I went to the Robbie Burns Dinner at the Greenwood Legion on Saturday night. One advantage of going to this venue to celebrate Burns is the fact that the haggis is made to perfection by Legion member Malcholm Logan.
Now, haggis can be misunderstood; the list of ingredients is something that might give one pause, and pity the poor fellow who, after finishing his haggis, reads on the label, “Made in China.” But Malcholms’ haggis is of exceptional quality. People went back for seconds and even thirds.
If you happen to be ignorant about haggis (not knowing what one looks like because you’ve led a sheltered life or something), well, don’t despair. Robbie Burns Day is over for this year but you can still see pretty much what a haggis looks like if you go to Jerry’s concession stand at the arena and order a chicken Caesar wrap. It pretty much looks exactly like that—one thing about haggis though, it can’t be said that it tastes like chicken.
The evening was made even better when Grand Forks Pipes and Drums entertained everyone after the roast beef dinner. They did a rendition of Amazing Grace that was totally awesome. The bagpipes can be a wonderful instrument in the hands of a good piper and this group is tops.
Of course you know the story of how the Scottish got the bagpipes in the first place. They were actually invented by the Irish who gave them to the Scottish—and the Scottish still haven’t gotten the joke.
Someone got a great buy on some rolls for the dinner that looked exactly like Yorkshire pudding. I started to wonder about the poor guy ahead of me in the banquet line when he was buttering his Yorkshire; but once I’d stated my case, the one being worried about was me.
One thing about a special dinner like the one held for Robbie Burns, there are certain traditions that go along with it. They piped in the haggis then they do a toast to the haggis. If you have never seen it done, then you better tie a string on your finger so you don’t forget about attending next year.
The billiard table at the Legion was covered and a large sheet cake was on display with dolls dressed in tartan. I was intrigued why half of the cake was frosted in white, while the other half had sprinkles of chocolate crumbs generously applied to it. I asked around until I found the woman who’d made the cake and she explained it wasn’t so much a Scottish tradition but just simply a way to tell the chocolate side of the cake from the vanilla side.
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I was doing some work on the minor hockey player of the week info last week, converting pounds into kilograms and inches into centimeters. There was one conversion I couldn’t find a formula for: anybody know what the conversion for an hour into metric would be?
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Reports of scammers trying to get money from folks are going around again. Please don’t get suckered by these creeps. It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there where crooks can get rich by talking fast to slow thinking people. The likelihood of some company actually hiring someone to call people up to give them money is pretty remote. Just pause and think for a moment why someone would actually phone you looking for money, a password or information.