Originally posted March 2007, but my blog was so new back then (read: I had virtually no readers), I decided to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a wee pit of recycling. Because that's green blogging.
Get it?!? Recycling? Green blogging? On St. Patrick's Day?
OK. I'm done now.
I believe I've mentioned before that I am fairly giddy about food. It comes from my birth family. We love to discuss dinner over breakfast. Vacations revolve around what we're going to eat that day. "What do you say we head to In-and-Out for lunch, Jamba Juice for an afternoon snack and then go to Mandarin Gourmet for dinner? Other than that, I don't care what we do today." Even our most treasured family heirlooms are memories of food. "Remember Nannie's gravy?!? Mmmmm. Now that was eating."
So put that together with the fact that the biggest chunk of our family ancestry comes from Ireland, and you should have a clan that enjoys some good corned beef together on St. Patrick's Day each year.
Problem is, I have come to the slow realization that I hate Irish food. Corned beef? Yuck. Steamed cabbage? Whew. Boiled potatoes and carrots? Pass the salt and pepper, please. And soda bread? Well, I'm redeemed there. It's difficult for me to dislike anything that has "bread" in the title. But still.
Growing up, we had a traditional Irish meal each March 17. It was part of what we did, and there was no questioning it. Once I got married, I continued on the tradition without scrutiny. "Sorry, honey, it's what I do." Then, last year, after cooking all day and ending up with a smell in my kitchen that would easily qualify for a chemical weapon, I looked around to see no one eating the meal (except the soda bread, of course; we would have starved that night without the soda bread). And it hit me -- maybe I shouldn't do this next year.
So I celebrated St. Patrick's Day this year with just a green sweater and prayers of thanks to God for faithful servants like Maewyn Succat. And maybe a little mood music from Celtic Woman so I could pretend to riverdance around my kitchen. You can take the girl out of Ireland....
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"Sorry, honey, it's what we do."
ReplyDeleteHow familiar that sounds! Our family version is the dreaded black-eyed peas and cabbage on New Year's Day. No one eats it - they just don't (well, no one under 60). Thank you God for hot rolls/butter or New Year's Day would be the beginning of a fast. (not a bad idea though)
Darnelle
BTW - thanks for your comment at the Cafe' today. And - just so ya know - if that post had been written by one of my teenagers (count 'em - 4) it would definitely had Newsboys playing and not "Mom's old lady music". (They're kidding I'm sure . . . ) :)
That's funny... "what we do" at MY house each March 17 is put (an ever-growing number of) birthday candles on a cake for me to blow out. :)
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday Rebecca! March birthdays are the best.
ReplyDeleteWhen we visited Ireland nearly a decade ago, our Irish hosts got a huge laugh over all the Americans eating corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day. The soda bread, though, that's the real deal. We love the soda bread--and the fish and chips!
I love this post.... mostly b/c it's about food. ;-) My favorite part: "What do you say we head to In-and-Out for lunch, Jamba Juice for an afternoon snack and then go to Mandarin Gourmet for dinner? Other than that, I don't care what we do today." Only b/c that is my main priority when on vacation...making sure to hit all the good eateries. :P slurp slurp hahaha!
ReplyDeleteTry GREEn colored food instead of traditional Irish food ;)
ReplyDeleteI do the same thing when on vacation, have to make sure we hit all those local places or places we don't have here at home...like our Chick Fil A post? (that is how I found your blog by the way LOL)
HI - I am a new blogger this year - so stop over at my blog - I was also raised in the irish home - which was wonderful except for that food! I was lucky enough to go to Ireland last year and it is amazing except for that food!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post - thanks...
God's peace - Mary
I've never really celebrated St. Patricks Day...other than remembering to wear green.
ReplyDeleteMaybe this year I'll throw some green food coloring in the potatoes and toast my Diet Pepsi to you and your pretend Riverdance...:)
Oh, and your Green Blogging idea...clever! And wildly hip!
ReplyDeleteDespite my mild Irish heritage, I can only really remember eating corned beef once. In college my roomie was giving me a ride to the airport so I could fly home for spring break and we stopped and had dinner with her family on the way. I tried to eat it to be polite, but finally even her mom and dad declared that they couldn't choke it down. Perhaps her mom had put in too much salt? Ugh!
ReplyDeleteHave a fantastic day!
Amanda
OK, there may be Irish in me somewhere but I even had to google Maewyn Succat. oops.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm right there with you on the eating thing. We LOVE to talk about food as much as we enjoy eating it!
My poor husband, this weirds him out to no end.
We live to eat, he eats to live.
I'm right there with you on the corned beef and cabbage. Double ick.
ReplyDeleteI'll stick with wearing o' the green, m'lady.
And that's no blarney.
NO! I love corned beef! And I *think* my family does too. Maybe they're faking it... hmmmm....
ReplyDeleteI have married into a crazy Irish family, and they don't like my Polish food, and I don't like their Irish food. We happily coexist that way.
ReplyDeleteI don't even wear green on the
17th, it has just never been a big day for me.
I do love the recycled post idea!
Last year we ate at some friends house and they cooked all the tradional food, I was so excited!
ReplyDeleteThen I tasted it and about died!
I ended up eating more than I wanted to because you can't be rude, but still it was hard!
This year we had turkey meatball pasta! And enjoyed the holiday!
Have a great week!
Jen
We did the same thing all through my childhood and I absolutely detest the smell of cabbage and spend more time picking the fat off of corned beaf than eating it! This year, we had pasta and sauce with hot italian sausage. I don't care how Irish I am...the italians are better cooks! :)
ReplyDeleteWe do a lot of food coloring on St Patrick's day. We also do the green jello, green beans, and a groovie green spinach smoothie (don't laugh it is really good!) Something I just started this year was to focus on St Patrick and not the Irish part of the holiday. He was a missionary to Ireland so I thought it might be a nice day to remember our missionary friends with a special card or package or simply pray for each of them.
ReplyDelete