AUTHOR: ARTSY CHOW ROAMER

Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day

ROUND UP OF MY BEST POSTS

Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day mid week (and updated during COVID) means less about parades and parties and more about whiskey, beer and traditional food. Since I have visited the lovely country of Ireland and written more than a few good blog posts about it, I thought it would be a good time for a round up and bring you some of the best I have to offer! ☘

A LITTLE HISTORY ON ST. PADDY’S

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 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 years of enslavement, 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. St. Patrick 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 St. Patrick 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.

You might enjoy reading about St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin and making the stained glass chalk art with the kids in your family as demonstrated on the video above.

FUN “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 & 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 IRISH FOOD & DRINK

Guiness 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? Got to be corned beef, cabbage, shepherd’s pie, soda bread and colcannon (a lovely mixture of cabbage and mash).

I personally love Irish soda bread 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 and waiting and it has the wonderful light and slightly sweet texture of my fondest Dublin memories.

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 their change ups this year when making my bread. There is also a helpful video which I have copied for you below.

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 a family get together.

Melissa D’Arabian has a terrific recipe for shepherd’s pie if you want to try! 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 pretty mean one too and I have used her recipe often when making it for her visits.

Here’s a great link to a recipe for ingle pies too. These are made with lamb and are enclosed in their own little crunchy pie crusts that are golden brown. I tried them and got raves from my husband.

ROUND UP OF MY BEST IRISH POSTS!

We recently took a trip to Ireland as you know if you have been following my blogs. We 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 was more about the newness of it all. Just 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 (I know but it’s a two fer…as in two blogs for the price of one! ) 🤣

• 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 best food! You really don’t want to miss it!

• 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 just 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 planned and evening walks afterwards were beautiful. I would highly recommend this property to anyone!

• 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 heritage town, the local park, Draiocht Art Gallery and Aisling Maher’s millinery shop are just a few reasons not to miss it (I know…a three fer!).

ST. PADDY’S CONCLUSIONS

I hope you have a great St. Patrick’s day full of fun, food and a little beer or whiskey! Try some of the recipes too so you make sure to eat in the traditional and delicious way.

I hope the blogs set the mood for you and you also get an itch to see Ireland for yourself. It is beautiful and I plan to return very soon because there is still so much to see.

Next time I plan on visiting a special place down on the Southern coast called Pax Guest House who just happens to be friends with the owner of The Mustard Seed. The place is fabulous. Check out their website and start planning your visit.

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 Irish plans you might have too! Until next time…

Cheers,

ArtsyChowRoamer

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TO MY READERS: This post was updated with more info, pics and videos on 3/15/21