Today I am going to tell a tale of my own ignorance and unwillingness to try something new.

One of my friends, Andy, very kindly sent me a vegetarian haggis as a ‘thank you’ for a copy of my calendar. When he said he was sending it my first response (though concealed from him) was ‘I’ll bet it has some meat in it’ – the number of times I have been told ‘no really, it’s completely vegetarian’ only to discover that whatever the item is, it has been made with animal fat or has bacon, chicken or fish in it somewhere. Even supermarket chains do it – Waitrose (a UK supermarket chain) sells a ‘vegetarian’ soup that has Worcestershire sauce in it…..and Worcestershire sauce has anchovies in it!!!

So, when it arrived in the post, I opened it to discover, to my great delight, that it was really veggie. Although I was delighted to see it was really veggie, I did then realise we would have to eat the said haggis. We got a bit of a break as it required a long time cooking (for those folks like us who don’t have a microwave) and so it needed to wait until the weekend. Over the weekend of course we were dashing around like mad things and didn’t eat a single meal here. Oh dear, that meant it had to wait again.

I got in a bit of a panic then because its sell-by date was looming and so I left home yesterday morning with a missive to DM to get it out of the fridge and cook it according to the pack instructions. I brought home a swede that was cooked and mashed to go with it, along with mashed spuds and roasted onion and red wine gravy.

We got it out of the oven and unwrapped it from the foil – it looked a little unappealing. We punctured the plastic ‘skin’ and a mass of haggis burst out, showering the work surface with speckles of what can only be described as something akin to stuffing. I’d been expecting that – my friend at work, Sarah, had told me to expect it and had also recommended the gravy.

It went onto plates with the neeps (swede) and tatties (potatoes) and we gingerly took our first few mouthfuls. All our reservations went flying out of the window as soon as we tasted it. It was gorgeous. Absolutely yummy. We’re going to put an order in to the man for another one so we can celebrate Burns Night next January with this scrumptious thing. I can’t quite describe it – the texture was not unlike a dry-ish stuffing, the flavour was nutty, spicy and oaty so several of my favourite flavours combined.

This rather crass device to facilitate a ‘Thank you’ to Andy for such a yummy treat is, I know, a bit of a tired, sad old cliché but let’s face it – rather this than show ME in the outfit pictured…….now that wouldn’t be proper would it? So apologies to all who thought this would be a story of sex and debauchery – in fact it’s a rather corny analogy so I could use my ‘suspend disbelief’ title to demonstrate that trying something new, however unappealing in thought, can reveal a sumptuous feast for both body and soul.

BTW – don’t assume these were bought for a ‘Valentine’s Day’ gift – not so! Like I said, home-made cards and love were the rest of last night’s menu! I hope too that no-one misconstrues the message to Andy and his lovely wife…..it is exactly what it says – a Thank You from DM and me.

Thanks Andy, from both of us lily livered Sassenachs. We salute you and won’t ever question your judgement again.

Last year? Panic Panic Panic!!!