Turning Over a New Leith

If you are interested- I have moved the excitement to www.turningoveranewleith.com! I would love to see you there.

Still working to migrate all my posts over.

Hello!

I will be moving my blog activity to a new platform with new posts starting August 1! I will post the link when I am ready to launch, I hope you will follow along.

Have a great day and see you next week.

When I went to junior prom I wore a lovely green dress with short sleeves. My mom made it for me- to my exacting specifications. It grazed the knee and was far from ultra-fancy, it was perfect for dancing the night away at the Nicollet Island Pavilion.

I cannot even remember what I wore to my senior prom- I think it could have been a repeat- a black-linen sheath dress from Talbots (of all places) it was simple and a perfect canvas for not one accessory and flats which had a grosgrain bow, I think also from Talbots- this was in the nineties, it was slightly better than a Laura Ashley floral.

It appears prom or formal dress style has expanded in the years since I was shopping. There was an event while we were in Vancouver, here are some of the 'styles'. I was surprised to see Tom's and flip flops are considered formal footwear.

We are still on our healthy eating kick with only a few slight setbacks while on holiday (hello tasty beer and some gluten-centric treats), we could maybe even stop calling it a 'kick' as it is  becoming an excellent lifestyle, Ben continues to say 'he has never felt better'. It has forced us to think of our meals as one, two and three in lieu of the traditional three. This makes it easier when you are facing a bowl of breakfast soup. Which is what we have been eating recently.

This version of roasted red pepper and tomato is perfect hot or cold. We had it hot- the first morning and added poached eggs, some avocado and meat garnish for Ben- in this case bacon and it keeps you going (almost) as long as a hearty bowl of oatmeal.

Loads of other cultures favor soup for breakfast. In Turkey they have a lentil-based variety with tomatoes and bulgar called ezogelin çorbası.

Mexicans favour soup, which shares the name with a famous Puetro Rican boy band- Menudo. The liquid version is concocted using tripe and hominy and served with fresh-made tortillas. I must admit- tripe scares me, but if you are feeling brave- here is a recipe.

I might have to give chagua a try when I am in Colombia this fall. This breakfast treat consists of a freshly poached egg in a milky broth, flavored with coriander (cilantro) and onions.

In Japan, miso soup is also an important part of the first meal of the day, not just the way we sample it in the west- pre-sushi. Although it is tasty then too!

I was not brave enough to give congee a whirl when I spotted it in the breakfast buffet during my past trips to China, but now doing some research, I am not sure what put me off, it is a rice porridge, usually had savory. I think it was some of the strange-to-me looking condiments which were used to flavour this breakfast staple which might have put me off.

Edinburghers seem begin to complain about it being too hot at about 23 degrees, so now that temps are soaring at 27 degrees (80 degrees), the complaints are rolling in! I must admit, after seven hot and humid summers in Grenoble, 27 is about right- I think we are just out of practice. To put it in perspective- today it should be 27, tomorrow 20 (68 degrees) - the ability to always sleep under the duvet continues! Love it here!

It also surprises me that for a city which does not experience a large number of days like these recent toasty one, how the women of Edinburgh still manage to accumulate such a wardrobe of skimpy tops and inappropriate for their body-types shorts and skirts. They are out in force.

Needless to say, we are doing our best to take full advantage of this because I fear it will not last (but is is supposed to through the weekend)! So we will be out and about and I will be in my seven-inch inseam shorts- appropriate!

Although we had our list of excuses ready to go, in the end, we did not need any of them. We completed the Vancouver half marathon in just less than two hours.

It was a lovely run, it started sunny and then clouded over. After 'racing' in Europe for these past years, I appreciate North America's early start times (7.30 vs. 10.30), the organization of the races here and the fans.

It was the first long race Ben and I have run together, so it was extra special. We made a pact to run together and even after I hit the wall at 10 miles, he did not leave me. I insisted he go on- a true running martyr!

The PAC-NW Tour 2013 is underway, this is what we are calling our mini city break adventure to Vancouver, Portland and Seattle. I am in Vancouver for a work conference and Ben will join me here.

Ben is going to arrange our fun times in Vancouver. We will have the weekend exploring the number two city in the world, the two things I want to cover-sea kayaking and run the Vancouver half marathon. Ben has a friend from his MBA based here and Hilary has given us loads of ideas- it will just be narrowing them down.

We are attempting train travel in the U.S.- something I have never done before. We will board the Amtrak bound for Portland via the Cascades route. Our friend Toni says it is stunning and passed along the tip of getting on the correct side of the carriage to ensure we have stunning views.

We are in Portland for 4 days and have booked a tiny garden cottage (read shed) in a backyard through Air BnB- it is centrally located and with our plan to rent bikes for the duration of our visit, we should be able to cover a lot of the Rose City. Do you have any suggestions of what to do or see? I have started a Pinterest board with some of the ideas I have discovered so far- most of them involve eating and drinking!

