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Main Forums => The Outpost Cafe => Topic started by: Dave W on January 25, 2010, 09:37:41 AM

Title: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: Dave W on January 25, 2010, 09:37:41 AM
US to lift 21-year ban on haggis (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/24/america-haggis-ban-lifted-burns)

Still sounds revolting to me.

OTOH, this survey (http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2010/01/21/Survey-Brits-think-bacon-comes-from-sheep/UPI-40221264104924/) claims that 26% of kids in the UK think bacon comes from sheep, and 29% think oats grow on trees.
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: Pilgrim on January 25, 2010, 09:45:13 AM
"For the past two decades, Americans of Scottish descent, of whom there are at least 6 million, have been forced to celebrate Burns' night without a true haggis, much to their distress."

Perhaps they'd have had MORE distress if they'd actually eaten the stuff.  :P
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: Highlander on January 25, 2010, 12:58:21 PM
HOOTS MON...!

(hasn't been a genuine haggis in our house for that long too... :puke:)

Raising a dram to the haggis (veggie style) tonight...  :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: Denis on January 25, 2010, 01:19:11 PM
US to lift 21-year ban on haggis (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/24/america-haggis-ban-lifted-burns)

Still sounds revolting to me.

OTOH, this survey (http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2010/01/21/Survey-Brits-think-bacon-comes-from-sheep/UPI-40221264104924/) claims that 26% of kids in the UK think bacon comes from sheep, and 29% think oats grow on trees.

Sheep bacon? That's an odd thought. A poll I read recently indicated that 10% of those polled didn't believe Hawaii was a state. It's not uncommon to hear someone say the capitol of New York is, uh, New York City.
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: Highlander on January 25, 2010, 01:25:40 PM
Britain's in a terrible "State..."  :P
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: gweimer on January 26, 2010, 06:14:50 AM
US to lift 21-year ban on haggis (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/24/america-haggis-ban-lifted-burns)

Still sounds revolting to me.

OTOH, this survey (http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2010/01/21/Survey-Brits-think-bacon-comes-from-sheep/UPI-40221264104924/) claims that 26% of kids in the UK think bacon comes from sheep, and 29% think oats grow on trees.

You mean it's not true?  I suppose you're going to tell me that pasta doesn't grow on trees, either...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdQqh9jvB6w
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: uwe on January 26, 2010, 09:26:10 AM
Eating innards and liking it is something you either learn as a child or not at all a friend of mine once said. And he's right: I tried Haggis in an Edinburgh restaurant (actually a fancy place) for the first time about a year ago and it tasted great. Recommended. Like all folksy recipes it is probably very much down with how much love it has been prepared. 

But if you are from a well-to-do family like Dave is where eating innards was frowned upon ...

Next week, class, we'll learn about the enjoyment of eating humble pie, another innards dish, this time prepared from game.

Uwe
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: Pilgrim on January 26, 2010, 10:01:57 AM
In the US we are often known to eat crow, especially after football games.
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: uwe on January 26, 2010, 10:05:40 AM
The bird? That must taste kind of lean.

I once had a giant bat sloppy joe in the Seychelles. They're supposed to be solely fruiteaters (and get a constant high from mangos that are overripe) but to me they tasted distinctly carnivore. Definitely not like chicken, wings or no wings.  :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: SKATE RAT on January 26, 2010, 10:07:53 AM
"Eating Crow" is an expression. no one actually eats a crow.
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: uwe on January 26, 2010, 10:32:31 AM
And what does it mean? It must come from somewhere?
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: Barklessdog on January 26, 2010, 10:34:55 AM
Eating crow means, you having to take back your words in a unpleasant or forceful way.
Quote
Its original form, to eat boiled crow, first appeared in the 1850s in America.[1] Its exact origin is unknown but there are a number of explanations.
It may be related to the English idiom to eat humble pie.[1] The English phrase is something of a pun—"umbles" were the intestines, offal and other less valued meats of a deer. Pies made of this were known to be served to those of lesser class who did not eat at the king’s/lord’s/governor’s table. Another dish likely to be served with humble pie is rook pie (rooks being closely related to crows).
It may also be the American version of "umble," since the Oxford English Dictionary defines crow (sb3) as meaning "intestine or mesentery of an animal" and cites usages from the 1600s into the 1800s (e.g., Farley, Lond Art of Cookery: "the harslet, which consists of the liver, crow, kidneys, and skirts." [2]
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: Barklessdog on January 26, 2010, 10:37:27 AM
Speaking of crows......

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18429-if-you-think-a-crow-is-giving-you-the-evil-eye.html

Wild crows can recognise individual human faces and hold a grudge for years against people who have treated them badly. This ability – which may also exist in other wild animals – highlights how carefully some animals monitor the humans with whom they share living space.


