Just the facts

It turns out I'm Irish! Irish on both sides of the family. I was pretty certain there was Irish on the maternal side. My paternal aunts are red heads, I don't know how I didn't put two and two together sooner.

My guess on the fraction is also pretty close. It's something like my great, great grandfather on mom's side and my great, great, great grandfather on dad's side. So 1/128 sounds about right. Don't worry, my mom told me that she has all of this written down. Whew. I'm really not good at genealogy.

It also lends more weight/credence to my liking for warm beer (it has to be stout, I can tolerate a porter as long as it's not cold), meat & potatoes, and my temper. I've always blamed my strong German roots. Now I can blame the wee bit o' Irish and it's legit.

I'm still looking for Italian roots. Maybe that was in a former life.

In the meantime, check out dinner from Saturday night.

 Don't worry, last night we celebrated by eating the traditional Mexican Skillet. Oh, wait. That's not tradition for St. Patrick's Day...

Saturday also included my first official trip of the season to Jersey Junction. Yum! This means warmer weather is headed our way. And I promised Bill that we don't have to go back until Memorial Day.

Today I'm thankful that I'm feeling better. I have no idea whether it was the cabbage, corned beef, beers, ice cream, all the food I ate in Chicago, taking my vitamin on a less than full stomach, or what but it has passed and I am happy for that.

A Wee Bit 'O Irish

I know I write about Pioneer Woman a lot. I really enjoy her blog and she continues to give me new recipes to try.

Today was no exception. I decided we needed to celebrate the wee little bit 'O Irish in my blood (right, mom? We're some small part Irish, even if it's only 1/128 it counts) and made Corned Beef and Cabbage. We had them with boiled potatoes. But not just any cabbage. And not just any corned beef. We had this.

Please, take a minute and click that link. You have to see the pictures.

It was amazing.

I'm so glad I made it and I can't believe I've never tried it before now.

I'm thankful for the new recipe and a spin on traditional food.

Can I get a high five?

Yes, I do have pictures from Christmas and I will post them.

But first I had to share this with you.

Of all the potatoes (and there were a lot), we got the bag with this potato.

Let me tell you how.

There are potato chip factories in Indiana that sample each truck load of potatoes. If the potatoes don't meet the standards of the factory, the potato shipment is rejected. Instead of throwing these potatoes out, a group has organized a distribution at a church. One of the men from my parents church said he would take 1,000 of the ten pound bags.

When he showed up, they had 1,500. He said he couldn't take that many. He was told take them or leave them.

It was all or nothing.

So he took them.

My parents have been taking bags to give to as many people as they can, like Spencer's baby sitter, my sister, Bill and me.

Last night, when I reached in the bag to pull out potatoes, I pulled out this one.

It's the mitten!

The Lower Peninsula!

I had to take a picture.

Can you believe out of 1,500 bags of potatoes that we got the bag with this one in it?

Now we can eat it.