St Patrick's Day 2026 menu

Ah St. Patrick's Day!!!

I spent Saturday afternoon on my feet with Irish shows on in the background while I cooked.  I started with the Commitments, that I turned off after a while because the kids were within ear shot and the language was making me wince too many times,  Although I do love that movie and play the soundtrack often.  So then I had The Quiet Man playing and when Maddy arrived, I realized that it was blaring and not QUITE so quiet.  But I had to hear it over the noises of pots and pans banging around.  So then just had Alexa play some Irish stuff so we could cook.

Here is our feast that we celebrated SPD with on Saturday night.

Maddy makes creative cheeseballs for every holiday and this was no exception!  She also made several of the items below.

Can you guess what it is?  I love it! Just a smidge is left after 6 days or so since. Oh and the green part is crushed up green goldfish crackers! Clever, huh?!

 

No Irish meal is complete with out a whole mess of onions and leeks as a starter!

The kitchen smelled divine!
I am not a huge fan of onions but leeks are definitely my favorite.

Matthew did a ton of food prep for us and chopped up whatever we needed.

Below is the recipe for Leeks and Blue Cheese Tartlets.  I think I made these for the very first SPD meal but I made it as one big tartlet at that time.  The tiny little booklet with that recipe is saved in a special spot every year so it won't get lost in the mad stash of cookbooks.

Once upon a time, I had even bought special dishes to bake them in and actually remembered to use them this year!
They turned out really good!  There were 7 or 8 in all.

Then the next SPD staple, Leeks in cream sauce.  The big brownish things are bacon. mmm

Colcannon!!  Mashed potatoes with cabbage and onions!

Dublin Coddle, made with apple cider, bacon, sausage, potatoes, onions and carrots!

And of course the Corned Beef and veggies.

Which Leon called ONCE as a 3 year old, "This is the best ham EVER!" and we all have since.

I was perusing our Irish recipe books and found where you could just bake onions as a side.

Why hadn't I thought of that?!  Oh yeah, I'm not a fan of onions typically.  But I do love the flavor.

So yeah, bake onions til they're gushy!  A couple onion lovers tried them and I'll puree or chop them up for something else later.

Brown bread made in the bread machine, because who has time to hand knead it on a busy day like this?!  Throw it in and go! And definitely have legit Irish butter to smear on it!

Leon made a sponge cake with strawberries and homemade whipped topping!  It was VERY yummy.

Shepherd's pie because that is Jen's favorite.

It was a little dry this year.  I even put in 1/2 cup of actual Guinness.  I'll revisit that recipe and tweak it for next time.

There was also apple/blackberry crumble, which baked the entire time we were eating the meal so it was good and ready to eat as soon as we digested for a little while.

And wouldn't you just know it, I find this apron AFTER the day of the feast...

Meri's going to borrow it sometime for when she cooks up a big meal for her bf.

On Tuesday, Leon and I caught up with Robb's old bagpipe band for one of their performances in an Irish pub.

So yeah, we went pub hopping to just one.  It was PACKED!  and so many kids there!

Leon didn't feel out of place at all, just crowded.

How did you spend YOUR SPD?

Caving for the kid

 The St. Patrick's Day feast was a lot smaller this year as the kids didn't want me to have too many leftovers.  But in the process, we didn't have enough leftovers to send to my bestie and her husband, so I've got another corned beef in the IP today and they're getting some shepherds pie that I'd frozen and maybe a fresh loaf of bread.  Ada will get to go home and enjoy it with her husband this weekend. :)

It's spring break this week for the boy!!  So he and I made a trip to Hannibal, MO to visit the Mark Twain caves.  A 4 hour drive, a 4 hour drive...  He was awake until 4am that night, because he can... and then slept most of the way there and back.  To keep me awake, I listened to talk radio and ate almost a half box of mini Reeses puffs cereal.

I won't even tell you how many little bits of it I pulled out of my collar at each rest area we stopped at.

AND he and I should probably never have seen that caving slasher movie a few months back.  I was the last in the line of people on the tour with pure darkness behind us and no lights in the cave except our souvenir flashlights.  I kept turning around to flash it behind us, freaking myself out even more.

