St. Andrew's Day Dinner at Braveheart Highland Pub

Something different this time, we're going to celebrate St. Andrew's Day, Scotland's official national day, with a Monday night dinner at the Lehigh Valley's premier Scottish pub, the Braveheart Highland Pub in Hellertown.

St. Andrew is Scotland's patron saint. The national flag of Scotland, known as the Saltire, with a white diagonal cross on a blue background, represents the crucifixion of St Andrew.

Tradition has it that the flag originated in a battle fought near the East Lothian village of Athelstaneford in AD 832, between an army of Picts and Scots under King Angus and a larger force of Saxons led by Athelstan. Fearing the outcome, King Angus led prayers for deliverance and was rewarded by seeing a cloud formation of a white Saltire against the blue sky.

The king vowed that if his troops won the battle, Andrew would thereafter be the patron saint of Scotland. The Scots did win, and the Saltire eventually became the flag of Scotland.

Or so the story goes. Today, St. Andrew's Day is a celebration of Scottish food, music and culture so we'll get in on the fun at the Braveheart, where such Scottish favorites as meat pies, bangers and mash, shepherd's pie, mince and tatties, bridies, potato and leek soup, haggis hush puppies, Scotch eggs, boxty, beef stew, and fish and chips are always on the menu. Plus they have Belhaven Scottish Ale and Tennent's Lager on tap.

I can't think of a better way to spend a Monday night and kick off the holiday season.

See you there! Or as they say in Scots Gaelic, chì mi ann thu!