Kiss Me, I'm Irish

Maybe only a little bit Irish, but I'm pretty sure that's enough! In honor of St Patrick's Day, March Sunday Supper was all about the Irish. Corned beef and cabbage, Irish soda bread, Irish cheese, Black and Tans, and shamrock cookies with, what else, GREEN icing!

And me in my green flashing lights Shamrock necklace. Christy wins top prize for best-dressed. She took the theme seriously. I LOVE a good sport!

Neither corned beef and cabbage, nor Irish soda bread have been a product of my kitchen in the past, so I was going to need some help. Thankfully, my dear friend Beth and her husband, Tom, have hosted a St Patrick's Day party at their house for years, and were once featured in Bon Appetit magazine! Beth kindly let me borrow the magazine and their recipes. I was in good hands!

After running the St Paddy's Day 5K (in a shocking 25 mins, 40 seconds!) on Sunday morning, I came home and got started on the bread. And I've gotta say, as much hype as I have heard about Irish soda bread, I thought it would be more difficult. Not too bad. I turned out 2 loaves in my purchased-for-the-event cast iron skillet (really I just needed an excuse to finally add it to my collection!) in just under 2 hours, including baking time. Beautiful. (I even received many compliments on the bread, including "you make the best bread!")

Next up, corned beef. My biggest "obstacle" of the day came when I realized that the nearly 5 lb corned beef wasn't going to fit neatly into any of the pots I had in my cabinet. Hmmmm. Seems when the recipe called for a "very large pot", that is exactly what they meant. Alrighty then, what's a girl with only a "kind of large pot" supposed to do?! I could pretend I came up with some really ingenious solution. But I'll be honest, I just crammed that corned beef in, covered with water and put the lid on! Based on the testimonials, it worked out just fine.

Cabbage, potatoes, carrots ... again, not a big enough pot to put them all into one, so I had to split into 2 separate pots. I swear, I am NOT one of those people who takes great pride in using EVERY pot/pan in the house, but this was starting to go down that path!

With food well under way, it was time to test out the drink situation. Megan arrived with a 6-pack of Harp and a 6-pack of Guinness for the black and tans. I was prepared with a very special, just for the occasion, purchase of Mr Turtle. The little guy who rests on the top of the pint glass and allows you to pour a perfect Guinness in the comfort of your own home. Maybe. First pour was no good. Second pour, still no good. I began to get a smidge upset. Mr Turtle was defective! He would have to be returned. Or ... could it possibly be our Guinness was "defective". Only one way to find out. Reid and Aly showed up with cans of Guinness. Test pour #27 (okay, maybe only 5) ... pour in Harp to approximately 2/5 full. Let sit to settle. Slowly pour Guinness FROM CAN over top of Mr Turtle to fill. BINGO. A perfect pour. Harp on the bottom, Guinness on top. Woo hoo!!! Definite cause for celebration!

Another wonderful Sunday in a home filled with love and laughter. I am so blessed! Tip your glass and dig in!

ps - In case you're wondering, no kiss. Luck o' the Irish wasn't with me that day! ;)


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