Happy St. Paddy's Day...

The kids and I had a good time studying about St. Patrick's Day. 2 of my 3 kiddos have the flu, so they weren't happy that we were doing school at all, but I think they'll agree...it was a fun day.

Their favorite part was this picture of the Chicago River, dyed green, in celebration of St. Patrick's Day.

Along with our study of St. Patrick's Day...we dressed in green (except Jay, who had to cope with being pinched on the tush sporadically throughout the day), spoke in an Irish accent, and prepared an Irish dinner of corned beef and cabbage, boxties (authentic Irish potato pancakes), and Irish soda bread.

I’ve never had corned beef and cabbage before tonight (yes, really!)... so I have nothing to compare this evening’s meal to, but it was pretty good. Joe said he loved it and said he’s going to start requesting it on his birthday. I've heard several people say that they don't like corned beef because it's fatty, so I used a flat-cut piece of corned beef, the leanest looking I could find. And instead of boiling it, I used a recipe I found on allrecipes.com. I coated the meat with brown sugar, then poured a bottle of Guinness over it, then about half way through the roasting process, I added cabbage and onion...it took about 4 1/2 hours in the oven, basting it every hour...but it was worth it...very tender and juicy. I have to say, though...the boxties were my favorite...but who doesn't love potato and green onion pancakes, fried up all crispy and coated with cool sour cream?!?!? Mmmmm...

Here are a few of the interesting facts we learned today:

1. St. Patrick's Blue, not green, was the color long associated with St. Patrick's Day. The phrase, "the wearing of the green" which refers to wearing a shamrock on one's clothing to show Irish nationalism or loyalty to the Roman Catholic faith, is responsible for Ireland's association with the color green.
2. St. Patrick's Day is a holy day of obligation, a day of feasting, for Roman Catholics in Ireland. The date of the feast is occasionally changed by church authorities when March 17th falls during Holy Week. When this happened in 1940, St. Paddy's day was observed on April 3rd, to avoid it coinciding with Palm Sunday. It happened again in 2008, being observed on March 15th, in Ireland. March 17 will not fall during Holy Week again until 2160.
3. The practice of pinching those not wearing green on St Paddy's Day is an American custom and is, in fact, alien to those who actually come from Ireland.
4. Corned beef and cabbage, while thought to be a traditionally Irish meal, is in fact an American dish and not part of the St Paddy's Day tradition. While they do eat corned beef and cabbage in Ireland, lamb or beef with cabbage and vegetables, is a far more common choice for their Day of Feasting.
5. And last, but not least, it is a HUGE pet peeve of the Irish, that American's refer to today as St Patty's Day...because Patty is a girl's name. So, if you do shorten St Patrick's Day...be sure to spell it with d's, not t's...or "yer nuttin' but a plonker!"