St. Patrick's Day 2013

Went to dinner last night with Dale and some friends to a place called Mama Rosa's in Robbinsdale. Obviously, it was Italian but they said they were offering beer cheese soup in honor of St. Patrick's Day. Now, I would have guessed beer cheeese soup to be more native to Wisconsin than to Ireland but, hey, it sure tasted good.

St. Patrick's Day 2013

I had lunch with Noel yesterday at George and the Dragon and in honor of St. Patrick's Day I ordered the bangers and mash. I've never had this dish before and I found it to be very delicious. The sausage almost had the consistency of pate, but not quite. I looked the dish up online and some sources say it's British while some say it's Irish and some say it's both. Regardless, it was great. 

St. Patrick's Day 2012

Noel and I made a trip out to Afton yesterday and stopped by Squire House Gardens. The high was 80 degrees and buds were appearing on trees and shrubs. We had a lunch of corned beef and cabbage at Current. How appropriate for St. Patrick's Day.

Dale and I had our friend Eric over for dinner. Hamburgers, broccoli salad, and potato salad for dinner. Due to the pleasant weather, we had cocktails outside in the backyard . Now that doesn't happen very often on St. Patrick's Day!

Saint Joseph's Day - 2011

My patron saint is Saint Joseph and today is his feast day. Being just two days after March 17th Joseph has always fallen in the shadow of St. Patrick's Day. I've always felt Joseph deserves at least as much attention as Patrick as he was, after all, the foster father of our Lord and Savior. I mean, driving snakes out of Ireland is pretty cool but parenting can be, I've heard, just as miraculous.

Anyway, I've done some online research on how St. Joseph's Day is celebrated and one site pointed out that it is a big feast in many countries, especially Italy where St. Joseph's Tables are traditional. Elaborate meals and other foods are placed and displayed on the St. Joseph's Table. Another tradition is to bury an upside-down statue of St. Joseph in the ground in a hole in the yard of your house on St. Joseph's Day to make your house sell. Believe it or not I had actually heard of this before. If I ever wanted to sell the house I'm in now, I don't know that I could actually stick my statue of St. Joseph in a hole in the ground. I just couldn't. On top of that, it just seems too superstitious.

Anyway, traditional St. Joseph's day meals tend to be meatless since the holiday tends to fall during Lent. My request to Dale was that we have shrimp scampi for this momentous occasion. We used a recipe from the Eating for Life cookbook by Body for Life guru Bill Philllips. This tends to be healthy fare so we doctored it up to make it taste a whole LOT better. Here's the recipe:

"Shrimp Scampi [from p. 167 of the Eating for Life cookbook by Bill Phillips]

Ingredients:

2 portions whole-wheat penne pasta (about 4 oz. uncooked) [We at LEAST doubled that]

1 Tbsp olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 portions raw shrimp, peeled and deveined (about 1/2 lb.)

3 Tbsp Butter Buds, divided [Butter Buds? As if! We used real butter]

3 Tbsp white wine

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1 lemon halved

3 Tbsp reduced-fat Parmesan cheese [Reduced fat? No way.]

2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Directions:

1. Prepare penne pasta according to its package directions.

2. While the pasta is cooking, heat olive oil and garlic in a wok or large skillet over medium heat.

3. Add shrimp to the skillet and cook, stirring frequently, until it's almost pink (three-quarters done), about 2 minutes.

4. Add 1 Tbsp of Butter Buds and white wine to shrimp; saute about 2 more minutes.

5. Place cooked pasta in a large mixing bowl and combine it with remainder of the Butter Buds and black pepper; mix gently.

6. Add cooked shrimp to pasta and gently mix it all together.

7. Divide into two portions and spoon onto plates. Top with a squeeze of lemon, Parmesan cheese and fresh parsley."