Eventually someone with a small child ended up at the rear and I figured if they screamed, it'd be a good warning for me to run. or at least be a slasher buffer.

We got to the grounds JUST as they were loading up for the tour, so there was JUST enough time to use the restrooms and get in on the tour we wanted!  Two more minutes and we'd have to twiddle our thumbs for 1.5 hours until the next tour.

The Cameron cave was beautiful!  I didn't want to spend another $60 for the actual Mark Twain cave, because Leon is now 13...  If he was only 12 still.  sigh. and knew how to lie about his age... sigh.

Besides, he didn't even know who Mark Twain was, much less Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn or Jesse James.

I'm nothing if not a money saver!!!

There was a small tunnel that joined to another passageway and the kids or anyone who wanted to got to crawl through with the guide bringing them back around.  Leon wanted to do it and tried to talk me into it too. 

Um nope - I'm very protective of my knees.  I want to hang onto them long enough to have Medicare pay for bionic ones.

We got back to the gift shop and Leon chose a geode to crack.  Yeah, his shirt and hair are messy, but oh well.  He had just woken up. and no hairbrush in the car. and climbed through a tunnel.

So anyway, MAKING MEMORIES!

We got DQ blizzards for the drive home and he slept 3 hours after he was done eating.

Yay!  More cereal and talk radio for me!!!

SPD menu and food

 So St. Patrick's Day!!!  From here-to-fore referred to as SPD.

It was a great, long day!  I was on my feet all day, except for Biolife first thing in the morning, where one of the workers there gave me a mask from her stash! 

SO much snazzier than the plain blue one I'd had.

After that, I picked up a few more things for the big dinner and headed home.  Meri met me.  She made cupcakes for the upcoming wedding shower and peeled potatoes for me.  Maddy came as soon as she got off work and made the apple/blackberry crumble.

I was on my feet all the rest of the day except for when we ate at 7:30.  My feet and legs were killing as I lay in bed at the end of the day!

Since we saw The Quiet Man at the big screen last weekend, we watched other Irish movies.  Maddy was aghast that there were OTHER Irish movies to watch!  Robb and I had watched Amy Adam's in Leap Year a long time ago so I suggested that.  Meri must have seen it too once upon a time.  We enjoyed that while cooking.  Then she had to run home for a little bit and I pulled out some old VHS tapes.  I watched Rick Steve's tour of Ireland tape and wow, I wish I remembered how to do the tracking...  I figured it would clear up but it didn't.  THEN I watched The Commitments.  About the first Irish soul band in the 50s. I looked up the cast and it looks like it had most of the Corrs family (from the band Cranberries) in it for bit parts.  I loved the Cranberries!  If you can get past the language, The Commitments was a good movie!  Kind of a "That Thing You Do" but in Ireland and a ton of swear words.  That wrapped up just after both girls got back to the house.  After that our laughter and chitchat were all the entertainment we needed!

Anyway, here was our menu.  I forgot to get a picture of the shepherd's pie.

Leeks in cream sauce.  I didn't follow the directions to a "t" but think I've come up with a new way to make this.  The leeks were extra soft. *win*  I've saved the bottoms of the leeks and will plant them in my herb garden.  I love the mildness of them!

Colcannon - mashed potatoes with cooked cabbage and onions mixed in.  I may not add red cabbage to this next year as it makes the potatoes look off.  But it tasted good.

Red and green cooked cabbage.

The obligatory brown bread.

Apple/blackberry crumble.  Super good!

Dublin Coddle, a stew cooked in apple cider.

and of course the corned beef.  Next year I'll start it an hour earlier and NOT in the IP that shuts off every 25 minutes...

It was a great meal with my kids and their loves with them.  Leon couldn't join us this year but I'll make him another meal when he comes back of his favorites.  You know, the corned "ham".

Since Ada couldn't leave the nursing home and Mike was having dinner with her, Maddy took over several portions of each item and delivered their dinner at 6.  We didn't eat until almost 7:30.

I can see where Robb's critical thinking came into play, planning out when to start each thing, deciding if something should be dropped from the lineup or if we needed to add something new.

I'll make my notes on the menu and tuck it in to try and remember for next year.

I hope you had a wonderful SPD!

Spring Cleaning Part 652

 Whew!  The week of St. Patrick's Day!  

