Chippy Sauce

This was a complete surprise.  I received an unexpected package in the post this morning.  It contained this bottle of Chippy Sauce.  It really is a most thoughtful gift, and I would like to say a big Thank You to the Princess.

For those of you wondering "What the heck is chippy sauce?", I shall try to explain.

When I was growing up in a characterless new town in the west of Scotland, when you went to the Fish & Chip shop they always offered you salt and vinegar for your chips.  It was exactly the same in Glasgow.  And everywhere within my ken.

And although we had relatives in Edinburgh, we didn't go to chip shops there because my Auntie & Uncle were really posh (compared to me).  I remember getting Quiche Lorraine at their house for dinner one night and being slightly disappointed to see that it was just a bacon and egg flan.  Served with what I considered to be burnt chips.  They were rubbish compared to my mum's chips.

Anyway, years later, I had friends from Edinburgh and went to visit them.  I really liked Edinburgh.  The pubs were really different for a start ("what the heck is 80/-?").  And then there were the chip shops.  

I'd never seen a White Pudding until I visited an Edinburgh Chippie. (And I didn't know about Red Puddings until I visited a Chip Shop in Ladybank in Fife)

But I digress.  In Chip Shops in Edinburgh you are not offered salt and vinegar, you are offered "saltnsoss" which is how it sounded to me.  Totally unaccustomed to hearing words like Toly, Radge, Scran, Shan, Barry and many others*

The "soss" part of that is similar to HP Sauce but thinner, and if you have partaken of light libation, utterly delicious on chips and many other things.  If you are ever in Edinburgh, I would recommend The Tailend Chippie on Leith Walk.  I was going to say Tony's on Teviot Place but it appears that it's gone...

Anyway as result of this arriving, I decided to order a Chip Pan.  Not one of these machines that clutter up your worktops, but a proper pan with a basket that you make chips in.  Oven chips just don't work with chippy sauce.  And so I ordered a chip pan - ein Frittiertopf and not eine Fritteuse.

Amazon's incredible algorithms got to work on my latest order.  I was, however, quite taken aback when Amazon recommended that I buy a "girly look" ladies cardigan to complement my chip pan.

I do not think that anyone would ever describe me as "girly".  

Anyway, such nonsense has kept me well distracted today.  That, Chippy Sauce and writing E-Mails to a Therapist have made today one of my better days. 

Nochmal Danke an die Prinzessin.

*Toly is an Edinburgh word for poo; if you describe someone as "radge" or "a Radge", they are not the sort of person up for a reasonable debate; Scran is just something to eat, Shan is used to describe the behaviour of many a Radge, something shameful or unfair; Barry is used to describe something excellent  as in "How was your holiday?" "It was barry".