I’m trying to get over a bad cold, and I completely forgot about St. Patrick’s Day.
That’s pretty bad considering that according to my Ancestry.com research at least 50 percent of my ancestors are Irish.
And my name, Colleen? The Gaelic word for girl.
We’re not even wearing green today.
I made some cupcakes, and when the boys wake up from their nap we’ll slather them with green frosting.
Erin Go Bragh.
What I won’t be doing is cooking Corned Beef and Cabbage.
My mom made it often when I was a kid. Not just on St. Patrick’s Day. I didn’t like it at all. A couple years ago I decided to try making it myself. I thought maybe since I was an adult I’d like it. I like lots of foods now that I wouldn’t eat as kid.
Nope. Still don’t like Corned Beef and Cabbage.
Here’s some useless information for you. Do you know eating Corned Beef and Cabbage isn’t an Irish tradition? It’s American. Straight from the melting pot. Back in Ireland they ate a piece of pork called Bacon Joint with their cabbage and potatoes. But Irish Immigrants couldn’t find Bacon Joint in America, so they substituted Corned Beef which they purchased from Jewish butchers.
Isn’t that fascinating?
I know that’s why you keep coming back here day after day.
I did try to explain St. Patrick’s Day to David a week or so ago. I told him he was part Irish, and he got mad.
“I’m not Irish! I’m American! I hate the Irish!”
I didn’t realize how deep his patriotism runs, or how strongly he dislikes Notre Dame fans.
I’m gonna mix up that green frosting now, and if I’m lucky maybe a leprechaun will show up with some gold.
Photo used under Creative Commons License.
We had our St. Patrick’s Day meal last night, a few days late, but it was the first night we were all home for dinner together this week. I made corned beef, something I hadn’t eaten since I was a kid. My mother often made this traditional Irish-American meat, and I remember that I hated it.
My mom made corned beef with cabbage. I thought maybe it was the cabbage I didn’t like, so I decided to try making my own, sans cabbage. I got this CrockPot Corned Beef and Vegetables recipe from Stephanie over at A Year of CrockPotting. (Do check our her blog. The recipes are great and she’s so funny.) The recipe worked wonderfully. The meat was tender, the veggies were well cooked, the house smelled wonderful. Just one problem, it wasn’t the cabbage I didn’t like. I don’t like corned beef. My husband didn’t like it either. My son wouldn’t even try it. It is the saltiest piece of meat I’ve ever eaten. I think next year we’ll try a nice Irish Stew for St. Paddy’s Day.
Well, it’s pretty odd to be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and Easter in the same week. Will the Easter Bunny bring a pot of gold instead of eggs this year? I hope so!
We’ve been getting into the holiday spirit with some crafts. Here’s a couple things we made this week.
This first is an Easter Bunny craft idea that my SIL over at A Cup of Joy found while she was Ultimate Blog Party hopping. It was posted at The Ramblings of a Crazy Woman.
This second craft is a Leprechaun hat that we made. My very own invention. I know. I know. It’s hard to believe I came up with this all on my own. Ha!
My son did wear it around the house for a little while, but he refused to be photographed with it. I guess that’s not how he rolls.
To make the hat we just cut out a shape like this:
I drew ours freehand. I didn’t think to make a pattern like this on the computer first. Then we added an extra strip of paper to the band to make it fit around my son’s head. We decorated it with a hat band, buckle and a four leaf clover. We also glued an extra scrap of paper to the back of the hat to reinforce it and help it stand up.
