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Beware the Leprechaun!
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 7:56 pm
by Kolchak
St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner! Enjoy your corn beef and cabbage, but beware the Leprechaun!!
Make sure you have enough Guinness and Jameson and Harp on hand! But beware the Leprechaun!
Some Guinness was spilt on the barroom floor, when the pub was shut for the night.
Out of his hole crept a wee brown mouse, and he stood in the pale moonlight.
He lapped up the frothy brew from the floor, then back on haunches he sat.
And all night long you could hear him roar..."Bring On the Goddarn Cat!"
Re: Beware the Leprechaun!
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 9:43 pm
by Andybev01
Perpetuating the drunken Irishman stereotype.
That's it buddy; we're taking this outside !
Re: Beware the Leprechaun!
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2015 1:36 am
by Kolchak
Re: Beware the Leprechaun!
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2015 8:06 am
by Murfreesboro
Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!
We don't do much for it, other than dress in green & have a quasi-Irish meal, but it is a sign of spring, which is cheerful.
Re: Beware the Leprechaun!
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2015 10:22 am
by MauEvig
I don't do much for it either. But I'll probably dress in blue and green this year, due to the new information I got from my boss at the book store. I wish I could still work there though lol, but he said he'd hire me back when the book buy back goes on.
I didn't even decorate for it. I just sort of skipped ahead to the Easter stuff. Oh well.
I'm but a wee bit irish anyway and I think I'm one of the few who actually enjoys Valentine's day more.
And I don't even drink beer. Guess I don't have to worry about bottle or tapped on my end.
So Happy St Patty's folks!
Re: Beware the Leprechaun!
Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 8:27 am
by Murfreesboro
My son was asking last week why people wear green, so we went on an internet search about it. I ran into that info about blue being the color of St. Patrick for centuries. Then apparently in the 18th century it became a big political statement to wear a shamrock on St. Patrick's Day. Wearing green grew out of wearing the shamrock, I think. And of course, Ireland is known as "the Emerald Isle" because its moist atmosphere keeps everything so green there.
We had a meal I got out of some of those supermarket pamphlets they sell by the check-out stand--supposedly Irish food, probably with a decidedly 21rst century American take on it. We had roasted chicken thighs in a creamy mustard sauce and herbed Irish potatoes (boiled Irish potatoes with butter, lemon juice, & dill weed). We had a spinach salad on the side.
Re: Beware the Leprechaun!
Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 4:20 pm
by Kolchak
Re: Beware the Leprechaun!
Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 4:58 pm
by Kolchak
There's actually a lot more dealing with the color green, as an Irish symbol, but imho it is not something good Irish folks should be proud of, so I'll let that sleeping dog lie.
Re: Beware the Leprechaun!
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 12:57 am
by NeverMore
Hey Kolchak, have you ever performed the Irish Sobriety Test?
I had to work downtown on Saturday night, during the city celebration. Nothing like trying to find a parking spot close to the job when 40 thousand drunken people have descended on the area.
Re: Beware the Leprechaun!
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 7:23 am
by Murfreesboro
I like corned beef & cabbage--as a matter of fact, I love cabbage just about any way it can be prepared (I'm a big fan of Brussels sprouts, too). However, I am alone in my family with this enthusiasm, so if I want anyone else to eat besides me, I'd better have something different for St. Patrick's Day.
I learned a couple of years back that corned beef & cabbage is an American Irish thing, anyway--over in Ireland supposedly they paired cabbage with bacon or ham, but that was more expensive here, I guess. In the big cities up North, the immigrant Irish lived in neighborhoods next door to the immigrant Jews, and they picked up corned beef from their Jewish neighbors. Hence corned beef & cabbage.
Re: Beware the Leprechaun!
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 10:01 am
by MauEvig
The corned beef must have been a result of the ideologies in Judaism that require a Kosher diet. Still I think that cabbage and corned beef does make for a good combination, but I can see Kolchak's point. It's better as a reuben sandwich. A reuben with fries was my St Patrick's day dinner, and for lunch I had treated myself to a shamrock shake at McDonalds, although I had to hurry up to eat because I had to go to my classroom observations.
