Burns Night 2021: Thistle Do Nicely
If you don't already know this, I should start at the beginning and say Scotland has been a pretty integral part of our relationship, or else it will make very little sense why we decided to celebrate Burns Night.
As we started dating, I was in the process of applying for the master's program (which I would eventually get into), so I remember asking John how he felt about long-distance relationships. Thankfully, we made it work pretty well, as you can imagine. He and I travelled there together when I first arrived for my program, he came to visit around my winter break, and then we both went back with my family for my graduation....so it has definitely been a part of our development as a couple. Even here in Los Angeles, we went to a University of Glasgow Alumni event for Burns Night in 2018...and as Burns Night approached, we wanted to commemorate it in the Olson household.
That being said, some ingredients are a little easier to get in other parts of the world than they are here. Part of the planning for this dinner involved thinking about how we would include haggis - the typical star of a Burns Night supper, but not an easy thing to procure in Los Angeles. The fact that John wanted to make a haggis from scratch further escalated the challenge - especially because the primary ingredient that haggis is prepared in is the sheep's stomach - not something that a typical grocery store will stock.
John's early assumption, and the start of his quest, began with hoping that butchers would either have the needed ingredient, or would be able to point him in the right direction. After talking to three butchers - none of which had any idea where a sheep's stomach could be sourced - indicated further investigation was needed. Looking up the quest online, John found an NPR story from 2004 about the Los Angeles Saint Andrew's society - a Scottish heritage club - and their similar quest to get a haggis for their dinner. He quickly shot them a message in hopes that they or their members would be able to help him source the ingredients needed.
As he continued to investigate, he found a Los Angeles restaurant that served haggis to its customers for Burns Night each year (Tam-O-Shanter) and called them - while they couldn't provide the ingredient, fortunately they pointed him to their supplier - but that was all the way in Orange County! He emailed them as well. Then, finally, thinking this was a dinner that brings together the cultures of Britain and America, he reached out to the British Consulate in Los Angeles in hopes that they might have some connections or would otherwise support him in his quest. Sadly, (but not really all that surprisingly) none of the Saint Andrew's Society, the Meat Supplier, nor the British Consulate got back to him so an alternative had to be crafted for this year's Burns Night Supper.
Our menu, thus, evolved into a soup course of cullen skink (with some modifications as well as we found it hard to find smoked haddock), roasted lamb (instead of the haggis) with neeps and tatties, and cranachan for dessert.
Compared to our other events, besides John's quest (which was undertaken weeks in advance), this one came together very quickly. The neeps and tatties - American translation being roasted swede or rutabaga as "neeps" and roasted potatoes as "tatties" - had to be roasted for a few hours and the haddock had to be cooked for a while before it could go into the soup, but the day was very chill in comparison to our usual full-day affairs.
The cullen skink, which is a fish cream soup and somewhat similar to clam chowder, was definitely a star of the evening and I had to stop myself from finishing my whole bowl, as I knew there would be more to eat. The roasted lamb was divine, and I even stumbled my way through the "Address to the Haggis," as our lamb was standing in for our haggis. We enjoyed the music of bagpipes from Spotify as I found, and again, stumbled my way though some more Burns poetry and we even closed out the evening with cranachan (whipped cream with whiskey, honey, oats, and raspberries) and Auld Lang Syne.
