Let’s Celebrate!

“Happy St. Patrick’s Day” my husband said as he handed me a snifter of whiskey as an after dinner treat. We sat, sipped and watched some NCAA basketball together before heading to bed.

Before that, I enjoyed a plate of homemade corned beef and goulushka, which is wide egg noodles mixed with finely chopped fried cabbage that my mother-in-law taught me how to make.

Before that, I boiled the egg noodles for 7 minutes and drained them in the colinder.

Before that, I fried the finely chopped cabbage in crisco in my frying pan for about 20 minutes, stirring it constantly.

Before that, I used my mini-chopper to finely cut up pieces cut from a whole head of cabbage and I made a mental note that I should really purchase a bigger chopper as this is taking longer than it needs to.

Before that, I enjoyed co-hosting a zoom call with Slicers – Fran from DC spearheaded this effort and had the zoom link. Megan from VA, Fran from Iowa, Alice from Texas, and Denise from CA joined us. From coast to coast, we shared what brought us to this slicing challenge, where we get our ideas, and structures we like to use (I shared this Before that… structure!). Sharing writing is one thing but having the opportunity to hear the voice of the writer and see them and realize that as I slice in my home in VA, others are slicing across the nation and globe just feels powerful.

Before that, I left school as soon as the dismissal bell rang at 2:35pm and drove home. I first placed the corned beef on the stove to boil and set the timer for 3 hours. Then I added a load of laundry in the washer and spied the additional four loads of laundry to follow due to just returning from my trip to meet Aden.

Before that, my phone vibrated and I saw my daughter had added new photos of Aden to our private Family Album app. She is doning the St. Patrick’s Day outfit my mom bought for her that I delivered to her last week on my trip.

Before that, I sent an email to all in my ELA department to let them know that our colleague, Beth Sanderson, was the SPOTLIGHT today on TwoWritingTeachers and I used her poem as a warmup during my CLT meeting.

Before that, Ed, walked into McDonald’s and welcomed me back and asked to see my photos from my trip.

Before that, I ordered my Friday regular breakfast from the McDonald’s cashier, “an oatmeal and unsweetened ice tea, please” and I sat in the booth by the window, typed my slice on my laptop, posted it, made 3 comments and enjoyed my breakfast, while donning my shamrock socks and green shirt.

So much to celebrate on a Friday!

March Dinner Party

If you know me, I am the kind of person who loves a theme party! Over the past few March’s, I’ve invited Slicers to my “Orange Party (you can read about it HERE). During the 2020 Summer, my husband and I safely invited our daughter and his sister over for a “Hawaiian Party” (you can read about it HERE). Now that my mom and I are vaccinated, my husband and I are hosting the same sister-in-law, the same daughter and her new friend. Since it is March, the theme is St. Patrick’s Day.

I married into an Irish family and quickly learned how to make corned beef and his mother’s recipe of egg noodles and sauted shredded cabbaage (you can read about the recipes HERE). My table is set. Just need to don a green outfit. Happy St. Patrick’s Day (a few days early) !! May the luck of the Irish be with us all!

Cabbage and Brussels Sprouts

“You like cabbage. Brussels sprouts are just like cabbages, only smaller.”

I was slicing a large cabbage last night to make my family’s favorite St. Patrick’s Day side dish. I know I am more than a week early but I had time over the weekend to cook the corned beef and it was already on sale at the grocery store. So why wait! Maybe she’s right, I thought. My daughter returned from college with a love for this vegetable. She prepares them by roasting slices on a tray drizzled in oil and topped with salt in a hot oven. I do like them when she makes them.

Yet I never think to buy this vegetable. I’m more of a corn and green beans cook. Maybe it was my college experience. My own mom never served me brussels sprouts and I recall during my freshman year they being a regular choice at the dining hall. They were boiled and looked like little brains and many jokes were made about them. Those snide jokes stuck and for my whole life I never bought or cooked brussels sprouts.

As I sliced the cabbage last night, I started to see brussels spouts in a new light. I love coleslaw. I love this dish my mother-in-law taught me how to make that I’m preparing now – fried cabbage with egg noodles.* Maybe I’ll start to buy brussels spouts. “They’re just a small member of the cabbage family,” my daughter reminded me.

Now I wonder what I can tell my daughter to change HER present mindset about raw tomatoes and anything seafood?!

 

 

*Click HERE to see the recipe for Galusca, the cabbage/noodle dish in my March 16, 2014 SOL post!

March 17 – Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I am wearing my shamrock socks and a green sweater. My husband is traveling so the corned beef and galushca (cabbage and noodle dish) that I made over the weekend is in the car, ready to share at work during lunchtime with my colleagues. Last year, I sliced the recipes of this meal  HERE. 

As I sit in Starbucks this morning, writing this slice, shamrocks are taped to the window and hang from the ceiling around the bar area. My daughter in Chicago mentioned seeing the dyed-green river on Saturday as the city celebrated this holiday over the weekend. Driving to Starbucks, I listened to Garrison Keillor on NPR’s The Writer’s Almanac note the story of Patrick, the Patron Saint of Ireland. He stated that since 1762, New York City has celebrated with a parade down 5th Avenue and that today, the largest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the world will be marching in New York, 150,000 in all.

It is St. Patrick’s Day. I no longer practice my Catholic upbringing much but I will dress for this day and I plan to grab a green beer after work. Why? Who doesn’t want to spend a day thinking about the Luck of the Irish smiling down on them, dreaming of the pot of gold beyond the rainbow.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

March 16 – St. Patrick Day Recipes

I married into an Irish/Hungarian/Polish family. I am grateful Bob Donnelly and Marilyn met, married and raised a big Catholic family, my husband being the youngest son of the five kids. While dating and then onced married, we would celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with my husband’s family, the menu always the same: Corned Beef with Galusca. Finally I asked Marilyn how to make this meal and learned it is so simple. You just need time, something that our generation does not always spend when preparing meals. Here are the recipes:

Corned Beef
Boiled for 3 hours on the stovetop.  Then place in a baking dish and bake in the oven with a brown-sugar glaze added to the top for another hour. Once warmed, slice thinly.

Galusca  (a Hungarian cabbage and noodle dish):

6 cups or one head of cabbage           1 tsp salt
2 tbsp Crisco or margarine                8 oz package broad noodles

Grate or food process cabbage until fine. Put 2 tbsp crisco or margarine in frying pan. Melt. Add cabbage and salt. Fry slowly until browned (takes at least 15-30 minutes) Cover, stirring often.

Boil the noodles, following the directions on package. Drain. Add cabbage to noodles. Salt to taste. Serve warm.

My own girls LOVED this dish growing up. I will be making it today so I am ready to serve it tomorrow.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!