Jan 06

Yummy! National Shortbread Day!

Shortbread is a classic Scottish dessert  traditionally made with:

  • 1 part white sugar (I use powdered)
  • 2 parts butter
  • 3 parts flour (I usually use rice flour)
    And a bit of salt

Shortbread is so named because of its crumbly texture which is caused by its high-fat content, provided by the butter.   “Shortening” is its related word that refers to any fat that may be added to produce a “short” (crumbly) texture.

Prepared often during the 12th century, shortbread is credited to Mary, Queen of Scots in the 16th century.  As it was expensive to make, the sweet cookie was reserved as a luxury for special occasions.

Note on the video – I “rejected” most because they have all kinds of weird ingredients like cranberries, nuts, maple syrup.  Yuck!

 

A bit of a memory adapted from https://maryoblog.com/2015/09/16/scotland-edinburgh/

After sitting and resting for a while, we headed back down the castle hill, the Royal Mile and down the street towards our hotel.

On the way back, a hoodie outside a store caught my eye. While we were looking at it, a guy asked if he could help find my size. He had just been walking up the street but he was the shop owner. We went in and found something even better, with a matching one for Tom. I ended up also buying a cap and some other stuff. While I was looking around, I realized this was the same store where we’d bought the junk food for dinner the night before. I had been so tired/hungry that night I hadn’t even noticed that they sold hoodies, tshirts and stuff.

The shopkeeper spent a lot of time with us, looking in the back for the matching sweatshirts in the correct sizes. When he was done, he threw in a package of Walker’s shortbread for free! I wish I could remember the name of this shop so I could give it a good review on Trip Advisor. We save all our receipts, so hopefully I can find that name.

We continued on our way and a guy with sequined gold dress came running out of a doorway. I sure hope he was part of the Fringe Festival!

We got back to the Edinburgh City Hotel to get our car and I found I’d become mayor. 🙂

mayor-edinburgh

 

So, that really made my day. LOL

The drive back was pretty uneventful. We had some of the shortbread and I have to say it wasn’t nearly as good as mine.

When we got back to our place, I found out why.

We saw those tent people by the side of the road again. Gypsies? I couldn’t get a picture again. I’ll have one more time to try this on Saturday. They’ve been there at least 5 days. Surely, the police have seen them.

Back to our place!

It turns out that Walker’s uses whole wheat flour and I use rice. They use sugar, I use confectioner’s sugar. Other than that, the ingredients are the same. The flour, butter, confectioner’s sugar and a bit of salt.

Walker’s is definitely not bad, just different.

shortbread

My shortbread mold

Shortbread used to be my standard Christmas gift for local people but they mostly can’t eat shortbread anymore due to the butter, the sugar and the salt. <sigh>

When I was a kid, my dad’s congregation had a lot of Scottish members. One of the worst insults that could said was “She makes her shortbread with margarine“. What an epithet!

Dec 31

From Scotland: The First Foot

 

In Scottish folklore, the first-foot is the first person to enter the home of a household on New Year’s Day and a bringer of good fortune for the coming year.

Although it is acceptable in many places for the first-footer to be a resident of the house, they must not be in the house at the stroke of midnight in order to first-foot (thus going out of the house after midnight and then coming back into the same house is not considered to be first-footing).

 

It is said to be desirable for the first-foot to be a tall, dark-haired male. A female or fair-haired male are in some places regarded as unlucky.

The first-foot usually brings several gifts, including perhaps a coin (silver is considered good luck), bread, salt, coal, or a drink (usually whiskey), which represent financial prosperity, food, flavor, warmth, and good cheer respectively.

 

 

 

Dec 31

Hogmanay Fireballs!

 

Hogmanay is the Scots word for the last day of the year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year (Gregorian calendar) in the Scottish manner. It is normally followed by further celebration on the morning of New Year’s Day (1 January) or, in some cases, 2 January—a Scottish bank holiday.

