The day had arrived, I was free as a bird once more. Exams over, came with many excited feelings, but it also meant my time in Edinburgh for another semester was up. It was that final goodbye for a few of my girls, but boy, did we make it a good one.

Remember in my last blog I talked about Mary's Milk Bar? Yeah, that amazing place. We just couldn't leave without another scoop.

Today's pick were...drum roll please...Double chocolate, Salted Caramel and Milk flavoured ice-cream. Who knew? You kinda have this moment of "Ergh, milk flavoured? Are you serious?", it sounds as plain as plain gets, but I promise you, its good. Lovely and refreshing actually.

 

Lucie approved as much as I did...no one can resist! These are the faces of two very happy chicas...

We laughed away our exam blues, well to be honest, I was the only one finished, so it was a nice break for the others. "Umm'ed" and "Ahh'ed" over the food and I gorged in these lovely ladies company, which I will miss immensely, even if it is only for a few months.

 One main thing we did was plan Caroline and Jenai's long awaited trip to NORTHERN IRELAND. My homeland, and the place to be during the summer months of course!

It started off quite civilized...

Perhaps, you could even say some quite serious planning was going on...

But this soon changed...

 

And only got funnier as the afternoon went on...

 

This is our end product, what do you think? I can't wait to show them 'Milking a cow' and we promised them a hamper of Northern Irish food goodies, so its going to get wild, and we are all going to get very very fat!

 

 After my belly stopped hurting from laughing, that night I met up with my lovely cousin and her boyfriend for some time together over more delicious food. Indigo Yard never disappoints, but I forgot to take pictures of the food, so your just going to have to take my word for it, okay?

 For starter, a beautiful 'Goat’s cheese & red onion walnut crostini with rocket'. Main course was a mouth watering 'Indigo Orkney beef burger with tomato relish & fries'. I couldn't resist some more sweetness today either, so a 'Sticky lemon drizzle sponge with mascarpone' for dessert.

 

The day ended on a high, with a champagne party popper to celebrate the end of a few weeks of exams, and into summer.

 

After a wonderful day, I headed home and packed my life into a suitcase and flew home to beautiful Northern Ireland to start my summer adventures. See you soon Edinburgh, I miss you already!

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It was the perfect Spring day in Edinburgh. The sun was glistening, the clouds were clearing and I was begging Andrew to go up Arthur's Seat.

I know, I know, I've blogged about Arthur's Seat before. However, that was in the pitch black of night, whilst this time it was on a beautiful sunny day. So let's go up again, shall we?

Everyone seemed to be making their way up the walkway, with children and hikers, all heading for the prized destination! Not going to even lie to you though, I was more puffed out than the children were! I will blame the exam diet...ahem...

During my last blog about Arthur's Seat, all you could see were the glistening lights of Edinburgh stare back at you, but now you could see every building, house and statue for as far as the eye could see. Beautiful!

You can't tell at all from the pictures, but the top was packed with tourists, all wanting their own glimpse at the gorgeous city.

So, we decided to make our way down, but not without a jump of glee for that 'summer feeling' bursting from the sunshine.

 

One last glance, and we said our goodbyes.

 

There was one last stop on my agenda for the day however, and that was Mary's Milk Bar. I will be blogging about it later as well, since I went with friends a few days after that, because it is so blooming amazing!

Mary, the lovely owner, makes all her own flavours of ice-cream in her cute shop in Grassmarket. Please go, you will love it...

You sit with your pick of flavours, I chose 3 scoops - of course! Salted Caramel, Peanut Butter and Banana, and Earl Grey. All delicious, but my favourite had to be the peanut butter. Andrew got a hazelnut and chocolate milkshake.

You can sit and watch the world go by as you munch away, with a close up view of the Castle. Now if I haven't persuaded you to give it a go, I don't know what will.  Go on, 'treat yo' self'...

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I've had to rub my eyes as I walked into the sunshine today as I hadn't seen the outside world in many days. But its over, exams are finished and my fists were thrown into the air with glee as I ran as far away from university as I possibly could...well until September!
 

There is so much to catch up on, so I am starting at the beginning of my adventures over the past few weeks...

Andrew came to stay for a couple of days to help me revise and provide me with constant tea. He came loaded with some Northern Irish goods as well, including Veda Bread and Soda Farls. Now, if you are thinking, what are they? You are missing out, Veda bread is a malted loaf full of deliciousness, especially when it is smothered in melted butter. Soda farls are kind of like a thick bread...just try it!

 After the excitement of the Northern Irish food, we headed for a different cuisine for lunch - Thai. It is called 'Ting Thai Caravan'...and I know it sounds dodgy with a name like that, but it was so good.

You all sit on long tables, snuggled up to other strangers by your side, and get ordering.

Now lets get down to the good stuff, what we ate...

Khao Moo Daeng  -  Slow cooked pork loin with cucumber, shallot salsa, jasmine rice, smokey moo daeng sauce.

Yam Moo Yang - Grilled marinated pork with nam yam, garlic, lemon, coriander, chilli, nam pla, cucumber, tomato, shallot, jasmine rice.

Mun Tod - Sweet potato crispies 

And some sasuage balls kinda thing, but I can't remember what exactly it was, or what it was called. They weren't fantastic, but the rest of the food was divine. Fresh, flavorsome and made me crave more.

You can see I approved of the meal...

Andrew attempted chop sticks, but his concentration span lead to other things...

The sun was shining all the winter blues away in Edinburgh. Princes Street Gardens were packed with smiling friends and families all trying to get a moment of sunshine. 

Andrew dragged me back kicking and screaming to the flat, back to my books...I huffed and I puffed, but he won, for the total of 10 minutes.

 However, to cheer my day further, we took a promised stop for Easter eggs, it is just wrong to buy your own! He stocked me up for the whole of Easter, and it was gooooooood.

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