My brother, Peter celebrates his 39th birthday today. January 25th is an important day throughout Scotland, with many Scots commemorating the 251st birthday of Robbie Burns. Robbie Burns was an 18th Century Scottish poet and lyricist, who died at age 37 in 1796. Peter, Rachel and friends celebrated on Saturday evening in true Burns style with traditional haggis, tatties, neeps and the men even wore kilts!
Haggis: is made from sheep's offal (or pluck). The windpipe, lungs, heart and liver of the sheep are boiled and then minced. This is mixed with beef suet and lightly toasted oatmeal. This mixture is placed inside the sheep's stomach, which is sewn closed. The resulting haggis is traditionally cooked by further boiling (for up to three hours) although the part-cooked haggis can be cooked in the oven which prevents the risk of bursting and spoiling.
Haggis: is made from sheep's offal (or pluck). The windpipe, lungs, heart and liver of the sheep are boiled and then minced. This is mixed with beef suet and lightly toasted oatmeal. This mixture is placed inside the sheep's stomach, which is sewn closed. The resulting haggis is traditionally cooked by further boiling (for up to three hours) although the part-cooked haggis can be cooked in the oven which prevents the risk of bursting and spoiling.
See photo of a haggis: http://londoncityairport.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/haggis.jpg
Tatties: mashed potato
Neeps: swede/turnip
The whole evening was completed with a Scottish friend reciting "Address to a haggis" a poem written by Robbie Burns.
Others born on 25th January:
Alicia Keys, singer,
Robinho, Brazilian footballer
David Ginola, French footballer
Virginia Woolf, English novelist
Tatties: mashed potato
Neeps: swede/turnip
The whole evening was completed with a Scottish friend reciting "Address to a haggis" a poem written by Robbie Burns.
Others born on 25th January:
Alicia Keys, singer,
Robinho, Brazilian footballer
David Ginola, French footballer
Virginia Woolf, English novelist
Happy Birthday Peter!
Peter and I, taken at Dublin Zoo in 197?!
Thank you for the kind words and the tribute, and it is reassuring to note that even in the C21st I can outlive the hardiest of Scots by a couple of years! We have sampled the haggis, tatties, neeps and even drank a few drams of 'Feckin Whiskey' (that is what it is called!!) on Sat night whilst dressed in Kilts!! So we were reet in the swing of things, and had a few sore heads on Sunday!!
ReplyDeleteDublin zoo, WOW!! That was an experience, was that involving a journey in the back of an Austin Maxi, annoying the hell out of the folks, kicking the back of the seats, constantly asking "are we there yet?" and claiming "dad, she just hit me" to the extent that we would get a slap to the shins, or rather we would throw our legs in the air and exclaim "haha, you can't get me" just to add insult to injury!!! Car journeys of a lifetime.
39 and I still feel like I am as young as ever, and I have a wonderful family to share the celebrations! Life does not get any better than that!! Slan go foill!!