I feel completely stupid right about now.

:^) I did not know that there were Kilts for females... those be called skirts 'round here. hehehe

LOL!

When I was a girl, I always had a kilt to wear. Some girls had beautiful decorated kilt pins to hold the kilt closed.

A wool kilt and woolen knee socks keeps you warm , has freedom of movement due to the pleats and you can pick your tartan. I loved wearing my kilt skirt.

It's fun :)

I've marked that little card at DMV other and wrote in all the above. You should see the looks on the face of whoever is working. Priceless. Then you always get someone that says you have to pick one because you can't have All the Above. I ask why not and it turns into a scene from Monty Python.

Just have to remember to take copies of my parents and grand parents BC's when I go someplace that doesn't know me where I have to fill out those pesky cards. Almost went to jail when one lady thought I must be taking drugs and tried to have me arrested. Me and the cop are still friends but she no longer works for the NC DMV.

she no longer works for the NC DMV.

One down, hundreds to go. ;^)

If it came anywhere close to what happens with me I'll bet it did.

Even though I grew up during the time when Race seemed more important to some people then the person standing before them I never lost that chip on my shoulder. Got into fights, won some, lost some, but never gave into lables. I'm Human and that's really the only lable that matters.

:)

hungarian , irish and a wee bit of scottish far as i know...

we dont get very cold here it's 58 right now.

Frosty

After 20 years Im sure this isn't a deal breaker :-) Besides, it's always good to learn something new everyday.

Yeah, tossed in Japanese. My dad was stationed there and so he told me stories about it and from then on I was drawn to the culture. Yes, the Samurai, the Shogunate and the Geisha definitely are interesting. I ended up marrying someone who is Japanese.

Im not sure what drew me to all things Scottish, Celtic & British though. Just been a lifelong draw. Perhaps it is that warrior spirit.

Im dying to spend time in Scotland.

I've been to Scotland a few times. It's a very beautiful place. The castles and landscape are beautiful.

The history is well preserved and the people.. well lets just say in Scotland the men are gorgeous and the women hardy.

Well, I'll be going for the castles, the landscape, the history and hopefully with my pretty handsome part Scot of a honey.

Not the women or the Hagis.

;-)

Frosty

My ex husband was stationed in Yokosuka. Never made it to Japan and would love to go and see and share that side of my daughter's culture with her.

We have friends in Japan and I am hoping my daughter is able to go spend a summer there next year. Of which of course I will fly out there with her get her settled and spend a little time exploring.

Haggis is definitely an acquired taste, one that I never nor ever will! A good friend of mine is married to a Clan chief and they were the hosts for the highland games so I was invited to take part. Part of that was eating the Haggis. I had to have 4 shots of scotch before and after. I ate it, but damn, it was hard to maintain feminine decorum

LOL

I tried not to make a face, but I'm sure they saw it in my eyes. I can have a poker face but my eyes never lie LOL

Yeah Im hoping to be able to swing it. Shinto shrines are beautiful.

Drink the scotch man, drink the scotch!

:)

would not touch that stuff with a ten foot pole, or blood pudding EWWWW EWWW EEWWWW. LOL

When I met my exes grandparents it was on Jan. 1st. New Year's Day is the most important holiday in Japan.

I arrived (not knowing what to expect) was given a Kimono and was helped into it. It was all very solemn and traditional. It was actually pretty neat. And then I sat in utter silence and had to eat traditional authentic (not Americanized) Japanese foods.

I dont eat seafood but I had to eat some of the weirdest things and I must have gone through 4 bottles of sake just to get through it. My ex was trying to hide his hysterical laughter just waiting for me to call time out. I made it through and won their approval.

I almost broke it off with him.

LOL

Tried it once.

It's now on my been there done that never to do it again list.

As are Mirugai, Uni, etc.

I think it's something about those bagpipes!

I promised myself I wouldn't be rude.. but I lie to myself a lot.. do the people who play the bagpipes.. hum or blow on them?

I love bagpipes and the music.

They blow Par.

Oh and btw I think we all say to ourselves......Ima not gon'be rude......Ima not gon'be rude......and then....

Our mouths open and voila!

.....and no Par you weren't rude.....at least I didnt take it that way.

Thank you Susi..

You're quite welcome Par :)

Frosty - like for sure.. like totally...

Susi - thank you for you're welcome.. I thank you.

Par-- thank you for your you're welcome...I thank you.

Any moment now you and I will begin sounding like Chip & Dale.

:)

One of my favorites when I was a sprout.

Mine, too!

:)

Susi - Thank you for your you're welcome for my thanking you ..

Oh.. what was the topic on here? ;) Oh ya.. a soft curvy framed set of crest.

