Tuesday Triage

Tuesday Triage #238

2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

On coming back

Almost a year ago I wrote about taking a break. Back then I blamed the quality of what I was reading (and, partially, my own inability to hunt for new gems) for stepping away from the keyboard. In hindsight, there was more to it: I’ve spent the past twelve months on the move in every possible sense of the word.

Since the last edition of Tuesday Triage I’ve travelled the world: drove across Central and Northern Thailand, rode a toboggan down the Great Wall of China, split Gs in Dublin, turned 30 while touring between Toronto, Niagara Falls, Vancouver Island, and interior BC. Went to Spain, then learned the ropes of being on a boat in Croatia, collected all potholes on the way from Edinburgh to London to Snowdonia to the Lake District and back to Scotland, circled the whole of Iceland sleeping in a tent on the roof of the car, and then flew back to Canada on one-way tickets.

We spent two months on Vancouver Island: surfed most days, harvested grapes, foraged for mushrooms, and went fishing. Then a month in Vancouver, where I went to more tech meetups than in the five years before (it helps when you actually live in a tech hub for once). Then we flew all the way to Québec City, where I remembered how to ice skate and how to breathe -20°C air without immediately regretting my choices.

Scrolling through my timeline of photos from Thailand, Spain, and Iceland, I’m starting to suspect I should live near mountains.

Somewhere between all of this, I left LivaNova. After five years of building Epsy — an epilepsy management app that went from napkin sketches to CES awards and the top of the App Store charts — I decided it was time to try something different. Medical device software is incredibly rewarding: every bug you squash might actually save someone’s life. But it’s also exhausting in ways that are hard to explain to people who haven’t worked under HIPAA and FDA scrutiny.

So I went indie. Or rather, I went back to indie — and it was refreshing to return to hacking on the edge between niche ideas and even more niche technologies. I’ve shipped more apps this year than in the previous ten combined, wrote on the blog more than ever, and remembered why I got into this in the first place.

I’m also slowly getting back to consulting, which feels like cheating: I get to solve interesting problems, but also switch between completely different industries without the politics that usually come with the territory. If you need someone to untangle your iOS architecture or build the weird bits that don’t fit in a sprint, I still have a few slots left in the coming months.

Moving to Canada on one-way tickets meant everything went into storage — including my least favourite project: packing a 300+ bottle spirits collection. I’ve cooked less this year, but kept it fun: from foraged Lobster mushrooms to homemade three-year-aged tamari I smuggled from Scotland.

Now it’s January again. In a week we’ll head from Québec City to Montreal, and then eventually to the Rockies — but right now I’m writing this newsletter for the first time in almost a year.

It feels good to be back.

Tuesday Triage #237

2025-01-28T00:00:00Z

On taking a break

For years now, the end of the year and subsequently January were spent in a rush: first, the rush of wrapping things up in late December, and then the rush of coming up with the new things to focus on before the new year properly settles in.

The season I tried to do things differently: I've started my new 2025 project (that is, shooting and eventually deer stalking) in November, wound down in Scottish borders in December, and skipped fancy meals on New Year's Eve by plating 3 kilograms of chilli fried chicken at 23:59.

I've also cut down on the newsletter: I wasn't happy with the quality of content in the past few months, and it's either my standards accidentaly got higher, or the Internet streams I feed from are running dry. Either way, the best option in this case is to take it slow. I will trial only monthly editions for the time being to see if the quality improves, and the paid subscribers will keep access to the full archive of previous editions but at least this way I could still be happy with the posts I put out there.

Last year I spent January trying to make croissants and even had a few decent batches. This year I decided to cook the perfect pork belly, got a few dozens of kilograms of pork bellies, and kept them in sous vide, ovens, and pans for more than 100 hours in total.

The most time consuming was the porchetta, but even though it was very tasty I wasn't happy with the crunch:

The most unusual (and also the best one) was an air-dried belly, where I slowly melted the fat through tiny holes in the skin so it puffed up throughout roasting process:

It also got the perfect ratio of leftover fat to the crackling to meat, so I will definitely keep refining it in the future:

We've also drove to Holy Island on a random Saturday – still feels wild that I could just jump in a car and drive to a different country (or island) in a matter of hours.

