Happy St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day – Celebrating the Green
St. Patrick is believed to have driven the snakes from Ireland. Once a pagan imself, St. Patrick is one of Christianity's most widely known figures. He is Ireland's patron saint, and died March 17 in AD 461.

The modern secular holiday is based on the original Christian saint's feast day also thought to be the date of the saint's death. In 1737, Irish immigrants to the United States first began observing the holiday publicly in Boston, and held the first St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York City in 1766.

Today, the tradition continues with people from all walks and heritages by earing green, eating Irish food, and attending parades. St. Patrick's Day is bursting with folklore; from the shamrock to the leprechaun and to pinching those that are not wearing green.

The Leprechauns
The original Irish name for these figures of folklore is "lobaircin," meaning "small-bodied fellow."

Belief in leprechauns probably stems from Celtic belief in fairies, tiny men and women who could use their magical powers to serve good or evil. In Celtic folktales, leprechauns were cranky souls, responsible for mending the shoes of the other fairies. Though only minor figures in Celtic folklore, leprechauns were known for their trickery, which they often used to protect their much-fabled treasure.

Leprechauns had nothing to do with St. Patrick or the celebration of St. Patrick's Day, a Catholic holy day. In 1959, Walt Disney released a film called Darby O'Gill & the Little People, which introduced America to a very different sort of leprechaun than the cantankerous little man of Irish folklore. This cheerful, friendly leprechaun is a purely American invention, but has quickly evolved into an easily recognizable symbol of both St. Patrick's Day and Ireland in general.

The Shamrock

The shamrock, which was also called the "seamroy" by the Celts, was a sacred plant in ancient Ireland because it symbolized the rebirth of spring. By the seventeenth century, the shamrock had become a symbol of emerging Irish nationalism. As the English began to seize Irish land and make laws against the use of the Irish language and the practice of Catholicism, many Irish began to wear the shamrock as a symbol of their pride in their heritage and their displeasure with English rule.

Population Distribution

- There are 34.7 million U.S. residents who claim Irish ancestry. This number is almost nine times the population of Ireland itself (4.2 million). Irish is the nation's second most frequently reported ancestry, trailing only those of German ancestry. (The ancestry estimates exclude people living in group quarters).

- The nation as a whole claims 12% of residents as having Irish ancestry. In Massachusetts this number doubles to 24 percent!

- In Middlesex County, Mass., 348,978 residents are of Irish ancestry. Among the 54 counties where Irish is the largest observed ancestry group, Middlesex had the highest population of Irish-Americans, with Norfolk County, Mass., second, with 203,285.

- There are three states in which Irish is the leading ancestry group: Delaware, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Irish is among the top five ancestries in every state but two (Hawaii and New Mexico).

- There are 54 counties where Irish is the largest observed ancestry group. Forty-four of these counties are in the Northeast, with 14 in New York, 11 in Massachusetts and five in New Jersey.

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I suppose because my own ancestry is a good-part Irish (my given name was once O'Laughlin), I could wear one of those silly buttons that reads, "Kiss Me I'm Irish".... but I won't. What I will do though, is celebrate the holiday by making the tradtional Irish-American feast of Corned Beef and Cabbage. Or, New England Boiled Dinner is what my family called it in Boston. Although, my family prefers a smoked picnic shoulder (ham) to the cornned beef in the meal, so we use that instead. Below is my recipe!

Cook time: 3hrs
Prep time15 min for peeling veggies
Yields: 6-8 servings
1 Smoked Picnic Shoulder (approx 10 lbs)
1.5 small peeled whole potatoes per person
1-2 lg cabbage heads, quartered
2 Med. whole onions, peeled
1-2 turnip (optional)
1 1/2 lbs. of carrots peeled, whole

In large stock pot, cover with water 2" above ham. Add 2 bay leaves and boil for a total of 3 hours. Turnip can cook with this since it takes the longest. Add carrots to the pot 1.5 hrs before eating. Add cabbage & potatoes to the pot 45-1 hr before eating.

