But Officer, It’s Just Tea
Lockdown life is a drag huh? Well, not all the time. Sometimes it’s super fun, mindful and packed to the rafters with zen. But sometimes, it’s a drag. A real draaaaaaag. But there’s heaps of fun stuff you can do during lockdown that will keep you entertained. It’s just taken me 6 weeks to think of that stuff. I mean, I’ve done lots of cleaning, and DIY. But neither of those things involve alcohol. Well, not typically. Although, there was this one day… Anyway, so, I was looking for something a little boozier to put the wind in my feathers and I came up with the perfect plan for our Saturday; a Scottish Garden Brunch. To celebrate some of the wonderful small businesses we’ve been working with during this freaky-deeky time.
You don’t need to have a garden, you can do it in your shower for all I care. As long as it’s PG, this is a kids movie. Well, a big kids movie.
Encounter problem number 1: shopping for a Scottish Garden Brunch isn’t exactly counted as essential. And frozen pork chops and cauliflower cheese never really made for the perfect garden party. And I don’t recommend going food or booze shopping unless you absolutely need to, not just because of, well, y’ know, the global pandemic or anything (although that should be your first reason) but because of the queues. Queues everywhere. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
Which is why God gifted us with Google
God, the big bang, tech wizards in Silicon Valley, yadda yadda. Behold the power of the internet. We can now order absolutely everything we need for a mad hatter’s garden picnic directly from yon’ tinternet. Which means two things; 1. I got to go shopping for research purposes and 2. I’ve taken all the hard work out of you having to look. Such a good guy am I. So here are a heap of things that you couldn’t possibly do without when planning your completely ridiculous mad hatter’s garden picnic.
Tartan Comforts
Because not even I like grass in my cupcake… But where to go to find the perfect picnic blanket? And because I’m Scottish; where to go to find the perfect tartan picnic blanket? And because I like to be economical; where to go to find the perfect tartan picnic blanket that I can also use for other stuff because it’s only sunny 3 days out of the year in Scotland?
Through all my peculiarities, I found the exact folk. Enter, The Tartan Blanket Co. And through indirect research I found out that the tartan blanket I had my eyes (and thighs) on, was not only totally lush but made from recycled wool. See, you look for quality? You get sustainable. Happy days. Our Stewart Blue Tartan blanket got a home decor blog all of its own.
It’s in the bag
More specifically, a completely wild and overtly fabulous picnic bag which keeps the food and booze chilled. Ice cold. Cold as ice. Like the ice queen writing this. We spoke to the guys at Navigate Ltd and they were like, “girrrrrrrl, we got you.” Well, not in those exact words. Enter: completely wild, totally bonkers and just ridiculously efficient Madagascar 2 person backpack with detachable drinks (wine) cooler and utensils set from Beau and Elliot. Have you ever seen anything funkier? This is coming with us on all of our post-pandemic adventures. We just need a name for him. Suggestions pur-lease. Thanks Beau and Elliot and Navigate for the lovely gift!
In the Brownies
This isn’t your traditional Scottish garden brunch. If such a thing ever existed. This is an Aye Life Scottish garden brunch. And what do we have at our brunches? We have massive, oozy, gooey, chewy, King Louie brownies of dreams. And where do we get them? Well, The Herbivore Kitchen, naturally.
The Herbivore Kitchen does vegan brownies delivery; sweet-tooth boxes filled with cool and crazy vegan and gluten-free brownies that taste like heavens friends. They ain’t dull either. Their flavours are nuts. Literally. Peanut butter, amaretto, maple and pecan. Jeeez I am drooling. They also make lavender and sea salt brownies and heaps of other totally bonkers flavours.
The Booze
All aboard the booze cruise. Destination: the fence. Journey time: 42 seconds. No Scottish garden brunch would be quite right without the booze. You know? Booze for later in the day, when you’ve peed out all the tea and you need something just a little bit more classy. Enter: Biggar Gin. Wish I could say it was my first time trying Biggar Gin but that would be a lie. Biggar is a class gin, and right around the time I was searching for a Scottish brunch gin of life, along came Mr Postman with a cracker of a parcel. Not just the original Biggar, but the plum Biggar and the brand spanking new Navy Biggar. Just so much Biggar than me. If you’re not doing gin or whisky at your Scottish garden brunch, are you even?
The Scottish Scran
All the goodies we nibbled on at our Scottish garden brunch were from Scottish businesses. At a time like this, it’s better to look closer to home, and Scottish stuff is usually nicer (biased much?) We tucked into strawberries from Castleton Farm with Blueberry Rora Dairy yoghurt (one of my faves), Mackies of Scotland crisps and brownies all the way from Edinburgh. We washed all that down with irn-bru (Aye 2.0 was a touch hungover from the night previous), 12-year-old Glenmorangie (the reason he was hungover), and Navy Strength Biggar Gin and tonic. This is how we do Saturdays.
Scottish Garden Brunch
If you find yourself going cuckoo crazy during the lockdown, don’t worry, we’re all mad here. Why not plan a fun wee garden brunch of your own?
**Some of the products in this post were gifted to the blog or from clients at The Aye Agency but as always, all opinions are mine. Mine, mine, mine**
