Edinburgh Randoms

Group teeth brushing time.

Windy on top of Scott Monument. Mark & Mayke

Scott Monument. Built in the 1840s, 200 feet tall. Like the spire of a gothic church chopped off and stuck in the ground

Gotta love pie shops (Scottish meat pies, that is)

Nets sits in the kings chair at a local Edinburgh pub.

A view of Calton hill from Scott monument (the columns are the National Monument of Scotland, a project never completed, designed to resemble the Parthenon)

So nice to see these guys!

Just a little narrow going up Scott Monument

Rugby and Visiting Friends

Well, I had been looking forward to it for at least two months, and it finally happened. My first rugby game ever.

I know nothing about rugby. Now, I know a little. Enough to conclude that it is a much simpler game than American football, the most complicated game in the world. But this was no ordinary game. It was a national game, Scotland vs. New Zealand All Blacks. New Zealand is the best team in the world, by far. They do the infamous 'haka' dance (if you've seen Invictus then you know, but basically an overflow of testosterone infused yelling and stomping). So that was really cool to actually see in person. There was lots of hype coming up to the game. Every time New Zealand comes, the city becomes really electric. Everyone is talking about the game.

I was lucky enough to have a good friend visit that weekend. Lautauro, whom I stayed with in Buenos Aires on several occasions for at least a few weeks. See my post from April. Anyways, Lautauro came in on Friday and left on Monday, with a friend he is working with from Uruguay.

Actually, I wanted to take a second to reflect on how great couchsurfing and also Rotaract is and how things come full circle like this. While travelling in South America, I used both of those and stayed with lots of new people. I developed lots of new friendships, some still very strong and others I can't say I haven't talked to since I left. I'm not sure why, but it is really interesting that it is possible to develop and maintain a friendship, and even strengthen it, having only met someone for one day, two days, 5 days, or 7 days etc. Of course, I suppose, it is really made more possible through the internet. I email or chat on a several times a week basis with several people, and on a semi-weekly basis with others that I met in my trip. For example, one guy I met in Bariloche in Argentina, I met for one day only, but we communicate, mostly through facebook, at least a few times a month. Someone else I met in Brasilia, I communicate with by email several times a week. And I know that in these two cases and a handful of others that we will meet again, it is just a question of when and where. So when Lautaro visited (and we chat on gmail every once in awhile), it was really great, like seeing an old great friend again. He called his visit here 'operation payback'. He was getting me back for staying at his place, haha. He'll visit me in Sweden next year and when he moves to Luxemborg in January, I'll probably go there (he lives in France now). I guess he will move to Los Angeles in 2012 for a phd. Maybe we can meet on 3 or more continents. But, in summary, I have decided that people define places, places do not define places.

Anyways, Saturday evening the three of us went with Eduardo and George to the game. George had been hyping it up for quite some time. He went all out and wore his kilt to the game to show his Scottish pride. He took us all to the golf club before the game, treated us to a round of beers, and we loaded up on haggis rolls. The game itself was fun and it was frigid outside (it was an outdoor night game, at about 35 degrees!). One thing that really surprised me was how tame the crowd was. I remember crazy soccer fans in Brazil, and just watching England Premier League games on TV here, soccer fans are a bit nuts. But as George liked to say, the expression in Scotland is 'in rugby the thugs are on the field and the gentlemen are in the stands'. All 55,000 fans were seated the majority of the game, which was tamer than even a baseball or basketball game. As expected, the rugby players really are massive guys. In the end, Scotland got crushed. Something like 49-3, although the past two weeks they beat South Africa and Samoa, which are really good, so, in conclusion, Zew Zealand rules rugby.

Fans with the Scotland Flag:


Murrayfield Stadium:


Big dudes:


The group:


George and I:


