January 25th, 2009 is no ordinary Burns Night, it marks the 250th Anniversary of Scottish poet Robert Burns birth.
To celebrate the BBC created a Robert Burns Site where amongst other things you can listen to Prince Charles reading My Heart's In The Highlands.
Here are the first 4 verses of this 1787 song:
My heart's in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go."
Which Highlands single malt should we be drinking to it? Maybe the Balblair Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky which is offered only in 3 vintages 1975, 1989 and1997 according to Laura Malesich of Luxist.
US West Coast fans of the bard can celebrate (a day early) at Edinburgh Castle Saturday January 24 at 8pm ($10 at the door) 950 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 415.885.4074.
I heard about it thanks to Burns Night 2009 by Kim Laidlaw (Bay Area Bites, January 24).
In the heartland, you can join the Moscow Burns Night at the University of Idaho in…Moscow (my illustration, above).
To conclude, you can join the Worldwide Toast to Robert Burns. People can register their Toast to Burns to build a worldwide total – then on 25th January there will be an attempt to break the World Record for a simultaneous toast at 9pm (GMT).
Last year Burns bit: On 'Burns Night' Whisky, Poetry and Scotland