General Chat

Yay! made contact with the poster on the Glasgow boards.



his aunt married a distant cousin of mine........

This man lives in the US....... near HUNDREDS of his aunt's husband's family.... and he had no idea!

I've sent him some info, and some contacts...... this will be interesting!

:-D

Being Burns Night I thought I would educate those who visit this thread that are not familiar with one of Scotlands favourite creatures ;-)

The Scottish haggis (Haggis Scoticus vulgaris ) is a shy creature that is not commonly sighted in the wild. It has adapted uniquely to the inhospitable terrain in which it lives, in that its left ipsilateral pair of legs (membra thoracici et pelvine sinistra) are considerably longer than its right ipsi- lateral pair (membra thoracici et pelvine dextra), allowing it to graze along the steep mountain slopes towards the rising sun and move through the heather.

The wild haggis is a seasonal breeder with a gestation period of 56 days. Mating takes place on November 30, when libido increases as a result of the few wee drams partaken at St Andrew’s night parties up in the glens. As a result of these indiscretions, most hagglets are born on January 25.

It is also on this date that the annual cull of mature hag-gii takes place. With the stappit (pregnant haggs) safely in their burrows, the entire village helps to drive the rest of the haggis scuddle towards the end of the glen where, forced to turn abruptly in a confined space, they are incapacitated by their uneven leg length and lose their footing to tumble down into strategically placed nets. The size of the mesh is carefully regulated to ensure that only mature animals are ensnared.

The writings of Rabbie Burns greatly increased the popularity of the haggis as a culinary delicacy (Burns 1786), and the day of the annual cull is now celebrated by Burns’ suppers.

However, because the harsh climate limits wild haggis fank (litter) size to only two or three hagglet, and most of the haggii for production in Scotland are now farmed to cope with demand, while preserving wild stocks.

:-D :-D :-D

OFITG :-D

I heard that the Haggis was an endangered species

More gamekeepers are needed, especially when southerners go up to the highlands and go poaching..... On the one week in August when Scotland gets sunshine :-D

Have had Haggis, Neeps and Tatties imported from over the Border 3 times this week and thoroughly enjoyed it each time.

I didn't know you could buy Haggis in a Can! :-0

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&x=0&ref_=nb_ss_gw&y=0&field-keywords=haggis&url=search-alias%3Daps

It sounds disgusting......... but not as disgusting as some of the other things available.

Look on the left of the page (on the link above) for "meat in a can" and look for the can of Sweet Sue chicken.

barfbarfbarf........... or as we used to say boak boak boak :-(

Watch a prop monday nights about the Cairngorms ..& there is a piper works all over the country .he was at a posh hotel in scotland .he piped the Haggis i in the dining room ..[ showed it being made before uckk ] .he said the gamekeeper managed to catch it before the event :-D :-D The men on the mountains work so hard to get them ready for the skiers .up at 4am some of them .but they love it & are happy when the people are on the mountains & enjoying themselves .any one been up there ? skiing . :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-D no me :-) Barbra

I have been (half way) up Cairngorm- a wonderful experience, but skiing no not for me.

Six months since the last post........ took me ages to find this thread.

I'll be looking out for this year's Edinburgh tattoo when it eventually gets to Oz TV.

My NZ cousin's daughter & her partner are participating this year, playing bagpipes & drums! :-D


and nudging the thread up, don't want it to get lost again

Thank you LadyScozz for reviving this thread.

I thought we had lost it for ever.

Had a lovely holiday on the Isle of Sky many years ago.

Too old/lazy now to travel anymore!

Shame on me I had forgotten about this thread :-0 :-(

Sunshine and showers here in Aberdeen this morning.
It hasn't been much of a summer so far, this time last
year we had temp of 28c according to the weather man,
don't think we have been higher than16c this month.

Emma......... better weather here, and it's winter! :-D 20C today.

But........ it's been snowing in Queensland!

A cold snap is expected to hit us early next week. That's the Aussie version of a cold snap, not the European :-)

You needing a lodger Scozz, am willing to take Scottish
goodies over with me :-D

I had forgotten about this thread too.
Thank you for reminding us LadyScozz.

The weather here is weird? Very warm days followed by rainy ones.
At this very moment, there is bright sunshine but, the sky is black!

I was down south last weekend for a wedding, and it was really hot and sunny, yet here it was cool and stormy.

lol Emma....... can you still get Lee's Macaroon bars?

My Mum had a recipe for something similar, made with.... would you believe..... mashed potato.......... does anyone have this strange recipe?

:-)

There's a music festival going on this weekend, in fields just north of us. It rained a lot last week, we were joking about the MudFest, but they've been lucky with the weather; a short sprinkle on Friday evening, fine Saturday, and Sunday we've been promised sunny & 21C.

We're on the south side of town, friends who live north say the music is so loud it makes their windows rattle. :-( It's not a big town, population is less than 5,000.

There is a recipe somewhere for macaroons made with mashed potato
and icing sugar.

I'll try and find it.

Yes you can still get Lee's Macaroon bars Scozz.

I also had that recipe but can't find it....sorry :-)

Scozz, Google ...recipe for macaroon bars and
up it pops :-D :-D

found it, thankyou :-)

and it led me to this........

http://www.food.com/topic/scottish?pn=3

some nice ones, but lots look like "heart attack on a plate"

:-0

The music festival I mentioned earlier......... has turned into a MudFest!

Some pics:

http://www.9news.com.au/national/2015/07/26/12/57/rain-turns-splendour-in-the-grass-into-giant-mud-pit-and-the-punters-love-it