I had the best night out in ages last night - I was invited to a Burns Supper - a night of remembrance and celebration of Rabbie Burns, the Scottish poet, and all things Scottish.
There was six of us, a three course ceremonial meal, and quite a bit of whiskey!
For those of you who don't know (and I didn't!), the order of the night goes like this...(iirc)
-Introduction by the Chairman
-'In Immortal Memory' - speech about Burns and how good the Scots are at everything
-The Selkirk Grace ("Some hae meat but canna eat, an' some wad eat that want it, But we hae meat and we can eat, an' sae the Lord we thankit")
- first course (cockaleekie soup, mmmmm)
(The haggis is brought in on a silver tray)
- 'Toast to the Haggis' then ceremonial cutting it open
- main course, neeps & tatties & haggis (turnips and potato and haggis)
-'Toast to the Lassies' (this was my bit, I've never been so terrified in my life, but it went down well, and I was the only person who spoke without notes
spoke a bit about Irish poetry and how it wasn't suited to toasting the lassies, then recited 3 limericks I'd written about each of the girls present)
(at this stage after lots of whiskey toasts, the order is a bit blurry)
- 'Response from the lassies' (to my toast, lots of man-bashing. apparently I was supposed to do lassie-bashing in my toast, but i didn't know so I was really nice to them! oops)
- dessert (tipsy laird, a type of dry brandy trifle-thing with lots of cream)
- Burns poetry recitals (we had the one about the louse and the one about the bmouse, both of which are really funny, so I'll try and find the words and post them. Funny thing about Burns poetry - written in medieval Scottish - you can read it and it's gobbledigook, but when I heard it read out loud, it's understandable, because it's almost like a phonetic northern irish accent)
After that we had a Scottish quiz, which was fun, and included a whiskey-tasting round (5 numbered whiskeys, you had to taste and decide which was single malt Scottish, scottish blend, irish, canadian, and from the US), and a round where we had to make models out of play-dough for our team-mate, to describe a scottish thing (eg thistle, unicorn, oilrig, scotland), and a round where we were given all sorts of rubbish like empty cereal packs, egg cartons, lemonade bottles, plastic cups, and we had to build a Scottish castle.
On leaving, we were each given a goodie bag with scottish soup, shortbread, photos of the night that they'd already printed out (none of my castle though
) and various tartan paraphenalia.
All in all, a totally successful and enjoyable evening with great company! And best of all, despite the whiskey, no hangover today
To A Mouse.
Wee sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie,
O, what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an chase thee,
Wi murdering pattle!
I'm truly sorry man's dominion
Has broken Nature's social union,
An justifies that ill opinion,
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion.
An fellow mortal!
I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve:
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen icker in a thrave
'S a sma request;
I'll get a blessin wi the lave,
An never miss't!
Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!
Its silly wa's the win's are strewin!
An naething, now, to big a new ane,
O foggage green!
An bleak December's win's ensuin.
Baith snell an keen!
Thou saw the fields laid bare an waste,
An weary winter comin fast.
An cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro thy cell.
That wee bit heap o leaves an stibble,
Has cost thee monie a weary nibble!
Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble.
But house or hald,
To thole the winter's sleety dribble,
An cranreuch cauld!
But Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best-laid schemes o mice an men
Gang aft agley,
An lea'e us nought but grief an pain,
For promis'd joy!
Still thou art blest, compar'd wi me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But och! I backward cast my e'e,
On prospects drear!
An forward, tho I canna see,
I guess an fear!
You might try getting some yogurt--don't get anything fancy or special--just something that says it contains live active cultures. It can help you with digestive problems.