Burns Night Food, Drink, Whisky and Songs: Inspiring Ideas For Holidays in Scotland

Problem
What's new on Burns Night? I went to one last weekend and another this weekend. I thought, surely once you've done one, the next will be the same again?

Answer
Not so. I learned so much more. I had checked up on Burn's birthplace, which is on the West coast of Scotland.

Burns Night. Half of us found tartans. Photo by Angela Lansbury. 

Tartan Clothes
First, this time I was prepared with a tartan shirt. We had two lady's tartan shirts and two men's tartan shirts (from Marks & Spencer) without having to buy any more.

Scottish Food
Secondly, the Scottish food, although it included haggis as the main course, was different. This time the haggis came from Waitrose. It was excellent. Somebody provided the potatoes and neeps (parsnips).

Scottish Fruit
For pudding we had a cold Scottish dessert of raspberries mixed with cream, plus toasted oats with a little added sugar to give bite. (Recipes vary.) We had ours accompanied by home-made Scottish shortbread biscuits.

Wikipedia says:
Cranachan (Scottish Gaelic: Crannachan pronounced [ˈkʰɾan̪ˠəxan]) is a traditional Scottish dessert. In modern times it is usually made from a mixture of whipped cream, whisky, honey and fresh raspberries, with toasted oatmeal soaked overnight in a little bit of whisky.

Surprisingly, as far north as Aberdeen, Scotland has strawberries in summer. One of the diners asked: "What's the best way to make a tasty strawberry ice cream?"
Our host answered, "With raspberries."

On the West coast the gulf stream provides warmth and you can visit Inverewe garden with palm trees and tropical plants.

To start the evening, not Scottish, not whisky, but not Champagne either. Cremant. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Scottish Drink
To accompany the food we started with a sparkling wine (cremant which is Champagne style sparkling white wine but cannot use the name Champagne which is a place name and protected.

Scottish Whisky
During the meal we tried Scottish whiskies. Some of them are more expensive and sold in Waitrose only around the time of Burns night. Several were from the Isle of Islay, which one of the guests said is off the west coast, near the home of Burns. the peat gives the whisky added flavour.

Whisky which I had never heard of. Scotland has a lot of whiskies. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

One lady felt quite ill after tasting several whiskies. I only sniffed them.

If you want a non-alcoholic Scottish drink, there's non-alcoholic Ginger Wine. If you can't buy it, you can make your own. See the instructions on YouTube from a fellow with a Scottish accent.

Music
We had two CDs of Scottish music. The music player in the adjoining room was not loud enough to be heard when we were all talking. However, one or two people played Sottish music on their handphones around the dinner table and that was easier to hear.

My favourite song was the jolly tune of Scotland the Brave. I didn't know that was it's name but it's instantly recognizable. Apparently that used to be the national anthem. However, now Flowers of Scotland is played at sports events such as football matches, a more mournful tune.

Through the evening we talked about places we had lived in and visited in Scotland and plans to rturn for the Edinburgh festival and research for a group trip (by one local london group of the Inter Varsity Club, possibly joining with others).

1 Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh
Scotland
Scotland's top event is the Edinburgh Festival. Many people go every year and book their accommodation for the following year.
Intervarsity clubs book student accommodation. Members include postgraduates - some of whom are retirement age, and some aren't university students and never were, as membership years ago was for students and postgraduates and later their spouses and to anybody who wanted to join.

2 Inverwewe Gardens
Scotland

3 Burns House,
Ayr
Ayrshire
Scotland

4 Isle of Islay
Our club member tried to organise a trip but found the accommodation on the island was over £100 and beyond the budget of many members. We were discussing alternatives, was that £100+ per person or per bedroom, in which case how many members could we cram into a room? How many places, such as alternative islands or mainland, offered accommodation nearby? How about camping, caravans on ferries, and, with the help of the whisky, various other suggestions, increasingly far-fetched and humorous, boats with drones for photography, rollerskates, Segway and hang-gliding.

