Selected items from the St. Andrew's Society of Ottawa Newsbulletin - Winter 2000 - ISSN 1492-4439 (Online)

- updated 03 Jan 2001  Go to Hugh Reekie's Home Page    other newsbulletins

Some years ago I discovered quite by mistake, as most great discoveries are made, that whisky and food go very well together. A friend of mine and myself were relaxing after a good sail. He was a cheese afficionado and had brought along some very old Canadian strong and an appropriate wine. He poured me a glass and placed it beside a whisky that I had already poured myself. As I bit into the cheese I took the wrong glass but the result was amazing. The blend of flavours went together so well that I have never looked back: in fact many who have gone that route actually now prefer whisky to wine with their meals.

   This may no longer be news to some of our readers inasmuch as knowledge of whisky, particularly single malt Scotch, has grown considerably since 1983 with the founding of the An Quaich society, the "gourmet dinners" organized by that society, together with presentations at various pubs, and the writing of a book with the same name as this article's title. Nonetheless, for those who may not yet have had that experience, and for those who would like to do it again, but in the surroundings of a St. Andrew's Society gathering, Hugh Reekie and John Shaver are planning just such an activity for Saturday, March 18. Scots attire, preferably day wear, is suggested. At press time there were venue choices, still to be selected.

   I have been invited to be your Taste Master for the function, (wherever the location). This will be a sit down dinner preceded by a whisky apéritif followed by a four course dinner each course having its own brand of malt Scotch whisky. Though the quantity in your glass may appear small, be assured that it will be sufficient for the purpose at hand. I might mention that whisky at 43% alcohol by volume is four times the strength of table wine. Also, though this might sound like heresy to the purists, ice and or water go very well with single malts except if taken as an after dinner drink. None other than Michael Jackson (the whisky guru and not the singer) agrees with me on that.

  Slainte mhath.

Society members were saddened to hear of the passing of Audrey Millar, a long time member of the Society. Born into a large MacLeod family in Ottawa, Audrey was also a member of the Sons of Scotland. With her husband Jim, who was President of the Society for many years, she was very active in the Scots community. Some Society members attended her funeral in late-November; she will be sorely missed. Our condolences to Jim and the Millar family.

No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod describes a journey starting in 1745 on Culloden Moor, first back to the Hebrides, then on to Cape Breton; the journey continues to Ontario and places beyond.

   Alistair MacLeod was born in Saskatchewan and spent his early summers in Cape Breton; now a professor at the University of Windsor, he still returns to Inverness county every summer.  A well written book, endorsed by Alice Munro, Farley Mowat, Michael Ondaatje and Flora MacDonald. McClelland & Stewart - $32.99

Your Editor had a chance to do some walking when in Scotland in the Summer of '99. We camped at Barnsoul Farm, a few miles north of Dumfries, near the Solway Coast in the Scottish Borders.  Curious about many piles of stones on the hillside, a morning's walk showed about a dozen small settlements, each with a stone wall about 50' in diameter, with a smaller stone circle about 10' across, inside. I thought that these were Stone Age forts, similar to one I saw on the top of Cockleroy, or Coq le Roi, near Beecraigs Country Park south of Linlithgow and Edinburgh, a couple of years back. Not so, said the farmer, on enquiry later: they were 17th century primitive villages. Of particular interest was that each small circle, or hut foundation, had a rowan tree (mountain ash) growing nearby; there were no other trees in the vicinity. Clearly the rowans had been especially planted - to keep off evil spirits, no doubt; they provided little shelter.

   The farmer then went on to suggest that I visit the Covenanting Communion Stones a couple of miles away. The Covenanters were a religious group in the Borders, persectuted by the military in the 16- and 1700s; they usually held open-air Sunday services, or Conventicles, in remote places, with a "lookout" for military platoons. In this particular remote location, a set of stones had been erected for open-air communion.

   On reflection, it is always interesting to see what man has done to change the countryside.