We stayed out late pub crawling like everyone should when in Edinburgh… then we got hungry. Everything was closed. Then we found this cute place called The Red Squirrel. I LOVE squirrels and they were still serving food! Score!

We started with squirrel nuts (honey and chili peanuts). Then we shared the signature Red Squirrel burger (no, it wasn’t made of squirrel). It was ok, a bit dry, but it did the trick. The coleslaw was drowning in weird dressing, eeek. The fries were absolutely perfect. Crispy, salty, fatty. Mmmm…

We just can’t get enough Asian food…

Adam started with the coconut milk and lemongrass Scottish mussels. WOW!!! It was so good. I was fighting him for bites of his own dish 😉 I started with a very good, but not nearly as amazing buckwheat noodle dish with cilantro and shrimp. For the mains, we both had noodles. Mine were sweet and spicy with cashews and shrimp. Adam’s were more smokey and sweet with both chicken and beef.

Everything was very good, perhaps a bit heavy on the sugar, but when we asked for hot sauce the waitress brought us Tabasco. I love Tabasco. Don’t get me wrong, but it simply DOES NOT belong in Asian food. I needed Siracha or Sambal Oelek, something suitable 😕

mmmm…. 

Fast and simple. Mini pitas stuffed with olives and tomatoes. Coffee and awesome cloudy apple juice with rhubarb!

Spicy curry? Yes please! We went to “Kabab Mahal” for an excellent Middle Eastern/Indian dinner. I had some kind of chicken curry and Adam had some kind of lamb curry. We had two huge garlic naan breads and the meal was complete! Tasty.

Classic Scottish food – smoked fish stew with oaty rolls. Simple and delicious.

Hello Scotland! After a long flight, long night, and a lost bag, we were craving some hearty Scottish food! We started with the highly recommended, cheesy broccoli and cauliflower. Yum!

I ordered the Scottish classic, haggis, and Adam had a good ol’ fashioned Fry-up. The haggis was delicious. It was similar to meat loaf, but more animally. It’s made from the “off cuts” of lamb and pork combined with barley and oats, onion, garlic, a bit of nutmeg and boy it’s good! It is traditionally served with “neeps and tatties” (turnips and potatoes), but mine had the lovely sweet, earthy addition of carrots. The gravy was ridiculously good. I used the entire boat and created a haggis moat! 😉 Adams fry up was excellent and filling. Just as expected.

Today we met up with our friend Alexis for a true Lyonnaise tradition – lunch at a bouchon! Bouchon’s are known for their delicious, affordable local fair. We had a great time with Alexis and his friends. We were pleasantly surprised when Christian (our exchange partner) showed up unexpectedly! The food was simple and delicious! Great lunch!

We both started with the salad Lyonnaise – fresh greens, bacon, croutons, and a poached egg. Wow! That’s going on a weeknight menu at home for sure! I had the white fish quenelle with crawfish and cream sauce. It came with delicious potatoes dauphinois and a roasted tomato. This was my first taste of a true quenelle (a French classic) and I must admit it was disappointing – too bland and textureless. It needed something crunchy or chewy, spicy or sour… I’m still dreaming of Thai food 😉 The potatoes were excellent and the tomato provided a nice acidic contrast to the rest of the creamy meal. Adam had the hot Lyonnaise style sausage with a red wine sauce, potatoes, and a roasted tomato. The sausage was great! Garlicky and salty with a great casing that popped in your mouth. Yum! We then had dessert, of course! Adam had pistachio and vanilla ice cream and I had the lemon tart. Both were very good. We finished with espresso.

Our last meal in France 😦 Unfortunately our last meal was airport food. Luckily, it was pretty good. Couscous salad with a sweet and sour vinaigrette, raisins, cucumber, grilled chicken, arugula, tomatoes and breadsticks. Not that bad.

What a great dinner experience! We were seriously craving some Asian food – especially spicy Asian food. We did some research and discovered Les Petits Siamois on Yelp – the highest rated Thai restaurant in Lyon! SCORE! The food was excellent and so was the service. A very nice server helped us decide what to order, brought us hot sauce, then sat down to talk a while. Turns out – he was the chef! We really enjoyed making a new friend over amazing Thai food! We spent almost four hours at the restaurant talking and eating with Nat. After we finished our meal, I ordered lemongrass tea nat was gone awhile, but when he returned, he brought us his just-made specialty- Thai gooey chocolate cake withThai chilis! It was awesome!!!

We started the meal with starfruit Mai Tais, green papaya salad with dried shrimp and Thai chilis. Wow! We then had shrimp prik pao and panang curry with pork. Why did we wait so long to eat Thai food in France? We finished the meal with lemongrass tea and Nat’s famous Thai chili chocolate cake! This was easily our favorite meal in France. the food was great, but the best part was making a new friend!