Useful Websites
https://www.visitscotland.com/info/see-do/robert-burns-house-p250471
https://www.visitscotland.com/info/see-do/inverewe-garden-and-estate-p255481
http://visitscotland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverewe_Garden
http://www.insiders-scotland-guide.com/ScotlandInverewegarden
http://www.islayales.co.uk
Scotland the brave with views of Scottish scenery and lyrics as subtitles on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycy0KZMlV6c
Non-alcoholic tradtional Scottish ginger 'wine'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ymkmk2Xa0c8

Author
Angela Lasnbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my other posts on Burns Night and Scotland. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Another Burns Night! Be Prepared! Tartans, Poems And Photos

Problems
I went to a Burns Night and did not wear tartan. I forgot.

Solutions
Now I have been invited to another Burns Night organized by a different group.

Costume
This time I have time to find a costume, such as tartan. One person says, 'I don't need to. I'm not a Scot.'

Which Tartan?
Which tartan? Tartan shops will sell you the tartan of your clan, going by your name or ancestors' names. But my complexion suits a different tartan. Some people object to your wearing tartans of a clan you don't belong to.  You may think it's amusing, or homage, like wearing the country's flag even if you are not from that coutnry. But others think it's misleading, like wearing the old school tie of a school you never attended, or a policeman's uniform when you are not a policeman.

So which tartans can you wear?

You can have your own tartan made up, for a price, after applying for approval and receiving it. There's Jewish tartan.  What will be next? Moslem tartans. Catholic tartans. Indian tartans? Japanese tartans? Chinese tartans. American tartans?

Burns Poems
Instead of or in addition to wearing a kilt, or tartan, I can also print out Burns' poems. And a picture of Burns. Alternatively, save paper by photographing the poems, the photo of Burns, and keeping them to hand on a laptop or mobile phone.

Burns Night Photos
If the people at the second event overlap with those at the first event (at least I am at both) I can show photos of the previous event as a nostalgic reminiscence. This time I will be ready to take a group photo at the start of the evening, a picture of the haggis, and a Scottish whisky.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

How To Hold A Burns Night On January 25th Or Any Night

Burns Night fare: Potatoes "tatties", turnips "neeps" and haggis. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problem
Everybody knows Auld Lang Syne written by Robbie Burns. Less than a month after the New Year's Eve celebrations, you can celebrate Burns Night. Where can you go to a Burns night? (Answers at the end.) If no Burns night is organized by others is in your area, how do you organize a fun evening for family or friends or a group to which you belong?

Traditionally you would hold a Burns night on January 25th. But you could hold it the weekend before or after, at your monthly club meeting in January. Wikipedia says you can hold a Burns Night any night of the year, or any time of day. The original Burns night was held about five years after Burns death by a group including some who knew him. It wasn't on the right date, which was only discovered later.

You want to hold a Burns Night for family or friends? However, some of them don't or won't drink whisky. What do you do? Serve lots of food, water, and whisky, starting with Champagne and / or a  white wine, then a red wine, finishing with an optional whisky.

If the evening is entirely paid for by the host, or potluck you could take:
Scottish Shortbread
Scottish Smoked Salmon (Plain or rolled around cream cheese. We had smoked salmon starter from Aldi. *
Scotch Whisky
Haggis
Vegetarian Haggis
Potatoes (tatties - mashed potato - can be bland unless you add salt)
Neeps (turnips - look pale orange-pink, mild sweet taste).

Planning a holiday this year or next? Include a Burns night.

Shellfish
A good thing I asked, "Is there any shellfish - I am allergic to prawns, shrimps, lobster and so on." The host replied, "Yes, there are prawns in the smoked salmon roll."
I thought he was joking. However, just in case, I cut open the roll. Pale prawns were hidden in the cream cheese inside the smoked salmon rolls. If any of your guests are allergic - or Jewish, warn them.)

I have attended several Burns Nights in London, England, with neighbours who have a husband of Scottish descent, who lived in Scotland several years.

In January 2018 I went to a Burns Night in London with a wine tasting group of about ten people.  Some of them are gourmets and gourmands eating and drinking everything in copious amounts; others have restricted diets of food and drink.

