by Lisa
I like to pretend I’m Italian, and even though I do have ancestors who immigrated from the very most southern region of Germany, which might have been Italy back then, I am really of mostly Irish descent, so St. Patrick’s Day is a lot of fun for us.  It’s my son’s Saint Day, and Ella has been making leprechaun traps for as long as she could talk, and though lots of tricks have been played on us, we’ve not yet caught one.

As for food, of course we cook corned beef, because we all love it, even though I never saw one the whole time I lived in Belfast (but lots of salmon, potatoes, and ulster fries for breakfast).

But the real fun is when the leprechauns turn everything green for breakfast:

Green eggs (Hard boil, peel, then let the eggs sit in food dye. They’re fun for lunches, too.)

p1090244

Green vanilla milk (whole milk + vanilla + confectioners sugar to taste):

p1090247

Green “white” bread from the bread machine:

p1090257

which is good fun for sandwiches:

p1090255

and green soda bread and homemade butter:

p1090239_1

I’m a purist when it comes to soda bread, and much prefer this version, which is like what you really get in Ireland, to the sweet Irish American version with raisins and caraway.  (The trick:  do not knead too much or it gets very tough.)

I don’t know how much longer the leprechauns will get away with all this, but for now, it’s fun.