Pilgrims hanged out here since the abbey was established in AD 634, and the only way to access the island without a boat is via a causeway that appears during low tide.

We managed to safely drive back but apparently every year people get stuck mid-way through the crossing despite numerous signs with schedules and alerts.

Tuesday Triage #232

2024-12-24T00:00:00Z

On festive season

Christmas in the UK is a home celebration – most people travel around trying to pay a visit to their whole extended families, pay respects in the form of gifts, and most likely start a fight or two talking politics or religion. Essentially, everything the Americans love and do during the Thanksgiving, but a month later.

That being said, I am lucky enough to kick this festive season off with dear friends in a cottage 25 miles from the Anglo-Scottish border, so this edition comes in its trimmed "travel-friendly" version.

Happy holidays!

It might be an odd time and definitely the off-season, but the Europe's largest wave pool, conveniently opened a few miles away from Edinburgh, is buzzing:

We've stopped to have a look and plan a proper surfing visit, but even though it just opened and certain facilities could be more polished, it is rather impressive. It's pretty cool how waves come in sets, then turn off so people could come back to the lineup, and then start again – must be way more efficient than paddling in for twenty minutes.

There are also rental huts, shops, a sauna, and plenty of cafes including an outdoor fire with marshmallow and hot chocolate:

They also have an event space, which sometimes turns into a dining room, but for the rest of December became a hidden cinema. The entrance is through what looks like a wardrobe, which sounds cool but seems a bit out of place in an otherwise modern hall.

I can't complain about the atmosphere though:

We've watched Elf, which I pretty much forgot, and probably won't watch again for another season, but it's a rather efficient way to boost the festive spirit while Scottish weather seems to be in its Spring mode.

Tuesday Triage #231

2024-12-17T00:00:00Z

On too much coffee

My coffee journey was long and thorny – I went from instant coffee with copious amounts of sugar and pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks to dark roast batch brews, then to flat whites and cortados, then to Nespresso capsules and double espresso shots, and eventually settled on (mainly) filter coffee.

The majority of this journey has stretched over the last half a decade, partly thanks to the pandemic where most coffee shops were closed or hardly accessible, so I've ended up learning a lot from Youtube videos and books, and if I were to highlight one person it'd be James Hoffmann, probably the single most influentual person in the coffee world these days.

Last week he was running a live tasting session of decaf beans – that is, normal coffee beans decaffeinated in three different ways – and I was lucky to grab one of the tasting kits:

All beans were roasted by the same people at the same setting, but one bag is just normal roast, and three other bags were decaffeinated using three different methods: Swiss Water process, "Sugar Cane" process, and CO2 process.

I've tried beans decaffeinated by all of these methods on their own, but never had a chance to compare them all to each other with all other variables fixed in place.

We've had friends over, so the whole session was even more entertaining, but as I am not a trained barista there was a limit to what I could taste or understand. That being said, we've made a fair amount of notes – it'd be fun to wait for a few months and try the same beans again (they're in the freezer for now) to see if anything has changed.

And while we were waiting for the session, an Australian friend made be a cup of Melbourne Magic – essentially a cortado with a shot of ristretto instead of espresso – but it's understandably hard to notice the difference.

It was still too much coffee to my liking, even though most of it was decaf.

Tuesday Triage #230

2024-12-10T00:00:00Z

On Iceland

We've just came back from almost a week in Iceland, so my time at home was divided between looking up tickets back to Reykjavík and scrolling through thousands of photos I took:

Given it was our first time on the island, pretty much everything we've done was very touristic, but we've managed to see a lot (thanks to driving for 6-7 hours a day): geysers, waterfalls, black sand beaches, volcano craters, a glacier, and so on.

I'd be fun to re-visit some of the places in summer, mostly to get a proper hike with views, but overall I am quite happy with the country in December. There is not much day light, but there are almost no tourists either, and the snow outside makes everything indoors way more exciting.

