St. Patrick’s Day has come and gone.  How quickly time flies.

I have some fine memories of St. Paddy’s Day.  Taking my dad to see the Chieftains at Massey Hall, taking in the parade while practically freezing to death in my knee-less jeans.  It was the early ’90s and I was full-tilt into embracing my Irish heritage.  I danced at céilis and drank lots of Guinness and tried to learn some Irish language to boot. The title of this entry can attest to that but it’s probably the only word I remember (it’s an important one though).  Irish music still puts a lump in my throat.

St. Patrick’s Day has some interesting rituals, like the one where people line up for hours to get into ‘Irish’ pubs that look like they came out of a box labelled ‘Irish Pub.’  They’re overcrowded with people who look terrible in green, and even worse many hours later when their skin turns the same shade while they hold on to the building and puke onto the sidewalk that I walk on every morning.  I’m sorry that the days of spending idle hours in pubs enjoying great craic while listening to gorgeous melodies played out before me by a bunch of long haired, rogue musicians holding instruments that have names I can’t pronounce, let alone spell, are gone.  I just can’t handle the crowds anymore like I used to, but would die to witness a spontaneous seisiun in a pub somewhere on a Sunday afternoon like they do in Ireland. It’s a magical experience.

This year we celebrated in different fashion.  In the spirit of ridding our house of unnecessary chemicals, we decided to make our own glycerine soap, dyed green for the occasion with the scent of a hint of mint, because, mint is so, y’know, Irish.  We had a brick of glycerine so we melted it, added the dye and scent, and then poured it into molds.  It set within a couple of hours and now we have soap for the next few months.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then T cooked us a traditional Irish dinner, vegan-style, and I made some cabbage soup.  Very hearty and delicious.

 

 

By the end of the day, we were very well-fed (and clean!), so we enjoyed some Guinness, Harp Lager and a dram of Jameson (not all at once).

 

 

Sláinte!