Par no no thank you for your thank you for my you're welcome when I thanked you for thanking me when you thanked me.

Good Lord, this is a confusing as Lady Ga Ga.

;-)

I forgot what the topic is about. LOL

Susi - I am now officially dizzy.. Confusing - Good Lord.. at least you called me by my given name.. and for that you win an all expenses paid vacation to Guam..you and your guest will receive a spa treatment in this 5 days and 6 night trip... Where your family "Crest" will be laid out for others to admire...compliments of Frosty the Crest guy.

Family Crest - Frosty felt stupid for some reason.. and something to do with his Wife's Crest... I bet he .... never mind.. but.. that's all I got from that story .. ;)

Oh but Good Lord you wear dizzy well!

:-)

I've always wanted to go to Guam the land of no birds and rampant brown snakes. Perhaps as I stare in awe at my family crest laid out in front of me I can get finally get rid of my irrational fear and phobia of all things serpent.

Great, great island to do that!

Thank you God.

:-)

lmao... I really do not know what to say.. left me speechless..

Throws head back and laughs.......

Not only did God get it wrong with where to send me.......I left him speecless.

Now I'm sure he's going to send me to hell!

LOL

;-)

If I was a God.. I would want to be the God of Weather..

And I am sure it would always be fair.

Fair where we are with a little rain now and then.. elsewhere freezing and tons of snow. Lightening to all enemy countries 24/7... tornadoes..

Send a lil more rain and coolness to Florida.

:)

lmao...

:)

We have plenty of lightning here. Tell ya what, take our lightning, send some of the cool weather from the PNW send it here.

And ye call yourselves Scots fans! Bah! What's a little sheep's stomach stuffed with meat and barley and spices but good hearty fodder!

frosty, you can trust me! There's haggis, and then there's haggis! Unfortunately, there's only one way to find out! You guessed it! Try it! (*grin*!)

I've had some I wouldn't call human food if you held my toes in a fire, but then, I've had some that was absolutely delicious! But you have to try it to find out which one you've got!

(*pinkgrins*!)

Man, I had some haggis at a Burn's Day celebration at a Scots Presbyterian Church a few years back that was absolutely divine!. No kidding!

I truly believe it, Synthesis. Some I've had some I'd almost consider homicide to be able to reproduce it was so da**ed good! I wish I could! A wee bit of whisky next to it to wash it down, almost heaven. It sure isn't "light" but it sure can be good!

frosty will try it, just for the "adventure" if anything else! Here's hoping he gets hold of a godd one!

(*pinkgrins*!)

Augur!

Your image is tarnished!

lol

;)

While hubby & I were in Scotland, we had the privilege of trying haggis. Thought I wouldn't like them, but talk about delicious! Don't know which I liked more, the gorgeous country, the wonderful people, or the haggis!

Heh....didya try the scotch?

Hi Susi! Tarnished?! How, I ask? Unless you disfavor haggis? Don't knock it till you try it!

(*pinkgrins*!)

(ah, but then, mayhap you have!)

frosty, well, there's a couple of more votes there for you! Many more out there too! I always though that haggis suffers from a reputation not in line with its reality. Too many people bashing it over the years, and most probably never even tried it!

(*pinkgrins*!)

Augur

Ay! I have had the misfortune if the Haggis invading my palate......with four chasers of Scotch........2 for bravery......2 to help me get over it!

LOL!

(And you know your image isn't tarnished)

Ever tried kimche?

My sister almost married this guy who was half Korean, half Scottish. Guess what two delights were served up when my sister met the parents!

My poor, poor sister...don't know how she made it through that night bowels intact!

Yep, Kimchee is oftern served with sushi. Nasty stuff I'd put it right up there with Vegemite.

Damn......Kimchee and Haggis?

I would be swimming in a vat of Sake and Scotch with that mix!

LOL!

I've seen a LOT of weird Korean mixing with other cultures. In fact, when I used to work for U.S.Robotics, I was on the French support team with this guy named Hieng who grew up in Korea but defected to France.

He'd bring kimche in for lunch but dunk all sorts of bread into it...BLECH!

Good Lord.......dipping French Bread in Kimchee!

I know there is something else I should say but words escape me.

LOL

OMG Not my idea of a good mix...EVER!

When I was stationed at Osan I couldn't even deal with the body odor. We worked side by side with the S. Korean's and if you have ever had to stand beside someone that has been drinking saki or soju and eating Kimchee all weekend it makes your eyes water.

That odor is the only thing I won't miss if I never get the chance to go back.

Tony, my ex was in the Navy and he would say the only way to deal with the odor was to eat Kimchee pretty quickly after arriving. He had a deviated septum so his sense of smell wasn't always on track but in places like South Korea just like you said, enough to make your eyes water.