The food we had was rather touristic as well, even though I tried to pick places on the more authentic side. The raw whale was cool, rather gamey although similar to tuna in texture. Smoked puffins were really nice, whale "roast beef" was okay-ish although the sauce it was served with felt more interesting.

We've also stopped by a gastropub recommended to us by pretty much every local we've asked about best food in the area. It didn't disappoint, and my favourite dish were the cod wings – a pretty cool way to cook "nose-to-tail", and absolutely delicious:

Last but not least, the Icelandic hot dogs are as good as people say. The main chunk of meat in the mix is lamb, the casing is natural, and they're often boiled in beer and served with both fried and raw onions, as well as a few sauces (usually something mustard-like and something like mayo with diced pickles).

These are pretty much impossible to find outside of the country, but I came across a few recipes for those keen on making hot dogs from scratch and will eventually give them a try (or more realistically, just fly back for a weekend).

Tuesday Triage #228

2024-11-26T00:00:00Z

On target shooting

It's a bit early for New Year resolutions, but I tend to pick up a new thing every year, whether it's driving or cheese making. Sometimes I do it very early in the year, and sometimes almost before it ends, but this time I started getting ready the year before.

In the past years as I get better at cooking meat, eventually I ended up butchering whole carcasses, which is the best way to do justice to all parts of the animal, and while it's way better than buying plastic-wrapped steaks in supermarkets, I figured I could do better.

Deer overpopulation is a big issue in Scotland (and in the UK in general), as they don't have any natural predators, and are destroying forests by eating young shoots, so deer is actively managed by culling. Folks don't call it "hunting" or "shooting" for historical reasons and to avoid unneeded associations with posh lads in tweed and with shotguns, but deer stalking is a big thing here.

It's pretty much impossible to get into without connections though, and also without learning how to shoot in the first place, so I am slowly getting into target shooting, which is a sport, so no deer, a tightly strapped to the hand rifle, and an even slower progression towards precision:

That being said, seems like once I nail the basics, I will be good to go for my certification, getting the firearms license and a safe, and then slowly reaching out to the nearby estates to see if they need help with their deer problems.

Maybe not next year though, but we will see how much time it takes for someone starting from sratch.

Tuesday Triage #227

2024-11-19T00:00:00Z

On DIY

Despite having the word "engineer" in my bachelor degree, I never did much "engineering" in its common sense, and skipped the majority of my physics lessons throughout school due to various computer science competitions.

I did have some soldering practice though, and thoroughly enjoyed setting up some of the gadgets where basic understanding of engineering is required, whether it's building a 3D printer or wiring an RPI to water plants.

I never did anything on a larger scale though, that is, until I got tired of looking at a 20 year old SatNav in my car:

So after watching YouTube videos and reading through decade-old posts on old school forums, I've managed to pull apart the central console and remove the 7 lbs monolyth of the radio:

Wiring and splicing into cables took some time, but at least I've learnt how to use a multimeter to check what car cables I need to tap into. I also had to reassamble this whole thing a few times, as the car had an unusual fiber optic connector instead of the ISO I'd expect, so I had to get some converter boxes and install them too.

At some point the car battery run out of charge, partly because I've picked the coldest days of the year (so far) to do the work, and partly because I kept turning it on and off, so I got a crash course on jump starting the car with a powerbank. I've also added remote tyre pressure sensors while I am at it.

It looks and works really great now, even though there is more work to be done. I need to figure out how to bring back steering wheel controls, install the backup camera, and figure out some other minor issues (like a flickering parking light and broken steering wheel heating).

Tuesday Triage #226

2024-11-12T00:00:00Z

On Cantabria

This week I made a Basque cheesecake, and then the next day flew to the North of Spain. Mainly to eat the cheesecake in its hometown, but also to see my wee sister who is now studying in Basque country.

Imagine my disappointment when I learnt that we're actually flying to a different region, and they don't really do Basque cheesecakes.