My Grandma mentioned that the Reuben was a Jewish idea, but if it is, I don't think they would include the cheese. I'm not sure about the thousand island dressing either. Jewish kosher traditions state that "one must not drown a calf in it's mother's milk" and therefore, dairy and meat products are kept separated. Otherwise, they aren't kosher.
Considering Jewish lived closed to the Irish in communities, I wonder if that might have been how my Great-Grandfather met my Great-Grandmother. Granted, they didn't live near New York city, although where I used to live Irish were common and they even had the St Patty's day parades. I'm pretty sure my Great-Grandmother might have been Irish and English, but I could be wrong about that.
Still I didn't make it into a big thing. I dressed in a green dress coat and a blue shirt underneath with blue earrings. Blue and Green. Both bases covered.
Re: Beware the Leprechaun!
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 4:18 pm
by Kolchak
Re: Beware the Leprechaun!
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 4:35 pm
by Kolchak
MauEvig wrote:The corned beef must have been a result of the ideologies in Judaism that require a Kosher diet. Still I think that cabbage and corned beef does make for a good combination, but I can see Kolchak's point. It's better as a reuben sandwich. A reuben with fries was my St Patrick's day dinner, and for lunch I had treated myself to a shamrock shake at McDonalds, although I had to hurry up to eat because I had to go to my classroom observations.
My Grandma mentioned that the Reuben was a Jewish idea, but if it is, I don't think they would include the cheese. I'm not sure about the thousand island dressing either. Jewish kosher traditions state that "one must not drown a calf in it's mother's milk" and therefore, dairy and meat products are kept separated. Otherwise, they aren't kosher.
Considering Jewish lived closed to the Irish in communities, I wonder if that might have been how my Great-Grandfather met my Great-Grandmother. Granted, they didn't live near New York city, although where I used to live Irish were common and they even had the St Patty's day parades. I'm pretty sure my Great-Grandmother might have been Irish and English, but I could be wrong about that.
Still I didn't make it into a big thing. I dressed in a green dress coat and a blue shirt underneath with blue earrings. Blue and Green. Both bases covered.
Corn beef was also very cheap and could be preserved a bit longer than pork. The Irish turned to it as much out of necessity as anything else. Catholics love their pork, and in Ireland pork dishes are quite common. Potatoes, carrots and cabbage are the usual veggies, don't see much corn up there.
I wasn't trying to imply that Reuben's were an Irish thing, just that I can eat only so much corn beef and cabbage before it starts to make me sick just looking at it. This was simply my attempt at making a bad situation tolerable. Like any good soldier you must learn to 1. improvise 2. adapt 3. overcome 4. drive on to victory!
While thousand island dressing is the usual condiment, I like some good spicy yellow or brown mustard on mine. Gives it a bit of a different kick!
Swiss cheese was probably an afterthought, but I'm glad they use it. More than likely some deli up in New York or Chicago came up with the first Reuben. Years ago I had a great Reuben in Chicago after leaving a White Sox game. I can't remember the name, but it was the bomb. I also had a few good places in Miami I frequented while living there, where transplanted New Yorkers had opened up delis
Re: Beware the Leprechaun!
Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 9:49 am
by Andybev01
Murfreesboro wrote:I like corned beef & cabbage--as a matter of fact, I love cabbage just about any way it can be prepared (I'm a big fan of Brussels sprouts, too).
Cut them in half & steam until almost done.
Fry a few bacon strips, then crumble them.
Keep the bacon fat, place the sprout halfs (halves ?) cut side down in the fat and fry them until finished cooking.
Mix the crumbled bacon back to the pan.
You can also add a tablespoon of lemon juice and minced garlic to the fat before frying.
Re: Beware the Leprechaun!
Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 10:10 am
by Murfreesboro
That sounds delicious!