Yes, today (January 25th) is the day set aside by guid scots all over the world to celebrate the immortal memory of Robert (Rab, or Rabbie, but never"Bobbie") Burns: poor farmboy, poet, proto-socialist, government exciseman, father of numerous illegitimate children…and all before he died at age 37.
Tonight I’ll sit down and slit open the “warm, reekin’ chieftain o’ the pudden race,” and enjoy it with bashed neeps, tatties, and of course, a drop or two of the water of life (whisky to you).
For those who are victims of the hysterical anti-haggis propaganda (spread mostly by the English), you don’t know what you’re missing. For the faint of heart, there’s even vegetarian haggis now!
Why not consuse the hell out of your friends and send them a Burns’ Day e-card:
If I’m remembering that “I feel like chicken tonight, like chicken tonight…” commercial properly, it involved various people throwing caution (and self respect) to the wind and doing a wing-flapping chicken dance.
The very thought of a haggis inspired version of said commercial turns my stomach.
To add another scottish note, I heard today on PRI (public radio international) that Iron Brew is trying to take over the soft drink world market, and will soon be available in the former colony (at least in New York City).
One interviewee was quoted as saying “It tastes like you imagine an iron girder would taste like.”
“Contented wi’ little and cantie wi’ mair,
Whene’re I forgather wi’ Sorrow and Care,
I gie them a skelp, as they’re creeping alang,
Wi’ a cog o’ gude swats and an auld Scotish sang.”
–Rab’t Burns
Dr. Watson
“An’ downa be disputed, now fetch me the feckin’ bottle there or it’ll be the rod on ya.”
That’s funny, Rodd, you don’t look like haggis tonight…
An infinite number of rednecks in an infinite number of pickup trucks shooting an infinite number of shotguns at an infinite number of road signs will eventually produce all the world’s great works of literature in Braille.
Hey, I Like Irn Bru! I aquired a taste for it during my trip to Scotland last year.
Hey, we had to drink something in the morning, before we started on the hard stuff!
Ahh, I remember it well! strolling up to the check-out in the market with a basket containing Irn Bru, cheese, Carrs table water biscuits, hard cider in 2LT bottles, and fifths of whisky!
Love buing all the required supplies in one place!
“The universe doesn’t give first warnings or second chances”
I have piped in a number of haggises over the years here in California, but recently I have been mostly “retired” as a piper and haven’t had a chance to chow down in a while. So it was nice when our company recently opened an office in Glasgow, and now when the company sends me over there I can get haggis for lunch.
And I’m a fan of Talisker. Maybe my brain was warped from playing “The Skye Boat Song” once too often.
Hey, UncaStuart, any tips for a new lad? I’m still on the chanter - finally getting the hang of the grace notes.
and as for the haggis sceptics - 'tis so the Great Chieftain - piping hot, just spilling out of the bag, served on oat cakes with a dollop of whiskey. (Although admittedly, getting the sheep’s stomach is somewhat tricky in this modern age - I was forced to use one of those clear plastic oven bags the last time I made it. just didn’t have the same romance…)
Great to hear! There’s nothing like the sound of a crisp taorluath. Tips, tips, lessee . . . I don’t know how far along you are and what sort of tutoring you’re getting, so some of this may elicit, “oh pshaw, I knew that already,” but:
Be sure to relax and let the sole of the practice chanter rest on the table top, taking the weight. Otherwise you may develop a deathgrip that can be transferred to the pipes and make grace notes and lively fingering harder than they need to be.
Don’t go all the way through a tune just to get through it. If there are hard bits, stop and work on them exclusively. Practice is practice, and forcing your way through a tune means you’re practicing bad form as well as good form.
When you move to the Great Highland Bagpipes (GHB) accept that you are going to sound pretty ragged for a while. Grit your teeth and work through it, no matter how much difference there is between what you’re hearing and the ideal you can hear in your mind. You will get better!
A little grease from the side of the nose can make birls easier, for some people.
And last of all, when you have graduated to the GHB in public, practice smiling and saying “yes” at the 4,204th request to play “Amazing Grace.”
I’ve seen a recipe that calls for making it inside hollowed-out zucchini… there are probably other methods. I had mine in a pub in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket and I thought I was probably better off not knowing how they made it
I’ve started “mairie’s wedding”, and if I close my eyes I can just recognize it - I’ve a way to go. My instructor is a retired pipe major from the British army, who believes very much in scales, grips and doubles before ever dealing out a “chune.”
The tip about resting the chanter on the table is good, and I’d never thought of it - my hand was cramping tonight while practising. Thanks.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…all Scottish cuisine is based on a dare.
“So, Fergus, ye think ye’re tuff, is it? Sae then, I dare you to eat a sheep’s stomach filled wi’ oatmeal and internal organs! Nae sa tuff noo, are ye?”
