It’s March 17 again, Wickeds. Do you love it, wear green, eat soda bread and drink green beer, celebrate your Irish heritage (or pretend to have some)? Or would you rather ignore the festivities and go about your business? Dish!
Jessie: I love to celebrate, at least in a small way. My kids love corned beef so I always buy one for the day and a second to pop into the freezer for another occasion. Sometimes I also make soda bread. This year, a monthly gathering I host falls on the day so I will be throwing a party with green decorations and a themed menu!
Julie: I love the celebration of Irish heritage, though in Boston it can get messy with drinking and partying. I make a wonderful Irish soda bread (here’s the recipe) and will happily eat a boiled dinner. My ancestry has many threads that lead back to Ireland, and traveling there is on my bucket list. So yes, a day to celebrate. But not in a bar.
Barb: Saint Patrick’s Day is huge in Key West, involving as it does a combination of drinking and costumes, which are irresistible to most of the citizenry. Two St. Patrick’s Day memories stand out for me. In March, 2020, the city had been shutting down for the pandemic for a few days. The port was already closed and the hotels and short-term rentals were ended. At 5 p.m. on Saint Patrick’s the bars shut, an irrefutable sign to all that this party city was closed for business. My husband Bill was out taking pictures and many Key Westers wandered the streets in a daze. The other memory is the time when Lucy Burdette and I and some other friends booked a literary walking tour, completely forgetting it was Saint Patrick’s Day. As we toured around the houses and haunts of Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Frost, Shel Silverstein, Thomas McGuane, etc, etc, the revelry around us increased exponentially and by they end we were dodging partiers in the streets. Still it was fun and funny.
Cindy and Mac McCausland ready for St. Patrick’s Day.
St. Patrick’s house decorations in Key West.
Edith/Maddie: I also love St. Patrick’s Day, drawing on my Flaherty ancestors. These days I mostly get into the holiday for food inspiration, but I draw the line at green beer. I had fun writing Four Leaf Cleaver and kind of going all out on American interpretations of the Irish.
Liz: I love it too but I don’t do anything formal. I’ll probably hit up a coffee shop for a shamrock latte or something fun!
Sherry: I love the green hats on our photo! I love it and claim to have a bit of Irish on my paternal grandparents side. I do love soda bread but haven’t had any this year.
Readers: Will you be nibbling on soda bread in your green shirt, or hiding from the festivities?
Typically, I’ll wear a green Boston Celtics T-shirt on St. Patrick’s Day. Beyond that I don’t do much in the way of formal celebrating.
I don’t drink so getting drunk on green beer isn’t an option. And I don’t like corned beef and cabbage so traditional eats are out as well.
I don’t even own a green shirt, if you can believe it!
I can’t believe you own no green. It’s not my usual color, but I have a few shirts, current favorite a library shirt with a hot air balloon. A carry-over from teaching is seasonal sections in my closet. I used to also have appropriate socks, but the latex allergy meant I had to give most of those to my sister. (I really miss the MASH socks).
Not much for celebrating now, but I may go in search of a Reuben sandwich.
I try to wear something green and I am cooking corned beef for dinner, otherwise, it will be pretty low key.
I bet that dinner will be yummy.
I’ll wear some green and I’m fixing my Dad’s version of Corned Beef and Cabbage. It’s so good!! One year my husband and I went to an Irish restaurant in town so we wouldn’t have so many leftovers. We didn’t like their version very much and wished I had fixed it myself. We don’t complain about leftovers anymore. Have some Bailey’s for later.
Cheers!
I’n not Irish–but today I’m wearing my bright green BOSTON CELTICS t-shirt and a ring with a green marble stone that I bought in Ireland many years ago. Maybe a taste of Baileys in my coffee later too. But my kids are half Irish and the heroine of my Haunted Haven Mystery series is Maureen Doherty, so I feel a serious connection to this happy holiday!
Perfect, Carol!
This will probably gross out a few folks but in Cincinnati we like our Cincinnati chili which is served over spaghetti with a large amount of shredded cheese on top which is called a three way. You can then add beans and/or onions to make it a four or five way. On Saint Patrick’s Day Skyline Chili serves green spaghetti.
I never heard of chili on spaghetti, Karen! I don’t know, it sounds yummy. And green food coloring doesn’t have a taste, so…
My Dad grew up living in Hunk Hallow named because with so many nationalities they said there was a hunk of this and a hunk of that where ever you went. My ancestry is the same – a hunk of this and a hunk of that. So any nationality holiday that gives one pause to celebrate where we came from along with fun and fabulous food, consider me all in. 🙂 Albeit our celebrations seem to be smaller and less crowded as we grow older, there’s still fun to be had.
2clowns at arkansas dot net
So many of us are a hunk of this and a hunk of that!
My ancestors on both sides of my family immigrated from Ireland. My great-grandmother on my dad’s side was born there. Given the deep roots, St. Patrick’s Day is a big one in my family. We have corned beef for dinner and lift a glass of Irish whiskey or an Irish brew in celebration! Sláinte!
I’ll be having a dram of Writer’s Tears later myself, Jim!
I’m one-fourth Irish, but on St. Patrick’s Day, I am ‘fully’ Irish. Dishes of the day include traditional lamb stew or corned beef (something the common folk back in the day couldn’t afford), colcannon, cabbage, carrots, and Guiness or Bailey’s or Jameson’s for those who imbibe. Dessert is a chocolate pie with a healthy dose of Bailey’s Irish Cream as one of the ingredients. We have soda bread, brown bread, and Irish peasant soup throughout the weekend to accompany the leftovers. We stay away from the pubs, except for genuinely Irish pubs. Those guys/gals have much better music! 😉
Now I’m hungry, Patti!
I enjoy watching the movie Darby O’Gill and the Little People. It’s a great Irish movie!
I’ve got to find that movie, Patti!
I’m not Irish and I don’t own any green clothes, but I love corned beef and cabbage! Going to our favorite diner later to get some.
I used to make sure I wear green, but now that I’m working from home, I don’t even worry about that.
Not Irish, nor celebrating in any way, but I am wearing green, because, why not?
I’m working, The Hubby is out of town, and it’s a Friday in Lent. Maybe I’ll hit up McD’s for a shamrock shake, but that’s about it.