Regular
visitors will have seen that I intended to return to my cauf-kintra, the
Granite City of Aberdeen, on 7 February 2009 for the Aberdeen-East Fife
Homecoming Scottish Cup tie. Unfortunately the game was postponed owing to
snow, not on the Pittrodrie surface, but on the roads around the city,
however the East Fife team bus finally made it this week (Tuesday) and,
apart from the result, The Fife’s supporters enjoyed their day out against a
‘big team’. After taking in the East Fife kit, I enjoyed the game from the
comfort of a hospitality box (including a steak pie and coffee at half-time)
with my Don’s scarf in my pocket! For the benefit of the Australian- based
East Fife supporters who visited Bayview last season, you can click
here for a match report courtesy of Alan Henderson and James
Corstorphine.
I will be
making a swift return to Aberdeen to take in a touring exhibition
celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth and life of Robert
Burns. From now until Sunday 11 April 2009, ZIG-ZAG: The Paths of Robert
Burns will be on show at Aberdeen Art Gallery. Zig-Zag has already been on
show at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh and will following the
Aberdeen dates move on to Dumfries from Wednesday 1 July to Monday 31 August
2009 (venue TBC), and finally Glaswegians can enjoy it at the Hunterian
Museum from Monday 21 September to St Andrews Day 30 November 2009.
The title of
the exhibition comes from Burns’ famous autobiographical letter of 1787. In
it Burns explores the course of his life, insightfully observing that “…keen
sensibility and riotous passion may still make him zig-zag in his future
path of life.” The exhibition examines all the contrasts in Burns’ life and
shows in his own words, how he travelled through it. Visit
www.zigzagburns.com for full details of this major tribute to our
National Bard, which is part of Homecoming Scotland 2009.
Prior to
Tuesday’s game I enjoyed a mammoth haddock which inspires this week’s recipe
– Smoked Haddock with Chive, Pea and Potato Crust.
Smoked
Haddock with Chive, Pea and Potato Crust
Ingredients: 300g small salad potatoes , halved; 2
handfuls frozen peas; 50g butter; 2 smoked haddock fillets, about 150g each;
a splash white wine or chicken stock; ½ small bunch chives , chopped
Method: Cook the potatoes until tender, then add the
frozen peas for the last 2 minutes of cooking. Gently crush with half the
butter. Heat the rest of the butter in a pan and cook the haddock for 3
minutes on each side. Remove the haddock then add a splash of wine or
chicken stock and reduce a little. Stir in the chives. Put the potato on 2
plates, top with the haddock and the chive butter.