"We may think they are just bystanders minding their own business – but we are their business," he notes. "It's likely that they're incredibly perceptive of the dog and cat components of their environment, as well."


Crows, jays and many other birds have been wiped out near us from West Nile desease. Birds would just "drop dead".
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: uwe on January 26, 2010, 11:26:19 AM
Another idiom learned!
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: Dave W on January 26, 2010, 11:37:35 AM
Eating innards and liking it is something you either learn as a child or not at all a friend of mine once said. And he's right: I tried Haggis in an Edinburgh restaurant (actually a fancy place) for the first time about a year ago and it tasted great. Recommended. Like all folksy recipes it is probably very much down with how much love it has been prepared. 

But if you are from a well-to-do family like Dave is where eating innards was frowned upon ...

Next week, class, we'll learn about the enjoyment of eating humble pie, another innards dish, this time prepared from game.

Uwe


Well-to-do? Tell me more. Is there a family fortune somewhere I missed hearing about?

Best description of oatmeal I heard was that it tastes like something someone ate and regurgitated. Who knows, maybe the innards would make the taste palatable.
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: Pilgrim on January 26, 2010, 02:28:44 PM
I kindly thanks the forum members for a lovely, lovely set of replies.

My earlier post was successful as what can be described as "a fat lob over the center of the plate"....perhaps more idiom to be learned?
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: PhilT on January 27, 2010, 07:20:24 AM
Neither my wife or I have any Scottish heritage, but we did join our Scott-ish friends on Saturday night to celebrate someone called Rabbie Burns, who seems to have written rather a lot of indecipherable poetry. That evening involved haggis, which is very tasty and right up there with black pudding in the ranks of food that is good to eat, but you don't want to dwell too much on the details.

The nearest I got to appreciating Burns was when Fairport Convention put a version of "Tam Lin" on the "Liege and Lief" album.
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: Highlander on January 27, 2010, 03:54:07 PM
(http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu280/kjrstewart/20070802Burnshouse3.jpg)
this is his last home...

(http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu280/kjrstewart/20070802Burnsgrave3.jpg)(http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu280/kjrstewart/20070802BurnsMausoleum2.jpg)
... and these are his "graves..." the mausoleum was built by a close friend of his...
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: Psycho Bass Guy on January 27, 2010, 04:37:33 PM
My family name, Campbell, is pretty much a curse word in most of Scotland, because as I tell people, it's not the massacre of other clans; it's which massacre. Least I can say with pride that I come from a long line of SOB's, and I come by my personality honest.
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: Highlander on January 27, 2010, 04:50:43 PM
I have Campbell's and MacDonalds in the family, with a smattering of MacKenzie & Macleod...

But due to Island history and being a Stewart, and modifying geneaology to a modern vernacular, I'm descended from thugs that used to be "enforcers" for a well known 1800's drugs baron...  :o
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: Pilgrim on January 27, 2010, 05:12:00 PM
Brown & MacGeorge (or McGeorge) here...although a long way back.

My last name, Powell, comes from the Land of Totally Incomprehensible Words For Everything, aka: Wales.

diolch yn fawr iawn  (thanks very much)
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: Highlander on January 27, 2010, 05:19:32 PM
Yachydda Boyo...  ;D

The darkest side of being part of my family is that the ancestors were actively involved in the "Clearances", which is not something to be proud of...  :sad:
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: SKATE RAT on January 27, 2010, 11:20:59 PM
macleod
(http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x120/yrofrat/CONNOR.jpg)
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: Freuds_Cat on January 27, 2010, 11:37:17 PM
"Eating Crow" is an expression. no one actually eats a crow.

South Australians are referred to by Australians as Croweaters.

The main Football team here is called the Crows. One of the ironies is that we actually have very few Crows in the habitable parts of our state. Most of the birds that get called crows are actually Ravens. Pedantic of me I know but pettiness has its own humor. ;D

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/09/17/1032054817917.html

Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: Highlander on January 28, 2010, 04:33:19 PM
MacLeod = Son of Leod

Leod was a Viking Prince, son of Olaf the Black, who ruled over the Kingdom of Man (Scottish Western Isles and the Isle of Man)

A true MacLeod will be genetically traceable to Norwegian bloodlines...

Leod can also mean "ugly" in the Gaelic...

The Clan normally gather at Dunvegan Castle on the Isle Of Skye...

(Bryan... there can be only one... ;D)
Title: Re: Today's sheep and oatmeal news
Post by: Pilgrim on January 28, 2010, 08:59:57 PM
Like they said in the James Gang album:  "Made Leod to be played Leod."