International Learning-Scotland 2014. College of Education, University of Louisville: The food blogger

I was not sure what I was going to write about during our trip. I wracked my brain and thought about what the best topic would be, then last night at dinner it dawned on me, people may be as interested in the food as I am, so the decision was made that I would be the Food Blogger. I am very excited to blog about the food, because I have been on a "Food Adventure" since we flew out of Louisville, so it makes sense that I would be the one to blog about our experience in this adventure.

Since arriving in Scotland, I have been on a mission to try everything that is native to this land. So far, we have been to MANY eateries and I have tried as many dishes as I can. Luckily I have been fortunate enough to find a group that share my adventurous and we decided early on we would all try different things so we could taste it all.

The first thing I wanted to try was Haggis! I have heard so many horrible stories about haggis and how awful it was and how I would hate it, that I was so afraid to try it I had made it horrible in my head. I decided our first night here I would find an eatery and get it out of the way. We stopped that night at a pub off the Royal Mile called the Whiskey and Haggis House with the thoughts that with a name like that we were going to find haggis. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the haggis looked eatable. It was very nicely stacked in layers on top of mashed potatoes and cheese and looked very appetizing. I am happy to say, "I like HAGGIS!" It was not awful, there were no entrails involved and the smell is actually very good. Every morning in the cafeteria at the University of Edinburgh, we have haggis served like our fried sausage and I have eaten some every day.

Even though haggis was the main attraction of the food adventure, there are so many other foods that we have experienced. Inn Linlithgow, we had dinner at a Lovely pub called the 4 Mary's and we were served roasted beef and lamb that was cooked to perfection. That was also my first experience with Yorkshire pudding, which is not a pudding the way we think of it at all. It was more like upside-down puffed bread with the most succulent gravy I have ever experienced. We also were served a "Skink" soup, which consisted of potatoes and haddock. It was also very tasty. Haddock is the main fish served here, so when I had the fish and chips (fried potatoes), it was not that much different from what we have in the states.

The food we found that need a spotlight and marquee are the desserts! We have ALL decided that we are addicted to the sticky pudding. Even though we have had this several times and from several places, it is the best dessert EVER! The most common pudding is the sticky toffee pudding and it is amazing. It was unanimously decided that we would find a recipe for this when we got home. Sticky pudding is most often a very moist, heavy dark cake, probably chocolate, with very thick layer of toffee or caramel slathered over the top. Oh yes, it is as good as it sounds! I have also had the privilege to try a piece of Victoria Cake, Fudge Cake, several types of cheese cake (which is a lot like our mousse) and a spice cake like dessert that is called Clootie Dumpling and was served with a warm custard sauce.

I have been extremely happy with what we have eaten and all the places we have gone. The restaurants here all have a very homey feel to them as though you are eating in a personal dining room. The food experience here has been wonderful and I hope I can take some of the recipes home with me and share them with my family.

-Stephanie Kittle