Got lots going on and did lots.  What's new?!

Meri and I made mints for the upcoming shower instead of working out on Thursday morning.  Then Maddy and I finished up with the molds on Friday night at her house and then played with the dogs.  We've got another batch or two of mints to go and that might be our workouts this week.  The shower is next weekend.  OH and there is so much dye in the mints that I had to brush my teeth 2-3 times before I stopped spitting blue.

I spent several hours on Saturday sewing and got two of the sample bridesmaid dresses ready for sizing. They needed to be done by next weekend because the girls will be in town for the shower.  We also got the fabric sample mailed to us but I haven't heard from Meri yet on what was selected.  And that's ok.  We just need to get the fabric for the bride's dress ordered soon so I can get going on that.  I'll do one more sample dress for another girl before Saturday probably.  

On Sunday, after church, the kids and I went to the theater and saw The Quiet Man.  Wow I love that movie.  I'm so glad the kids came with me!  AND we got some good popcorn and candy!  I look door-knobby in this photo but oh well.

I also shopped a little off of the list for our St. Patrick's Day meal Thursday night.

And just for clarification, the bagels are NOT an integral part of that meal.

After a visit with Ada, I started cleaning above my cabinets in the kitchen.  A little spring cleaning is in order, I think!  So much greasy dust up there!  But it's looking so much better!  

Yes I cropped out my counter space and yeah I still have a lot of stuff up there but it's all sparkly clean now!

In the midst of my deep cleaning and roughed up kitchen, the kids all came over last night for an impromptu visit and dinner.  

I was making leftovers but that's ok!  Maddy and Matthew brought some veggies and garlic bread to round it all out.  

Then we printed out some NCAA bracket sheets and everyone filled in their guesses.  I'm pretty sure mine is right because if I fill out these brackets like Maddy played Sequence as a 2 year old, I should win the pot.

I have lunch with Ada today!  Have a wonderful week!

The Pot of Gold

 It was such a windy night last night!  Something woke me around 11pm and after that I had SO many thoughts that kept me up for the next 2 hours.  At least I remember looking at the clock for the last time around 1.  It didn't help that I got a telemarketing call at 11:30pm...  REALLY?  No one should be calling after 9pm at night unless someone has died.  That is something my dad always stressed and I believe it.  Yet another reason to drop the house phone...

So so many thoughts raced thru my head and my heart raced for a good long time.  

I heard Ryan on the steps just after the call so I'm sure he got woken up too.

After a DUO call with Maddy, Meri and I did a quick workout as we contemplated life's challenges.  We were going to go for a walk but the wind and rain pulled the temps down to just above freezing.  nope.  

I'm looking forward to the girls and my craft night tonight via DUO. 

Here is what I'm making.  

Sorry it's so light...  It's a rough sketch so far.

It's a pot of gold and rainbow.

It was going to be painted on a big pallet but I couldn't find any that had the slats close enough together so Meri brought canvases.  She's doing one too.  We'll have these on display for St. Patrick's Day.  I'll work on painting it tonight during our time together.  

OH!  a friend who is attending the grieve support group with us sent me a message last night and asked me to go on a walk with her.  And as luck would have it I was free so I said yes.  As soon as she found if she could get past out taken out bridge we walked the big block and had a very nice time out.  It did sprinkle a little but cleared up quickly.  The sun shown through the clouds like a sign.  

No rainbow that I saw but I'll keep hoping for that pot of gold.

If you think I'm

I was GOING to mow Meri's yard last night, but thankfully she said that she hadn't had a chance to pick up branches and twigs from her yard yet and she wasn't home.  She was out in a parking lot, social distancing and getting caught up with some friends she hadn't seen in over a month.

She said, "Let's get it done tomorrow!"

And I said okey dokey.  Fortunately for me, before too long, a rainy, blustery storm blew through.  I would have been riding home (maybe by that time) and been caught in it.

Unfortunately it's supposed to rain today too... So who knows?  

Maybe she can buy a goat.

I visited with my bestie, Ada, over lunch yesterday.  I have a lawn chair always in my car for such occasions and sat outside her nursing home window, with her on her speaker phone and got buzzed several times by a rogue wasp that must have a hive around there somewhere...  We had a great visit and I was loathe to leave but I wore long pants and was starting to over heat.  It got close to 80 yesterday!  

