All week my sister and I had been discussing a book that we have eagerly anticipated for 4 years. Missy read it in a day. Let me repeat that.. Missy read it in ONE DAY! I, on the other hand, have had the 800+ page book in my possession for 6 days now and have not yet made it to page 200. I have told Missy and my girls that this simply means I am taking my time to enjoy it slowly.. After all, it will be at least 4 years before there is a new one – but the truth is that I don’t often have time to do nothing else but curl up in my favorite comfy spot in the sunny front room to read. As much as reading is my passion, it sometimes seems that I need to schedule blocks of time for it and wave my family off with bright neon orange flags if they dare approach or even think of speaking to me when I’m in the reading zone. Maybe I could cordon off an entire room and post big signs that read, “Don’t bother me, I’m READING!”I know it is killing Missy that I am working my way through the book at a snail’s pace. She wants someone who can gush over the details with her and I’m not quite there yet. It is the same as putting a mouth-watering chocolate cake in front of a kid and making that kid eat it.. One. Crumb. At. A. Time. Torture, right? But my lack of speed reading skills has not stopped us from spending our days sending instant messages back and forth about how much we love the characters, the setting, the country said characters come from, and again.. the characters! We purr like kittens as we discuss the leading male’s characteristics that are so far from realistic but we don’t care! We laugh in the face of fiction and want to know where we can sign up and how much we have to hock to get our own leading man! *sigh* I get it that this is fiction. I get it that no real man can possess that much sex appeal, charm, strength, romance and sensitivity. I get it, OK? My poor husband can only hope that I finish the book, put it on the shelf with all of the other books that make me give him sideways glances from a distance, and get back to appreciating his washer-fixing skills like any other normal 21st century wife should!
As I was saying, this appreciation of All Things Scottish went back and forth between my sister and I pretty much all week. Then she came up with the best idea ever! We decided that we would have a Scottish-themed dinner party where we would serve only authentic Scottish food and the rule would be that if you wanted to speak, it had to be with a Scottish accent or in Gaelic. We were so excited as we worked out the details! Our biggest problem was not that we would be making intentional fools of ourselves as we tried to speak according to our rules… no, our problem was that Scottish food isn’t extremely appealing. As we searched through recipes on the Internet, we learned that Scottish food is mostly fish, oats and whiskey! Now, my kids aren't picky eaters, but I didn’t see how I was going to make this one work and still be authentic AND have sober guests (kids)! I should also thank Missy for the many giggles and snorts as we researched and planned.. especially for the picture she sent me of the Haddock when I confessed my ignorance. Who knew that haddocks could be so cute!
Eventually we decided on a menu for our Scottish dinner party. The girls, Missy and I read through hundreds of recipes before finalizing our choices:
• Auld Alliance Beef in Claret – Beef cubes cooked for 3 hours in Claret with fresh herbs, mushrooms, onion and bacon
• Chicken in the Heather – Whole chicken basted with Heather Honey, curry, garlic and fresh herbs
• Colcannon or Rumbledethumps – Potatoes mashed with cream and butter, to which we added chopped , sautéed cabbage.
• Baby Asparagus Spears – blanched for 3 minutes, lightly buttered and seasoned.
• Cranachan – Freshly whipped cream with oats and whiskey, served parfait style with fresh raspberries and homemade shortbread
For the girls we also had authentic-ish drinks made from mixing pear nectar with ginger ale. The adults drank stout beer and there were pre-mixed Rum Hurricanes for me because I’ve never been able to acquire a taste for beer. We were unexpectedly thrilled with how tasty everything turned out! In fact, my husband declared, “That was the best chicken I’ve ever had in my life!”We giggled our way through the Cranachan dessert.. the kids, never having tasted anything resembling whiskey before, much preferred the shortbread and raspberries over the cream – but it was authentic and it was so fun that our sides hurt from laughing and our cheeks ached from smiling. But Missy, I mean it when I say that I liked the cream! I just had to get used to the whiskey flavor since it isn't a taste that I have very often. As the evening went on, we actually didn’t do much speaking in accents or Gaelic, but when we did give it a whirl we would giggle and laugh anew!
Originally we had wanted to watch a Scottish-themed movie as part of our immersion experience, so earlier in the week I picked one up at the rental store. In my defense, let me say that I remember Highlander being much better than it actually was! But again we laughed and giggled our way through the movie so it wasn’t a total loss. We ended the night by playing Pinochle. I hadn’t played since junior high so it was a learning experience for all of us except Missy. She and her partner, Carley, kicked our butts! Thankfully, Bill was able to sleep through our rowdy hilarity because he had to work very early the next morning!
Scottish night was a blast! We learned some Gaelic, learned about the cuisine of Scotland, and most importantly we spent quality time together that we will always treasure. We are already planning our next International themed dinner!
