Scotland was definitely my favorite part of the entire trip. Granted, we did spend most of our time of Scotland in the countryside, which I much prefer to cities; but Scotland had the most variability in terrain, the weather was beautiful, there were waterfalls EVERYWHERE, everything was so lush and green, and above all it had the perfect climate for cultivating my favorite green: MOSS. Also, there were the heeland coos (highland cows) that I spent much of my time trying to take pictures of. They are the most adorable things- like little fuzzy bears. And they stick their tongues in their noses. How could you not love something that picks its nose with its tongue. I kept making my boyfriend try to catch a pictures of them licking their noses but they would do it so quickly and randomly, it was hard to snap in time. I finally gave up and bought a postcard of it licking it’s nose. =) He did manage to get the the picture above. Isn’t she adorable?

The first place we stayed at was the Monachyle Mohr. The hotel is situated in the Trossachs National Park, next to two lochs. It’s in a very secluded place and took about 20 minutes driving on a small one lane road. The little road twisted through green forests with moss covered trees. Throughout Scotland, there were trees that had fallen over and taken huge chunks of ground with it. We would see big fallen trees that had about 7 or 8 foot circular disks of dirt clinging to the roots.

It was lovely weather when we arrived at Monachyle Mhor, it was overcast and it would sprinkle occasionally but it wasn’t cold. There was a black lab playing by itself in the yard. My boyfriend whistled to it and it ran over, super happy. She ended up taking us for a walk and making us throw sticks for her to fetch (though when she got it, she would just chew on it without giving it back). We found out later she was a resident dog, named Midnight and was sooooo sweet.

We had dinner at the restaurant that night, which was quite good. We had an amuse bouche of Cesaer Salad, Spring Rolls and Salmon Roll. They tasted very Asian-inspired and the Cesaer Salad was served in a little endive leaf.

We both chose the Kyle of Tongue Oyster with Spiced lemon and shallot topping for our first course. It was a very flavorful oyster that had the sweet sea taste and a long lingering aftertaste.

For our appetizers, my boyfriend had the Seared fillet John Dory with Braised Savoy cabbage and smoked bacon, finished with a light thyme jus and I had the Foie Gras Ballontine with White asparagus, toasted hazelnut dressing, and a truffled vinaigrette.

The Demitasse of Roasted vegetable soup topped with basil pesto followed. The soup was very nutty. The vegetables were pureed into a thick flavorful soup and the pesto gave it soup a very nice nutty flavor and extra body.

For my main course, I had the Fillet of Pork with roasted veal sweetbread, artichoke puree and a radish and caper dressing and morel jus. When the dish came out, the pork was raw. Not just raw like slightly pink raw but raw like beef carpaccio raw. All my life I’ve been told that pork and chicken have to be cooked well done. I asked the server whether it was meant to be raw and whether it was safe to eat and she said it was meant to be raw and if I wanted they could cook it further. She said in th UK, only chicken had to be cooked well done. I guess anything can be eaten raw. In Chinese cuisine, chicken is ok to eat medium rare. Anyway, I decided to keep it the way it was intended and was rewarded with the best pork I’ve ever had. It was soooooo soft and tender, unlike the pork we get in the U.S. that is often overcooked, dry and chewy, which as a result, makes me not care for pork. This pork was flavorful, slightly sweet and very meaty.

My boyfriend had the Roasted Breast of Gressingham duck, Roasted fig and balsamic onion tart, butternut squash puree and steamed greens in its own juices. The duck was also amazing. Usually, duck has a bit of gaminess to it, almost like organs but this one, cooked medium rare was tender and had none of the gaminess. It was one of the best ducks for both me and my boyfriend. I know you’re probably thinking, there’s been a lot of bests on this trip and how reliable can her opinion actually be if everything she has is the new best; But it’s true, there were a lot of bests on this trip and I wouldn’t say it if it weren’t true.

For dessert we ordered the Dark chocolate and tonka bean Pave with Blair Drummond strawberries in their own coulis, strawberry ice cream and the Hot d’Agen prune souffle with vanilla ice cream. And I can say, this definitely wasn’t a best. The dark chocolate pave was a little too rich and we didn’t finish it. The souffle was ok but I hold my souffle standard to that of Gary Danko‘s souffle, which in my opinion is the best souffle!

From Monachyle Mhor, we drove to the Isle of Skye, which was the most beautiful drive. In retrospect, I think Scotland is one of the most beautiful places I’ve been. We passed through so many different terrains from the green mountainous roads of the Highlands to the waterfronts of Fort William to the Loch filled ocean side of Isle of Skye. The pictures really don’t do it justice as it is so much more majestic in person. Throughout the highlands, the melted snow from the mountain tops would stream down in small waterfalls all over the mountainsides.

In Isle of Skye, we stayed in Staffin at the Glenview Hotel, which is actually a b&b and not a hotel as the name suggests. The hotel was small and clean and was a no frills type of place but the couple that owned the place were very friendly and helpful and have the most adorable baby. From the hotel, there is a trail that takes you down to the beach which is very beautiful from afar but is actually very littered once you get up close.

The lady at the hotel told us about these fairy pools. I have no idea what fairy pools are but she had pictures at the hotel so I wanted to go find them. We ended up going to the Armadale and once we got there didn’t know which way to go to find them. We had parked next to the castle ruins and decided to wander into the gardens as no one was collecting admission at the time. =) The gardens were very well kept and had so many different types of flora and fauna. What I loved was that they allow for nature to take its course in Scotland. Even in a very well manicured garden, they left fallen trees as they were, allowing the moss to grow on its sides and the castle ruins were overgrown with plants and had the look of an abandoned castle ruin. It made for a beautiful contrast.

There was a wedding happening while we were there so we sat down on a bench and watched as the wedding party, led by a bag pipe player paraded past us.

Scotland has moss galore! I was in heaven! There were big giant globs of moss all over the place. Some of them covered entire walls in green velvety carpeting. To my boyfriend irritation, I decided to start a mossery on the dash of the car. I would sneak in clumps of moss when he wasn’t looking. =)

The last night we stayed at the most beautiful hotel, the Prestonfield Hotel, a old converted manor house built in the 1600s. There were peacocks that roamed the grounds and there was a small putting green and croquet area in front. Behind the hotel was also a full golf course. The hotel was all decked out in velvets of all different colors. I normally don’t like velvet or the gaudiness of the old world style but it was done it such beautiful and luxurious way that I just wanted to stay there forever. We ended up spending our whole day there because it was so nice and relaxing and because we were tired. My boyfriend was also extremely stressed because earlier that morning we had gone to gas station and he realized hours later that he had forgotten to pay! It was a huge ordeal and he was afraid he would go to Scottish jail and such. Luckily, the hotel ended up handling everything for us. (I love nice hotels!) They found the gas station for us (based only on the information that it was outside of Pitlochry and had a green sign), contacted them, gave them our credit card information, and made sure the police were informed and we were taken off the “bad list”. They forwarded the gas station attendant to our room, who were surprisingly nice and understanding about it. They said it happened at least once a week and thanked us for calling back to pay.