25 March - spicy goats cheese

With my flight not until late afternoon, I was rather at a loose end today. I'd completely run out of steam and spent the morning milling around the city, not quite sure what to do with myself. I'd decided to have a long lunch before I headed to the airport, but feeling a bit uninspired, I wandered round and round, not sure what I was in the mood for. I was just starting to get fed up when I came across Tron Bar and Kitchen - the cafe part of a theatre, tucked down a little side street. As soon as I walked past, I knew it was just the place I was looking for - light and airy, friendly but not too noisy. It was a short menu, but I had no trouble settling on Cajun goats cheese crostini with some chips on the side. It was a big slice of goats cheese in a spicy cajun coating melted in a bit of toast and served on some (non-rocket!) salad. Followed by a good pot of tea, I was able to sit for an hour plus watching the world go by until it was time to go and find the airport bus and say goodby to Glasgow.

24 March - a rubbish salad and spicy Asian beef

Conference over, I stayed on in Glasgow to spend the day with a friend who came down from Perth to meet up. The weather was glorious and we had a lovely day mooching about, chatting and exploring the city a bit. It was just about warm enough to eat lunch outside, so we grabbed a table at Cafe Rouge. It was a great spot, but sadly my butternut squash and red pepper salad turned out to be a huge plate of rocket with just a tiny sprinkling of the main ingredients on top - really disappointing! It was a good job I'd ordered some chips on the side to keep me going.

At the end of the day, we found ourselves over in the West End, so we went into Soba, a noodle bar, which I think had been mentioned earlier in the week. We arrived quite early and it looked fairly quiet, but was apparently already fully booked - a good sign! They did find room for us to eat in the bar next door though, which was a bit noisier, but still a cool spot. I had some really delicious Foshan Five Spiced Beef - strips of beef in a lovely spicy sauce with mushrooms and greens. A great end to a grand day out.

22 March - microwave curry

Today's been another fairly full-on day. I was giving a presentation this morning, then just grabbed a jacket potato for lunch. By the time I left the conference around 6.30, I was absolutely shattered so was quite happy to just head back to the apartment for an evening in and an early night. I didn't have the energy to think very far about supper, so I popped into M&S again and picked up another microwave meal - this time a chicken curry. It wasn't bad with a glass of wine, although the whole apartment now smells of it!

20 March - a skinny burger and a long evening

It was the first day of the conference today and after a morning of sessions and meetings, I realised that I had two publishers' "do's" to go to in the evening and decided to take a tactical afternoon break. Typical conference evening do's tend to involve drinks and a few tiny nibbles, so I used my break to have a good solid lunch to carry me through the rest of the day. The conference centre food options were pretty limited so I headed back into Glasgow city centre and just went for one of the first restaurants I came across - Darcy's in the Prince's Square shopping centre. I went for a "skinny burger" - not as healthy as it sounds, just a burger served without a bun, perfect for me as I never eat the bun anyway. It came with chips and salad and I had a side order of beetroot and humus to go with it. The burger was a little bit 'plastic' and unexciting, but the chips were good and the beetroot (roast with thyme, I think) was really delicious. So all round it did the job pretty well. I'd arrived fairly late and by the time I'd finished, it was getting on for 3pm, by which time it seemed that most of the staff had knocked off!! I'd intended to follow up with a coffee, but after nearly 20 mins of trying to get someone's attention, I gave up and had to go up to the bar to ask for my bill - needless to say, I didn't leave a tip!

As predicted, my evening of schmoozing involved drinks but little in the way of nibbles, so I was glad I'd stocked up earlier. By the time I headed back to the apartment around midnight, it was too late to think about eating, but I did pick up some eggs from a late-night corner shop ready for a decent breakfast to satisfy my grumbling stomach when I woke up!

19 March - in Glasgow

I flew up to Glasgow today for a week at a work conference. I'm staying in a serviced apartment in the city centre - it's not quite as cool as the flat I had in Brighton last year, but it's not bad with everything I need, including a little kitchenette.

I arrived after 6 to wind and rain, so I only ventured round the corner to M&S food to stock up on a few bits for breakfast, along with some microwave Chinese and a bottle of wine. Quiet evening unpacking and getting ready for a busy week ahead.