Skip to main content

St. Pat's, our annual celebration for no real reason


We are not Irish. Per my Grandma Gin during a recent conversation, I have a wee bit of the Irish in me, but not much. Not enough to wholeheartedly celebrate on behalf of the Emerald Isle, really.

But we do.

For fifteen years now, we have.

What began as a foray into a simple corned beef and cabbage dinner lo those many moons ago has morphed into an annual event that has continued to grow in size with each year. And, as we did the first year, we always end up watching Irish dance...Riverdance or Lord of the Dance, and my Hubby's not so secret crushes, Celtic Women. I swear, if he ever leaves me, it's going to be for a sweet-tempered Irish singer. I just know it.

Our friends gently mock this corned beef/Irish DVD  tradition, but we get 100% invitee/attendee turnout, so mock they may, but attend they do.

The menu typically looks like:

Corned beef, sliced, then glazed and finished under the broiler


Boiled new potatoes


Cabbage wedges, also boiled


Guinness


Irish whiskey


Green wine (chardonnay with food color if people wish, and, shockingly, people tend to wish more often than not)


Brownies (brought by dear JG, the Brownie Goddess)

Sundry delicious additional contributions from friends who have through the history of this event brought everything from chocolate chip coconut cookies to bundt cakes to seven layered dips to shortbread cookies. 


We've pared the invite list down a bit this year, but it's still significant, and as we've called to invite folks they're all, 'We were just thinking about this..wondering if you guys were doing this again!', and other reactions.

So, it's on. And this year mostly because Daughter will get to visit with almost everyone at once, which is good since she's only back for a few more days.

Between now and Saturday, the event day, preparations will be underway. Paintings will be hung upon walls still bare from recent texture/paint, knick knacks will be replaced on mantle and various surfaces, and order will be restored.

May you all, Irish or not, enjoy a warm and peaceful and joyful St. Patty's!

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hello there 48

And where on earth did 35-47 go??? But I'm being overly dramatic. Again. See, four dozen? Not such a bad place to be when you're me. I've done a lot, I've seen a lot, I've raised a family and landed airplanes and docked yachts and landed (then released of course!) a marlin and climbed mountains and run a LOT of miles and loved deeply and long and hard and felt..so much that, surprisingly did not kill me..that I feel stronger and more centered and energized than in a long time. And I'm blessed with more than one person can ever rightly expect in one lifetime. And I now possess the wisdom to observe a nanosecond longer than I would have 20 years ago before jumping headlong into a new adventure. Which means many less mistakes but still the desire to stretch and grow and be better and more open and generally less judgemental and overall more accepting and mostly, mostly, knowing that this gift of life is precious and special and mine to experience any way ...
2 comments
Read more

It's been a minute

Oh, what a summer it's been! Heat, the likes of which we have never seen seems to be enveloping the planet. They told us this would happen, and it is.  Now what? Is it time to think underground bunkers? To really explore moon colonies? To continue, on an individual basis to do what we feel we can to help the greater effort? We bought a hybrid two years ago. We'll probably buy an electric car once we feel like the infrastructure is in place, but right now, it's not.  We recycle. Glass ( WHO is drinking all of that wine?! I ask myself each time I toss the bottles into the big bin.). Food. We compost all but animal products, and use it in the garden.  Cardboard/cans/plastics go in the recycle bin each Tuesday. My husband thinks the whole recycle thing is a big scam, and that all of the recycling and trash gets taken to the same place - the dump - because there isn't adequate staffing to sort and really carry out the recycle process.  I feel this is a cynical view, but ...
Post a Comment
Read more

More angst on the unfinished book

Bear with me here, as I'm nearly at a decision point with this project. Really, I am. As I've reread and contemplated writing the finish, then going back and scrubbing and editing like crazy and generally attempting to update a piece I began so long ago, I've become exhausted. Repeatedly. Last night, in a text exchange with Daughter, I explained I'd picked up the manuscript again and was seriously thinking of finishing it. And she replied, 'Mom, you should just start something new. That thing is almost 20 years old now, and you're a completely different person than you were when you started it. Just know that I look forward to a finished project out of you one day, and really, why not go for something more current and stop wasting time on the old stuff you'll practically have to rewrite anyway? ' Out of the mouths of babes, right?
2 comments
Read more