Greetings friends! I was eating a British pastry the other day, supplemented by some Haribo gummy candy, speculating about the difference between "sweet" and "savory" when I had a culinary poetical moment. This trip is more savory than sweet. Things soak in when you explore in this way. Sweet would be one update, maybe two. But four??
So I hope you all have "sweet" moments, when your kids learn something for the first time, when you're enjoying your favorite leisure activity, when you have an "ah-ha!" moment at work, or when you enjoy the wide-horizon Kansas sunsets. And if you want to philosophize about savoring, have a tasty pastry.
Speaking of food, vacation is a time to try new cuisines. And while it's no exotic Abu Dhabi, I've put my taste buds to the test!
Of course, we had fish and chips! I love fish, though the batter fills me up quickly. As you may now, these "chips" are what we know as French Fries. I don't know why they're French, since the French would prefer cheese and wine with their Big Mac. Equally as delicious was the fish casserole that Paul and Charlotte make at their house.
A full-english breakfast, aka "fry-up,": First, there's Bacon, the epitome of breakfast world-wide, though the English usually have back bacon, halfway between ham and American bacon. Poached or fried eggs. (Have you ever tried to poach an egg?) Baked beans, fried tomato, fried bread, fried mushrooms (v good), and two kinds of fried sausages. *picture* Didn't Carol do a splendid job?!
Marmite, a "yeast extract." It's viscous like molasses, and I love jam, so I scooped up a spoonful to try on my toast. Fortunately, Carol and Dave said, "No no, it's quite strong. You only need a small amount. My cousin, Angie; she eats loads of it on her toast, but most people just put a thin layer." So I tried a thin layer, and my taste buds ran away and hid. It tasted like... the ashes of burnt hair follicles. (Rather, it was what I imagine burnt hair follicles would taste like, for they're not usually part of my breakfast) Highly recommended for practical jokes. In fairness, I am pleased that I've tried it; it's merely an acquired taste. So if I start feeding Marmite to my 1-yr-old neice Olivia, then by the time she's 17... she'll be able to eat barbed wire!
An English Creme Tea, a splendid treat. Dave showed me how. You take the warm, moist scone, and cut it in two. One side gets butter, the other gets jam. Then you put clotted creme (yellow, and even better than whipped creme) on each side, returning the sides to a sandwich style delicacy. And to drink, warm tea with milk, but then you already knew that bit...
In Scotland, I had Haggis, Neeps, and Tatties. Haggis has a special meaning for me, as it was also the mascot of our Sterling College frisbee team, and what better mascot than a dish of sheep lungs, heart and stomach! It's meaty and salty, mixed with onion, suet, and oats, and I found it quite tasty when Charlotte's Aunt fixed it up! Later I even tried it out of a can from the grocery store, and was pleasantly surprised, the first ingredient being "lamb lungs, 38%". It smelled unappetizing coming out of the microwave, but I think that's because I'm only familiar with lamb lungs as the first ingredient in Sherman's cat food. Neeps, a cooked yellow vegetable, aka "swede" or "rutabaga" are also good. And the tatties were quite savory, nearly as good as my Mum's mashed potatoes.
Paul and I toured the Hog's Back Brewery, just down from Hogs Back hill, where we tasted various forms of the barley used to make beer. One was quite good, and one tasted like burnt toast. I have also had a few types of whisky, which is the drink of choice in Scotland. The single-malt ones can vary a lot in taste.
The growing season in England is good. Not as much sunshine, but plenty of rain, and a nice temperature all summer. So, between Charlotte, her mum, and Paul's folks, I've had some home-grown items. Green Runner-beans grow to the length of my hand on a vine and are quite good once cooked. Tomatoes and potatoes and cucumber, always better from the garden. Plums - Hilary told me "watch out for the maggots". Hmm, I don't know if there were any in the first 12 I ate, though I never found any... with my eyes. Hilary said she extracted some from the ones she cooked up for a sweet plum sauce, which she served with pudding for dessert. Tasty!!
By the way, in England "pudding" means dessert, and "custard" means pudding. This is because, in 1876, American General Custard was turned into pudding at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
As you may know, they do things differently here in Great Britain, driving on the left side of the road, eating with their fork upside down... The following are a few positive differences that I might suggest to my American compatriots. They're all small, miniscule suggestions, and if you agree, perhaps we could get a petition started.