At least there was a summer house designed by Gaudi – one of the only few outside of Catalonia:

Also lots of beautiful views:

It was my first time driving on the right side of the road, and the first day of driving (that is, picking up a car that's twice bigger than the one I drive usually and then doing 5 miles via the motorway and the city centre) was very stressful. The hardest part was to navigate incredibly narrow town streets in an SUV and then use the car lift to reverse into an equally narrow parking.

We did find a speakeasy bar though, and even though the folks didn't speak English much they've made us some splendid drinks.

The whole journey took a few days and didn't feel much different from any weekend trip to a nearby town, so we might as well do that again.

Tuesday Triage #225

2024-11-05T00:00:00Z

On South West Coastal 300

For the past few months I hardly find a weekend to just lay still on the weekend. Ever since we got a carte blanche to travel around (that is, driving licenses), we try to explore surrounding areas for a day or two to get a better feeling of the country we live in.

This week we made another 400 miles or so driving around the so-called South West Coastal 300 route, which as you might have guessed covers most of the coast in South West of Scotland.

The main destination of the trip was Mull of Galloway Lighthouse, located in the most southern part of the country.

You probably can't tell from the picture, but the islands in the distance are Ireland, Isle of Man, and a part of England (depending on the direction).

We've also briefly stopped at Galloway Forest, which soon might become the third National Park in Scotland, and came across our first Beefsteak Fungus. It looks and feels like a piece of raw meat or tongue, and even bleeds when sliced.

Just look at the marbling on the slice – incredible texture.

I served it raw, briefly marinated in lemon juice and foraged elderberry vinegar, for a vegan take on seviche, and then also tried fried on toast with white truffle butter, and last but not least, dehydrated, rehydrated in sauces, and dehydrated again for a vegetarian biltong.

It's a fun thing to try but probably not my favourite ingredient: mushroomy but very sour, almost like rhubarb, and a bit too slimy when raw.

Tuesday Triage #224

2024-10-29T00:00:00Z

On harvest

Autumn is the time for harvest, and while most people stumble upon pumpkin patches or dig potatoes, I open up my curing chamber to take the measurements and see if anything else is ready for packing:

This time I got a batch of slightly different beef salami – my first venture in the world of kosher charcuterie. I am quite happy with the flavour here, but the texture probably could use some more work: beef fat is way harder to work with.

I also made some saucisson sec, and this one I am really happy with:

And tried to make some salame gentile, which turned out quite well albeit a bit soft – probably next time I should dry it more than called for in the recipe:

Now everything is vacuum-packed and held in the fridge to equalize – not necessary but highly beneficial to make sure there are no hard casings or soft spots throughout the pieces.

Seems like I am settled for this year charcuterie wise, and the weather is getting colder, so I might be looking in the direction of dry aged steaks and aged cheeses instead.

Tuesday Triage #223

2024-10-22T00:00:00Z

On Northumberland 250

This weekend we drove down to the south.

Well, the south for us, but the definition of North for the majority of England, to explore castles, little cobbled villages and towns they have in abundance.

There were many highlights of the trip, from fresh seafood to the oldest smart home in the world, where everything was powered by electricity generated by water, from heating to a dishwasher, even though it was 1860s.

The route we took follows around the whole county of Northumberland, and is often called Northumberland 250 as it is approximately 250 miles in length, but in three days we did more than 400 miles instead – partly because we treated it as driving practice, and partly because we've decided to stay in a shepherd's hut in the middle of nowhere.

We've also made a detour to visit the English most northern whisly distillery, merged with a Roman history museum (there are lots of Roman traces in the area, and locals seem to be very proud of it):

Their own single malts are still in casks, but we've got to try the gin and a blended whisky called Tacnbora, meaning "Standard Bearer" in Old English – a very fitting name for something announcing that greater things are to follow.

I am still not over the fact how easy it is to explore chunks of the country with a driving license, but Northumbria seems very nice, I could definitely live there.

Tuesday Triage #220

2024-10-01T00:00:00Z

On going places

This week's edition is out way later than I planned it to be, and yet it was a conscious decision to put some of my projects on hold for a few weeks while I went to London to see my parents and sister and spend some quality time altogether for the first time in half a decade.

