How the Irish Celebrate St Patrick's Day

[Murfreesboro]

I recently reread all these St Patrick's threads and found myself wondering what it would be like to be in Ireland at this time of year. I found a good article, on a blog called The Irish Road Trip, written by a man who's lived there for 35 years, and I found it interesting, so I'll try to link it here:

https://www.theirishroadtrip.com/st-pat ... n-ireland/

Since St Patrick is a Saint and Ireland is mostly Catholic, lots of people start the day at church. Then they may attend a local parade; parades are numerous. There is no one traditional meal like American Thanksgiving, but he says many have something called Boxty and Coddle ( I'll have to look that up; I don't even know if that's one item or two). Most people wear something green in addition to a sprig of shamrocks on their lapel. Not everyone goes to the pub or drinks, but if they do, listening to traditional Irish music is big. Others may prefer family parties at home, since it is a national holiday and most are off work. Still others avoid the crowds and take road trips into nature.

Anyway, just thought this was interesting.

[Andybev01]

A friend scoffs at our Americanized St Paddy's sobriety challenging fest and claims The only civilized way to celebrate is sitting in your study.drinking a single mount scotch and reading Joyce or Yeats.

[Murfreesboro]

Lol. Well, I think the guy who writes this blog would say that's fine. In fact, he says he himself is one who runs away from the crowds and prefers to take nature hikes on his day off. I gather he's not much of a drinker, either, and insists that going out and getting rip-roaring drunk is not really the way most people celebrate over there. He even points out that you don't have to drink alcohol at the pubs. Tea and coffee are also served there.

[Andybev01]

I'm with him on that, although I anjoy nature from the comfort of my car.

[Murfreesboro]

My husband dislikes crowds, too, although he prefers to spend his time off at home. He doesn't even leave the house for 4th of July fireworks because the pleasure of seeing them doesn't offset the headache of leaving in the inevitable traffic jam.

[Andybev01]

I don't need to leave home for fireworks.

We're surrounded by illegal shows every independence day.

[Murfreesboro]

Lol!

Fireworks aren't illegal around here for a certain number of days (maybe 11?) before and after the 4th. Same thing at New Year's. Still, I prefer the civic shows, because fireworks can be dangerous. Also, I rather enjoy the communal atmosphere of the big fireworks shows.

Btw, I did look up "Boxty and coddle." Coddle is a kind of sausage stew that's associated with Dublin, where this guy lives. Boxty is a type of potato pancake.

[Andybev01]

Both of those sound delicious.

Fried potato is such a treat when it's perfectly crisp on the outside and mealy inside.

[Murfreesboro]

I can't do the sausage stew because my daughter won't eat pork. And I have a very bad history with potato pancakes. One year I tried to make latkes around Hannakah (sp?) and the potatoes all turned black before I could get through grating them. There must be some trick about it. I like to eat stuff like that in restaurants.

I did explore the road trip side of this guy's blog. If you ever wanted to visit Ireland, this would be the place to look at first. He has almost 60 different trips outlined, and has them organized by length of stay, type of transportation, activity level, and preference of leisure vs seeing as much as possible.

[Andybev01]

Sink the grated potato in a bowl of cold water as you grate.

You need to drain them well and pat them dry before forming the cakes and even then they will still pop and crackle as you put them in the hot oil, so use a long handled slotted spoon or wire spider basket to add and remove them from the pan.

[Murfreesboro]

Thanks for the tip!

[Murfreesboro]

Happy St Patrick's for those who observe it! We had our meal last night, I guess. We ate pork chops, small red potatoes, and asparagus. The potatoes and asparagus had a lemon butter herb sauce. It was good. Our daughter, who refuses pork, opted for a kale salad instead.

I don't have many Irish movies, but I've watched Leap Year and The Quiet Man this weekend. I may pull out Brooklyn, about a girl who immigrates from Ireland in the 1950s, later today.

[Andybev01]

Lemon butter...drool.

[Murfreesboro]

Lol. Yes, it was good. One stick of butter, the juice of one lemon, and dried dill, parsley, and onion powder. It was supposed to have fresh green onions, but I forgot to buy them, so the onion powder substituted.

The little Irish cookbook I use calls this Irish Herbed Potatoes. I'm not sure it's uniquely Irish, but it's good. And there was plenty of sauce for the asparagus, too.

[Andybev01]

That would be great on a fish filet.