Friday night was another great evening. I was going to take Lautauro and company to a typical Scottish dance. We went alright, but this particular evening happened to be fiddle festival 2010. So when we got to the building, we decided first to check out the fiddle room, after all, it's not every day you see some fiddlers. There were about 8 or 9 sitting around a table just having a good time. So we sat down near them and the room was pretty devoid of other fiddlers and even an audience. Slowly, more fiddlers came in one by one with their fiddles (and guitars and flutes and accordions, but mostly fiddles). Pretty soon, there had to be 35 or 45 fiddlers, all just going at it. They didn't stop when people arrived. The newbies just unpacked their fiddles, sat down, and zoned out. The music was really impressive so we stayed a long time until we were surrounded by fiddlers. Luckily enough, an older guy set his fiddle down on our table, so I asked him if I could try it. Reaffirming my thought that Scottish people are so dang friendly, he said no problems, and we talked for a bit. Another fiddler came over and tried to instruct me on how to play. I rocked out and started out with my own rendition of Beethoven's Concerto No. 127.54. A natural. After a good hour or more at fiddlemania, we proceeded upstairs to the ballroom for the Ceilidh. As always, it was a blast. Lautauro also really enjoyed it, and was as suprise as I was the first time how fast paced, nonchalant, and free everyone is in the dance. Who cares if you screw up, you dance with lots and lots of people, you sweat, and everyone enjoys themselves.

A few fiddlers:


Fiddlers piling in:


Getting my first ever fiddle lesson (bear in mind I was playing this while all the other fiddlers were jamming. Good thing they drowned me out).


Close to the fiddle action:


The Ceilidh:


As a point for the weekend I decided that we should eat all Super Scottish foods. Friday night started with them eating deep fried sausages and chips (fries). It was at a fish and chip shop so quality was low and meal kind of stunk. Saturday and Sunday morning, I made a full Scottish breakfast for all. We made my first trip to the butcher for fresh lorne sausage, bacon, eggs, and the corner shop for brown sauce, rolls, a tomato, and an IRN-BRU. It was the funnest trip to the butcher ever. The butchers were all really funny & chatty guys in their late 60s (reminding me of Grandpa Frank a little!). With my American accent, the picked me out after two words were uttered, and started just chatting about what I was doing here (whilst poking a bit of fun at me for my accent).

Sunday I studied while they walked around Edinburgh. In typical couchsurfing fashion, like good friends crashing on your couch should, they came back with dinner ingredients. They cooked a nice pasta dinner for all, the only meal of the trip without meat (and quite a relief it was). Monday we had lunch, going to a baked potato shop. I went with the baked potato stuffed with haggis. As a joke gift, they bought me the largest bag of potato chips they have seen their entire lives as well as some mints, at the one pound store. Lot's of Bovril was also drank over the weekend, and now I'm not sure why I wasn't drinking it very often before, it's not that bad, especially in cold weather, quite warming.

Certainly overall one of the most fun weekends in Scotland thus far.

Full Scottish breakfast, all in one roll:


Lautauro with his new favorite condiment, brown sauce: (Note, per request, I mailed some to him in France in exchange for his Argentinian Masse jersey he doesn't wear cause all of Argentina hates him after they lost the world cup).


Massive bag of chips (more plastic than should ever be used. Mixed flavors, Prawn Cocktail, S & Vinegar, Salted, and Cheese and Onion):

Essential Food Discoveries

Here is the latest and greatest in food adventures and tastings:

Vegetarian haggis (filled with oatmeal, carrots, potatoes, turnips, leeks, etc, and similar normal haggis spices, really quite delicious, especially with mashed potatoes, a must to complement the texture of the haggis. I've decided I like haggis quite a bit now, as evidenced by eating it 4 times in 8 days:) ):


The vegetarian haggis, pre-cooked, looks disturbing:


Pork & Apple Sausage roll (the apple makes it taste deeeelicous):


Steak Puff Pastry (which I burned by using the fan in the oven):


Haggis Roll with required brown sauce (yum):


Full Scottish Breakfast made for friends when they visited(Roll with fried egg, lorne sausage (square sausage), bacon (good bacon, not crappy sliced bacon), tomato slice, butter, and brown sauce...Too much meat for anyone in one sitting but quite tasty):


Lautauro purchased me as a gift the largest bag of potato chips he's seen his entire life (at the grocery store here). Filled with 30 individually wrapped bags. Too much plastic. However, cheese and onion chips are a great flavor:


Baked potato with haggis (topped with sour cream). Suprisingly quite delicious:


HP brown sauce has made a new friend:


My first few blogs have started with foods that stink. Now, either I am getting used to the food (which I am), or, I saved all the good tasting foods for last. I even enjoy Bovril (beef broth), from time to time now.

Now, I just want to know, where are all the vegetables?!?!?

The Supermarket Trip

Need to take a minute to post on the supermarkets after my trip there tonight, as they were one of the first things that stuck out to me when I got here.