Love Sake can't stand Kimchee. Haggis was just wrong on so many levels. 2 shots of Scotch for bravery and 2 afterwards to forget!

Dennis I would probably join you.

When I was in the Navy, I swear you could smell Korea 15 miles out to sea. That Kinchee is some pretty rank stuff

Yeah heard 12 years worth of stories about that and @!$%# River in P.I.

Ive had authentic from SK Kimchee given to me as a 'ha ha' gift from the ex as well a Vegemite from Australia.

Grounds for divorce.

I have also been to that city in PI called Olongapo. The sewage from the city was dumped untreated into the canal. Some of the squawlered sections of city would actualy have the bathroom built over the canal. It was like an indoor outhouse, a hole on a seat directly over the water. It was disturbing to walk over that bridge and see young ladies in what they call bancas (Small Boats) asking for money. Servicemen would toss coins and if they didn't catch it a little boy would jump in to retrieve it.

Yep, exactly Ricksuth. I can only imagine. I've seen pictures.

Not Pretty

Nope. Not at all. And the stories are even worse.

Augur loves kimchee! Straight out of the ground out of the croc! Hot enough to melt concrete! Yum yum yum! The first time I had any was in a small restaurant in Seoul, and I swear, it was so friggin' hot, if you didn't eat it fast enough, the bowl it was in would start to decompose!

But it was delicious!

(*pinkgrins*!)

.........imagine how your insides felt!

lol

;)

Acquired taste to be sure. It is interesting how it's made though in those huge clay pots under ground.

My Dad's mother would "put up" about ten or twelve five gallon clay pots every fall, the old fashioned way, a lid and a brick on top of each one, and line them down the hall in the basement, stuffed with cabbage and cukes from the garden to make her own kraut, and a couple for pickles. Every fall. She lived downstairs, we lived up. Guess what the house "aroma" was all winter! It's a darned good thing we all liked the stuff!

So by the time I got to Korea, their kimchee was almost a natural!

(*pinkgrins*!)

Augur

You had Kraut.......we had oak barrels with wine fermenting. My uncle would drive to Sonoma/Napa get crates of deep, dark, succulant grapes, we'd have a HUGE BBQ ending with a traditional grape stomp, the priest would come and bless the grapes and then he and his partner would start the process of wine making.

We had the largest garage and the largest backyard....so for years we had 6 oak barrels in our garage.

And just like you......the aroma would seep upstairs and our house smelled like a winery.

Now my grandmother, every Holy Week would go and buy the Bakalao (Cod Fish) and hang it to dry in the sun inside our sun room. You can imagine that it was rather stinky in our house for about a week.

That smell I never got used to.....in fact thinking about it makes me dry heave!

LOL

omg! The dried fish too! Luckily, she didn't do that for too long! Actually, that never really bothered me! But I never got used to the fish soups. yech!

(*pinkgrins*!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Speak for yourself. I tan very nicely (lasts a long time too) when I take the time out to do it.

My grandfather's mother was Scottish presbyterian, grandfather's father was Irish Catholic. He said it was perpetual war, just like the song "The Orange and the Green."

I have that song on a 45 record.

trader joes in vegas has crumpets.

At least your crest isn't of a horseman with a broken lance. <chuckle>

If you stand just the right distance from mine....er....the European side of the family, that is, it looks like a giant beetle *puts hand over eyes, shaking head*

They were probably drunk on mead or ale. <chuckle>

Great, frosty's loaded...<G>

Frosty

First, the Guinness (not my choice of beer) is supposedly better tasting than what we have here, something about the difference in water quality I think. The Irish and even the English are not known for excellent food, but hey what do I know, I'm a picky eater. Second, if you or the wife have a grandparent or parent from Ireland (other countries may have similar laws) you automatically qualify for citizenship. To get the form contact your local Irish embassy here in the US and request a Foreign Birth Registry form. As an Irish citizen I'm also an EU citizen. I can own land, have a job, pension etc. in any EU country. The cool thing is you can pass the citizenship onto your offspring assuming they haven't been born yet. Third, when and if you go, have a high quality camera...everywhere you go is incredible. Fourth, IMO the best is the Cliffs of Moher...if you don't go there, you'll never forgive yourself. Bus tours leave out of Galway, just make sure the wife doesn't wear a skirt on that day or else she'll be giving everyone a nice show of her knickers due to the high winds :)

Crusher,

I doubt you'd get your wish for Northern Ireland, as that is mainly a Scottish population despite being in Ireland.

Tom, most may have Scottish and English roots due in large part to the Flight of Earls in 1607, but they still consider themselves Irish (or northern irish). Reunification may never happen until England can come out looking like the good guy in the whole dispute. Even now with relative peace in the north, passions run deep on both sides.

