Haste Ye Back Is a Scottish expression encouraging visitors to return. It has been a year since our trip to Scotland and the crew got together for dinner to celebrate the anniversary with our significant others. The evening was memorable, or in other words, four old men got a chance to bore their wives with war stories from a trip to a foreign country.
Note: The picture of Chuck, Steve, Paul and Len from Turnberry Scotland in April 2022 (Check out the blog)
The menu for the evening skipped the Scottish typical HAGIS, but did build on the theme of one our favorite restaurants in St Andrews. We had a great meal at a small Italian restaurant in the Auld Grey Toon and the menu for the evening memorialized it.
The Menu
Teamwork made the menu fun
A fun aspect for the evening was that all the guys got to cook, or at least help out. A beauty of the menu was that it was mostly prepared in advance and just assembled a la minute. Having the four of us working together made the plating, which can be stressful, a lot of fun. While the foursome is pretty handy with a 5 iron, I wouldn’t say any of us is an accomplished chef. However, with an apron and a little instruction, the guys pulled off the plating with aplomb.
- Paul arranged a plate as an example and then plated the pasta, chicken, and spinach/broccoli.
- Chuck sauced the chicken with the fresh tomato/mozzarella topping and then dressed it with the basil chiffonade.
- Leonard artistically arrange the fresh oregano blossom on the pasta
- Steve grated a generous topping of Pecorino Romano cheese on the pasta.
The final product didn’t look too bad.
One of the highlights of the evening was the presentation of the painting Len made to Chuck in appreciation for his masterful efforts in arranging the trip. We have been to Scotland before and have been on hundreds of golf trips, but the job Chuck did in arranging this trip was truly masterful. He got every detail to fit together, right down to slipping 50 quid to the Avis Rental Car lot attendant. Rental cars in Europe are always a challenge, but getting four guys with luggage and golf bags into a rental car in Scotland is a challenge. Chuck’s motivational skills learned in a caddy-yard in Chicago saved the day.
The final event of the evening was a screening of a slideshow from the trip. The show was projected on our 65 inch TV screen accompanied by music. It was quite impressive until the lights went out…literally. Not to be undone by the windstorm outside, we continued by candlelight, huddled around the screening on a laptop.
It was a great trip and a great evening. All four of us kept saying…
HASTE YE BACK
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