Scotland or Bust

Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled--

Scots, wham Bruce has aften led--

Welcome to your gory bed.

Or to victorie!

Robert Burns, "Bannockburn"

Can't you just hear the bagpipes? Actually, I think I still can, after we spent all day at the Scottish Games yesterday. But I love bagpipe music and thus enjoyed seeing all the competing pipe bands from all over the Northeast, as well as several other contests, clan groups, food stands, and vendors.

Held at a huge-estate-turned-public-park, complete with mansion on the grounds, the festival reminded me of when lords in Britain invited the local populace to hold feasts and festivals in their private parks--in fact, if I understand the history of recent Scottish nationalism correctly, that's pretty much how Highland Games got started in theUK and then the US.

Anyway, it was a lovely day, first real day of summer I recall our having since summer started. We actually started at the food booths, having an early snack of spiraled sweet potato "crisps." And since food is a good way to meet a culture, we kept going. Eventually, we had fish and chips (with malt vinegar for both), a scotch egg (that's a hardboiled egg with sausage that has been breaded and deep fried. And yes, I, the resident vegetarian, had a laspse and ate half. No regrets, it was divine!), a beef pastie with HP sauce (mmmm, that's also good on fries), and something called a "haggis puff," which wasn't quite but Mama still enjoyed it. Along with it, we drank a citrus soda called Irn Bru, which reminded Mama of Thai sodas (but didn't remind me of any American ones). Finally, shortbread, of which Sis ate two whole yummy, crunchy triangles, and this delightful treat called an Empire Biscuit, which Buddy ate in its entirety so we had to go buy another so I could try some--it's basically two shortbread rounds with a layer of strawberry jam between and powdered sugar icing and maraschino cherry on top.

But we didn't just eat. We wandered the "clan village," stamping the kids' festival passports with the coat of arms of the attending clans. My aunt has traced our family heritage to Clan Hay recently (a little bit of geneology, a litte bit of guesswork, a little bit of folklore, I think) so we had fun looking for the clan tartan, motto, badge, and territory, though they didn't have an actual booth (I think it might be a small group). It was fun to feel a part of it (because, all the guesswork in the world doesn't make the family anywhere near Greek for that festival!), to tell the kids about their European (as opposed to Chinese) roots. Interestingly, as much as I understood that I had German, French, and British (English/Scottish/Welsh, I believe, again from said beloved aunt) ancestry, I didn't grow up really identifiying with those cultures (even though Mom is always talking about her German blood and behaviors)--I thought of myself as a Texan above all that (which should make Texas-proud Mom, part-German though she is, thrilled). Well, there aren't any Texas festivals up here, not even much good BBQ, but we do what we can. Besides, being an anglophile and Victorianist, I like to think of my British roots.

When asked later in the day, Bud said he liked the dancing best, the fancy footwork of the Highland dance competitions more than the square dance-like country dance demonstrations. Huh? With all those snare drums and bagpipes around? Oh, yeah, he said. He forgot. Those too! How could he forget? At any one time there were 3-4 different groups and individuals playing simultaneously (oddly, it all harmonized--I don't understand the music of it, but do all bagpipes only play in one key? Is all the music in the same time stamp? How was it not a cacophany?). Mama and I were still hearing it at bedtime last night, so imprinted in our minds was that sound. Bud also liked the performances of a Scottish rock band, with bagpipes, drums, keyboard, bohran, guitar, and bass combining traditional tunes with more modern arrangements. He bought their CD and even helped copy it onto our iPod last night.

Sis liked taking pictures of the bands on the field, proud to be able to hold and use Mama's real camera for the first time. She's just like her Mama--infinitely patient about taking pictures while also taking several to get just the right one. So cute to see mini-Mama in action. She also liked shopping in the vendor booths, spotting and selecting the Royal Standard of the King of Scots, or Lion Rampant, with the red lion on yellow background, as her special souvenir. She then marched around the festival waving her flag; Bud got one too and joined her parade. (Not to be outdone, I got a cookbook and another ceramic shortbread pan, this one with Celtic knots, while Mama got a hat to wear on her trip to Thailand in two weeks. Oh, and I got Mama a Dundee cake, very similar to a fruit cake, for her birthday. The vendor called it "a proper cake.").

The kids waved their flags while we watched the caber toss, where grown men (I don't know if women were competing, but imagine they do) throw several hundred pound long logs. There was, as you can imagine, lots of grunting, just like there had been at the stone throw contest. Bud didn't understand the grunting--he thought they were scary--which I understand: men throwing trees around are a little intimidating!

That pretty much ended our day and to the continued sound of bagpipes and drums, we marched out of the festival, proudly waving our Scottish banners.

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Vel’s Christmas Shortbread

I don’t know who “Vel” is but I like her recipe for shortbread that I found on allrecipes.com. It has a homey flavor because of the brown sugar. It’s one of my favorites. I usually half the recipe.

2 cups butter

1 cup brown sugar

5 cups sifted flour

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in flour and knead by hand until dough comes together. At first the dough will seem dry and crumbly but don’t give up, keep mixing. Roll out the dough to ¼” thickness and cut with cookie cutters or press dough into shortbread molds (be sure to lightly grease mold and sprinkle with sugar). Place cookies 2” apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 8-12 minutes in the preheated oven, depending on the size of your cookies. Do not let them brown. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks. (Note: If you use a ceramic pan, turn the oven down to 325F and bake for 30 minutes).

allrecipes.com