Well, that, and we've got to hang out with our metropolitan friends for a bit, and also stopped by a newly opened vegan restaurant. As they say, you must know your enemy to win, but here I was genuinely rooting for the chef throughout his performance on Great British Menu, and could not miss an opportunity to try the dishes that wowed the judges.

Often when getting a tasting set, it's hard to appreciate all courses – some meals always stand out and some fail to impress. Here everything was very balanced. I can't say I felt like I had a proper vegan main – everything was delicious but felt like a fancy side dish – but some starters and the dessert were incredible.

I guess my main inspirational takeaway here was the way the chef used different (but all alternative) milks and fats throughout the dinner. Cashew milk would be used to add texture, coconut fat to introduce flavour, rapeseed oil to help it emulsify, and so on.

That being said, the first thing we cooked back home was a selection of aged steaks, and boy-oh-boy, they were worth the wait.

The rest of the week was an attempt to visit all sights in Scotland at once, from the closest points of interest in the Highlands to the National Museum of Flight here in the country.

The museum exceeded all my expectations, by the way, mostly because I didn't have many, but also because they have four hangars filled with various planes from different eras. The supersonic passenger jet Concorde hasn't flown for more than twenty years now, so I obviously couldn't see one when operational, but it was quite cool to enter one of the very few Concordes in the world, albeit in a museum.

Also, just yesterday we drove to Culross and grabbed a bite on the way back.

Those slices of cheese are not the cook's laziness, but a legit example of a Ploughman's lunch, albeit a historically correct raw onion is replaced with a chutney, but that's a good thing in my book.

Tuesday Triage #218

2024-09-17T00:00:00Z

On Loch Leven

Wikipedia states that there are more than 30000 freshwater lochs (lakes) in Scotland, even though most of them are small (we call them lochans). Previously we've been to a few of the largest ones, but this weekend we visited a small but notable lake with a castle on a tiny island in the middle.

The castle is famous because Mary Queen of Scots was once a guest there, but then turned prisoner and eventually managed to escape.

The place is uninhabited, and the only way to get there is by boat, but once we were dropped off the only way to reach out to the mainland in case of an emergency was to find a radio hidden in a booth.

The seats on the boat were limited and on first come–first served basis, so if you were late for your desired departure time, there was a decent chance you'd be left on the shore alone (which we witnessed).

On the way back we stopped in the middle of nowhere, to grab a bite and I had a Scottish breakfast in a sandwich shape (blood pudding, bacon and eggs):

Still more than 30000 lakes to go.

Tuesday Triage #217

2024-09-10T00:00:00Z

On chilly weather

I didn't really mind this summer's weather, even though many people mention that's the coldest Scottish summer they remember, but come Autumn and it is already getting properly chilly. The most unusual, however, is haar, the fog that is formed over the sea and is blown to the land.

It didn't really stop us from going places and grabbing a bite with the view. Gone are the times when I'd be content with a plate of chips at a coffee: fish and chips must be with a sea view, otherwise it's just a waste of time (and fish).

This weather also calls for carbs, and it's quite neat there is a place nearby run by a Noma alumni serving properly laminated pastries.

Last but not least, even though these days I drive more than drink (and never at the same time), the colder part of the year is the best time to settle in bars and get those spirits going.

There was also some snowfall in Scottish mountains – who knows, maybe by the next week we will get some here in Edinburgh as well?

Tuesday Triage #216

2024-09-03T00:00:00Z

On first signs of Autumn

Even though it's already September, and even though this summer in the UK was the coldest in a decade, it still doesn't feel like Autumn yet, so I am not even close to wrapping up the BBQ season (this time somewhat inspired by Greek souvlaki).

At the same time, there are autumnal signs, namely first flushes of mushrooms, so for two weekends in a row we went to a woodland in Trossachs to try our luck.

We've also stopped by a farm with free-roaming goats and tried their ice cream, for some reason dilluted with oat milk (probably because people often find goat milk taste too overwhelming). I wasn't particularly fond of the ice cream itself – from the food production perspective it broke quite a few rules – but the place and time were very fitting so I can't really complain.

