Burns Lunch

Work is now over and I'm home blogging about lunch today - as it was a late celebration of Robert Burns' Birthday.

Scotland's national poet and one of her greatest heroes, Burns is remembered for his often satirical poems on the church and politics, as well as his beautiful works written in old Scots dialect.

As I was in Egypt last week (Burns' birthday is 25th January), I held a wee shindig at work this week to remember him - and to give all the English a wee taste of Scotland... The haggis!

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For those who don't know, to celebrate Burns Day, it is tradition to bring the haggis to the table to the sound of a tumultuous pipe band (sadly the music at work wasn't quite so loud as it could have been), and is then recited to with one of Burns' most famous works - the Address to a Haggis. The haggis is ceremoniously sliced open with a sgian dubh during the third verse.

The haggis will be served with mashed potato, mashed turnip (sometimes mixed with carrot), and whisky (and sometimes a whisky sauce... or just whisky poured over the haggis. Really.). But for the purposes of work, we drank Irn Bru with lunch.

Then, time is taken to recite Burns' poems or sing songs. I've uploaded a video of me butchering 'A Red, Red Rose' too... Just for you all to have a laugh.

All in all, I think it was a good wee change from a usual work lunch, and something new for a few of the staff. Superb.

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Coming up:

- Egypt blog.