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Day 4 of our trip finds us in Portree, Isle of Skye. My previous post followed us on our journey from Edinburgh to Portree via train and rental car.
We had talked about waking up early to see the sunrise in Portree harbor, but as soon as our alarm went off, back to sleep we went. It’s probably a good thing we didn’t bother to wake up early, though, as the area was completely covered in clouds and mist. We enjoyed breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant, which had a fantastic view of the harbor below. It was interesting to watch the mist rise as the minutes went by, allowing us to see more and more of the landscape finally. This was our first view of Skye. Colorful houses lined the shore, boats bobbed along in the water, and the tall, rocky hills slowly peeked through the clouds. Gobbling up our toast and scrambled eggs, we hastily made our way to the car to begin our journey for the day.
Because of the tyre problem yesterday, this would be our only day to look around Skye. We decided to drive north a few miles to see Kilt Rock and the Old Man of Storr before heading south to the Talisker Distillery and the Fairy Pools. Driving up was easy initially, with just a slight drizzle and slight wind but nothing threatening, we thought. We passed the Old Man of Storr and watched as brave groups of people made their way up the mountain.
At one point, I asked Bob to pull over so that I could take a picture of the cliffs looming over the sea below. I noticed a little pathway leading to a better view and since it wasn’t raining at the moment, we decided to quickly walk over and take a look. The pathway was small and rocky and very, very close to the steep drop off, but we didn’t think anything of it as we made our way up. Once we got to the top, we could see the cliffs below and it was just beautiful. I was able to snap a few pictures of the dark, looming clouds before they suddenly cracked open. At first it was just some heavy drops of rain, and we quickly turned around to head back – and then the rain drops hardened and we were being pelted hard and fast by hail. I had read up on the weather on Skye and was prepared for the weather to turn at any moment, but I guess I just didn’t really understand what to expect until we were in the brunt of it. We started sprinting carefully back to the car as the winds blew harder and harder and the hail became thicker and thicker. At one point I wasn’t able to breathe moving forwards anymore and I couldn’t see in front of me, so I turned around, slowly taking steps back down the rocky path. It was at this moment that I truly wondered if we would make it back to the car. I asked Bob later what he was thinking and the thought had crossed his mind too – either we would be blown straight off the cliff, or we would just curl up on the ground and give up. At this point, we were soaking, and still so far from the car, but the weather let up slightly, enough for us to see and we continued on – we did not curl up and die there.
We jumped back into the car, soaking head to foot, scrambling to get the heat on. Was it going to be like this everywhere we went on Skye, we wondered?
We drove a bit further up North and dared to brace the elements again to see Kilt Rock, though we weren’t out there for long. I thought for sure we were going to get blown straight over the railing and into the sea. After all of this, I just wanted to be back in the warm car, so we got back in and started the longer drive south towards Carbost, where Talisker Distillery was located. The drive down was still beautiful, despite the rain and the winds. Bob did such a great job handling the single track roads – though my stomach was still in knots the whole drive!
The Distillery is situated on the edge of a harbor, surrounded by beautiful hills. Inside, we were able to warm up a bit before taking an hour tour around the Distillery. It was really neat to see how their whiskey was made. Walking through, we were overwhelmed with rich, grainy, caramel-like smells. I truly enjoyed the tour, as well as the whiskey sample at the end. I didn’t think I would like the smoky flavor of Talisker whiskey, but it was surprisingly very nice.
After our tour, we headed back out into the cold to make our way to the Fairy Pools, one of the main reasons people come to Skye. Our GPS didn’t want to work in this area, but luckily we were able to find it pretty quickly. The parking area was pretty full but we found a spot. A warning to those visiting this area: the parking lot is small and precarious. Be careful!
We wrapped up in multiple layers and headed down the hill towards the pools, a little nervous about the weather. The majority of our walk down was pleasant, with just a few gusts of wind but no rain. We jumped over rocks and sunk into the mud and Bob walked into the river a bit. The water of the Fairy Pools is a beautiful turquoise, sometimes a deep green. Waterfalls connect the different levels along the mountain’s descent. We walked a good ways down the path and weren’t sure how far it continued – perhaps we missed the best views because we didn’t go to the end, but what we saw was breathtaking. The black Cuillin Hills rose high above the pools, their tips covered by a thick mist. The clouds above were moving quickly, and the sky went from dark and threatening, to blue and welcoming, back to dark and threatening. There were a good number of people out and about, and quite a few people just walking their dogs.
At some point we knew it was time to turn back, and as we hobbled down towards the car, the wind started to pick up and the sky started to threaten immediate rain. We hurried back, and as we neared the car park, hail began to fall again. This time we made it back without getting soaked. We had a time trying to back up the car out of the lot, and the road back was blocked by a number of maintenance vehicles but despite what my nerves suggested as we squeezed through, we made it back to the main road safely.
After the Distillery and the Fairy Pools, we decided to make our way off Skye and towards our next hotel in Fort William. I was hoping we’d make the drive before sunset. We stopped at a small takeaway food store in Broadford and enjoyed the coastal scenery for a little bit. I got a huge plate of mac and cheese and Bob got haddock (his way of contributing to the fish’s extinction).
