Happy 2009!

Jason and I had a fantastic New Year. We went to the Staincliffe Hotel which is just down the road from us here on the sea front. Neither of us had been before but we heard from many people that it was a good night so we had high expectations and we were not disappointed. We didn't know exactly what to expect but we got a nice champagne reception in the bar before the ballroom opened. When we went into the ballroom we were pleased to find we had our own private table, all of the groups that booked had their own table and it was all set up very nice. The only snag was that our name was misspelled on our table! 

The meal was delicious. For an appetizer they served "lobster parcels" which were puff pastry parcels filled with lobster meat and topped with a nice sauce. After our appetizers were served the waitstaff started bringing out the platters of food to the buffet tables on the dance floor and it was a huge spread. The best part was the beautiful seafood platter!

There were fresh mussels, prawns and smoked salmon and a big whole salmon in the middle. It was some of the best seafood I have ever had. There was a DJ and great music and dancing all night, although Jason and I didn't do much dancing ourselves.

The one big disappointment was that at midnight there was supposed to be a bagpiper and he never showed up so we missed out on that. The New Year celebrations in Scotland are so well known that many of the English have adopted some of their traditions, and across the world the Scottish song "Auld Lang Syne" has become the official anthem of New Year's Eve. The festival is called Hogmanay and the party in Edinburgh is considered the best New Year's Eve celebration, rivaling Times Square in New York. One tradition is to eat "haggis, tatties and neeps" at midnight. 

I know tatties and neeps sounds a bit x-rated but it is Scottish slang for mashed potatoes and turnips. Haggis is made from "sheep's pluck" which is the heart, liver and lungs mashed in with onions and spices and traditionally boiled in the sheep's stomach for three hours. I had never tried it before, and had no desire to, but as with black pudding I don't feel right saying I dislike it unless I have actually tried it. So I did...

It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't good enough to make me forget what it was made of. It also had a very unappealing texture, so after this one bite Jason happily finished the rest. 

Overall, it was a great way to ring in the New Year.

Now that 2009 has commenced, that also means the return of the reality show Celebrity Big Brother. Big Brother is HUGE over here, probably the biggest show on TV. Before it started I kind of dismissed it and thought it was going to be a lot like American reality shows which I don't usually follow, but Jason wanted to watch the first show when they entered the house so I watched- and I got hooked. 

There are three American celebrities on the show, La Toya Jackson, Vern Troyer (famous for his role as Mini-Me in the Austin Powers movies) and the rapper Coolio (famous for his 90s hit Gangsta's Paradise). There are 8 other British celebrities on the show, some former pop stars and TV presenters and even a Scottish Socialist politician. 

The thing that sucks you in is that it is on almost all the time. They have recap shows every single night and then after the recap shows they go to live footage of the celebs in the house, I found myself awake at 1:30 AM watching Coolio practicing Tae Kwon Do in his bathrobe out in the back garden of the Big Brother house. 

I think that is what the big difference is from most American reality shows. American reality shows are mostly overproduced and far from real, they squeeze one week of footage into one 30-60 minute show. They splice together video and sound clips to shape the story however they choose. I am sure there is some production for the highlight shows, and they do pick and choose which parts of the house and which conversations they are going to show live on the air, but in the end it is hours on end of live un-edited footage of "celebrities" getting bored in a house with no other stimulus but each other's conversation. I have been totally sucked in.

Hopefully I can pull myself away long enough to get some things done and get some sleep!

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year! Thanks for reading again this week!