A Round Up for St. Patrick's Day
Grab yourself a hat, beads, gold coins and four leaf clover to celebrate the day Photo: Autumn Martin
AUTHOR: ARTSY CHOW ROAMER
A ROUND UP
ST. PATRICK’S DAY
Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day on Sunday in 2024 means less about parades and parties and maybe a little more about whiskey, beer, music and traditional food. Since I have both visited and written about the lovely country of Ireland where the holiday began, I thought I would round up a few facts you might be interested in knowing, some recipes you’ll want to try and a few activities that will help you celebrate the day.
Some things you might be interested to know
A LITTLE HISTORY
Every March 17th, we do the green as this date marks the death of the Patron Saint of Ireland, St. Patrick. Thought to have been born as Maewyn Succat in the 5th century, the historical figure known as St. Patrick used the name "Patricius" in his writings.
Born in Britain to an aristocratic Christian family, St. Patrick was neither Irish or particularly devout. He was kidnapped at the age of 16 and brought to Ireland as a slave. After some years, it is said a voice came to him in his sleep and urged him to escape.
Reunited with his family, he decided to become a priest and spent the remainder of his life as a missionary in Ireland. He is attributed with using the three leaves of the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity and banishing snakes from Ireland.
This could possibly be just a fun theory since there is no evidence supporting their existence on the island in the first place. It is also said that no pope ever canonized him making his status as a saint questionable.
St. Patrick’s Day was only a minor holiday in Ireland before the 1970s. In the United States, it has been celebrated since Irish members of the Colonial Army held the first Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City in 1762. Today, we celebrate the big day in a more secular way making it a party about Irish culture.
GREEN FACTS
Shamrocks or clover are the national flower of Ireland. The reason the four leaf is coveted is because legend has it that you will have all four of hope, faith, love and luck should you be lucky enough to put your hands on one. Your odds of finding it are said to be 1 in 10,000.
The wearing of the green was not original to St. Patrick’s Day; blue was. It is believed it was changed to green along the way because Ireland was known as “The Emerald Isle” and for those beautiful green shamrocks. Chicago has been dying its river green for a couple of hours for St. Patrick’s Day since 1962. There are over 34 million US residents with Irish ancestry which is seven times the population of Ireland itself.
TRADITIONAL FOOD & DRINK
Guinness beer is the most likely candidate for the drink of the day on St. Paddy’s with Jameson’s Irish Whiskey coming in a close second.
The five must have foods have got to be corned beef and cabbage, shepherd’s and dingle pies, soda bread and colcannon (a lovely mixture of cabbage and mashed potatoes).
I personally love soda bread since visiting Ireland and make it often. The best recipe I have come across that is easy and no fail belongs to Ina Garten as there is no kneading, rising, waiting and it has the wonderful light, slightly sweet currant texture of my fondest Dublin memories.
Beautiful loaf of sweet soda bread that is easy to make Photo: Courtesy of Gerard Paul
Recently I discovered a blog called manyeats.com. Gerard Paul has written a great post on soda bread including the history, types and ingredients. I enjoyed reading all about it and am going to try some of his change ups this year when making my own bread.
Ina shows you how to do it
I like Tyler Florence’s recipe for corned beef and cabbage. It is tender and tasty with all the right veggies in the right proportions to meat. I make this almost every year for our family get together. You might also like the recipe for corned beef and colcannon by Judith McLoughlin from her own cookbook A Return to Ireland available from Amazon here. Not only will you get over 100 authentic Irish recipes to enjoy but a coffee table quality book with some wonderful pictures of the Emerald Isle.
Melissa D’Arabian has a terrific recipe for shepherd’s pie. This is a heart warming dish for any cold or rainy night and it happens to be one of my husbands favorites. My British gal pal makes a mean one too and I have used her recipe often when she visits. Tomato based ground beef mixes well with buttery garlic mashed potatoes spread on top and baked off in the oven with a touch of cheese.
Here’s a great link to a recipe for dingle pies from Chef JP McMahon. These are made with lamb and are enclosed in their own little crunchy pie crusts that are golden brown with Irish butter and eggs instead of the traditional mutton fat. I tried them and got rave reviews from my husband.
MY BEST IRISH POSTS
We took a trip to Ireland a couple of years ago and went to eight different areas over the course of ten days. We saw so many beautiful things that I had to break it up into a series of eleven separate blogs. 🤗
Super tough to pick out my favorites but I am going to start with:
How to do Dublin in 1 1/2 Days/Day One This first day was more about the newness of it all. It is fun doing a walkabout in any new country but also because it included a visit for dinner to a little French style bistro called Hugo’s.
7 Reasons not to miss Kilronan Castle in Ireland We went to two different castles on this trip and they were both fabulous spa locations. Dunboyne has the better spa but Kilronan was more traditional and had the better food. You really don’t want to miss either.
Where to find Amazing B&B’s in Ireland The Mustard Seed in Ballingarry was one of the best shabby chic little places we have ever stayed. The gardens were lovely with fresh flowers everywhere around the property. The food was local, fresh and delicious. Fruits grown on property were used to make scones and jellies for breakfast. Dinners were well made and evening walks afterwards were beautiful.
A shabby chic little B&B I highly recommend
5 Reasons to Visit Adare, Ireland Last but not least, Adare is one of the cutest and tidiest little towns you could ever want to visit! This would be one of my choices of where to live in Ireland. Designated as a historic heritage town, the local park, Draiocht Art Gallery and Aisling Maher’s millinery shop are just a few reasons not to miss it.
some things to do
A few things you might consider doing around us here in the mountains are brunch at the Old Mule House where they will be serving up the green beer and a new signature cocktail called the Pot O Gold. Enjoy live music on the outdoor patio from 12-3:00 with Rhonda Kay while washing down some fish and chips or beer cheese fries with those drinks. Grab yourself some pub merch and some shepherd’s pie at Shenanigans, the Irish pub right off the historic main square in Dahlonega. Sunday is usually wings night and they most likely will have some traditional music to celebrate the holiday as well. Finally, head out to The Boro Inn Irish Pub in Blue Ridge for what most folks call the most authentic pub experience outside of Ireland. Father Brennan is why you go and for pete’s sake do not order an Irish Car Bomb as your cocktail of choice if you don’t want him to throw ya out!
We couldn’t end without a little Irish jig
CONCLUSIONS
I hope you have a great St. Paddy’s Day full of fun, food and a little green beer. Try some of the recipes so you too make sure to eat in the traditional Irish way. You should check out some of my blog posts on Ireland as it just might give you the itch to visit the land of shamrocks and leprechauns yourself. It is beautiful and I plan to return very soon. Here’s to smilin’ Irish eyes-cheers!
Hey, don’t be a stranger! Let me hear from you on how your Irish feast turned out for St. Patrick’s Day and update me on any plans for a visit you might have too! Until next time…
Cheers,
ArtsyChowRoamer
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