At this point I was freezing from being soaked and from being outside all day and I struggled to keep warm in the car. Luckily our trip wasn’t too long and we got to our hotel around the time the sun was going down. Our GPS took us the wrong way at first but we were able to find our hotel anyways, despite feeling slightly worried about nightfall and the rain and being lost in an area with bad data connection. Our hotel was a cute little hotel on the shore of Loch Leven, right by the large bridge heading into Glencoe. We had a good view of the mountains across the lake, which would soon be covered in snow.
For dinner, we ate at the hotel restaurant and overheard a couple next to us discussing the upcoming snow through Glencoe. Would we be able to make our drive to Glasgow, we wondered? Thankfully the staff at the hotel was great at answering our worried questions and were good enough to explain to us the weather precautions the city takes. We were still a bit worried, but we would have to wait until the morning to see how things turned out.
The next leg of our journey will take us to Glasgow, where we will take a flight over to Belfast for St. Patrick’s Day.
Edmonton Expo is this weekend! I am going to try and post pictures when I'm done. I barely took any last year so I am going to try and take as many as I can. I will post some right away to Instagram and Facebook but will try and post here as well. I can't wait to see Jim Beaver and Garret Wang again.
I've been trying to watch as many of the new shows that I can so I can give them at least one try. Gotham was meh... not sure if its because I don't care for Batman or because I don't care for the premise. I'm in love with Outlander, and I really really enjoyed Scorpion and NCIS: New Orleans.
This recipe was born out of a desire to make one batch of cookie dough that could yield two different desserts. Everyone loves cookies, and a few of my co-workers have a thing for ooey gooey bars, and it was December…so I set out to make both. And here you have it! A chocolatey, pepperminty, bar/cookie that’s perfect for Christmas!
And this one isn’t picture perfect, but this is what the bars should look like post-sweetened condensed milk and pre-oven.
I used these as the foundation for the cookies and bars pictures here. I added a peppermint twist and then experimented to see if I could make two products from one recipe. If you want to make cookies and bars at the same time, you will need to double the recipe.
Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours. I like to roll the cookies into balls before I refrigerate them.
Remove the dough from the fridge and, if you haven't already, shape it into spheres about the size of flattened ping pong balls.
Press half of the dough into a pan, pressing it up against the sides of the pan to make a slight "ditch" around the bottom of the pan. This will help contain the sweetened condensed milk later. Refrigerate the pan and the remaining dough for at least 45 minutes.
When time is up, remove the pan from the fridge, and carefully pour/spread sweetened condensed milk across the layer of cookie dough. Press/drop the remaining cookie dough over the sweetened condensed milk layer, keeping the milk layer from touching the edges of the pan as much as possible.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 35-40 minutes, turning at the halfway point. The bars will be done when they're cooked around the edges and slightly gooey in the center.
I’m Jenny, the heartbeat of jennythebaker.com. I’ve been baking since middle school when my Mom allowed me to assume the baking responsibilities for our family of seven. She watched me curdle cake fillings, bake flat, crunchy chocolate chip cookies, and forget critical ingredients; however, she somehow had a little faith in me. Who could have known that baking would become my lifelong hobby and destressor?
One of the best parts about traveling is the exposure to new and exciting things. And it doesn’t always require busting out your passport. This little gem comes from one of my many trips to Texas. Austin, Texas to be specific. I am a SXSW regular, you see, and this little puppy has kicked off many a tequila-filled nights while there. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Place 5 limes and 1 orange--which should be at room temperature--on the counter and roll them with your hand, back and forth, while applying pressure. Be careful, you don't want to break them open, do it semi-gently. They'll feel like a sem-filled water balloon when ready. This way the citrus will yield more liquid when you juice them.
Juice the limes and the orange in a large measuring cup, then add in 1 cup of tequila, 1/2 cup of grand marnier, and simple syrup. Mix together.
Add a heaping cup of ice to the blender and just enough of the margarita mixture that the ice is not covered. Blend, adding more ice or margarita mix until the desired thickness is achieved.
The course description and competencies are provided by the Art Institute International Minnesota. The course must follow the description and students must demonstrate completion of all competencies.
This course focuses on the research and design of a hospitality space. Pre-design research focuses on industry standards, design issues, codes and products relevant to the development of hospitality space. (Prereq. ID3440 – Specialty Design)
Develop a creative and viable solution for a hospitality-related project that applies an understanding of the interior design components impacting the visual perception of and use of the various public and private spaces
Assess all code-related issues regulating the interior designer with respect to use and capacities of the space
Differentiate between the technical impacts of the various interior design elements, such as space planning, lighting, audio-visual criteria, and egress
Demonstrate an ability to properly select specialty furnishings and fixtures to enhance the end use of the space
Posted in Advanced Specialty Design	| Tagged ainsworth, architecture, corporate design, interior design, interior design education, interior design instruction, jessica ainsworth-truong, professor of interior design, restaurant design, truong | Leave a comment |