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.
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| Before felting |
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| After felting |
