Robert Burns and Haggis

Bev told me that they will haggis on January 25 every year to honor a Scottish port named Robert Burn.
Here is a picture about a meal we had on that day.

The black one in the bowl is haggis. It just has been cut up. The original shape is in the picture below.

So what is haggis? It is a Scottish dish consisting of  a mixture of the minced heart, lungs, and liver of a sheep or a calf mixed with suet, oniones, oatmeal, and seasonings and boiled in the stomach of the slaughtered animal. Some people may not like the taste of haggis, but I think it is good. 

The night on January 25 is called  Burn's Night.The main elements of the evening are haggis, Scotch whisky, a poem or two and much merriment. Traditionally the haggis is carried in to the sound of bagpipes followed by an 'address to the haggis' where Burns's poetry is recited and the haggis ceremoniously cut open. The event ends with a singing of his famous song Auld Lang Syne.

So who is Robert Burns? He was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is also in English and a "light" Scots dialect, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in standard English, and in these his political or civil commentary is often at its most blunt.He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement, and after his death he became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism andsocialism.

The song named Auld Lang Syne goes like below:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!
Chorus.-For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
And surely ye'll be your pint stowp!
And surely I'll be mine!
And we'll tak a cup o'kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.

We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou'd the gowans fine;
But we've wander'd mony a weary fit,
Sin' auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.

We twa hae paidl'd in the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin' auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.

And there's a hand, my trusty fere!
And gie's a hand o' thine!
And we'll tak a right gude-willie waught,
For auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG3afAIi6IQ  It is the wedsite which you can listen to the song.

It impressed me so much that I realized that the literature is a very important part in UK.

Too much cream!!!

I did a really really silly thing today! And I feel sorry to ZHU Ying, my roommate.
Bev and Peter's grandsons came to their house today, so we had the dinner an hour early. We had Italian pasta and some bread.

It was delicious!! And the kids were so cute that we had a very very nice meal.
After the dinner, we had the some fruit. The way to eat the fruit is really different from the way in China. Bev cut the fruit in the small pieces. And we should add some cream or ice cream in the fruit. Then  I did the silly thing. I poured the cream in the bottle. I had no idea how much I should pour so I poured the cream to cover all the fruit. What silly was that I didn't  even stop when Bev told me that was enough because I cann't understan the words she used, which has the same meaning as enough. As a result, there was too much cream in the bottle. I tried my best to eat that up, but it was so terrible, too much cream. It make my stomach full of cream. It is awful. It was so nice that Peter and Bev told me that it was ok to not finsh that.

So I took a big cost to learn how to eat fruit after dinner. Say sorry to ZHU Ying again.