Drain, cut up ham and serve on a large platter with lots of butter, mustard & vinegar on the side to taste. Some crusty french bread and Enjoy!

*Note: If your pot is not large enough to cook the vegetables & ham together, the ham can be taken out when it's done and covered for an hour with foil until ready to eat. You can then throw all your veggies in the water and cook them up. You really can't mess this up. So Simple!

Day 3 - Bunco, weather, Boiled Dinner

Day 3 - It's 5:00 and it's the first time I've had to sit at the computer and blog today. I may even have to do it in pieces and publish it tonight when the house is a bit more quiet. We'll see how this goes!

Last night was my Ladies' Bunco Night here in my neighborhood. Bunco is a game of dice, played in rounds. I won't bore you with rules, but if you want more detail you can click here. Anywho - we (The Girls) in my 'hood get together the first Friday of each month and play this game together. There's usually anywhere between 10-22 of us, and we take turns hosting. To quote what I found written about Bunco - "What is Bunco really? Well, it is a social event. A party! It's a blast! We get together once a month, leaving the cares and worries behind, and leaving the kids with their fathers or baby-sitters. We fall off our diets, snacking on M&Ms, hot dips, cold dips, or anything else we can get our hands on. We have heavy hor'dourves and seconds on dessert. We drink our favorite spritzer, Chardonnay, or Drink-of-the-night, and we talk. We talk about our kids. About the neighborhood. About our husbands, our jobs, their jobs, TV shows, current events, and anything else that might tickle our fancy. Oh yeah, and we play a silly, mindless dice game with wild abandon, hoping to take home a few more bucks than we arrived with (it's $5 for us)." This is exactly what I would have said in my own words!

I left last night with $30 in winnings for the highest score (set by the hostess). Last month I won $60 for the lowest score (set by the hostess also). Cool. But I won't brag anymore. Because the last time I was on a winning streak, I bragged. Big time. And then it took me almost a year to win again. Karma.

Today was a beautiful sunny day - high only got to around 55 degrees so it was a good day to throw open my windows and get some dusting and cleaning done. I am going to take down all my Halloween decorations this week, as I'm eager to get it back into the attic and prepare for the days leading up to decorating for Christmas. I will do that full swing the week of Thanksgiving. I host an ornament exchange at my house on the first Saturday in December, so I want things decorated in time for that. And it comes up pretty quickly once November arrives. In fact, we just signed our contract to have our Christmas lights installed on our house on November 17th. Here's what last year's lights looked like.

Tomorrow's the big game. Did you know? Instead of making Clam Chowdah (yes, meant to sound like a Boston accent), I decided to whip up a New England boiled dinner this afternoon. It smells awesome!! I feel like I'm at Nana & Papa's house with the rest of the family. My parents are on their way over to enjoy it with us for supper. YUM! I'm still going to wear my Colts Blue though...

Here's my recipe:
Cook time: 3hrs
Prep time: 15 min for peeling veggies
Yields: 6-8 servings

1 Smoked Picnic Shoulder (approx 10 lbs)
1.5 small peeled whole potatoes per person
1-2 lg cabbage heads, quartered
2 Med. whole onions, peeled
1-2 turnip (optional)
#1.5 of carrots peeled, whole

In large stock pot, cover with water 2" above ham. Add 2 bay leaves and boil for a total of 3 hours. Turnip can cook with this since it takes the longest.
Add carrots to the pot 1.5 hrs before eating
Add cabbage & potatoes to the pot 45-1 hr before eating

Drain, cut up ham and serve on a large platter with lots of butter, mustard & vinegar on the side to taste. Some crusty french bread and Enjoy!

*Note: If your pot is not large enough to cook the vegetables & ham together, the ham can be taken out when it's done and covered for an hour with foil until ready to eat. You can then throw all your veggies in the water and cook them up. You really can't mess this up. So Simple!