So last night Ann and I attended a Burns supper, which is a supper celebrating the life and work of Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns. There’s a variety of toasts given and lots of dancing (both traditional Scottish dances, and modern dancing), and lots of Burns’ poetry is read.
Before dinner starts a haggis is brought in on a silver platter, escorted by a piper, and set in the center of the room. Then Burns’ Address to a Haggis is read. The poem, like many of Burns’ work is sarcastic and, when performed correctly, pretty dramatic and over the top… After the poem is read, haggis is served all around. In the case of last night with only one haggis and a couple hundred people it was only tasting sample… but I’ve got some news… I loved it! For those of you who aren’t entirely sure what haggis is…
hag·gis (hÄg’Äs)
n. A Scottish dish consisting of a mixture of the minced heart, lungs, and liver of a sheep or calf mixed with suet, onions, oatmeal, and seasonings and boiled in the stomach of the slaughtered animal.
Actually, there were no lungs in it, since it’s apparently illegal to sell animal lungs in the U.S. for human consumption, and the stomach is similar to the casing of sausage, except that you don’t eat it. At any rate, it was good! Ann didn’t mind the taste, but wasn’t wild about the texture… which I thought was close to canned corned beef.
After dinner the toasts, entertainment and dancing continued. Ann and I even met someone that I might actually be related to. All in all it was a lot of fun. The best part of it was that I found a way to take Ann out to something semi fancy where we got a little dressed up (Ann looked stunning!) and went dancing. She was the best looking pregnant lady ever, and we had a great time with each other.
22/01/2007 at 9:15 am Permalink
I”m so glad you guys had an awesome time but, dude, the haggis sounds simply awful! Go Bears!!