Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head....and my foot and my restaurant.

A summer shower in the Highlands with Mr Howie.

Stomping the streets 365 days a year I have to confess the weather in Scotland can get up the nose of us locals so it is with nothing other than shock I report our lovely visitors love this awful weather. 

Well not all of them but honestly a huge number  do.

From the moment we open the restaurant doors in Edinburgh we stand watching and waiting as guests come in, drop their brollies, peel off  wet sodden jackets, step out of waterlogged allegedly waterproof over trousers revealing wisps of humid steam rising from their damp clothes below.

We often start our conversation by apologising profusely for our awful Scottish summer weather expecting an eye roll and a resigned and grumpy wet grunt in response.

But far from it. I promise you the response is generally a big cheesy grin.

“This weather?’ they nod to the  direction of the wind, whipping,  gales rain battering the doors outside, ‘Why we just love it!’

‘Love it?’ Stunned stare ‘ I’m sorry,  did you just say love it?’  

‘Yes ma’am’ they beam  ‘we LOVE IT’

On seeing the confused expression on the staffs face they go on

‘We come from a part of the world where the earth is parched, the humidity crushes your will to go on, and we must spend every hour of daylight exclusively in air conditioned malls’

‘Oh. Ok. Well I never thought about it like that.  Great! Well, welcome to Edinburgh. Now table for how many? ‘

And on we go.

Everyone happy.

Ok we are shocked

But they are happy.

And that’s the main thing.

So of course  this explains why December or July Cullen Skink is our all time year long, biggest seller – a creamy smoky traditional fish chowder the story of which I will write on this blog next– to warm them up. They order it.  Love it and so the world goes round.

We are soup dragons at Howies this is a seafood bisque'll  warm the cockles of your heart.

So as Scots in wellies in June heading for July we have vowed to step back (avoiding that puddle) and appreciate what we have.

It may be wild, wet, windy, wooly and winterish in summer –but it’s clean, fresh, refreshing, unpredictable and well……it could be a lot worse.

OK we are off to chant this under a pyramid and one day hopefully we will believe it. 

Killer Joe - here we go! 20th June 2012!

Lets hope Matthew pops into Howies for some Cullen Skink to keep his
torso cosy on an wild Edinburgh evening.

The Edinburgh International Film Festival kicks off tonight and Howies, as supporters of the event  received tickets for the opening film and after party.  Yeah!
So what to do with the tickets?
Well the decision was easy.
The hardest working people any restaurant are the manager and the head chef.
So.....tonight's the night.
High heels - for the girls.
Dapper duds for the boys.

Emile Hirsch expected at Howies for lunch
in my dreams.

The Howies team are out there dressed to kill...rubbing shoulders with the Hollywood elite aka Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch from Into The Wild & Milk and Juno Temple delightful English actor amongst others.
And our lot no doubt whilst surrounded by the glamorous humans of la la land will be suitably impressed but in reality paying a lot more attention to the observation and consumption of canapes so they can dissect them at a later date.

They have promised to send us back at base photos and stories from behind the scenes..but we've all been there done that, you know the sketch,  you get dressed up , get your slap on, wander along the red carpet and then - suddenly it's 3am and you've turned into a pumpkin. So there may not be any chat but nonetheless they deserve a big glamorous night out more than most.

This is not the actual shoe - we were not allowed near enough the actual shoe to take a photo....I will keep trying....

I won't tell their names but if you see a woman with 7 inch green velvety platforms then chances are you might well have just spotted one of the team.

Enjoy!

Ready, steady......what no booze? Yikes!

So leaflets are laid out and the wee legs will be stomping the streets tomorrow handing them out...we will report back....meanwhile here's few photos of how Howies Waterloo was looking at midnight last night as customers were finishing up and we started to Jubilee it up.

Well what a great idea we had to give away lots and lots of boozy cocktails for the Jubilee on Monday 5th and Tuesday 5th June we thought until we realised the liquid of all things Jubilee - aka Pimms - the quintessentially English booze - has all but ceased to exist as everyone in Edinburgh and Aberdeen seem to have snorkelled up all the bottles.

Our drinks suppliers weren't due in so I got online and found the cheapest place to get Pimms and delivered to the door of the restaurant and fast was Tescos.

As a small independent restaurant we don't like going to multinational giant companies but on this occasion it was that or disappoint the hoards of diners who we are expecting on Monday and Tuesday to gargle our delicious British Summer Cocktail. So I ordered 27 bottles. In fact to be accurate 27 litres. And relaxed. Well relaxed as much as you can in this business.

So cut to Friday when the restaurant phoned to say yes Tescos had delivered the Pimms. The grand total of 7 bottles. Talk about that sinking feeling. What? Yup they just put a note in saying no more available.
Blood pressure rising.
3 restaurants a two day holiday extravaganza and no Pimms - well just enough to get me through the day the way this day was going so far so what next?
Well I got on Shank's pony and stomped the streets of Edinburgh. In and out of every likely looking retailer of Pimms and finally almost resigned to failure I spotted Oddbins and sauntered in there. Well thank the Lord I did, I was met by a charming helpful guy who told me he had completely sold out but rather than admit defeat promptly got online to the rest of his network of shops sorted me out there and then for all the Pimms available in the city and made it all so easy I nearly asked him to crack a bottle open then and there and drink it with me!

So the Pimms is onboard, the bunting is up, the flags are flying, Howies Jubilee two day cocktail extravaganza is ready to roll.....so...
Fresh Mint? Check.
Cucumber, strawberry, orange? Check.
Pimms ? Check
Lemonade or ginger ale? Check to both.
Fresh fruit to chop up bobble around in it? Check.
The secret ingredient? Check!

Now all we need is you!
Howies Waterloo. Howies Victoria and Howies Aberdeen - a big juicy cocktail if you eat with us over the next two days. £8.95 for a 2 course lunch. £14.95 2 course early dinner and mains from £6.95 - can't be bad,