The origins of Hogmanay are unclear, but may be derived from Norse and Gaelic observances. Customs vary throughout Scotland, and usually include gift-giving and visiting the homes of friends and neighbors, with special attention given to the first-foot, the first guest of the new year.

 

 

And then, there are the fireballs…

Stonehaven’s Fireball ceremony at Hogmanay is one of the more memorable. It consists of mainly local people of all ages swinging flaming wire cages, around their heads. Each cage is filled with combustible material (each swinger has their own recipe) and has a wire handle two or three feet long, this keeps the flames well away from the swinger, but spectators can be vulnerable! The event starts at midnight, lasts twenty-five minutes and is watched by thousands. The idea behind the ceremony is to burn off the bad spirits left from the old year so that the spirits of the New Year can come in clean and fresh.

 

 

 

Dec 21

Lockerbie

 

The Lockerbie Cairn, through its 270 blocks of red Scottish sandstone, memorializes the 270 lives lost in the terrorist attack on the United States when Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed Dec. 21, 1988, over Lockerbie, Scotland. It is a gift of the people of Scotland to the people of the United States, financed entirely through private donations. The ill-fated flight was enroute from Frankfurt, Germany, to New York via London’s Heathrow Airport. Twenty-seven minutes after leaving London, at 7:02 p.m. the plane exploded, raining fragments on the city of Lockerbie, including an entire wing and engines. Eleven of the 270 dead were on the ground. The passengers and crew included people from 22 countries. Among them were 189 Americans, including 15 active duty military and 10 veterans.

Senate Joint Resolution 129 designating Arlington National Cemetery as the site of the Cairn was unanimously passed by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton in November 1993. A groundbreaking ceremony was held Dec. 21, 1993, the fifth anniversary of the disaster, and the cairn was dedicated on Nov. 3, 1995.

A cairn, the traditional Scottish monument honoring the dead, can be an informal heap of stones or may take a more orderly construction. In this instance, the 270 stones fit together to form a circular tower eight feet wide at the base and tapering to a height of eleven feet.

The blocks of sandstone come from Corsehill Quarry of Annan, Scotland, about eight miles southeast of Lockerbie and in the flight path of Flight 103. Corsehill Quarry, operating since 1820, has acquired a world-wide reputation for producing sandstone of superb quality. Stones from this quarry are used in many buildings in the United States, most notably, the base of the Statue of Liberty.

The following words are engraved on the base:

On 21 December 1988, a terrorist bomb destroyed 
Pan American Airlines Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, 
killing all on board and 11 on the ground. 
The 270 Scottish stones which compose this memorial cairn 
commemorate those who lost their lives in 
this attack against America.

A bronze plaque on the side of the cairn reads:

In Remembrance Of
The Two Hundred Seventy People Killed In The Terrorist Bombing Of Pan
American Airways
Flight 103 Over Lockerbie, Scotland 21 December 1988
Presented By The Lockerbie Air Disaster Trust
To The United States Of America

In more recent history, today was the 25th anniversary of Pan Am Flight 103, the plane that was destroyed by a terrorist bomb in its flight over Lockerbie Scotland. The clip shows many of the people who assemble each year to mark this event, including the Director of the FBI who took office at the time of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack at the World Trade Center. He retired last month. Although Pan Am is gone, the plane was painstakingly reassembled and based on forensic analysis and other diligent work the bomber was apprehended, tried and convicted. Each year a wide ranging group including relatives of those who died, high ranking officials, law enforcement, military personnel and choirs from Pender Methodist Church assembles at Arlington National Cemetery to mark the event and toll the bell.

From https://tomoconnorgroupblog.com/2013/12/22/some-positive-ideas-and-some-history/

Today is the 30th anniversary of the Pan Am/Lockerbie bombing and I’m so sad that my church choir will not be singing due to new regulations at the cemetery.

