Hello chums, as previously mentioned I've been in Belfast/Bushmills for the last few days staying with a friend from uni and his adorable Pug called Bear.
If you've not visited Belfast before and are wondering if it's vegan friendly, the answer is a big fat yes. On Friday night we went to a restaurant called 'Home' which was as cosy as you'd expect and had a rather extensive wine/cocktail/alcohol in general menu. This isn't the only reason you'd go but I just thought it was worth mentioning. The vegan selection isn't huge but they do make real effort with the available options, such as salt and chilli fried tofu with veganaise (which was yuuum) and all their vegan options you can have small or large. I went for two small portions, one of which was the aforementioned tofu and the other was bombay potatoes which were also delicious. Their presentation is wonderful and my friend had the whipped goats cheese salad which came out looking like the Sydney Opera House - no joke - but I was naughty and took no photos as we were both really hungry.
From there we went and dumped our things at the hotel, got changed and headed out to a bar called Muriels which is a completely fabulous gin bar draped in lingerie with a whole host of jazzy cocktails on offer. Again, no photos to show. This time it was due to the jam jar cocktails. Oopsie.
The next day we went to a place called Slim's for some breakfast smoothies and I had a banana and peanut butter protein shake and Cliff had a blueberry Amino slushie. Everything they do is healthy super-food based and also really delicious. We only visited their express shop and not the proper cafe so the menu was slightly limited but the food did look really great.
Then on to lunch - if there's one thing London isn't short of it's places to get burritos, but I've never been somewhere quite like Boojum. The vegan option is to pile as much rice, veg and assorted beans into a box or wrap as possible and coat it in guacamole and fresh salsa and my god does it work. Above is the naked burrito I went for which was absolutely rammed full - I couldn't finish it and had to take some away which is just as well as I was getting tattooed shortly after and anyone that has been through it knows how hungry you can get after. Boojum have a couple of shops around Belfast so look out for one if you're ever there.
Now on to my lovely new tattoo. We went to Cliff's standing tattoo artist (Janine Triskele at Ink Belfast) and she was absolutely wonderful; a real salt of the earth type that is obviously very talented at what she does with a wicked sense of humour. Me and Cliff got matching Elephant tattoos that we designed between us (so please no copying, it's a tattoo that means a lot to both of us on a personal level) (but if you want something similar I may be inclined to design you something. Maybe. If you ask nicely.) Say hello to Atticus Finch.
Designed by myself and Cliff Carter, tattooed by Janine Triskele.
On Sunday morning we were awoken incredibly early by Bear so we went for a walk along the Giant's Causeway before the visitor centre opened and we would have to pay (it opens at 9am FYI so if you're feeling thrifty go before then) and it was such a lovely sunny morning so the views were fantastic. If you often find yourself in awe at what nature can do then definitely give it a visit. It's mind blowing what our planet is capable of.
We went for the tour around the Bushmills distillery on Sunday afternoon and as a big whiskey fan this was amazing, the smell was so delicious and it was really interesting to boot. We also visited a few of the sites for Game of Thrones as they're all within about 20 minutes of where Cliff lives, but after this we were lazy and I spent a lot of time cuddling his dog.
This has been a long one and I apologise but we fit quite a lot in in one weekend and what sort of blogger would I be if I didn't tell you exactly what I did? I'll leave you on a high note with a picture of the beautiful and very regal looking Bear.
Listening to: Famous - Kanye West
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