Sasha found quite a few ceps as well, while I refreshed my driving skills after a week in a country where everyone drives on the wrong side of the road.

I am not a big fan of porcini in most dishes, chanterelles are so much better, but this Japanese milk bread toast with some freshly fried ceps and eggs was delicious.

The rest of the harvest went into dehydrator, but it will be Autumn here for quite a while now, so stay tuned for more forests and (hopefully) more mushrooms.

Tuesday Triage #215

2024-08-27T00:00:00Z

On Santorini

I slipped on my newsletter schedule again, but as always, it was for a good reason—this time, we embarked on our first proper journey outside of the UK in nearly three years, and we chose Greece of all places. I had never been to Greece before, and Santorini wasn't the first Greek destination on my list, but unexpectedly cheap tickets and a direct flight from Edinburgh convinced us to give it a go.

When most people think of Santorini, they picture white-and-blue houses and the Caldera—a large depression formed after a volcanic eruption—along with breathtaking views. To me, however, Santorini was all about the heat (though living in Scotland, almost everywhere else feels hot), tomatoes, and wine.

The story of the local tomatoes is particularly interesting: they’re small, exceptionally sweet due to the lack of irrigation (only condensation provides moisture), and have thicker skin. In the past, locals turned them into tomato paste, and the museum in the old factory was one of the best places we visited during the trip.

These days, the same tomato paste is made on the mainland, so the local tomatoes are no longer used for that purpose. However, another local specialty—wine—is only growing in popularity. There are dozens of grape varieties on the island, and thanks to the heat, which prevents diseases from harming the harvest, and the unique minerals in the soil, the flavors are quite distinctive.

I didn’t particularly enjoy the most famous local grape, Assyrtiko, as it produced a rather acidic and strong wine when young. However, Nychteri (the same grape aged for a few years in a barrel) was much better.

Another thing Santorini is famous for is its sunsets, and even though I was initially skeptical, they truly are incredible. During our week there, we managed to view them from every possible perspective: from a boat, a pier, a mountain, over the caldera, and more. Each one was different and memorable.

Given the heat, we didn’t do much hiking, focusing instead on walking between wineries. The locals take great pride in their dessert wines, which I preferred over French or Italian alternatives. They mostly use white grapes and long fermentation, resulting in incredibly complex flavors. The highlight was a semi-sweet 1992 Athiri:

We also sampled lots of local food—from fine-dining restaurants, which were underwhelming but made up for it with stunning views, to small local taverns that nailed both the views and the food.

I can't say I’m a big fan of any specifically Santorinian dishes, but I don't mind Greek food at all and could easily live on gyros for months.

All in all, it’s nice to be back on the road, and it's been great to get a taste of Greek culture. Santorini turned out to be completely different from what we expected, as we mostly avoided the tourist hotspots. I’d definitely consider coming back one day.

Maybe when it's not so hot.

Tuesday Triage #213

2024-08-13T00:00:00Z

On getting ready for Christmas

I was born in a country united by the proverb "in July your sledge remember", so still am taking it seriously.

To me, a festive meal starts with charcuterie. And charcuterie needs time, so here I am, stuffing sausages when it's +30ºC in the room:

This time I did my best to follow all guidelines to the T, whether it's using the right netting roll or to calibrate the pH meter before use:

I am also happy with this batch's selection: five types of sausages, from classic Sauccisson Sec and Gentile to more modern Hard salami, Beef salami, and an improved take on Ventricina. Some leftovers of the latter went on to become a small ball of Pitina, a "poor man's salami" rolled in coarse polenta:

I also had some pork fat leftovers, and (what a coincidence) happened to have commercial amounts of dehydrated blood, so made my first black pudding. I never understood the name (all in all, it's still a sausage, not a dessert) but the mix looks and smells like a chocolate brownie so now it all makes sense:

Pre-cooked and cutted it smells delicious, and tastes too – just had a few slices with sunny side ups.

Meanwhile, we also kept visiting various Fringe shows. The most unusual (but not the best) was a murder-mystery were actors mingled with us in a room and we had to find the killer by talking to them and looking for clues.