So I came home and changed to shorts and sandals.  I could live in weather like this easily!

If I dress for the part...

She is a member of our church too, that's where we met.  And since the current plague took over, she hasn't gotten to have our pastor come in to the home, nor able to hear any of the sermons.  Her hubs usually brings her the written sermon to read but he hasn't been able to come in either.

So since Robb records the sermons, he has all of them on his computer.  She has a dvd player in her room and the aides can run it for her, so he's going to burn them to dvds.  I called the home's policies on the best way to get them to her and got the info.  It'll be a 24 hour delay before she gets them, but with any luck, she'll have a service to watch on Sunday!

Robb has a bagpipe gig tonight!!!  He's playing on the lawn of a friend's dad, who turned 85 years old today.  The family and friends will be lining the street with their cars to help celebrate.  

It'll be as close to St Patrick's Day as we're going to get this year...

from several years ago.  Here's my little TIGER!

Robb got out his pipes and chanter last night to practice.  And while he'll be playing Scotland the Brave, Amazing Grace and of course Happy Birthday, he practiced with a tune that I didn't recognize right away.  

"What's THAT song?"  "You know it..."  "Please play it again."

It was "If you think I'm sexy" by Rod Stewart.

probably not appropriate for the birthday gig... ;)

Trying to get with the program

Hello!!  It's the start of a whole new world today!!!  Even though it's only the first day of Spring break and all my family is in the house because of that (me in my office for a little quiet...) it feels like the fifth week of lockdown.  St. Patrick's Day Bagpipe pub crawl is next to cancelled.  It's supposed to snow into Wednesday so a zoo outing is probably cancelled too.  

I've got the NEXT 3 days off and have no idea how to fill them yet.

BUT today I have to work.

I have two refrigerators and a deep freeze full of food and have no idea what to make for dinner tonight.  I hope I'm not expected to dream up lunch for everyone!  

Fend for yourselves folks!!!

Besides all the COVID stuff in the world this weekend, Robb, Leon and myself were able to escape the updates a little and drive three hours, meeting Maddy at the half way mark for a great long dinner at a HuHot.  I saw the waitress bleach down our table before we sat down.  

Meri and Shub drove separately so they could stop as often as they needed to and play music they wanted.  

and of course I was so into our visit that I didn't take a single pic!!!  Well, except of the back end of Meri's car on the way home...

Maddy turned the dinner into a surprise birthday for Robb!  His birthday is this next weekend.  :)  It was great seeing her.  Matthew had had to work and wasn't able to make it.

I had been doing some sorting, as you know, on the dusty bookshelves of our bedroom and found a lot of things that belonged to her and presented them to her.

1) Vintage hardback of Little Women

2) Christian Romance novel with her name all over it.

3) a couple gift cards to stores from her graduation cards HOW many years ago?

4) several bobby pins (ok 6)

5) a black page notebook with her gel pen doodles all over it from when she was young.

6) a program from a play she was in in college that had biographies of her and Matthew in it.  We met him for the first time at that play's production.  He was dressed in a panther bodysuit.

7) and a few other things that I can't think of right now.  But not too much else.

Found other things for a bag for Meri with similar items and some lyrics of a song she wrote.

But those are still sitting in the car.

Like I ever see HER?!... ;)

Other than Leon peeing in a couple ditches along the way, it was an uneventful drive.  We might do it again in June when both Maddy and Matthew will be in that town again for a wedding.  Maybe make a weekend of it with an airbnb!  Hopefully!

As with everything else, it depends...

Now back to a job that doesn't rest when everyone else in the whole wide world DOES!

Enjoy your social distancing.

Killin' the Green

 Well, in case you didn't realize from all the green and bagpipes on Friday and the fact that I didn't post anything... as if you noticed!!...  Friday was Saint Patrick's Day!  The one day a year I take off from work and follow the band around humming along to their songs.

Leon was at his mom's and Meri was in Nashville on a band trip.  

So only I drove to town with Robb in his kilt.

\

They warmed up in a church near their first gig and the daycare from downstairs came up to watch.  I LOVE that the one little girl covered her delicate ears.  Leon would have done that.

