meemalee

Tiny thief The first time I tried haggis was 15 years ago when one of my brothers married a Scottish lass up in Edinburgh. If I recall correctly, it was used to stuff a chicken galantine, and I was hugely relieved that it wasn't as offensive as I'd been led to believe. Several years later, I found myself at their house for a Burns Night supper where my sister-in-law began proceedings by reciting a Robert Burns poem, which to this day, my husband refers to as " when Gayle sang to a haggis ". Great Chieftain of the Pudding Race Haggis was relatively difficult to come by down South however - at least, you wouldn't see it in your local butchers or supermarket. I remember when I first saw a MacSween's a few years ago and was delighted that the "real deal" had made it to England. Now of course, you can get a whole selection - I picked up this lot from my Morrisons, including a vegetarian haggis for my mother-in-law which is presumably m...

Burmese Style Creamed Corn with Fried Onions Like many South East Asian countries, dairy isn't a big thing in Burma. A number of factors are involved: little pastoral land, a historical lack of refrigeration, and a respect for cattle in agriculture - milk is considered to be for the calves; cows and bulls are part of a Burmese farmer's family. In fact, for a long time I never realised that, although scarce and extremely expensive, milk and butter *was* actually available for those in the know. Until 20 or so years ago, there were no supermarkets in Burma, and food was always bought daily - fresh from open-air markets so early in the morning I was usually still in bed.  We even used to pack Lurpak in our suitcase for my grandparents in Mandalay - frozen and quadruple-wrapped in tin foil along with a tub of Brylcreem and a fruit cake and countless bars of Dairy Milk (my grandparents have since passed away, but we still take chocolate for the rest of the family every t...