Tipping in
general in the UK is not the custom the way it is in the USA. Usually it’s automatically
added into the price of your meal, and if not, 10% is customary. Which is probably why we often end
up with servers who take ages to take our order, are never around for refill requests,
and are not in any kind of hurry to bring you your bill. It’s also part of the culture
here to spend at least 2 hours at dinner, so we’ve had to get used to not
getting in and out of a meal very quickly.
Well, that being said, Rustico’s
seems to be the exception. The wait staff are welcoming, courteous, and
attentive, and usually within 10 minutes of ordering, you’re eating your dinner,
which earns them a whopping 15% tip from us. And even better than the food and the
service, was the company and conversation. As per usual, the girls occupied one
end of the table, while the boys talked shop on the other end. It’s so nice not
to have to smile and nod during engineering conversations. Yawn. (Except for when Jonathan talks about engineering of course. Then it's all super fascinating. Smile and nod.)
After a satisfying
Italian feast, we headed to BrewDog to try some of their brews. I was
instantly impressed with the hipster bar vibe when we walked through the doors.
They had a wide selection of beers on tap, and several more eclectic brews in
bottles. They also make beer cocktails which mixes their beers with liquors for
a tasty beer substitute. When I googled BrewDog online, I discovered that of
the top 20 beers in Scotland, they occupy 13 of the rankings. I may have found my new favorite bar...
After a few
drinks at BrewDog, our group decided to do some pub crawling and went in search
of a quieter space and some imported beer.
Weird cultural observation:
inhabitants of the British Isles love Coors Light. We noticed the same thing in
Ireland. Now, stateside I wouldn’t be caught dead drinking a Coors, but for
some reason the Taste of the Rockies tastes much better here in the UK.
 |
| Who says you can't get a sunburn in Scotland? |
Since the
night was fairly warm by Scottish standards, we ended up even enjoying some
time out on the patio, so my night out on Friday really hit the spot for curing
some of my recent homesickness.
Due to our late night festivities, we ended up
having a gloriously lazy Saturday. Usually Jonathan and I’s weekends are full
of running errands, traveling, or heading out to explore Scotland.
It was kind
of nice to nap, catch up on Big Brother, see a movie with friends, go out for
burgers and hit the sack early. And we needed plenty of rest because I accidentally
double booked us for Sunday plans. In my defense, Jonathan told me that his
company bar-b-que was on Saturday, so when we were invited to brunch just south
of Stonehaven for late Sunday morning, I thought our schedule was wide open.
And since brunch is my most favorite meal and I also have a weakness for the Scottish
coastline, I of course committed us to attend.
It wasn’t until Thursday that
Jonathan informed me that the company event was actually on Sunday, and
therefore our commitments were overlapping quite a bit. No big deal. If Jonathan and
I are good at anything, it’s eating. We just put on our elastic waist pants and
dealt with the consequences of our scheduling error.
Brunch was in a small
coastal town called Catterline, and the scenery leading to the award winning Creel Inn restaurant was,
as always, spectacular.
The food was delicious, and the sticky gingerbread pudding (!!) for dessert
knocked my socks off.
It was honestly the best part of my already spectacular
weekend. But as soon as I enjoyed my last bite of pudding, Jon and I left our
cash on the table and headed straight to the bar-b-que. Since we already pre-paid
30 pounds to eat at the all you can eat buffet, Jonathan had no choice but to
fix himself a big ole plate. I didn’t want to cleanse my pallet of the sticky gingerbread
goodness just yet, so instead I opted for some cider over ice which I enjoyed
in the Scottish sunshine.
Since the company hired a steel drum band, and the party was held on a large and grassy Scottish estate, it was
easy to imagine that we were on some tropical Island, enjoying a cold drink and
a cool breeze. Until the breeze turned into a gust, and then our pleasant afternoon
outdoors was somewhat tarnished.
We stuck it out like true Scots however, and
spent the rest of the afternoon chatting with friends and freezing our tails
off.
Sorry that I didn't have that many lovely photos to share with you from this weekend, but I do have many lovely memories, which I prefer to pictures anyway.
Sorry that I didn't have that many lovely photos to share with you from this weekend, but I do have many lovely memories, which I prefer to pictures anyway.
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