haggis

Damp, and cool, the river quiet with two sedate ducks sailing down it. Hungry little coaltits are hopping in and out of the holly hedge. (Must buy bird food.)

I was reminded yesterday that last week was the celebration of Burns Night. We were away on the Welsh borders so it passed us by, but it's big in Scotland and is filtering south of the Border.

Burns Night is a Scottish festival celebrating the life of Robert Burns, Scotsman, poet, tax inspector and ladies' man. He wrote in Scots dialect, and wrote some popular love poetry as well as that famous line about 'the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft aglee'. And lots more.

So at a Burns Supper, the main course is always haggis with mashed neeps and tatties - oh, sorry.

Neeps = turnip or swede
Tatties = potatoes

Haggis - no, not a small furry animal pursued through the Highland hills. It is - are you ready for this? - minced sheep offal, oatmeal, pepper and herbs, boiled in a sheep's intestine. It tastes surprisingly good if you don't know what it is. The haggis is brought in to the accompaniment of bagpipes (truly, I'm not making this up) and 'addressed', ie, a chosen person recites Burns's poem in honour of the haggis, the 'chieftain of the pudding race' before cutting into it, ideally with a dagger.

So now you know. By the way, I'm vegetarian and you can get vegetarian haggis. I've never tried it.