Today, I woke up to my plane landing in Edinburgh and my best friend's face waiting for me at the arrival gate. Today was a good day. Kaley and Dave are the most wonderful hosts and I'm so happy to be here with them. To welcome me to their country, Dave cooked a traditional Scottish meal of haggis, neeps & tatties (neeps = turnips and tatties = potatoes). When Kaley and Dave were in Winnipeg this summer and we were planning this trip we had a long, serious talk about haggis. Whenever I'm in another country I always want to try the local specialities but I had some reservations about haggis. The thing is, haggis is made from sheep organs (heart, liver and lungs) and that's a little too real for me. But after some discussion we decided Dave would make the haggis in a safe place (their home) and if I didn't like it I didn't have to eat it and no one would have to face public humiliation. Deal.
Dave was at work all day so Kaley and I had to go to the grocery store and pick up the haggis. The haggis from the store is actually mostly pre-prepared with beef fat, oatmeal and seasonings so that all you have to do is heat it up at home. It's wrapped up in a ball shape in a sausage-like casing although traditionally it is stuffed in a sheep's stomach.
My favourite part was when Dave cut open the casing and released the piping hot haggis!
Honestly, if I didn't know what this was I would really enjoy it. And even though I knew what it was, I still enjoyed it quite a lot! It reminds me of a risotto because of its consistency. My first Scottish experience was a great success and I will be having leftover haggis & eggs tomorrow morning.
DG
