Saturday, January 30, 2010

address to a haggis

burns night
Aye, 'tis Burns Night agin. A few of my friends have been gathering to toast the bard, Robbie Burns, for several years. We aren't true scotchophiles, it's just an excuse to get together for a mid-winter meal. Tonight my dinner contribution is the salad. I am sure those were few and far between in the Scotland of Burn's time. An improvised offering of greens with candied pepper pecans and a maple-whiskey dressing will have to suffice. Up your kilt! Scots Wahey!

5 comments:

Big Shamu said...

Where's the Haggis?

MLou said...

Big Shamu, the dinner was a shared affair and the host was in charge of the elusive haggis and was not available for the photo shoot. The full menu was Lamb Stew, Neeps and Tatties, regular haggis, veggie haggis followed up with shortbreads, scottish toffees and lashings of scotch.

Big Shamu said...

I could google but it's more fun to ask....what's neeps and tatties? What is veggie haggis encased in?

Sounds like a fun time. Did you recite the Ode?

MLou said...

Big Shamu, neeps and tatties is turnips and potatoes. We shun the synthetic sheep stomach and do the open faced veggie haggis. We used to do the whole Burns Dinner Ritual from the Address to the Haggis to the Toast to the Lassies, lots of poetry and if there was enough scotch, singing of Auld Lang Syne. We got burnt out on writing original toasts every year and now we are lucky is we squeeze in the Selkirk Grace before we hit the chow.

rachel said...

I'm waiting for Big Shamu to ask "What's the Selkirk Grace?" next. And probably best not to know what synthetic casings are made of.....