~Roundabouts! - Left side or right, nothing beats zipping around the roundabouts on the Vespa, free from fumes.
~More diesel-powered small cars - and with roundabouts, no one would be waiting in the fumes.
~Grocery carts with four swiveled wheels. This brilliant invention awoke my inner 6-yr-old, drifting 'round the aisle corners.
~Double Decker busses. It gives a new meaning to "riding high."
~Toilets with a half-flush. It doesn't solve the worldwide energy crisis, but it would keep our septic tanks from filling up so fast. And since an old guy knocked a huge piece of concrete into my Grandpa's septic tank this year... That's a long amusing story for later.
So, other than eating, here are some impressions from Scotland and Bath! As Charlotte and I drove north, a huge sign greeted us "Welcome to Scotland!" As you may know, Scotland has been part of the UK since 1707, pretend to still be their own country. Our Scottish mini-bus guide clarified a few embellishments of the movie Braveheart, although the allure of the story and historic pride is very much alive in the country. In Stirling, I did see the Wallace Monument, the William Wallace pub, and I even stayed at the Willy Wallace Hostel. Aye, some of the stories are true! William Wallace wore a kilt so he was from the Highlands: Rocky coastlines, large, grass and heather-covered mountains, and annoying little "midge" gnats. It's still wild country up there, and the only big industry is tourists like myself staring open-mouthed at the "lochs" and "glens."
I also took a bike ride along the canal that starts in Edinburgh, which was a full couple days of DSL "Deep Scottish Love." I must have passed 6 aqueducts, one even going over the motorway! Back in the days when water was the most efficient mode of transporting heavy materials, canals were an important aspect of commerce. And now they're reminder of the past and a weekend getaway for longboats. After riding the canal, and up into the beginnings of the Scottish mountains, I finally stopped cycling when my knees were tired, and I found a beautiful open spot over a reservoir. My DSL paused for a half hour while I unravelled the mysterious Scottish tent design and fought off the biting midges, but eventually I had a good night sleep and made my way into Stirling the next morning.
In Edinburgh we found excitement watching shows like the a cappella group The Magnets at the fringe festival, and for contrast found serenity on top of one of the volcanic mountains that are mixed into the city center vistas. Edinburgh castle sits on one of them and I'll never forget looking up to see it as we walked out of the train station.
In fact, I have seen and toured about 10 castles so far, 5 in Scotland, and 2 Roman Remains. For example, Charlotte's uncle David and his wife Carol Ann took us to the remains of Sandstone Tantallon Castle, built on a Scottish coastal cliffs of Scotland facing toward Scandinavia. There's enough left to walk along the top of the main wall. It's so interesting to see something so imposing from a millennium earlier, and imagine the builders, the owners, and the lifestyle. Large castles have kitchen rooms and cellars with huge chimneys rising to the top. Some fancy bedrooms even have indoor plumbing, a stone "poop chute" which carries excrement at an angle to the outside of the wall. "One of the servants will get that..."
The Roman bath complex dates even further back to 60AD, and they've done a lot of work to recreate and preserve it. It's built on a hot spring, so there's a rich spiritual and medical history associated with the bath as well as its hygiene purposes. So much different than the untamed Yellowstone Hot springs! It's nostalgic to walk along the great bath, now 8 meters below the main city level, on the same limestone slabs that dripping roman feet trod daily when the world was so different. I didn't get to bathe in it, but later that evening, after a lovely and chilly scooter ride through the English countryside, a hot shower of perfectly clear water shot out at the touch of my fingertips at just the right temperature. Lucky.
Savor some of life today. Thanx for reading.
p.s. Feel free to invite anyone to read along. I've also added pictures on facebook.
Seth Pro
You probably know what the Americans do when they visit London, but what do the British do there?? Well, 40,000 of them go to the last night of the Proms in Hyde Park!! (and one American does as well) So I got a ticket and plopped down in the grass for a four-hour musical extravaganza. Here's the lineup: Classical musicians: Katherine Jenkins, Russell Watson, Rolf Harris, pianist: Lang Lang, Pop Guys Group: Westlife, and the BBC Concert Orchestra and Royal Choral Society, which were great!