At the first gig, Robb's sister, brother, niece and nephew showed up to watch and we stood (no sitting room, the place was packed) and munched on the free peanuts and visited between songs.

They played at roughly 5 different pubs.  I missed the 2nd one because I wanted to hit up a craft store.  Cathy (said sister) gave him a ride to the next place.  I met up with them at the nursing home gig.  The residents loved it!

Here is the official uniform.  Some guys had special knives in their socks.  

Not this gal, but at least one did.

Sabrina got her face painted at the same place Leon did last year. 

Here he is in all his glory from last year.  It's still one of my fave pics of him.

My sister-in-law and her daughter.

 The last gig we attended for the day.  We were pooped...

And there are only so many free pics you can take in the photo booth.

Did you do anything special for St. Patrick's Day?

Three Fish Terrine and other random things

Feeling Irish again today... I think it's the spring air and the need to find some booze, but I won't.
The other day with my Leeks in Cream Sauce, Sonya mentioned that since she can't do dairy anymore, I was being mean. I don't see how!!! I'm just over here minding my own business eating a huge bowl of ice cream with chocolate sauce...

So as I was telling Robb what recipe I was going to share today and why, he asked me what was in it. Um... hello! 3 different kinds of fish and spinach!

He pressed further and asked again as if I'd spoken to him in Swahili. egg?

Then I realized that we put cream cheese in it. The recipe calls for Fromage blanc. Do you know what that is? Me neither... The recipe said we could substitute with cream cheese, so we jumped on that band wagon... I'm sure there's a soy equivalent, so there you go Sonya!

If you don't like fish, then don't make this. I've warned you. It does smell fishy when cooking... But it is delish if you actually enjoy fish!

This recipe comes also from the Irish Food & Cooking book that I gave you the other recipe on Tuesday from. Click here to find it on Amazon.

Three-fish Terrine

serves 8-10 or just 1 if you want to use it for lunches all week.

1 lb fresh Spinach
1 lb haddock, cod or other white fish, skinned and chopped. We used cod.
3 eggs
2 cups fresh breadcrumbs - I had no bread, so I used the food processor and crumbed up a bagel or two.
1 1/4 cups fromage blanc or cream cheese
a little freshly grated nutmeg or just the nutmeg in your cupboard
1 lb salmon fillet
1 lb turbo fillet or other flat fish. We used flounder. The Walmart freezer department only had certain kinds...
oil for greasing
salt and black pepper

1) Preheat oven to 325F. Remove the stalks from the spinach or don't. Cook the leaves briskly in a pan wihtout any added water, shaking the pan occasionally unti the spinach is just tender. Drain and squeeze out the excess water. I used a salad spinner.
2) Put the spinach into a food processor or blender with the haddock or other white fish, eggs, breadcrumbs, fromage blanc, salt, pepper and nutmeg to tast. Process until smooth.

3) skin and bone the salmon fillet and cut into long thing strips. Repeat with the Turbot. Since I bought already filleted fish, I just cut it into strips.4) oil 2 lb load tin pan or terrine and line the base with a piece of oiled baking parchment or foil, cut to fit. Make layers from the spinach mixture and the strips of salmon and turbot, starting and finishing the spinach.5) Press down carefully and cover with lightly oiled baking parchment. Prick a few holes in it, then put the loaf or terrine pan into a roasting pan and pour enough boiling water around it to come 2/3s of the way up the sides.
6) Bake in a preheated oven for 1 - 1.5 hours or until risen, firm and set. Leave to cool, then chill well before serving.

7) To serve, ease a sharp knife down the sides to loosen the terrine and turn the terrine on to a flat serving dish. Using a sharp sknife, cut the terrine into slices and serve.
It's really not as tough as the instructions say. It really went together easier than a lasagna! I made it in two loaf pans, served half of one for the St. Patrick's Day feast, letting our friends take home the other half... Then I ate the 2nd loaf all by myself all week for lunches.
Well... I've got a serious head cold today. Got up during the night and was dizzy on my way back to bed... I need some Kleenex, fake pseudo-fed and some cough drops. And a nap, but that's ain't gonna happen.

You have a great day!