Well, the majority of the supermarkets are reasonably small, 'express' sized supermarkets. There are probably 3 or 4 really big supermarkets. The small ones have an appalling selection of foods. I happen to live about a 15 minute walk from a nice big one, so that's where I have started going. Tesco's, it's called.

So, first things first.

-There is an extreme lack of fresh food. I'm talking produce, vegetables, meat, and fish.
-An incredibly high percentage of the foods are packaged.

If I want to buy tomatoes, they are not usually loose (only at the BIG market is there a small selection of loose, regular old tomatoes). Then, most times, they sell tomatoes in a plastic tin. Sometimes the tin is then covered in the outside in plastic. This is a theme that is repeated ALL over the produce and vegetable aisle. Everything is covered in plastic. Plastic here, plastic there. When you can get loose items, it is of the staples. Today, I got a few loose basic tomatoes, some loose red onions, even loose garlic and loose avocados. There is no such thing as a giant pile of potatoes, a giant pile of apples, a giant pile of anything. Even when loose, they come individually tagged and in crates. But the amount of plastic seen in the fruits and vegetable sections is overwhelming. In the express stores, forget about buying anything that is not packaged. On the bright side, at least some of the supermarkets charge you 10 pence for a plastic bag.

Another oddity is that produce that can be ripened on the counter usually comes unripened. I suppose this is because nearly all the produce is imported and it increases the shelf life if they pick it early. Usually, the plastic wrap will say where it is from. My cheery tomatoes are from Morocco. My asparagus is from Peru. My red pepper is from Italy. My orange is from South Africa. Surprisingly, my green onions and broccoli are from Scotland. One thing you CAN get from Scotlan in bulk, for very cheap, of course, is white potatoes.

I recently read an article that, not surprisingly, most of the surface of the UK has been converted for agricultural use. So, of course, there is an extreme lack of fruits and vegetables, and what they have is mostly imported. The article also said that there really are only about 6 varieties of apples that they grow in the UK. I think that surprised me.

Then, there is a big freezer section, 2 or 3 rows. The baked bean section is great, it is HUGE, the largest I have ever seen my entire life. Lots of human gases must be produced from such a high baked bean consumption. Then, say you are looking for black beans... first you need to look for baked beans. Then slide over 3 or 4 columns and you are in the 'pulse' section, where all the other 'beans' are. Next time I am lost I'll remember to ask the clerk 'Can you please direct me to the pulse section please?'

The breakfast sausage section is massive. You can get them in the traditional form, or squares. And they are CHEAP. Large selection of bacon, too.

Forget about much fresh meat, as in, the butcher just cut it 'fresh'. Just go straight to the refrigerated aisle and pick up a packet. I guess if you want good, fresh meat, go to a butcher.

The selection of frozen and refrigerated prepared foods is massive. All sorts of meat pies. Haggis. Things you couldn't even think of.

On the other hand, I started a trend of buying a few new, random food items each week. If you can't tell from the food blogs, I'm having a lot of fun doing this. There are many things I haven't seen before, which is great, except my heart probably doesn't like, for example, today's combination of pork pies, Haggis, Irn Bru, and Mulligatawny soup that I picked up... it'll just have to work a little harder until I leave:

Irn Bru. A Super Scottish drink they claim cures hangovers. Loaded up with caffeine and sugar. Tasted like any other energy drink. They say it competes with Coke and Pepsi here:


MacsWeen Haggis. George said it was pretty good Haggis, even for being sold in the supermarket, so I went for it:


Mulligatawny soup. Never seen it in a US supermarket (probably wasn't looking). Wikipedia tells me its some Indian-British originated soup with curry flavorings.


'Melton Mowbray Pork Pies'. Sounds like a heart attack and artery clogger. I reckon I'll have a go (reckon that it might be my new favorite word, by the way). Melton Mowbray is a city in England famous for its pies (NOT fruit pies!)

Foods in Scotland, Part 2

...and it continues...

-The scotch pie. Actually, it is just referred to simply as a 'pie' here. As in 'Hey Jimbo, let's go grab a pie for lunch.' Commonly bought at your local pie shop (which is basically a bakery). Filled with minced meat. Personally, not bad. Not the greatest thing in the world, though. Comfort food.