An American woman who sat on my left goes on wine holidays every year, to destinations ranging from those in the Americas such as Chile, to others in Europe such as Greece (her favourite). By contrast, a British woman on my sitting on my right does not drink whisky, can drink only one glass of wine a night, and is on an elimination diet to cut out gluten and several other foods.

Poems
How did the host cope? He was not Scottish. He is a man who was top of his year in the group graduating from a wine school. One of his guests was Scottish and read Burns poems. The host provided a book of Burns poems to be read during the dinner, plus some poems by 'Scotland's worst poet' McGonagal (who wrote the Tay Bridge Disaster which he sent to a newspaper and Queen Victoria). The book on McGonagal had a deliberately humorous introductory poem by the late, great British comedian Spike Milligan of Goon Show fame. (You can see interviews with Spike Milligan on YouTube.)

Budget
He had a variable budget for each paying guest. If two or more people turned up and paid (your budget could be £25-50 per person), he added another bottle of wine and another bottle of whisky. If you want the lower budget, you have fewer and cheaper foods and wines. If you opt for the higher budget, you keep the extra whiskies in stock and/or run several events every week at or for wine clubs.

For the lower budget, shop in the UK at Lidl and/or make your own food. Wikipedia gives a complete run-down of your options. (We looked it up on a phone during the meal. Our host plans these events every year. He had bought haggis and other foods from Scotland in previous years. This time he thought he had food as good or better home made.

What went wrong? We as guests forgot to look out our tartan clothes. Somewhere I have tartan items which I bought on the internet for a motivational talk I gave on Bruce and The Spider. I was shocked by the price of tartans in Edinburgh at the usual shops (Edinburgh woollen mills) even in the sale. If you are looking for a bargain, try the charity shops (Americans call them thrift shops) in Scotland or on the internet after Burns night, look for party shops and party goods sellers if you don't want quality goods which fit and last, just something to wear once.

An complete authentic tartan outfit with kilt, sporran, white shirt, sash, socks, matching hat, could cost £1000. It is the sort of thing some Scottish people would have if they had recently been to a family wedding in Scotland.

Here's a checklist for your dinner event:
Pipers or pipe music to start the evening. (Find a recording on the internet.)
Tartan cloth, decorations or poster, or print a Burns poem for every guest or every place setting.
For a wine and whisky tasting dinner, print a list of the drinks and foods with a columns for scoring.

Voting Sheet
You end by reading out the votes for the best whisky, wine, drink or food of the night. At the bottom of the page print the scoring out of 5, 7 or 10 with 0 for inedible, undrinkable, top score for the best, and choose how you will allocate the other marks such as:
1 very poor, 2 poor, 3 average, 4 good, 5 excellent. You then read out the prices paid for all the drinks and the suppliers.

Prices Revealed
If you bought the wines long ago, quote the current price on line. Prices may range from your cheapest local supermarket price, to other suppliers on line. You might find the same drink or food offered at different prices at similar prices, or a a huge range.

If your guest's favourite food or drink is within their budget, they have something to look forward to buying. If the cost is way beyond their budget, they have had a good value evening and a great experience trying something they could not normally afford.

Transport
If you are serving lots of drinks, even with food, your guests may prefer to travel by public transport to avoid drinking, or to order a taxi or other vehicle to go home, or designate a non-drinking driver (or get a friend to collect them). Another alternative is to hire one vehicle to a circular route and drop everybody home.

Cab Home
(In Singapore the uber and Grab work brilliantly. You usually get a nearby vehicle allocated and arriving within five minutes. You pay on line with your credit card in advance so there's no tip so you know the exact cost and you get an automatic receipt for your records. You can even see the route taken by the vehicle so you know if he is nearby or very rarely if s/he turned the wrong way or is lost.)

Websites
Burns Night wikipedia
Meetup (In London, UK and many cities around the world. Find an evening or meet others who want to hold one.)
Look in local newspapers online for events in restaurants and hotels.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.