Here comes the haggis

Well, if you’ve never done it, put at the top of your list the welcoming of the haggis. Haggis, you ask?

Let me start with the basics. If you go to Hawaii and take in a luau, you have to try the poi. It’s required! You do it once and it’s awful. But you then can at least say you’ve done it.

Tuesday night, as the guest of Henry and Carol Schielein at the Balboa Bay Club, I took in my first Robert Burns dinner. Burns, or Rabbie Burns as he was also known in the 18th century, was a farmer, but more famously known as a Scottish poet.

To honor him, the Scots and their friends get together regularly for dinner and readings of his works. You can recognize the attendees by their funny skirts. And that’s just the men.

Anyway, the meal begins with a special reading and the welcoming of the haggis. My understanding is that the haggis is lamb intestines stuffed with various nuts and a bunch of chopped up lamb organs.

The pre-dinner conversation spreads like wildfire.

“Have you ever tried haggis,” the others at the table warn with a sour frown.

My problem is I tried it and liked it. Of course, I was the kid who always for my birthday dinner would pick calves liver just to watch my brother and three sisters have to suffer through it.

Anyway, if you haven’t done a Burns dinner, I strongly recommend it. But make sure there’s plenty of single barrel scotch to wash down any ill effects or headaches you might have

Henry, the Bavarian, does a great Scottish meal!

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Elsewhere around town, if your sports schedule doesn’t include UC Irvine men’s basketball and men’s volleyball, you are missing out on two of the best shows around.

Wednesday night, the Anteater men’s basketball team beat Cal State Fullerton, 83-68, improving to a 7-0 record in Big West Conference play. The team ranks second in the nation among all Division I programs in three-point shooting. Second, as in better than Duke, better than Arizona and better than UCLA.

How good is this team? I don’t know, but former Los Angeles Lakers star and Memphis Grizzlies General Manager Jerry West was on hand to find out. Former Bruins coach Jim Harrick was also on hand.

UCI started its off-conference schedule strong, with a surprising win over Stanford, but then it faltered some with lesser teams. However, with a little luck they could easily be 15-4, rather than 11-8.

The Anteaters travel to Long Beach on Saturday to take on the 49ers at the Pyramid. It begins a three-game road trip that also takes them north to Pacific, a team that last year advanced in the NCAA tournament.

They’ll return home Feb. 9 to take on Santa Barbara. Take the kids, it’s a great show.

And as far as volleyball goes, UCI is near the top -- in the country! Currently ranked No. 4 in the nation, the ‘Eaters have swept UCLA, USC and Stanford in recent weeks and come off a win Wednesday in Honolulu over Hawaii. The two teams meet again tonight.

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Finally, a sad note.

Many of you have attended banquets over the years and heard Paul Salata emcee. Salata, the founder of Irrelevant Week and a Newport Beach mainstay for years, has always highlighted his six brothers in his many jokes. One of his favorites, “Forget Kosovo, I called on Jesse Jackson to see if he can help get my brother Pete out of Montebello.”

“Uncle” Pete, as he was affectionately called, the eldest of the Salata brothers, died of a heart attack last week. A service will be held at 11 a.m. today at St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church in San Gabriel.

* TOM JOHNSON is the publisher. Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at (714) 966-4664 or send story ideas to dailypilot@latimes.com.

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