Shamrocks and Shillelaghs!!

It's my favorite time of the year. A time of leprechauns and clover, a day when being Irish means you are king for a moment. Saint Patrick's Day.

The pubs will be packed with "Want to Be's" chowing down on corned beef and cabbage along with carrots. They will be drinking beer, if you want to call Bud Light a "beer". It is as predictable as sunrise and sunset. Someone you know, or maybe you, will be found staggering down the street singing Irish songs drunk beyond any sence of reason. This my friends is St. Patricks Day in America.

Up until 1970 St. Patricks Day was a solemn day, a religious day and day to reflect on what it meant to be Christian in Ireland. St. Patrick wasn't even Irish, he was a Romano-Briton slave brought to Ireland to work the fields. His claim to fame isn't chasing snakes out off the island,  he is in fact credited with bringing Christianity to the Irish. Before 1970 the Irish government even ordered bars and pubs be closed. 

Tonight I will be celebrating the minor holiday by mixing tradition with a bit of Americana. I will be dinning on an Irish stew made of beef, potatoes, and carrots and washing it down with a stout Guinness and a shot of Irish Whiskey. This meal is closer to what an Irish family may have on this day, (just substitute lamb for the beef), unlike the whole corned beef and cabbage thing. So to all I say a Happy Saint Patricks Day!!!