-Steak Pie with Chips. Just cut up pieces of beef, in some amazing sauce, really really tender as well. The most delicious thing I have eaten here so far. I'm not a big fan of fries, but they tasted better when dipped in the sauce from the meat.



I elected not to purchase them out of fear for my well being, but indeed it is hot dogs in a can:


Walkers Chips. Prawn Cocktail. Roasted Chicken. Worcester Sauce. English Roast Beef. The list goes on. I tried the prawn one, Worcester sauce, and chicken ones, and they were all way too strong tasting (and in a bad way as well). I don't really want to eat chicken chicken, I want to eat potato chips.





Fish and Chips. Not sure why the are so popular in the UK, but I won't be buying them very often if at all. Large chunk of white fish deep fried. Nothing too special about that.



Scotch Egg. Admittedly, these are ok. By ok, I mean I might buy another one sometime before I leave, just for the heck of it. You can eat them hot or cold. I bought them at the supermarket. It is a hard boiled egg, wrapped in sausage, breaded, then deep fried. I could never think of that combination on my own. I might even try to experiment and make some on my own.





Beef Burger. This was a burger, breaded, and deep fried. Of course, it was served with chips. I loaded the chips up with brown sauce. Admittedly, it was edible. Bought at a chip shop. I guess a chip shop might be considered fast food.





This is just a sausage (can you see it in there?!?!?!). Covered in cheese. Again, loaded up with chips. Actually, this was Eduardo's. I can not attest to the taste of this dish, but I am sure the picture may serve justice:



Really enjoying the culinary experience that is the UK, nonetheless. Trying to keep my arteries unclogged at the same time. Stay tuned for more food blogs, there are certainly a lot of unknown delicacies remaining to eat here...

Scotland Highland Games

This past weekend, I went with Brecht to a day of Highland games, a distinctly Scottish event.

We took the train 2 hours from Edinburgh central to the tiny town of Pitlochry, Scotland. The town itself is not much to speak of, small, lots of souvenir shopping on the main street. It is, however, in the highlands, and therefore surrounded by large hills/small mountains...very green and picturesque setting.



Although there are also highland games all over the US & other countries, here in Scotland, the Highland games are held in a different small town every weekend for 3 or 4 months or so, from Mayish to mid September. In fact, although they are local events and have local participants, it is also part of a series of Highland Games, and even administered by a group, the Scottish Highland Games Association.

Another seemingly obvious but not so obvious thing is in fact the games only take place in the highlands. Edinburgh, Glasgow, and most of south eastern Scotland are lowlands, so they do not have highland games. Makes sense, but you have to consider the geography of Scotland when you think about it.

The other thing I learned was a bit of history regarding the games. During English occupation, they would not let the Scots train with weapons. So they discretely trained by using the games for this purpose. Honing skills with axes and other weapons.

So anyways, the games were really interesting. Lot's of manly events, despite the kilt-wearing. It really felt like a track and field competition in the US, with various events taking place simultaneously in different parts of the field. Events included:

Log toss. Three different really tall logs of different diameters. Pick it up, flip it over, try to get it to flip over enough so the top end lands on the ground and then rolls over. If it goes less than 180 degrees (and the top side does not land on the ground), you lose:




Stone Throw/Shotput. Throw palm sized stone from ear, with a nice wind up in the process:




Bicycling. Various lengths and sprints. All on the muddy grass:




Running. Lots of sprints, longer events, and even a team even where they handed off the baton (what do they call that again? I forgot).


Tug of War. Hilarious. It went on all day, there were 7 teams. Sometimes the tug of war would go on for 10 or 15 minutes, all the guys just kind of resting there while putting their weight into it. They even had coaches yelling out. Lots of grunting. Big guys. Very funny.


My favorite picture.




Long Hammer throw. Hammer with really long wooden handle:



Ball and Chain throw:



Weight toss. 56 lb weight which at the highest setting gets tossed over a 15'8" bar. They kept saying the equivalent to throwing a 7 lb baby over a 2 story double decker bus.


this would constitute a failure:




Bagpiping. Lots of bagpiping. They had 21 bands play individually throughout the day. Then, at the end, all 21 played together in a procession. They bands had drummers as well. It was really impressive.


The look of kilted dejection:




Then Dougie Maclean played. I had never heard of him, but apparently he is one of Scotlands more famous musicians. And everyone knew the words to the songs he played.