I had fully intended to keep this blog up daily, but I've missed a few days for one reason or another. Now I'm having a wee glass of white in front of the fire and having a think over the last few days...
Friday was a good day (and yes, in part, because of cake)! My husband won tickets to see Train in a private concert for Real Radio listeners - huge hurrah! I went into Glasgow to have my hair cut before the concert (fashion tip: it's very important to look one's best in order that one may stand around in the dark and listen to music), then it was off to a late lunch at Brewhaha in Buchanan Galleries. Say whatever you want about the table service (and there were two ladies at the table next to me who had quite a lot to say about it), and busy as they may be, there's no other place I know of in the immediate city centre where you can go and have a decent bowl of soup, lovely crusty roll, a pot of tea chosen from an amazing selection, a very respectable piece of lemon drizzle, sit in a cosy chair and be completely left alone to read, contemplate the secrets of the universe or write the first chapters of your next novel without suffering the scorn and looks of death from the waitstaff (who, for all the times I've been there, have been sweet to me. So there, crabby ladies with order number 9). (Concert, by the way, was fabulous, fabulous!! Even got the band's autographs, said the re-born teenager with the new haircut).
I do, however, have a confession to make (hanging head in shame). Saturday, I went to a cafe called (whisper it) the Truly Scrumptious Cupcake Cafe Bar near Torphichen. There. I've said it. There should be no shame in going to a cafe with a ludicrous name and a slightly silly, juvenile theme that even offers, I'm sure, perfectly respectable adults classes in how to make these fluffy confections in the shape of hippos (I kid you not) and even a 'It's a Boy' Cake. (sigh). Ok, I was hungry and desperate. To sum up, it seems quite popular as there was a queue when I arrived and there continued to be one for the duration of my lunch. The soup was ok, the fluffy herb and cheese roll quite lovely, really, and even the pumpkin cupcake ok, but I'll be damned if I didn't feel like I was about 30 years too old to be there. Admittedly, the service was the best I'd been offered in what feels like years, but cupcakes are cool only as a quirky side attraction, not the main show, in my opinion. And if you're going to serve them, please don't pile on the frosting about 3 inches high. I'll just be scraping most of it to the edge of the plate as, for me, it's all about the cake. Do the cake bit, and do it properly. Leave the frosting alone. It doesn't have to be pretty to be delicious. Now if you offer any cake in the future that doesn't make me embarrassed to order it, then I'll be back. 'Til then, me and what's left of my dignity are outta here.
