A new book and a taste of Scotland

Wahoo - it's here - it's out!  A brand new baby - The Quarryman's Bride.

 

This is book 2 set in Minnesota - although completely unrelated to book 1 The Icecutter's Daughter.
This story is set around St. Cloud, Minnesota, deals with granite quarry work and the Scottish culture of those who were heavily involved in the quarry processes.

In honor of the new book, I'm sharing a recipe with you.  It's a traditional Scottish Shortbread and it's soooooo easy that even I could manage it. :)

SCOTTISH SHORTBREAD

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Mix together:
2 cups flour
1 cup butter (I use the salted kind)
1/2 cup sugar

Pat the dough into a buttered 9x13 dish (smaller if you want it thicker)
Prick the dough with a fork and sprinkle top with sugar
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool and eat.

The Scottish love their shortbread as well as many other interesting dishes - like haggis.  While in Scotland last December I finally broke down and tried haggis.  It was as I suspected - not at all to my liking.  Of course when you look at this traditional recipe you may understand why.

Haggis Ingredients:
Set of sheep's heart, lungs and liver (cleaned by a butcher)
One beef bung
3 cups finely chopped suet
One cup medium ground oatmeal
Two medium onions, finely chopped
One cup beef stock
One teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
One teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon mace

When faced with it Judy and I found it rather daunting.  Here's what ours looked like.

 

That's the haggis - stuffed in a plum.  The rest of the meal was much better - mashed potatoes and venison tenderloins.

 

But the experience was interesting nevertheless, and I don't know about Judy, but I miss Scotland. It was so beautiful.

 

 

But amazingly enough my little corner of the world here in Montana looks very similar.

 

 

 

 How I praise God for such glorious beauty in this our fallen world.  I am truly blessed of the Lord, and I'd love to bless you too. Comment here and I'll put your name in to win a book - in fact - I'm giving away 5.  You can comment on this blog until 11:59 p.m. May 17th to be entered.  I'll post the winners on my website at www.traciepeterson.com - just click on JOURNAL on May 18th for the winners.

 

God Bless You!