Discovery

The ship Discovery was built here in Dundee in the late 19th/early 20th C. Used as an expedition ship, it sailed to Antarctica and made all sorts of scientific discoveries. (They were purported to have discovered many new species of animals.) It is been restored and moored permanently on the bank of the River Tay. Here's us exploring it.

St Andrews Cathedral

The other day, we went to St Andrews Cathedral. It is an amazing old ruin right on the coast of the North Sea; founded in something like 1158, it was used until the 16th C.

There is a cemetery in back with modern and ancient graves, the church itself has no walls, but has left behind the foundations of where they used to be. There are 3 wells that Elliot had fun looking into (and giving me a heart attack).

Julian looking through an arrow slit at the sea.

The remains of the wall. They lovingly cut out the turf around the ruins to accentuate their shapes. Very nice touch.

The cloister.

Elliot's pensive look after a climb up the wall.

Abroath Smokies and Tipsy Laird

In my quest to learn the regional recipes of Scotland, I have experimented with a few recipes over the past few months. Some have been bland, others have been overwhelming, the textures of a few have been a little off-putting. But then there are those dishes that you wonder how you ever lived without. Enter smokies and trifles.

Abroath Smokies are famous around here. Basically a smoked trout, they are something of a delicacy, I understand. One Saturday, we went to the Farmer's Market in St Andrews and bought a bunch in order to make Cullen Skink (a fish chowder). We bought the fish from a family that had been making the smokies for something like 5 generations. In fact, I think Cullen Skink the soup may be named after one of his family members (his last name was Skink).

Above is how it looks after being beheaded and deboned.

Flayed open ready to be flaked and put into the chowder.

And finally, the finished product. It has a beautiful subtle smokey flavour that really blends nicely against the sweet "swedes" (rutabaga) and potatoes. There's also a touch of bacon in there for some extra flavour.

For dessert, we had Tipsy Laird which is a lovely, not too sweet whisky trifle. I made my own custard and layered it with sliced strawberries and shaved chocolate. A dollop of hand whipped double cream topped it all off.

"She fancies herself something of a twitcha..."

(our yard as seen from the kitchen window)

...she said as she gazed at the bird feeder I'd recently placed in the tree right in front of her kitchen window.

Our downstairs neighbour who is 11 (the daughter of two of the most most wonderful people I've met yet, lucky us they're our neighbours) keeps a running log of the birds she sees in the yard. A "twitcher" is someone who watches and records birds and their activities; a bird watcher in America.

"I'm one, too!" I exclaim and we discuss the goings on of our collective gardens.

This passed week while on our way to school, Elliot and I have been watching a flock of rooks build their nests in a line of trees by the road. Each morning, there are nearly three dozen or so flying around, back and forth over the road carrying sticks and fluff and such. Yesterday, the big truck in front of me startled a few out of the brush. One didn't have a good grip on his stick and promptly dropped it--directly on top of my car. It didn't leave a dent, so mainly I felt sorry for his lost effort. (If it had left a dent, it would've been a different story.)

There are many many birds here; and many new birds that I've never seen or heard of before. Tit Mouses, Chaffinches, Wood Pigeons (which are the size of large chickens!), pheasants, a dozen different gulls and many as of yet unnamed winged friends.

When I was young, I was bored to tears by my Grandmother's stories of bird watching. She would go on trips (to Mexico, Tahoe etc) to "watch birds". When 10 years old, I could think of nothing worse. At 34, those adventures sound very interesting indeed! I wonder if the reason I am so interested in birds now is because of her influence? I hope to hold onto Elliot's fascination and interest in birds and introduce animal loving Julian to the fun and excitement of being a Twitcher.

If I was a bettin' man...

No pictures this post because both of our cameras ran out of batteries (yes at the same time) and our chargers (in)conveniently have N. American plugs. Anyway, until that situation gets righted, you'll just have to read.

The passed few days have been sunny and bright, renewing my excitement for life and living in Europe. We've been doing a lot of exploring. Wednesday we went to the beach in St Andrews; the one where the famous running sequence in Chariots of Fire was filmed. Elliot had fun picking up every stick and poking me with it. Julian tried out his new gum boots (wellies they call them here) and realised they are quite more fun than he thought.

For all those taking bets on when Elliot would contract a Scottish accent, here is the verdict. 6 weeks. That's right! A few days ago, Elliot came home saying "let's go over they-ah", "Julian, mind you don't fall" and "come over hee-ah, Mommy". It's quite cute at this point as it shows up only periodically. We'll see how it long it takes for his entire vocabulary to change over. Bets being taken now...

Before we moved, Elliot made up his own Scottish accent, too. He would say things like "hai-ah" for hair and "they-ah" for there but he would also make up words. Some random sound would come out of his mouth and it would be followed by "that's how they say ___ in Scotland". Now, he is learning some real "things they say in Scotland", especially in school.

This is for the Grandparents (and Auntie)!

A little glimpse of Julian in his favorite place: the bath!

A little bit of Elliot

Here is sleeping beauty after a long bedtime read of "A Wrinkle in Time".

He'd just had a bath and so his hair got a little crazy. Also, this night, he cried out "Bah bah bah!" in his sleep. It actually scared us!

Here is a little truck that Elliot made in school. They have a wood shop and one day his teacher took him in there to create something. Of course, he saw the tires and decided immediately that he wanted to make a truck. When he got home we decorated it a little. Personally, I think it's the greatest thing he's ever created!

Food of Scotland

Beware! What you are about to see may be disturbing to some people...

Deep fried haggis (spicy haggis at that), chips and a bit of fish, of course. All coated with a generous sprinkling of malt vinegar and salt. It was surprisingly tasty. The frying masked some of the stench of the haggis and made it a bit more palatable, in my opinion.

Now for something a little sweeter.

Elliot and Jeremy playing with the new science experiment set.

Elliot at the park up the street. He climbed up to the top of this all by himself (we were all very proud).

The boys sharing a bath.

Elliot's parade of pirates, knights, a princess, some horses but explicitly NOT Egyptians.

Here are the Egyptians, meticulously placed in a line doing some sort of lying down ritual. (I think he's pointing at the spears he stuck into the carpet. Not sure if this has anything to do with the Egyptians.)