Tip of the Week

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Getting ready for St. Patrick's Day

After a small technical problem I am back online.  In the time off, I have been getting ready for St. Patrick's Day and no it's not a big party that I am talking about.  Just a few quick projects and recipes to celebrate the holiday in style.


Now most people I know, think that corned beef and cabbage is a "traditional" Irish dish.  Reality is that this is not a traditional Irish dish and if you have travelled to Ireland you will be hard-pressed to find it.  I'm sure the dish is served at some restaurants or cafes in Ireland, but I never came across it in my travels. 


Instead I like to try different recipes for St. Patrick's Day, though not all are "Irish".  Here are a few of my favorites:


Guinness Gingerbread - This won't last long at any party (Click here for Nigella's recipe)




Guinness Chocolate Cupcake/Cake - Or try the Bailey's Irish cupcake from Kara's Cupcakes in Napa.
For this I baked it like you would a brownie, but you can also use a Shamrock cake pan or just cupcake cups.


Reuben Sandwich (instead of plain corned beef and cabbage) - I have a post devoted to this, so stay tuned.


Irish Soda Bread (Click here for Ina's recipe)




Scones (though these are also very English/British)




On to the projects.  Both of these are quick and easy projects to complete.


Clover (Shamrock) wood ornaments:
I had bought these clovers for another project a while back, but decided that a Shamrock tree would be a cute center piece for the table.  I used a few shades of green to paint them which would coordinate with my table runner, though you can easily choose other colors or shades.
After adding a decorative ornament hook and hanging them on a spring ornament tree, my center piece was complete.


The second project I completed were felted crochet shamrock earrings and hair-clips.  For these I used some extra green wool yarn and whipped up the shamrocks in a matter of minutes.  I think the felting process took longer than actually crocheting them.  Though I found that smaller items do not felt as nicely as hats or other clothing items.



Before felting


After felting




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