Scottish Cuisine and Gandalf

This week started out relatively uneventful, which was good as it prepared me for the excitement of the ending. On Thursday night, eleven of us from the department went out to Roastit Bubbly Jocks and no, I didn't have a stroke, that's what it's name is. It was great walking to the restaurant as I ran into four people I knew on the street during my twenty-minute walk; I'm beginning to belong! That's also indicative of how small a little area of a big city can actually be. I may live in a city with almost 800,000 people but I feel like I'm living in a town the size of Boulder.

The restaurant is a traditional, Scottish restaurant with fancy cuisine like venison casserole (like a stew), shellfish pie and beef shin with black pudding. I chose the latter for my meal as I haven't had proper meat in a long time. Oh, did I get my fill. The shin was so well-cooked that I didn't even need a knife to eat it; it just fell apart. Now, I love black pudding. I've had it here on a number of occasions. All the times I've had it have been at relatively cheap places; chip-shops and cheap breakfasts. I had it once with a meal where it was broken into mash potatoes and was really good. But this was a slab of black pudding underneath the meat. Now if you are eating or have a weak stomach, skip the italicized sentences while I explain more. Black pudding is also known as blood pudding as it is a sausage that is made from blood. It is primarily blood with a sort of filler that allows it to congeal when cooled. Most places use oats. I have usually had no problem with black pudding except this time as it wasn't congealed/cooked completely and was not so much black as a dark red that was a bit runny. Yeah, I had a hard time finishing it...though I finally suppressed the gag reflex and finished it. We had a few bottles of wine and a three-course meal for pretty cheap, all things considered. After our meal, a few of us went for a pint at the pub Tennents, near the university then even fewer of us went to the Oran Mor for whiskey before finally going home with full, full stomachs.

The next day was Friday and unfortunately, work was required. Though I did get quite a bit done. I followed the CreoZerg online where PZ Myers took the Secular Students of America to tour the Creation "Museum"...I really appreciated their efforts as they went completely respectfully; they dressed professionally and critiqued the exhibits to themselves. If you're interested, read PZ Myers' blog, Pharyngula. It was really interesting to follow. Anyhow, after work, we met up and went to the Common Rooms, a pub on Byers Road (noticing a theme?) where I had the opportunity to experience another, almost more, famous cuisine in Scotland, HAGGIS. Haggis is basically sheep innards that are minced and mixed with lots of spices and cooked in the stomach for about 3 hours. It was served with blended turnips (neeps) and mashed potatoes (tatties). I actually thoroughly enjoyed it and plan on having it again in the future. I can imagine it would be fantastic with chicken. I've realised that for the most part, the Scottish spent the better part of the previous century perfecting really disgusting foods that were readily available in the highlands. So, as long as you are able to forget what you're eating, and as long as it's cooked well, it's actually really fantastic. I really enjoy the Common Rooms as they tend to thumb their nose at the upper-class west enders. They charge £8.95 for a latte with an exclamation of "bloody west-enders" and with all their fancy salads, they include the "Glasgow Salad" which is a large portion of chips :). I left at about 10pm and wandered home and crashed on the couch to watch a film with my chips from downstairs.

On Saturday (yesterday) I had some shopping to do (mainly for food) and so I headed out early and wandered up and down Byers Road. Then, I was walking past this coffee shop, Morton's, and I saw Sir Ian McKellen sitting out in front, chatting with someone! I was like 98% sure at the time and definitely didn't want to interrupt because I would never come back from being yelled at by Sir Gandeto (Gandalf/Magneto, for you non-nerds...though you probably don't know who those characters are. Hint: Lord of the Rings and X-Men) but he saw me staring and smiled with that look of like, Yes, I am who you think I am. I still wasn't totally sure because it was very surreal and he wasn't dressed in a wizard's robe or a helmet, but I saw a LOT of people on Byers Road who were wearing production shirts from other films (meaning, they were on the crew of various films) then one of my colleagues mentioned that there was filming at the university all day that day. So yeah, that was exciting. Also, I looked up and saw that he's filming a documentary at the moment with Jeremy Irons and Alan Cumming. I (as well as Sir Ian, Jeremy Irons and Alan Cumming) are incredibly thankful that I am no longer 15 years old as I would be out right now trying to track them down...whether they were actually here or not. Anyway, it was still really cool and exciting.

That evening I popped into the office to look up some stuff that I had been working on at home and met up with another girl who was not doing anything that night. We decided to go out for some curry and a goofy film. We tried The Curry Leaf on Byers Road which was REALLY good, but not enough food for the price :( then we walked along Woodlands Road to the City Centre. It was a really nice walk which I repeated this morning. I was able to see a lot of the pubs that people have been recommending to me, but haven't been able to find. We went to the cinema and decided to see The Hangover, which was actually really funny. I don't like those stupid comedies, but this one had some genuinely clever moments. Oh man though, you guys get frustrated with the length of previews in the States? You have nothing on the UK. Since a lot of people don't watch TV or if they do, just watch the few channels available, there's a big industry in advertising at the cinema. There's about 10 minutes of adverts then another 15 minutes of previews. It's unbearable sometimes. Aside from that, though, it was a great movie which served to simply entertain without any brain needed. I got back at about 11:30pm and went straight to bed.

Today was another slow Sunday (which I like) as I walked down Woodland's Road (again) to the City Centre and sat in bookshops all morning. I then came home via the underground, made some tea and hunkered down in my flat for the afternoon. That's where I shall leave you for now. Have a good week!

Edit: I should add that it's cold and cloudy out. Surprise, surprise.