Burns Night

Tonight is Burns night and generally speaking me and Robin always do something for it. Either some 'Neeps and Tatties' or some Whisky (Ok, always Whisky - Neeps are optional) and reciting/listening to a bit of Burns. It's a weird thing because neither of us is Scottish but we've done this since long before we moved here - I don't know why and can't even remember when we started.

Being English makes reciting Burns a bit of an embarrasement, so listening to recitals is better. You either need to be scottish or be able to pull of a damn good accent to read it. I have tried out my scottish accent on people here and i'm told I sound like an english person doing a really bad scottish accent.



Neeps and Tatties are just swedes and potatoes mashed up with plenty of butter and salt. Haggis is the usual (some might say neccesary) food to go with them, but being a vegetarian is a cruel thing on Burns night. Instead I have to resort to Vegetarian Haggis (It does exist!) or maybe load up on dessert. Speaking of which, a lovely scottish dessert (normally made in the summer but what the hey):

Cranachan with raspberries

Ingredients
250ml/½ pint fresh double cream
1 tbsp thick heather honey.
1 generous tbsp of Talisker whisky
1 heaped tbsp of toasted oatmeal
2 punnets rasberries

Method
1. Whisk the cream together with the honey and whisky.
2. Fold in the toasted oatmeal.
3. Pile on top of fresh raspberries and serve.

So that's probably what we'll be doing tonight. My favourite poem by Robbie is currently 'To a Louse' which is about robbie sitting in church and watching a louse weedling around in a fine lady's bonnet, it's a hilarious poem when you eventually fathom what it's saying. It gets all philosophical in the last verse

"O wad some Power the gift tae gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
An foolish notion"

Amen to that!