has definitely inspired us to start booking some trips.



This weekend, we're starting our Visit Scotland adventure with a trip to Loch Lomand and The Trossachs National Park. There's a nice Hotel & Spa in the area that was recommended to us by a friend so we decided to go on a weekend getaway. I can't wait to hang out in this hot tub overlooking the beautiful, natural landscape of this area. After a busy month in Aberdeen, it'll be nice to have some peace and quiet.

We've also booked the Outer Hebrides, Isle of Lewis and Harris with a day trip to St. Kilda in May, so I'm hoping the weather will be nice. But if not, I can always do some shopping for some Harris Tweed goodies.

On the way back from the Outer Hebrides, we're stopping in Skye for a couple of days to just hang out and revisit some of the places we've been before, but this time, hoping for better weather. Skye was one of the first road trips we went on when we moved here and we were clueless, we concentrated more on the driving than the views. I'm hoping the second time around will be much better. I would like to see the Fairy Pools again and eat at the famous Three Chimneys restaurant. It's suppose to be one of the best restaurants in Scotland and hard to get a reservation, so even though it's 2 months away, I've managed to book us a spot! There were only 3 reservations left for the day we wanted when I called, so thank goodness we got one.

The British Open will be in Scotland's Muirfield this year, so we plan to attend that. Maybe I'll get lucky this time and score an autograph from Adam Scott =P

My family is coming to visit in June and we're taking them out to Fort Williams with a visit to see the Glenfinnan viaduct. I'm sure we'll stop at one of the neighboring towns on the way but not sure where yet, Oban maybe or Skye again =)

So, I believe we're off to a good start with our Visit Scotland adventure. Here are some other places we would like to visit. Join us if you can, the more the merrier!

Glen Coe
Dumfries & Galloway Striding Arches
Orkney Islands
Inveraray & Dunvegan Castle (Downtown Abbey inspired)

The list can go on and on, and as you can see, I can't get enough of this beautiful country. So, "Surprise Yourself," and come out to Scotland for a visit. I promise, you won't be disappointed.

Snowdrops by Starlight

After we planned our day trip to St Andrews, I saw online that the Cambo Estate, which is located about 15 minutes from St Andrews, was having a little event called "Snowdrops by Starlight,"that same weekend,  so of course we had to go. The Cambo Estate is known for it's snowdrops, and once a year, they showcase the pretty little flowers under magical lights. We really didn't know what to expect, but as we were driving into the estate grounds, we started seeing lights in the sky and what looked to be northern lights. Then we got closer and saw that the forest was lit in various colored lights. We each grabbed a cup of hot chocolate and took a stroll through the trail, admiring the lights and little snowdrops. I felt like I was in an enchanted forest. There weren't that many in bloom yet since it's just the beginning of the season, but I hear that the forest is covered in thousands of them come spring time. I really enjoy going to things like this, so I'll have to come back when it's in full bloom to see it during the day. Snowdrops by Starlight was a cute little event to end our day trip to St Andrews. I tried my best to take nighttime photos, but without a tripod, it was quite difficult. I did manage to get a few good ones. Enjoy!

I Love St Andrews!

Okay, considering this is our fourth time in this beautiful town, I won't say too much as we pretty much did the usual tour. A few of our friends from Aberdeen have yet to visit this town, and since a couple of them were moving pretty soon, I couldn't let them leave without a visit to one of my favorite cities in Scotland. This trip was actually pretty cool, because even though I bleed burnt orange, it was fun to see my Aggie friends do their thing with a fellow alum that owns the famous Dunvegan Hotel. The owner even went up to her room to grab an Aggie shirt for a picture and they did their weird fight song thing...haha. For a minute there, I thought I was in Texas. It's nice to see the camaraderie between two complete strangers in a foreign country. And with that said, we enjoyed the conversations, laughters, and time spent with our dear friends!

Potarch Bridge, Hotel & Restaurant

After an awesome morning of playing Mah-jong, which I did a sweep of the table (3 games out of 4 and the other one was a CAT!), the sun was shining and the temperature was in the mid 40's (warm for ABZ standards at this time of the year).

a very rare hand that will let you win the Chinese and American way!

I convinced Gerald to leave work (on his Friday off), and take a little road trip with me to visit Potarch Bridge and have some lunch at the Potarch Hotel.  So off we went to take some pictures around the bridge and river.

looking out towards banchory

should have brought my sunglasses =)

looking out towards braemar

cheese

It was the first Lenten Friday of the Lent season and one thing Gerald looks forward to during this time of the year is eating fish & onion rings, every Friday until Easter Sunday! He has been doing this since he was a little boy, with visits to Long John Silver, so I really can't say no. He knows this, so takes full advantage.

his 2nd fish & chips for the day (he had lunch at work too!)

The hotel restaurant was nice and cozy with a coal burning fire going and all the tartan carpeting. They even had Blue Moon on tap, which is very rare on this side of the pond. I do recommend coming out here sometime to have a walk along the River Dee and have a pint and lunch at the hotel. What a special Friday treat for us 25 1/2 miles outside of Aberdeen =)

Potarch hotel

my lunch view

old school sign

n+g {valentines 2013}

Ever since our first Valentines together back in 2003, food was always our #1 priority.  Forget the cards, gifts, and romance, good eats is the key to our hearts. On our first Valentines Day together, as friends, we cooked up a meal for a few of our friends, and have been cooking meals together ever since. There were a few Valentines where we went out for fancy meals, but we got over that quick. Our go to Vday meal usually consist of a meat, seafood, and almost always, creme brulee of some sort! We both love creme brulee, but I never make it unless it's Vday. Not sure why, but the blow torch we got as a wedding gift only gets used once a year =)

This year, I wanted to keep it simple but delicious. As you can see from my earlier post, I was more focused on baking and didn't want to bother with a complicated dinner. So what's easier than steak, asparagus and macaroni and cheese?? To take it up a notch, I decided to do LOBSTER mac 'n cheese with these bad boys!

I made a mess cracking the shells and getting all this juicy meat out. Don't tell Gerald but I was sneaking in bites as I was cracking. I LOVE lobster!

Then I mixed it all up with the gooey gruyere and cheddar mac 'n cheese

And got this yummy goodness! I took a few bites of this as well =P

However, it wasn't complete until I topped it off with some Italian bread crumbs and popped it in the oven for another 15 minutes! Ta-da!

BEST.DISH.EVER! The recipe made so much that we now have lobster mac 'n cheese to last us a month, but because Gerald enjoyed it so much, maybe a week!

Anyhow, Gerald fired up the grill when he got home from work, we opened up a bottle of 2007 Chianti Classico Reserve that we bought from one of the wineries we visited in Tuscany, and watched "Celeste and Jesse." We finished the night with the once-a-year homemade creme brulee and that was Valentines 2013, done. Simple but sweet.

And, I got to use my new celadon plates =)

The infamous creme brulee

It's been 10 years since our first Valentines together and I still think it gets sweeter with every year. To me, Valentines is a simple and loving holiday and as long as you keep it that way, it will always be special <3 p="">

i loved the card i got Gerald so wanted to share