I am pretty sure throughout the show the drank normal booze, so that must be a dream job for many.

Tuesday Triage #212

2024-08-06T00:00:00Z

On another year of Fringe

Every August the city of Edinburgh transforms from a quiet touristic village into a full-blown comedy festival, and it takes its tall: streets are harder to walk, trains are too crowded to casually stroll in.

At the same time, it's nice to have more than two theatres for a change, so for the second year in a row we book a few dozens of performances, sometimes three or four a day, and then spend our evenings walking from one underground club to another for some laughs.

The only caveat is the time between the shows: too little, and you risk coming too late, too much, and you end up making circles around the city centre hating tourists.

The trick is to have an hour or two maximum, and to spend them in one of the many cocktail bars as it's just enough time for a few drinks. The problem though is, most decent bars are very far from the streets where the festival takes place – there must be some reason behind it – so this time we had to be creative and gradually explore places we've never been to.

Nothing particularly impressive yet, unfortunately, but at least most of the shows were a blast.

The majority performance we've booked we already saw last year, and so far not a single regret of booking these shows again: the content is obviously mostly different, but the skills are still there.

My favourite ones so far were MC Hammersmith (where MC stands for Middle Class) who spent an hour doing improvised rap about random words, people in the room, and their belongings; Ali Woods with some incredibly emotional but hilarious story about relationships; and Connor Burns with his thoughts on turning 30 – something I will be relating to very soon.

Tuesday Triage #211

2024-07-30T00:00:00Z

On different food

Last week, I was enjoying the Lake District, and this week I came down with some kind of flu (or cold, or COVID – we'll never know). However, during the brief period in between, Sasha took me out for lunch at Lyla – an important establishment in the Scottish food scene. It was opened by Stuart Ralston last year, his fourth and arguably most ambitious restaurant to date. Lyla is housed in the same halls where the late Kitchin's 21212 used to be, so Michelin stars are likely incoming.

It's always exciting to experience food through the lens of someone you're familiar with. We've been to Stuart's other three restaurants before and cooked from his cookbook as well, so some dishes had a familiar flair to them, albeit much more elevated.

That being said, most of the recipes are doable at home – although some might require more effort than others, like this palate cleanser with sake lees, frozen with liquid nitrogen:

One must maintain a varied diet, though, so in the evening of the same day, we stopped by a Vietnamese café as well. I generally don't enjoy Vietnamese or Thai food, much like how I dislike Spaghetti alle vongole – if there are inedible things on my plate, it's not a dish anymore to me. However, this meal was surprisingly decent:

Pictured is Bun thit nuong va, featuring bits of BBQ pork, vegetables, and minced meat rolls, all floating in a vinegary broth (or sauce, I'm not entirely sure). It was served with a seafood nem as well.

Tuesday Triage #210

2024-07-23T00:00:00Z

On the Lakes

Last week I've been to West Coast of Scotland, but this week we take a train to the South, first for a stop in Manchester, where among many other things we get to dine at a restaurant I've learnt about from an Instagram reel (yes, usually that's not how I find places to eat at). Their video with a tiramisu fridge drawer went viral last year, but I also cooked some of their pasta recipes and couldn't fault them at all – and the in-person visit didn't disappoint either.

Then we met with friends and drove back up North together. Well, I've got to say, that's what these southern softies call "north", but from where I'm living that's proper south, so even I had a swim in one of the lakes.

It also seems like the summer is going full speed over there, so this time we've skipped on dining at restaurants and cooked local produce, from eggs to beef to the first foraged chanterelles and hedgehog mushrooms of the season.

We've been to the lakes before a few years ago, but it was in February, so the landscapes and atmosphere were completely different. That being said, I am not sure when I'd like to come back – I really loved it in winter as there was barely anyone around. These days, obviously, the place is buzzing and the crowds are not what I usually enjoy.

On the way back we also stopped at a coffee shop where I changed my opinion about overnight oats:

When mixed with a few heaped tablespoons of Biscoff, they turn into a divine dessert.