21 January, 2011

Traditional Scottish Meal

We had a guest in from the States the other night, so I decided to feed him the most well known and tradition meal in Scotland: Haggis, Neeps (mashed turnips) and Tatties (mashed potatoes). I had never eaten turnip before coming to Scotland and I actually quite like it. The secret to making mashed potatoes and turnips taste nice is butter! Though maybe not the healthiest, butter will make most vegetables taste quite yummy. The food turned out quite well and our guest enjoyed it and the chance to try something new!


If you're ever in Scotland don't miss this meal! The first time I was in Scotland, my mother-in-law made it for me and I found I really like it! I was warned before ever visiting Scotland (by a few Americans) that haggis was not very good and was made of strange things. I won't disagree that for many people it might be best not to know what is in haggis before trying it, but I quite like it myself and would recommend it! For those who do want to know, haggis contains sheep's "pluck" (heart, liver, and lungs), onion, oatmeal, suet, spices and salt mixed with stock and it's traditionally simmered in a sheep's stomach for 3 hours. Today, most commercial haggis is prepared in a casing rather than an actual stomach. Haggis is definitely a must try!

08 January, 2011

Our Flat!

I'm sorry it has taken so long for me to get the pictures together, but I'm finally posting pics of the amazing flat God provided for us! It is a traditional Glasgow style tenement flat and because of that it has some lovely features including high ceilings, crown moulding, stained glass archways, huge windows and lots of space! The front two rooms of the house have single glazed windows, so they are often quite cold, but the back rooms are double glazed so their a bit warmer. The best part about the flat is that it was advertised as a two bedroom flat with a small office and as you'll see it actually has 3 full bedrooms and it was only £45/month more than all the others that we were looking at that we half its size! We decided to invite our friend Mark to stay with us to make good use of the space and it's been great so far!

So enough of the rambling, I'll give you a tour! We are still working out of some boxes as you'll see and slowly decorating, but we're getting there!

Our Flat on Lauderdale Gardens

Come in!

Our lovely kitchen

Beautiful cabinets with our wedding dishes displayed











My favourite place to sit read!

The "small office"




Your room when you come visit!





Mark's room
The largest bedroom we'll ever have!
The living room...we're still deciding on décor