September 2, 2016 - Tanya's Magical Anniversary Trip - Day 17 - Outer Hebrides, Scotland AND Scottish Food

Elisa's Daily Blog

​Top 6 Scottish Dishes

Hello there!  

Before I go on, I need to vent about my day yesterday.  

So, if you remember, Kelsey and Gianna were supposed to spend Wednesday and yesterday evenings at their riding friend's house in the Hamptons, and save me some driving back and forth to the barn.

​Unfortunately, Kelsey was too nervous to sleep out, so she returned home with me Wednesday afternoon.  As a result, I drove her back to the barn yesterday for a 1/2 day of riding for the last camp day - not before we had lots of tears about potentially missing the last day and the fun activities their trainer had planned.

Okay , so since it was raining, I really was not able to go to my usual hang out - Tanger Outlets - with Punkin in tow.  So, I ended up "tailgating" in the back of my SUV (like a mutant) with my little sleeping fur baby.

I'll admit, it wasn't all that terrible, as I sprawled out and laid back and read and wrote.

I actually did some research on Scottish food, which I'll tell you about in a moment, and caught up on emails, and phone calls too. Not a bad use of time.

Now, because I had to drive Thursday, which was not part of the plan, I had to give up Friday's visit to the Hampton Classic, since I needed a day to: 

a) catch up on household chores; and
b) take Punkin to get spayed (insert sad face), so we could finalize her adoption. (Ruff House Rescue will not let you finale an adoption if the dog has not been spayed).

So, hopefully, she will be okay when we pick her up later tonight, but I'm sure she will be quite wiped out.

​I'll fill you in tomorrow.

With it being Foodie Friday, and Tanya traveling in Scotland, we thought it would be interesting to feature an overview of Scottish cuisine and some of the most popular dishes.

People arrived in Scotland between around 800 BC and 1000 BC.  These early settlers were hunters and gatherers and with the abundance of water and fertile land, this brought about a full range of food supply.

Hunting, fishing and raising sheep and cattle became a major part of the Scottish way of life and as a result, their diet.

Couple that with the good soil of this land, crops such as oats, barley, root vegetables and soft fruit were in high supply, helping to shape the Scottish cuisine.

With the arrival of the Vikings around the 8th Century, came new ways of preparing food, particularly that of "preserving" with salting and smoking, thereby expanding the dishes further.

Utilizing all parts of the animal was commonplace and evident through many of the traditional meals, and towards the late middle ages and modern era, French cuisine became a huge influence on Scottish cookery, especially during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Mary Queen of Scots (credit: thefamouspeople.com)

The Queen brought an entourage of French staff who are credited with transforming Scottish cooking and bringing to the country's cuisine new food terminology.

During the last two hundred years or so, Scotland experienced large-scale immigration from countries such as Italy, the Middle East, India and Pakistan, resulting in some dramatic expansions to native food cooking.

For your gastronomical pleasure, here are Six Traditional Famous Scottish Dishes...

Haggis - most famous Scottish dish (credit: brittanica.com)

1. HAGGIS
This is Scotland's national and perhaps most famous dish.  Haggis is a savory pudding containing sheep's heart, liver and lungs minced with onion, oatmeal, spices and salt. (remember, I said, that the Scots were very thrifty with food and used all the parts of the animal!)

Traditionally enclosed in a sheep's stomach, today, most Haggis is prepared in sausage casing.

Haggis is believed to have first come into existence around the 15th Century.

2. SCOTTISH PORRIDGE
Very traditional to Scotland, as oats were used in many Scottish dishes.  Traditional Porridge is prepared with "porridge oats" (medium ground oatmeal - not "quick cooking" or "rolled" varieties) water and salt.

It is believed that in ancient times, Porridge may have been one of the original "Fast Foods."  By letting it cool and set, it was able to be cut in slices and carried.
​

3. SCOTTISH BREAKFAST
This is clearly the breakfast of champions!  

Typical items on your plate include bacon, eggs, Lorne (or square) sausage, black pudding (a type of "blood sausage"), perhaps fruit pudding, which is more like a sausage of sorts made from sweet, wheat flour, sugar and dried fruit such as raisins, fried or grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, baked beans and even potato scones!! Wow!!

Dundee Cake (credit: pinterest.com)

4. DUNDEE CAKE & OTHER CAKES & BUNS
Dundee Cake is essentially a fruit cake topped with almonds.  Another very Scottish cake is Black Bun, which is very dark and rich fruit cake. Cootie Dumpling is a "steamed fruit cake" rather than baked.

Cranachan (credit: mackaysholiday.com)

5. Cranachan 
This traditional Scottish dessert is made with whipped cream, whiskey, honey, fresh raspberries and oatmeal.  

The presentation is quite lovely too - served in a tall glass!

Scottish Shortbread (credit: telegraph.co.uk)

6. SCOTTISH SHORTBREAD
Dating back to medieval times, shortbread originated as a"biscuit bread."  Esentially, leftover dough from bread making was then dried out in a low oven until hardened into a type of rusk.

Interestingly, the word "biscuit" means "twice cooked."

Over the years, butter replaced the yeast in the bread and biscuit bread became "shortbread," giving it the delicate buttery and crumbly characteristic for which it is known.

                            ************
For those less experimental with food, but interested in Scotland's most popular dish,
Click Here for a vegan recipe for Haggis with "Bashed Neeps & Tatties" (or "mashed turnips" & "mashed potatoes")

And in case you missed yesterday's Scoop, here ya go...September 1, 2016 - Tanya's Magical Anniversary Trip - Day 16 - Outer Hebrides AND Lighthouses of Scotland

Well, here's to a good eating day!!
-E
xoxo

Tanya's Daily Blog
CURRENTLY TRAVELING IN:
​THE OUTER HEBRIDES, SCOTLAND

Bogs and Butts

Me oh my.

I can hardly keep track of myself these days!
First I'm here, then I'm there, then I realize I've been everywhere.

But all along having rather lameO wifi, internet and cell signal.
My schedule has been all so jacked up, and I can't seem to post on time. Ughhh

As usual today is about yesterday - that is how the Daily goes - you get the news...the SCOOP from the previous day.

Anyhow HAPPY FRIDAY to ya! 

But let''s go back to Thursday.

Oh Thursday, you couldn't come any sooner. It was our last day of scheduled cycling. Yippee!

And after having a sore booty, sore quads, a bruised up leg - yes by the way, my left leg is all spotted up like a leopard - good thing the weather out here is any shorts wearing weather - I certainly didn't want to scare any of our riding mates!

Did you know that this was the most amount of riding that I've ever done in this period of time?!

Our cycling journey was 167 miles, 5 days long and plus the 2 travel days (7 days total). I haven't ever pedaled this much in only 5 days...not even 5 weeks!
So regardless of how much I feel like I sucked - we'll get into this at a later time.

​The sights were awesome, it rained, I fell into bogs, and so much more. Which will come - all in due time.

Today started with sunrise at Callanish, touring Stornaway, Ferry Fun, Castles and a Grand Finale with a rainbow and all.
Don't worry - It'll all make sense soon 

For now I'm pretty darn pooped and need to get some sleep.

Hope you have a Great Weekend!

-T