Burn's Night

Robert Burns is the national poet of Scotland. He has a heritage trail in his memory, many a place named after him, and every year people celebrate him on his birthday, January 25th, by having a 'Burns Supper.' I think that traditionally its a men's only event, but have not been able to find anything that supports this other than a radio talk show. But either way its steeped in tradition with bag pipe players, poetry readings, whisky drinking, and as haggis was Burns' favorite dish (he even wrote a poem about haggis), the meal of the night is haggis, neeps and tatties. (Neeps = mashed turnips, tatties = mashed potatoes)

We bought eveything we could need for a Burns Supper, but had ours last night since we went to see Showcase Scotland on Thursday. Although we did stop at Wetherspoons and have haggis on Thursday before our night out. So last night we had a Scottish night. We started with Highland Oatcakes and Mike made a wonderful smoked mackeral pate to put on it. Then we cooked our haggis (it takes 2 hours!!), mashed our potatoes, but at the time we bought everything we thought neeps were parsnips (no idea why) and we didn't want to buy turnips too. So we had a tasty mashed potato, parsnip, and carrot concoction we found on all recipes. It was actually quite tasty. Mike had a glass of whisky and I passed. But he did make an whisky sauce to go on top of the haggis that was divine.

Now haggis is an interesting food. It sounds horrid when you read the ingredients, but its actually not all that bad. The one we bought did not come in a sheep's stomach (thank God for that) at all, butit was fairly large. Mike didn't know that when you cook the haggis, it expands quite a bit and when you cut it open the haggis "grows" even more. Needless to say, we didn't end up with a small haggis. We will probably have haggis all week long!

New Year's Eve and Gale Force Winds

Well, it seems like Mother Nature has ruined our plans yet again! First it was us seeing the Edinburgh castle (for free) because of the gale force winds. Now the New Year's celebration in George Square has been cancelled because of the gale force winds of 70 mph. The wind is whipping through the streets so forcefully that the lamp posts are moving quite a bit and the street barricades that had been set up for the celebrations were being blown around by the wind. We are bummed that the weather is so crappy because it sounded like it was going to be a great time with all the bands and entertainment throughout the night. But as we have been sick since Christmas with some sort of horrid cold, I suppose its for the best that the party has been cancelled!

A Scottish Ceilidh

Last night we attended our first Scottish Ceilidh (pronounced: kay-lay). I suppose it wasn't a true Scottish Ceilidh as it as a large group of International Students, but there WAS a Scottish band and they taught us how to dance a bunch of the traditional dances. It was held at St. Andrews in the Square, which is a spectacular venue. Whoever owns the place saved an old church from ruin by fixing it up and now its a music venue that can also be hired out. (Also, there is a GREAT cafe in the old basement.)

The band was wonderful and were really great about teaching everyone the dances. I was able to get up and dance one of them, with the International Director. Mike HATES to dance, so we were on the sidelines of the dance floor for the night. But, at least there was a fair amount of others that were doing the same thing. Two Scots crashed our party as well to promote their ceilidh later in the week. It was great! They showed up in full Scottish formal wear (kilt) and danced along with everyone else. It was a great night, but next time Mike has to dance!

Everyone trying to dance -- really with that many people on the dance floor (and after a few drinks) everyone just did their own thing yet still made the appearance of actually doing the dance... it was chaotic out there!

Because I am truly classy, Mike bought me a glass of wine for party instead of a beer. And in my own classy way, I spilled it within one minute all over the table and my sleeve. At least I only spilled a little bit!

Addendum: Mike would like me to point out that he DID volunteer to go out on the dance floor "if I really wanted to dance."

Our Un-Thanksgiving

Yesterday we were pretty bummed that everyone back home was having turkey, and we weren't. There is no way that we can fit a turkey in our oven, so we bought the next best thing. A chicken. And it was pre-stuffed! I am pretty sure that this is the first whole chicken I have EVER cooked of my own free will. Most of you know that I don't really like meat, and I especially don't like it when the thing I am eating looks like what it was before it ended up on plate. I much prefer the boneless, skinless variety of chicken. Much less guilt and thinking what its function was before it was food for me.
We were planning on making this same kind of chicken for Christmas, but I don't think that it would feed two men, and me. (our friend, Justin, is coming over for Christmas.) Any suggestions for possible alternatives?? Look at how small the wishbone is!!

Christmas Lighting

Our weekend trip to the Isle of Skye was wonderful. The weather was beautiful the entire weekend and we were able to see everything, even the Hebrides Islands, which are incredibly far away. It was rather amazing that the weather did hold out, since in the island is "The Misty Isle" and it was November in the Highlands. So, our first trip to an Isle and to the Highlands was a huge success. (I will post pictures tomorrow.)
We were able to get back in plenty of time to see the annual lighting of the Christmas lights in Glasgow. Unfortunately, while we did have excellent weather all weekend, it only lasted until our last official 'tourist stop.' Then it started raining, and raining, and raining. But, we didn't want to miss out on 'an experience of a lifetime.' So, we raced back to our apartment, dropped off our bag, and raced back down to George Square to see the lighting of the Christmas lights. We didn't get there with tons of time to spare, but with the rain it felt like FOREVER before the lights were lit. There was also a spectacular fireworks display. It was odd to us that it was the fireworks even went off, since it was raining and the wind was blowing -- in Michigan, they would have been cancelled for sure! By the time we got home, all but our feet were soaked, but the fireworks were spectacular and the Christmas lights were beautiful. It will be nice to have the streets all lit up and decorated for a while.

