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F and I are working on celebrating holidays and achievements. We had a lot of work and drama llama in our previous lives and missed out on the celebrations. So it’s time to change that.

I got myself some lucky socks haha

And I put out a crystal bowl with some green folded cranes in it. Beyond that I am not sure what people do to celebrate this holiday aside from drinking beer and turning rivers green…

I am not much of a beer drinker so may need to make green mocktails :)

Any fun plans for the holiday?

Making some delicious corned beef with cabbage, carrots, and potatoes with a side of soda bread is also part of my plans. Plus green beer, but that’s me :-) )

BearlyBreathing, sounds like time to share us a recipe or two!

I saw an advertisement for a $$ st pattys high tea!

Another for Irish music.

I don’t have the nerve for the whole city turning the river green experience: that’s a bit outside of my introverted comfort zone. But we might just put a high tea experience into the plans for next year :)

Your menu sounds great Bearly. Who knew life could be so much fun.

I'm not sure I'll cook anything special this year. Usually, I'll book the corner beef brisket in water for an hour to get rid of some of the salt. Then, I'll add some seasoning life garlic & onion. I'll toss the brisket back in the pan, add beer, the seasoning packet that comes with it and some bay leaf. Braise low & slow for several hours. When done, I'll serve with potatoes. Usually fried and have something like hash. I love good fried potatoes.

A great celebration at the local American Legion for lunch today, cooked up by a retired Army Sargeant whose wife bakes the best Irish soda bread ever. Whooo. We got invited to come for a surprise birthday party for a now-86-year-old U.S. Marine widower Vietnam Vet who lives alone in a retirement home after his wife died last year. Some friends wheeled him in sitting in his wheelchair. When he saw us 8 other oldies there, including a couple Legion members, he was so touched he was wiping tears away. Then he ordered a beer!

The cookie gave me some of his tips (because I begged! We've enjoyed his feast every year for a number of years.) Said he buys his corned beef at a restaurant supply house down in the big city and it comes in 17 pound chunks. He cuts the fat off, cuts the hunk of BRISKET into 2, to fit into 2 crock pots which he cooks the brisket in using low heat setting (sometimes he has to bump up the heat to high). He then cuts up the cabbage heads and cooks them in the liquid of the corned beef long enough to make the cabbage tender. I think he does the baby potatoes the same way, as they melt in your mouth. Also carrots, which he is great cooking and I don't like carrots (he prefers the huge ones you can't usually get at grocery stores.) Only thing we lacked was Coleman's hot mustard; he used regular hot dog mustard. Oh well, it was so tasty I had to eat slowly so I wouldn't be the first person to finish my lunch.

But now I need SECONDS!!

[This message edited by Superesse at 10:39 PM, Monday, March 17th]

Superesse

Do you remember the old song "Joe sure knows how to live"?

I could taste the "legion" cooking from your description. Sounds like a great time!

Last year we found some corned beef at our local grocery store marked down almost half price in the days after Saint Patrick's Day. I think it might be worth cruising through your local grocery stores to see if anyone has some left-over brisket with the spice packets! Because I never did my SECONDS!!!