Well, our band Blarney played a couple of Burns Night suppers again this year. At the last one--last Saturday night--the hostess came over and presented us with a few helpings of leftover haggis from the meal (which we didn't attend), in styrofoam take-out containers. I asked her how we had offended her, but didn't get much of a rise out of her.

Anyway, I took my portion home, but didn't much like the smell of it. It sure stunk up my vehicle and it was too cold to roll down the window. I'm not sure how long it sat cooling before it was wrapped up, but I just put it into the fridge when I got home. I thought the dog might eat it next day but he wasn't interested in it either. So it went out in the trash a few days later.

Anyway, today I got a call from my band-mate, Bill, whose daytime gig is as a local health inspector. He asked me if I still had any haggis left. I told him: "Sorry, no! It all went out in the garbage Wednesday. Maybe Tim (another band-mate) still has some though. He took most of it."

Well, Bill didn't want any. He was calling to tell me not to eat it. He said there was a recall(???) of the meat supplied (by Opie's Quality Meats, no less) for the haggis locally. He said there weren't any reports of people getting sick locally and that he had spoken to Tim who'd already had a meal from his share and felt fine. But he was just playing it safe and thought he'd warn me. Like me, he'd thought the stuff was prepared at the hall where the supper was located, but it turns out it was some pre-fab haggis.

Here's a link with the poop on the haggis scare: Haggis Health Hazard Alert

And another concerning some other Haggis-related problems:Och! Nae mair haggis!

Was it Billy Connolly that said all Scottish cuisine is based on a dare?