http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3250196


WHITE HOUSE WATCH
Hold the haggis on Bush's birthday menu
The G8 summit won't leave much time for sampling culture of Scotland
By JULIE MASON
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - President Bush will be spending his 59th birthday in Scotland on Wednesday.

Asked by the Times of London what he wanted for a gift, the president replied, "haggis."

Haggis, the national food of Scotland, is a relative of the sausage. Generally, it's made with sheep's heart, liver and lungs along with suet and other ingredients that are stuffed in the animal's stomach and boiled.

Tempting as that sounds, Bush was only jesting.

"I was briefed on haggis," he said. "Generally on your birthday, you — my mother used to say, 'What do you want to eat?' And I don't ever remember saying, 'Haggis, mom.' "

Bush will be joining the leaders of Britain, Italy, Russia, Japan, Canada, Germany and France for the annual Group of Eight summit, to be held this year at the Gleneagles golf resort in Scotland.

Bush also told the Times not to look for him in a pleated tartan skirt.

Queen Elizabeth in 2003 held a dinner in Bush's honor, and Bush recalled that an old friend of his father's, Scottish investment banker Billy Gammell, turned up for the event in a kilt.

"The queen gave a beautiful dinner for us at Buckingham Palace, and Gammell showed up in his kilt. And I said, 'Look buddy, you can wear your kilt, but I'm not going to wear one, if that's all right,' " Bush said.

Bush, sometimes seen behind the White House on the South Lawn putting green, said he doesn't anticipate a round on the links in Scotland, either.

"I'm afraid Blair has got us overscheduled," he said of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "He wants us to work as opposed to get a lot of recreation."

So, no haggis, no kilts, no golf. How will the famously restless president of America soak up any local flavor?

"Laura is going over there, so she and I can walk around together, holding hands in the Scottish mist," he said.

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