An Ode to IRN BRU

'If it's not Scottish, It's Crap' Ad campaign AND awesome segway!

"Made from Girders" is the motto of the number one selling soda of Scotland. Irn Bru is totted to be Scotland's 'other national drink' after co......nope, after whiskey! The Barr brothers family business has been producing Irn Bru since 1901 and is based in Glasgow, Scotland. One cannot come to this fair country without tasting the national treasure which can only be described as, in their add campaigns, phenomenal. The fizzy orange phenomenon is the culmination of the original 32 flavours, a recipe that remains a closely guarded secret to this day.

Iron Bru is rumoured to have originated from the numerous beer induced deaths caused by overconsumption by iron workers during a time when Scotland's sanitation systems where questionable and clearly before the dawn of bottled water. Iron Brew, as it was originally labelled( perhaps a shout out to the iron workers it was founded for), was later taken to task as advertising laws took accountability actions against the company discouraging false advertising. Oddly enough, the named was changed on account of the fact Irn Bru was not actually brewed and not because its iron content came into question. The fizzy ferrous beverage claims to be 'made from girders' because in actual fact, if you read the label, it does contain iron in the form of ammonium ferric citrate. The new name is a take on how the popular hangover cure is pronounced in a Glaswegian accent.

This is a picture of a bin of bru! Buy four for a pound! Pictured here is the "wee-bru" size of soda pop!

Irn Bru cannot be called an orange soda by any stretch of the imagination, in fact the only thing that resembles orange soda as I know it it the controversial colour. Try to name the flavour...go ahead. I sampled some from the glass 750 ml serving size, which has been confirmed by many a Scot to be the best way to drink your bru. The best I can describe it is a citrusy-cream soda, with a hint of rosewater, mixed with notes of bubblegum and vanilla. Complex, but try it and taste for yourself.

The Council of the Scottish Tartans Society see to it that not just anyone gets a tartan.Orange and blue is synonymous with Irn Bru and in 1997 this IRN-BRU tartan became certified and accredited (which means this tartan has more letters behind its name than I do!)

Irn Bru emotes a sense of sentimental Scottish pride comparable to Tim Horton's coffee in Canada and similarly to coffee this sweet soda contains caffeine for a boost in addition to quinine for some bitterness.

12 cans of Irn Bru are consumed every second in Scotland-FACT!

Check out some of Irn Bru's odd but apparently highly effective add campaigns here! Most of them make me blush! This one reminded me of home!

Enjoy!

Food for Thought Thursdays

Dine In: Huh, what a concept!

We are faced with a choice every time we consume (ie. Purchase) and every time we consume (ie. Eat) food! Even if you are pressed for time I believe one should have healthy options at their disposal if they so choose. If you are anything like me, you want to have it all, and by that I mean a successful/rewarding career and a family and a tasty/healthy dinner with a fastfood price tag AND dessert. The dlemma is this- How often is healthy food fast or cheap? Well when it happens to be one of those nights where you are pressed for time and can't get to your garden, you can feel good about this meal deal without getting asked it you “want fries with that”.

Marks & Spencers offers a meal for two for a tenner (an affectionate UK term for the ten dollar bill)! With a choice of fresh, seasonal side, meal, dessert and a drink according to my calculations that makes for 8100 different choices for dinner! All packaging is listed as recyclable and the selections I checked contained no artificial colors, flavours or preservatives too!

Ten quid (UK slang for ten pounds)seems to satisfy the :

local eater-offering British grown potato wedges, local Leicster cheeses, British beef and Scottish Lochmur Salmon

vegetarian- serving up a plenitude of veggie friendly sides including a filling pot of mash (a popular choice of side dish for Scots), Mediterranean Roasting vegetables or for the finer tastes perhaps petis pois with edamame in a minted butter to start followed by the trio of mushroom & Stilton risotto. Wha? I know, mmm!

the big appetite- a whole Scottish slow-raised chicken or a pound, yep, a pound of spaghetti bolognese with a salad that would last me a week

lighter fare too- how about the comforting steamed peas and carrots with the pair of Scottish chilli& coriander (aka cilantro) salmon fillets, topped with a honey ginger glaze and a "fabulous fruity fiesta"(real name for assorted fresh fruits) to finish it off

the straight edge- an alternative to vino, for your bevvy you can choose from a duo pack of sparkling grape juice, including both white and red grape or a two pack of Valencia orange juice

*also noticed the mussels in garlic & creamery butter were sustainably sourced

So now that everyone is satisfied and dinner is on the table I want to assure you I am not sponsored by M&S but rather that I appreciate delicious dinner options that are quick and easy, cheap and cheerful and also easy on both the conscience and the waste-line!

Oh, and there are nine different desserts and seven bottles of wine to choose from, so though this might not be that meal for the indecisive, I must remind you we have all spent more on ONE bottle of wine than you have to for this entire meal for two!

In the words of Dan Akroyd playing Julia Child in SNL (pop culture references totally lost in the UK so I shall use them on you) Bon Apetit!

Design Your Dream Dinner on a Dime Here

You are cordially invited- The sequel!

More Gorse appreciation...now what?

Gather it! Don't forget to don your gloves first as these little bushes might just have the most spikes per capita!

Bring your bags of tiny yellow flowers back home and make a delicious drink with it! How you ask? Well, follow this recipe and the result is a colourful concentrated cordial that you can mix with water, soda or something saucier like vodka or coconut rum! This sweet syrup is slightly coco-nutty and oh so fresh! The process of making it was painless, despite a couple thorn poked thumbs, and yielded many small bottles of the sunny looking liquid.

