banana freckles: England + Scotland + Ireland

My boyfriend and I recently took a trip to the UK - England, Scotland and Ireland. In the two weeks we were there, we traveled from London to Liverpool to York to Edinburgh, then across the water to Dublin and the West coast of Ireland. The UK is a lovely place to visit - lots of lively music, beautiful landscapes, and of course, delicious food and beer!

Here are some highlights of our trip:

Sunday Afternoon roast dinner at Toby Carvery in South Croydon (outside of London). Yorkshire pudding, ham, gambon, turkey, roast beef, roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, peas, carrots, broccoli, swede, stuffing, cauliflower, turnips... all washed down with a pint of London's Pride.

Thai food at the Travel Joy Hostel in London.

Bold Street Coffee in Liverpool. http://www.boldstreetcoffee.co.uk/

Lunch at the Bistro Franc in Liverpool. http://www.bistrofranc.com/

Dinner at the Egg in Liverpool - an all vegetarian restaurant! http://www.eggcafe.co.uk/

Cornish Pasty! They have pasty shops at all the train stations in the UK - it's hard to walk by one and resist the temptation.... if only they had pie shops here in Canada!

High Tea the the Earl Grey Tea Rooms in York. http://www.earlgreytearooms.co.uk/

We each got a three tier assortment of cucumber sandwiches, cranberry scones with clotted cream and raspberry jam, and cake! All accompaigned with a hot cup of black tea.

Rekorderlig Cider in Edinburgh.

Lovecrumbs in Edinburgh. http://www.lovecrumbs.co.uk/ I absolutely loved this cafe - everything about it is perfectly dainty and sweet. The decor is very antique, with a beautiful old wood wardrobe that holds the cakes, and old vintage tables and chairs (they even have a piano that they use as a table for customers as well!). This cafe is owned by two women - one does all the barista-ing and one does all the baking. The baking is fantastic - I tried out one of the cheese scones, while Thomas had a brownie and a slice of cake!