No matter the odds, I will still continue to have hope for reunification under the Republic.

I would love to see a reunited Ireland. But, as long as the British feel they can claim part of it, they will keep control over that part. It's been the history of the British to keep all or part of Ireland under its thumb. And, I think that history will continue indefinitely.

That was what Danny was telling me, all those years ago in New York. I can't blame them for being upset 1500 years of misery!

It's a little hard to watch language, Dennis, as it is invisible for the most part. <G>

I bet that got interesting during research. LOL

I have referred to myself as an American mutt for a while. Most of my family (with the notable exception of the Native Americans and one strand from my mother's family...) wasn't even in the US until either very late 1800's (1890 or later) or the super early 1900's. I know for sure that I have Scottish, Irish, German, Black Dutch and a few different types of Native American... Some others as well I am sure.

That was an interesting article. Thanks.

Glasgow, KY has Highland Games, too-- it is very fun!

We have highland games here in NC every year too. There is a large scots/irish population here.

Been to Highland Games.....so much fun.

I love it when they wear kilts and throw trees around. :-)

I suspected we were far from the only place to throw a Fling -- so glad to hear from some of you about other such games. Yes, throwing trees. Actually flipping them end over end is the object of that toss. Crazy Scots.

Kilts are cool.

Are you suppose to wear under clothes under a Kilt? Wouldn't that be liberating feeling? They always seem to joke about that. Or is it the "Truth is often told in a Jest"

There is something about a man in a Kilt that is so appealing.

If I recall correctly, you live in Alaska. You might concider wearing something under that Kilt or might very well have a Frosty One

You might concider wearing something under that Kilt

A sock, maybe?

frosty,

Are you saying you won first prize? <G>

dangit tom, i said that first

You're welcome. <chuckle>

Ashley MacIsaac, a fairly well-known young fiddle player hereabouts, used to be able to carry off the combination of a kilt with long underwear and army boots.

But then again, Canadian winters can be pretty damn cold...

I couldn't remember what they call it! :-)

Thanks, dear Golden Gate! Appreciate your help!

They do all the tree and rock throwing down at Glasgow, and play the pipes, but they stiil serve corn dogs, funnel cakes, and what we call, "Fair Food". And sweet iced tea. Gotta have the sweet iced tea. Somehow, I don't think that is too Scottish...

Here's a link to the Scottish Highland Games in Glasgow, KY. I know, I know, but we try hard...

Cool Dowswer keepin the down home in the highlands.

:)

Thanks for sharing the link. And you're welcome!

Ooo Sweet Tea and Haggis.......now there's a culinary treat! lol

You're welcome :)

That, too, mstanley! Are you from around here? You know all about us...

:-)

Glad to say...

You were Blarney'd!

;)

Sure 'twas, lassie... and here's hoping the saints give ye a foin Turkey Day tomorrow...

Ay! Laddy, and may the sainted angels above bless thee and thine the same on the morrow!

That was suppose to Balut. A fermented Duck egg about three days from hatching. When you open the shell you see a little duckling all curled up looking very ugly. You are suppose to drink the fluid and crunch down on the critter. I have ate thenm two occasions, Once while in a state of intoxication and once on a bet.

Ricksuth!

Nooooooooooooooo! Not Balut. OMG. I'm dry heaving. First thing in the morning....Good Lord.

I had a co-worker who ate 2 every morning in our office. First thing, every day, she's slurp the juice and it stunk to high heaven and then would talk with her mouth full munching on the bones.

Protein wall mural.

Yeh, but for a very short time. He didn't say I had to keep it down. No amount of beer kill that taste

Tummy doing flip-flop-I'm gonna-drop just reading that and I wish I couldn't remember seeing people eat it.

Happy Thanksgiving Frosty

Imagine working in a 2 person office slightly larger than a broom closet and having your officemate eat 2 of those EVERYDAY.

If I could have slit my wrists I would have. No amount of Lysol got rid of that smell. I could never have morning client meetings in my office because of it.

It's one of those foods that if you smell it you can taste it.

Why I wrote the article for "Fully Loaded Chili" I had to get a different picture and smell in my head just thinking about some of those other foods.

I even dated a woman in Korea who was drop-dead beautiful but no matter how badly I wanted to kiss her I just couldn't. Cheek, neck, but not the mouth. Somethings I just couldn't get past and as beautiful as she was her breathe was nasty even after brushing and rinsing. If I remember right we called it quits when she tried to get me to eat dried squid, some kind of dried fish, and what ever the last item was on my taste bud de-education caused me to lose it (right on the waiter, the table, the carpet, and the couple beside us). My poor tummy wouldn't let me eat for 2 days after that.