The FBI is still investigating: https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/remembering-pan-am-flight-103-30-years-later-121418?fbclid=IwAR0Kg0_DuPNE5eiDtmXpxKHmmrKmqLB-81ZCx6hO0WIlIa7vhcyNJzIipqo

Our choir is sang this snippet from the 25 year anniversary. I’m the last woman on the right front at 48 seconds,

 

Nov 30

Saint Andrew’s Day!

standrews-day

 

In Scotland, and many countries with Scottish connections, St Andrew’s Day is marked with a celebration of Scottish culture with traditional Scottish food, music and dance. Schools across Scotland hold special St Andrew’s Day events and activities including art shows, Scottish country dancing, lunchtime Ceilidhs, dance festivals, storytelling, reciting and writing poems, writing tall tales, cooking traditional Scottish meals, and bagpipe-playing.

 

The day is also seen as the start of a season of Scottish winter festivals encompassing St Andrew’s Day, Hogmanay and Burns Night.

In Edinburgh, there is a week of celebrations, concentrating on musical entertainment and traditional ceilidh dancing. A ceilidh is a social event with couples dancing in circles or sets (groups of eight people).

In Glasgow city centre, a large shindig, or party, with traditional music and a ceilidh are held. In Dumfries, songs are performed in the Burn’s night tradition.

 

In Barbados Saint Andrew’s Day is celebrated as the national day of Independence in Barbados. As the patron saint of Barbados, Saint Andrew is celebrated in a number of Barbadian symbols including the cross formation of the Barbadian Coat of Arms, and the country’s national honours system which styles persons as Knights or Dames of St. Andrew.

 

st-andrews-day-google

Nov 11

Armistice Day

The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice that ended fighting on land, sea and air in World War I between the Allies and their opponent, Germany. Previous armistices had eliminated Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the war.

Also known as the Armistice of Compiègne from the place where it was signed, it came into force at 11 a.m. Paris time on 11 November 1918  (“the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month”) and marked a victory for the Allies and a complete defeat for Germany, although not formally a surrender.

Nov 10

AARRGGHH!

I was sure I said NO the first time…

Sep 10

Alarms

Sep 07

Labor Day Is the First Monday in September

labor-day

 

The first Monday of every September is dedicated to the men and women who have labored to build this country.  Through a time-honored tradition that has its roots in the coordinated efforts of the labor movement of the 1800s, we salute the American worker force.

Labor Day was celebrated for the first time in New York City in 1882.  It was originally celebrated on September 5th, but was moved to the first Monday in September in 1884.

Labor Day started out as a state holiday, getting voted in by individual states. As the day gained popularity, Congress declared Labor Day 1894.

With an added day to the weekend and the school year starting, Labor Day also signals the official end of summer.  Families take one last summer trip and cities hold one last festival for the season.

 

Aug 26

It’s Bittersweet This Year – Dog Day?

This is a post from last year but I’m sharing it again.  Mimi didn’t quite make it to Dog Day this year.  She died Sunday night, August 23rd.  There will be a “memorial-type” post later, when I get my act together.

Meanwhile, remember this:

 

 

A dog is man’s best friend.

National Dog Day is observed annually on August 26th.

This day encourages dog ownership of all breeds. Whether mixed or purebred, embrace the opportunity for all dogs to live a happy, safe and abuse-free life. Dogs give us companionship; they keep us safe, and they aid those in need. It is a goal for many on this day to find homes for all dogs in need of a loving family. The purpose of the National Dog Day Foundation is to rescue 10,000 dogs each year

When dogs find a forever home, their companionship creates lifelong benefits. They bring with them joy, loyalty, and devotion. Eventually, no matter the breed, these pets become family.

 

We had Mimi for most of her 12+ years of life.  After our previous dog died, I didn’t think I could ever get another dog but a friend was fostering a dog who’d just had puppies.  When I first met Mimi she was a bit nippy but we straightened that out fast!

 

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