Making something from Mother Earth in Edinburgh was very rewarding! Also, that lemony colour of you newly made juice is naturally occurring, so you can feel good about what you are consuming!

The original inspiration for this post came from an episode I saw about gorse champagne, and on account or my love for all things coconut, I could not help myself! I did however help myself to those tiny little flowers without getting caught by the Queen no less! And you should too!

Just a hint- don't scrimp on the cheese cloth or you will end up with little bug legs in your spring time spritzer!

You are cordially invited!

I grew up in a northern town in Canada. Not unlike many small northern towns, mine was once fueled by the pulp and paper mills ie. the forest industry. Mine was the kind of town that though it totes over one hundred and twenty seven parks, it would be better known for cutting down trees and then naming streets after them! Name a tree, go ahead i'll wait.....name a tree and Prince George had a street of the same name (I myself lived on Oak street for a spell in my youth).

It is Gorse street though that inspires our adventure today!

I am now living in Edinburgh, Scotland and have finally encountered the namesake for a street in an older subdivision of my home town. Upon walking around Arthur's seat which is situated within Hollyrood (or Queens) Park, one is confronted with rock faces, rolling hills and walking trails, all lined with yellow flowers. Enter Gorse, a highly spiney native evergreen shrub that is as common here as bagpipers in shopping malls. Gorse spends most of its year flowering and when it is not providing protection for birds and insects or helping out with hedging for farmers, it is successful in scenting the air with a coconut like fragrance and adding some colour to the rugged hillsides.

Gorse, a fine name for a street and a fine find for a forager like me.....

A tale of one city

You are Here! Well, in actual fact, I am here! I am Erin and I now live in Edinburgh! That's the story. This tale, via blog, was created in an effort to expose all my curious companions back in Canada to my new surroundings in idyllic Scotland. My perceptions of the countries capital are a bit of a hybrid as I am no longer a tourist yet not legally a resident either, I am however a citizen! Put that in your pipe!

So please enjoy my adventures/misadventures as I navigate through what appears to be a similar society, but sometime feels like an entirely different world!

erin x edinburgh

Sunday Stroll- A "Close" Call

Close: A narrow Edinburgh Street passing between two

tenement buildings, which at one point would have
been closed off at either end by gates

'The Town Below the Ground' a book by Jan-Andre Henderson, a local tour guide with an interest in Edinburgh's underground and slightly occult history, was the inspiration for this weeks Sunday Stroll.
This was one of my second hand books I picked up last week on the topic of Edinburgh's legendary underground city. This morning seemed to be sunny one minute and showering the next, so we deemed it unsuitable for our original plans, but perfect to stuff some cameras in our pockets and go explore the Old Town.
We infact live in what is known as Edinburgh's Old Town, the setting of both Henderson's book and numerous tours for visitors and those interested in unearthing Edinburgh's unearthly past. We conducted our own self-guided tour based on some of the locations mentioned in the book to avoid the cost of hiring a tour guide and to avoid having to go into these areas at night! We wove through alleyways, always remembering to look up, as so much can be learned about Edinburgh's past from the varying height of its infrastructure.

Edinburgh was built on seven hills now hardly evident as the city grew both up and down, essentially closing in some areas, using some as foundations and others dug underneath existing structures. This city planning at the time was one concerned with defence of its Castle, a product of eventual over-population within the cities existing defensive wall having been built upon a landscape formed by volcanic activity and mottled by glaciers. So, though at first glance the old town might appear to have even roof lines, it actually consists of bridges, vaults, various levels and building ranging in height from 3 to 14 stories tall. Some of the remaining architecture dates back to the 16th Century, but all is covered with the stamp of time- blackened by the elements and years of pollution, mossy and worn, windows and doors sealed up with stone, with uneven cobblestone streets and steep, greasy passageways. All hints about what once was, Old town also has its share of modernized apartments, repurposed buildings, tourist attractions and grafilthy tags.

Had it not been for the ghost stories and snipets of history I had read, our day would have been without event or discovery, making our way from A to B through an area that might otherwise go unnoticed. We recounted the rumours, we peeked over embankments, we searched for clues or signs of life long gone. South Bridge for example, which I walk over nearly everyday and appears to be more of a street than a bridge, was built 1785-88 and consists of 19 arches though only one of which remains visible.

Cowgate Arch crosses over an area once the slums to the cities poor, having been home to criminals and squalor. Cowgate's reputation of being the notorious underbelly of Edinburgh remains. Though no longer home to poverty and crime it is now ironically the location for many of the Burgh's dance clubs and bars. So basically, once a seedy area always a seedy area. (ahem)

This picture was taken around 1860 by William Donaldson Clark of Cowgate arch. If you live here you will note the light coming from where ANOTHER arch was once visible, but has since been filled in. I was beyond thrilled to find this picture after having scurried around the streets last Sunday, stories bouncing around from my book, hunting for clues to the past and aching to see signs of those hidden arches to no avail. (I later found out this artist died after falling off a tram car in the very neighbourhood I currently reside! Strange coincidence I'd say!)

And this little gem of technology is a map of our journey, and 'neat-o'...it's interactive! You can zoom it to see some local landmarks or change it to satellite view to actually see the building for yourselves and read a bit about their current occupants.

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View Close Adventures in a larger map
That is all for today:

I don't know which is creepier- the haunting stories of Edinburgh's hidden underground or Google Earth being able to track our every move by satellite and cell phone!

Hope you enjoyed my Sunday Stroll!

erin x arches