For A' That

Last night was Robbie, sometimes pronounced Rabbie, Burns Night, so I decided to have a Burns Night dinner. I've never actually been to one, I don't care for haggis or for scotch either so I doubt I'd ever go to an actual dinner. I do like some of Robbie Burns' poems though.  I'm sure most of us in North America and much of Europe, I would think, know Auld Lang Syne but the first poem of Robbie Burns that I can recall that I really liked was My Heart's in the Highlands.

I found a blog post that had a recipe that stacked mashed potatoes and mashed turnip (rutabaga to some of you) on a slice of canned haggis and I thought I could do that but without the haggis. I had some pork sausage and some hamburger that I mixed together with some dry onion soup, cinnamon and nutmeg.  The blog post used the haggis can to build the stack and then pushing the stack through. I couldn't get the bottom of a can cut off so I decided to use the silicone rings I have for cooking eggs. It worked rather well. I only had mini potatoes so had to do a rustic mash for the top. 

This haggis, neeps and tatties stack is served with a whiskey sauce. I wasn't sure I had Scotch but it turned out I did have a couple small bottles. Neeps and tatties are Scottish slang for turnip and potatoes. The sauce was more like a gravy and consisted of sauteed onions, beef broth, whiskey and cream. It was very good. 

I decided to make this a fancy dinner night so I set my table and got myself dressed for the occasion. I had no tartan to wear so I fashioned a sash to wear with my dress shirt with some pins I got in Scotland set off with a brooch that belonged to my mother. The sash is actually a pashmina that Amawaterways presented to each of the ladies at the end of our river cruise.

Formal but casual

The wine was from Chile, I'm not even sure they make wine in Scotland. I know there are lots of distilleries.  Anyway I thought the name of the wine sounded somewhat Scottish.

 

I also made a Scotch Egg that I had for lunch today. It wasn't bad, I overcooked it as I wasn't sure how you would tell if the meat was cooked all the way through. It was pretty good; someday I'll have to try a real one. They are supposed to be deep fried but the recipe I used was for a baked Scotch Egg.  Mine split at the bottom, perhaps I could have turned it while it cooked. 

Burns has a poem that is somewhat fitting for these pandemic days called A Man's a Man for A' That. The last verse is especially appropriate. 

Then let us pray that come it may,

(As come it will for a' that)

That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth,

Shall bear the gree, an a' that.

For a' that, an a' that,

It's coming yet for a' that,

That Man to Man, the world o'er,

Shall brothers be for a' that.

Night at the Museum

Canadian Museum of Nature

Moon Sculpture

A friend has a annual membership the  Canadian Museum of Nature and it included tickets to an evening event. I thought it was a family event but it was for adults only.  They had three DJ's in galleries on different floors and a couple bars set up.  We arrived even before the museum had opened up; at first we wondered how well attended the night would be as there weren't that many people waiting with us.  They do this type of evening event several times a year, collectively they are called Nature Nocture.  This event was actually called Mission to the Moon. They asked people to dress up; being so close to Halloween there were many different costumes but many people had on alien costumes, Star Trek costumes or space suits. I thought the event would only attract young people but there was a broad spectrum of people there, except of course, no kids.

All of the galleries were open and you could explore them if you didn't want to dance. They had special demonstrations set up related to the theme of the evening.  Some of the themed activities were demonstrations by the astronomy club where you could try your hand at drawing Mars or moon craters or another put on by the Canadian Space Agency where you could try freeze-dried food. I liked raspberries but the peaches tasted like eating Styrofoam.

When we walked into the dinosaur exhibit, we both thought of the movie Night at the Museum and wouldn't have been surprised to see Teddy Roosevelt on a horse or the skeletons come to life. Another of the themed events was a yo-yo demonstration, the performer brought in the theme by dressing as an astronaut for part of his show.

Yo-yo demonstration

Yo-yo astronaut

In the the Arctic exhibit, they had a display that was actually made of ice and they projected various movie clips or patterns on the ice.  You were even encouraged to walk between the blocks and touch the ice.

Ice blocks

Arctic exhibit

Movie on Ice

Pattern on ice

My video of the dance floor was taken fairly early on during the evening; by the end of the evening the museum and the dance floor were packed.

Night at the Museum Dance

I really liked the moon sculpture and the staircase up to each of the floors gave you great views. Here are just a few shots.

I had thought at first that it would be all young people who were just there to dance, and many were, but there were lots of people of all different ages who enjoyed the museum and the little special events that they put on as well.  So in the end, I had a very good time at our Night at the Museum.

Merry and Bright

Just some shots taken from my family room and front porch late last night as the storm was ending.

 This is a pine tree in the back yard. I don't have a Christmas tree in the family room but you can see this little tree while you're sitting on the couch.  It can also be seen from the sidewalk on the street out back of the yard.

This is the cherry tree in my front yard. I had originally planned only white lights but started adding blue a couple years ago. The pictures don't look as good as the real thing.

This is my neighbour's coach lamp. The first picture is without a flash and for the second shot I used the flash on my camera.

Just finished doing my driveway again and shoveling the deck. It wasn't fun, the snow turned to rain yesterday, then back to snow as the temperatures dropped so it was all frozen underneath.

I like a white Christmas but I think we have enough and some sun would be nice but it does look pretty with the lights and the snow.