Chinese New Year

'On the Eve of Chinese New Year, supper is a feast with families. Food will include such items as pigs, ducks, chicken and sweet delicacies.' (Wikipedia, 'Chinese New Year', 2010)

Focus on the word 'feast' in this Wikipedia entry for 'Chinese New Year' in Wikipedia. This is exactly what my 6th floor Churchill House Kitchen had last night. Today is the Chinese New Year, the most important of traditional Chinese holidays. It is also referred to as the 'Lunar New Year' because it is based on the lunisolar Chinese calendar. The importance of this holiday was reflected in the magnitude that it was celebrated at Richmond place yesterday and today. The kitchens all throughout Res are plastered in a vast array of flashy bright red and yellow paper decorations, coupled with endless steamers full of dumplings and dishes of sweet meats.

Geng, a Chinese Phd student living across the hall from me suggested that the hall celebrate Chinese New Year together (I think Geng was beginning to worry about the fact that he has never seen me use the stove or oven to prepare a meal...the sad truth is that the microwave, Tesco roast chickens, and take-out Beetlejuice and Kilmanjaro are my usual meal options). There are 3 other Chinese students on the hall, so they offered to cook while Becks, Jess, and I offered our services to provide an American dessert. The food was incredible. Ling made homeade turkey dumplings. I was offered to roll out a few, but remembering back to my tortilla making abilities (or rather lack thereof) in Guatemala two years ago, I politely declined, stating that I was doing everyone a favor by just watching...! Geng was the master chef of the event, preparing a roast leg of lamb (Note: Geng prepared for this day at LEAST a month in advance. He made 3 full roast legs of lamb in the preceding month to make sure he would get it right for the actual feast day), a delectable fish dish, and mussels. Yin-Hu made what to me tasted like sweet BBQ chicken and Jacqueline (a welcome guest from the other 6th fl kitch) brought Asian lettuce wraps. As you can probably imagine, we ate for hours. And hours. And then continued to eat. I strategically wore a jumper-dress so as my stomach expanded, it would not be confined by tight waistbands :-)

The best part about the evening though was getting to know the Chinese students on the hall and learning about such a significant tradition in their culture. I loved hearing stories about how Chinese New Year is celebrated within each of my friend's families and getting the opportunity to replicate some of those halfway across the world in Edinburgh.

Burn's Night

I apologize for the extreme gap in my writing...for some reason, time seems to go by faster than usual here in Edinburgh. I find myself waking up Monday morning to start the week and I barely blink and it's Friday. I suppose that's indicative of me enjoying myself ;-)

Two major happenings have occurred since my last post: I tried the infamous Scottish national dish, Haggis-and I went to my first real Burn's supper-both experiences which I very much enjoyed.

First, I shall digress a bit on the Haggis. It is certainly not a dish for the squeamish--as it is a dish containing sheep's heart, liver, and lungs, minced with onion, oatmeal, spices, and salt, traditionally simmered in the sheep's stomach for several hours. It is a description not immediately appealing to one's appetite, but I must say I found the first taste surprisingly flavorful, with a hint of nutty-ness and bite, along with a delightfully oat-y texture. Many of my American friends were not quite as fond of the Haggis--but in its defense (as I do feel oddly obliged to defend the dear Haggis)--in my opinion, it tastes very similar to American-style Thanksgiving stuffing made with sausage! Now mind you, stuffing contains things called giblets, which are essentially the little organs leftover from the Turkey when you buy it--it could be the kidneys, heart, neck, etc. So to me, it is rather odd that an American who eats stuffing on Thanksgiving, cannot stomach Haggis.

My first Burn's supper was experienced at the Dunbar Rotary club on the 1st of Feb. Burn's Night is traditionally held on 25 Jan (Robbie's birthday), but the suppers can generally be held within a week or two of the 25th. The dinner was held at the golf course in Dunbar and most of the Rotarians were in traditional dress (kilts and tartan galore). Everyone looked so Scottish!! The dinner began with David 'piping in the haggis' and Tom (the club president) addressing and stabbing the Haggis. Then my host Rotarian, Thelma, gave the Reply to the Toast to the Lassies--which she creatively re-worked to include aspects of the Dunbar club.

The dinner was a full course of Haggis, neeps (turnips), and tatties (mashed potatoes), followed by a dessert of raspberry cranachan and homeade shortbread cookies from Rona's sweet shoppe. After dinner, several members (including myself!) got up and recited a Burn's poem, in memory of the legendary poet. I read Castle Gordon. Unfortunately, I was not nearly as entertaining as most of the Rotarians who got up, but I was happy to do it and is it bizarre that I find I like reciting poetry??? One of the Rotarians did a rendition of McGonagall's (one of Scotland's notoriously terrible poets) Tay Bridge Disaster, which invoked much laughter from the crowd. It was honestly the best night I have had thus far in the semester.

Sadly, I do not have pictures to document this experience, as naturally, I forgot my camera! ;-( However, I found a nice picture of Haggis online that I shall include for your viewing pleasure.

London Town

This past weekend I traveled to London with Laura and Greta. I took the train down on a Friday afternoon and arrived just in time for dinner. Laura has a friend from BYU who lives there and offered for us to be able to stay at his place for the weekend (which is fabulous because as I am sure you can guess, London is expensive!)

It was such a wonderful opportunity to get away from Edinburgh for a few days! Friday night we had a low-key evening and ate dinner at Nando's in Euston Square. I LOVE NANDOS. For those of you in the States, Nandos is basically a chicken restaurant, but you can have your chicken any way you like it - burger, pitta, wrap, salad, plan old roast chicken - with about 15 different sauces to choose from - mild, medium, and hot peri peri, tomato and basil, spicy garlic, lemon and herb just to name a few - with about 10 different sides available as well. Most of you who know me know I love love love to eat chicken (hence, why the roast chickens in the back of Tescos shudder when I walk through the door).

Saturday we began our exploring in the markets--I will upload pictures as soon as I can find the cord for my camera (yes, I lost it--no, it's not a regular USB that every other camera takes, of course!) The markets were huge, filled with every delightful food imaginable. The flowers were exceptional. The aroma of fresh baked bread, freshly cured meats, and mulled wine permeated the air. I even was able to find a Starbucks nestled right around the corner so I could have my 4-shot, extra hot, no foam, latte fix ;-)

From there, we moved on to the Millenium Bridge, visited St. Paul's, and found our way to Oxford Street. We had dinner at Wagamomma (not sure if I am spelling this right) in Leicester Square and went back to Jake's (Laura's friend's) at a reasonable hour.

Sunday we slept in and I spent the majority of the afternoon at the Imperial War Museum in Southwark. I never bore of that museum. I have been there several times now, but it is still my favorite. It is fascinating to me to think about how war can really shape lives, whole generations in fact. I really wanted to see the 'LIfe in the Trenches' exhibit, but it was only showing at certain times and I had to catch a 4pm train back to Edinburgh. Leaves something on the schedule for next time I suppose!!