Burns and Haggis!

I've heard of haggis.  Derided as the most foul of foodstuffs, and something only the most pitiful creatures could tolerate, haggis is a mixture of oats, lamb lung, liver, and spices that is stuffed into a sheep's stomach and then boiled.  And now can we understand its reputation?  Perhaps...

In any case, Friday the 25th was Burns night... a celebration of Robert Burns's birthday.  Apparently, the man loved the stuff, so obviously one must eat haggis in order to celebrate properly.  Not only did he eat it, but he wrote about it -- an entire ode!  A proper feast includes processing into the dining room with the haggis (accompanied by bagpipe music, of course) and then a reading of the poem.

While Chris busied himself with preparing a huge repast, I took care of the entertainment by finding bagpipe music (thank you, Youtube!) and the ode.  Since I knew I would make a complete hash of the accent on the ode, I deferred to Chris  -- who likewise made a hash of it, but less of one than I would have!  In the interest of eating our dinner hot, we only put up with a few stanzas of his silliness.

Yes, we had tatties! And neeps!  And cabbage!  Yum.  Chris had scotch, which I declined... The haggis?  Well, honestly, it was sort-of okay.  Unfortunately it had a flavor of something that I think was the liver, but could have been a spice that was rather strong (couldn't quite identify it) and after a while I'd had enough.  So I passed off the rest of mine to Paula, who received it with glee.  So, you see, some otherwise quite normal people actually do eat haggis!

Oh, and happy birthday to Robbie Burns!

Love,

Alexandra