Other than our hotel, we have not planned anything in Seattle, I am sure we will tourist it up and hit all the highlights and the gum-wall- this is my nightmare, a wall covered in artificially-fruit-flavored chewed gum. YUCK.

DETAILS FOR TIMBERYARD ARE HERE.

We had our friends Sarah and Thomas Sherman up from London for the Edinburgh Marathon Festival. They were joined by Sarah's sister, Jennifer and her fiance Stuart. Their visit was too short, but we packed in a bit of fun.

Sunday morning, Jennifer and Stuart ran the full half-marathon and Thomas ran the first 8 miles (something about living in Africa and not having time to train). The course, which was different from my recent half marathon, started on Regent Street and ended near the Musselburgh Racecourse. From what the gang said it was a lovely course along the coast.

Ben, Sarah and I, as loyal spectators, took the crowded bus to mile 8 to meet up with Thomas and then dashed to the finish line to see Jennifer and Stuart cross the finish line.

While we were waiting, we were able to see some of the everybody runners finish. I have not seen a lot of these races end because I try to compete, but I surprised myself by becoming a bit emotional watching this group of finishers. You could see the determination on their faces as they pounded the last 200 meters. There was a mix of elation and agony. The pride on some of these runners faces made me a bit misty- luckily Sarah shared similar feelings!

The runner above is Canadian running against diabetes- colorful pinnies!

Here are Jen and Stuart- look at them go. Poor Stuart hurt his foot, but persevered to complete his first half-marathon and an additional milestone since it was their first couple 13.1 mile run together. A solid start for a future of races together.

We had Sunday afternoon chilling and lunching at the Cumberland Bar. Then our runners took a well-needed nap. Later Jennifer and Stuart popped down for some snacks and drinks. We all called it a day about 9.30 p.m.

Together -She & Him Wildflowers-Tom Petty All the Years -Wild Child Sounds Like Hallelujah -The Head And The Heart Bon Vivant - Mister and Mississippi Get Off Of My Cloud -The Rolling Stones Sweet Pea- Amos Lee American Girls -Counting Crows Overjoyed -Bastille Be A Bee- Air Come Running- Van Morrison Friends - Flight Of The Conchords Summer Rain -The Primitives Sugar Coated Iceberg -Lightning Seeds Only the Good Die Young -Billy Joel Satellite - Lena Electric Twist - A Fine Frenzy The Long Way Around -Dixie Chicks

LISTEN UP... This week is just a fun selection of songs, it also appears I have been hit with a bout of nostalgia today. Tomorrow is June 1, so real summer is just around the corner. Is it hot where you are? There were some arms out today in Edinburgh- not mine. Other people, other arms.

Have a fun-filled weekend, we are taking it easy! Nothing on the agenda for the moment and we are trying hard to keep it this way.

I was invited to a wedding this past weekend.  It was as the plus one of my fabulous friend Toni. It turned out to be such a beautiful, sunshine-filled day in Edinburgh, I was able to get another wear out of my favourite wedding frock (here I am at Ieva and Will's wedding)- complete with cardigan and trench- even May in Edinburgh is chilly!

There was dancing so flats were perfect. 

Completing the look- arm party with some special jewels.

The Edinburgh International Film Festival releases the schedule for this year's event tomorrow. The 2013 festival runs from June 19-30. The festival started in 1947 and has boasted some fabulous premieres- Brave made its European debut last year.

What I am hoping for is another set of fantastic films shown outdoors in St. Andrew's Square the weekend before. They were a complete surprise last year, but now we know there could be a possibility of screenings, we can look out for them. 

Last year was just miserable, we only saw about thirty minutes of Toy Story II, before turning in our free ponchos and heading home for dry movie watching. We have June 14 off, so this would be the perfect day to picnic and movie watch in the city centre.

Sometimes I regret my ideas to get out and embrace life! Our recent trip to Yellowcraig's beach was not one of these times, even though our adventure did not go as originally planned. Curses new running shoes, but we still had a fun few hours out and about.

My Scottish and outdoorsy colleague Seonaid, suggested we visit this particular beach between Edinburgh and North Berwick. Since Ben and I are 'in training' for the Vancouver half marathon. We wanted a change from my usual loops- I can run the same loops repeatedly and I do not like running-loop changes, but Ben does, so I thought, let's mix it up!

Compromise is key- so off we went in our City Club Car to the beach. It was windy, cloudy, misty and cold. A perfect mix for our planned six mile run.

We had new running shoes. During all the years I have been running, I have always had 12mm running shoes, but due to the barefoot running craze, they are harder and harder to track down, so I opted for an 8mm pair. I had heard stories about how these lower shoes can lead to injuries if you do not break them in slowly. I quickly realized that running six miles might be a bit much- I am sure you are thinking- wimp- and you are probably correct, but I did not want to injure myself and jeopardise our upcoming race.

We ended up running just a few miles on the trails- I got in another run later in the day. My shoes now seem nicely broken in, we had a long run last weekend in the pouring rain.