Bonfire Night

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder treason and plot
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot

Guy Fawkes teas this intent
to blow up king and parliament
three score barrels were laid below
To prove old England's overthrow.

By God's mercy he was catched
with a dark lantern and lighted match.
Holler boys, holler boys, let the bells ring
Holler boys, holler boys, God save the King
Today is Bonfire Night. Its celebrated throughout the UK due to the fact that Guy Fawkes was not successful in his attempt to bomb the Parliment Building all those years ago. It is called Bonfire Night because that is how he died -- burning by the stake. So, according to the ladies that I work with, children will make up scarecrows, called effigies, to represent Guy Fawkes and go around collecting money for the fireworks. Then these scarecrows will be tossed into the bonfire later on that night. Its a little morbid, but great fun too. Fireworks are set off throughout the UK to represent the gunpowder Guy Fawkes had hidden in the cellar of Parliment. Not every town has the bonfire, but the majority have fireworks. Glasgow unfortunately did not have a bonfire and there was no public burning, but it was still fun.

We headed down to Glasgow Green at about 4:30pm. We really didn't know what to expect. All we knew was that somethings started at 4pm, the 'pre-fireworks show' started at 6:30pm with the fireworks at 7:30pm (it is pretty dark by 5pm now.) There was a carnival with all the usual rides, but this one on the left was really unique to Scotland. It was a 'Krazy House' but looked like a country cottage. All the rest you could more than likely find in any carnival in any country around the world. But as Mike put it, the carnies here have way more teeth than those at home.

As we had gotten there quite a bit early, we decided to head back a couple of blocks to a bar/cafe that we had passed on the way in. It intrigued us because it is in the basement of an old church, St. Andrews in the Square, that has been restored and now is a cultural venue and bar/cafe. It was really interesting and the food they serve there is very Scottish. Most places here serve ethnic food and you can find more Indian restaurants than actual Scottish ones.

After a libation we headed back to Glasgow Green and staked out a site to see the fireworks. There were thousands of people in the designated area and it was standing room only. The fireworks show last about a half hour, and the start was weak. They had quite a variety of fireworks, but would only shoot off that particular kind all in a row. The finale was really pretty though and the show did last quite a while.

For Grandma

My Grandma VanderVoord made this beautiful dress about 57 years ago and wore it on her wedding day. Then 26 years ago my mother was able to wear it on her wedding day. For years I had wanted to wear it on my wedding day. I thought it would be so special to wear the same dress that both my mom and grandma had worn on their wedding days, but Grandma always said, "oh, you don't want to wear that old thing." Oh, course I did! But she claimed it would fall apart. While I didn't wear the dress on my wedding day, I was able to try it on with Grandma's original veil.
I did end up getting a new dress for the wedding, but Grandma picked it out. She was the one that pulled the dress off the rack and had me try it on. Thank-you Grandma!

A New Sister!

Well, after 23 years of waiting, I finally got a little sister. The weekend started with the Rehearsal Dinner. Which meant that at 5:30 that morning Uncle Jim, Mom, and I were out in the backyard grappling with a 130-pound pig, trying to get it on to the roaster. I am sure that it was quite the sight, but thankfully no one was there to witness that occasion. It wasn't so bad until I shined the light on the pig. BIG mistake. In my opinion, it was not worth it, but James and Stacey, and everyone else, thought it was tasty.

The Wedding was beautiful. And the Reception was great. A big group of us had to sabotage the car. We filled it with various inflatable animals and balls, including a 7-foot alligator, golf wiffle balls, little pink pigs, fake money for the Honeymoon, about 250 balloons and a Cosmo with tips for the Honeymoon. We shut all the doors and cracked one window so that we could stuff the car with even more balloons. It was great! James was smarter than Mike and I though, and took a pin from his boutonniere and popped all the balloons. Becky has some great pictures of it. If you click on the 'Flicker' link to the left I have some more. Thanks Lynn for helping me with that!!

Niagara

This past weekend Mike and I and a couple of friends headed to Niagara for a friend's wedding. After a LONG drive and an inquisition from the Canadian border patrol, we finally arrived at the hotel. Neither Mike nor I had been to the falls for quite some time, so it was fun to see them again. We did the "Journey Behind the Falls" tour, which was really neat.
The wedding was beautiful. It was at Niagara-on-the-Lake and you could even see Toronto across the lake. They were able to rent out a gazebo right on the lake and have a violinist for the music. It was very pretty. It was in a public park and we were amazed by the amount of people that would stop and watch the ceremony. Many stayed for the whole thing and there were even people video taping it. Shannon even and two girls ask to have their pictures taken with her.