Burns Night
This is the anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns in Ayr, Scotland. The Burns Night celebrations conducted by Scots all over the world with haggis, whisky¹, and poetry.
Wikipedia has a description of the standard celebration, but easy on the malt or you may end up with a William McGonagall morning.
In honor of the occasion a bit of Robby Burns for the Democratic “leadership”:
The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain
For promis’d joy!To a Mouse
1. This is the correct spelling when referring to Scotland’s “water of life”.
7 comments
“… gang aft agley”
Aye, that it does!
My father used to read Bobby Burns to the family. I can’t vouch for his accent, but it sounded grand. He also introduced me to the whisky [sic]. And it’s possible he chose my middle name.
You’d think someone with the middle name “Scott” would be more enthusiastic about any occasion for a Scots feast. But I am never able to abide what Scotty on Star Trek always swore on: “me grandmither’s haggis.” Some things don’t translate well for vegetarians… 😉
“sheep innards stuffed with oatmeal” doesn’t translate well for anybody.
The ‘Great Pudding’ requires a lot of faith to enjoy, more faith than I ever had, even without the pressure of being a vegetarian. I love oatmeal and oatmeal cookies with raisins, so I’m not comfortable with having it contaminated with the bits that belong in cat/dog food or the compost heap. I would only willingly eat it in a survival situation.
oatmeal cookies, yum! (but only if you leave the raisins out)
other than that, I’m not a fan of oatmeal, sheep innards or no.
Leave out the golden raisins soaked in white wine? Surely you jest…
golden raisins soaked in white wine? hmmm… I could perhaps rethink my definition of oatmeal cookies for that….
You have to ‘plump’ raisins before cooking them or they become like pebbles in the cookies, etc. Many a scone has been tossed for hard raisins. Wine is the ‘natural’ choice for the task of mildly rehydrating the fruit. Obviously the alcohol is lost in the baking, but the added flavor is left behind.