If you've been following my blog for a bit, you already know I'm Italian. That's it. Italian. There isn't an ounce of any other nationality in my blood to speak of. Honestly, I've always felt slighted because of this. I remember kids in school would rattle off a fancy array of nationalities, "Irish, Scottish, British with a tiny bit of Cherokee." I was never able to do that. As a teen, I took to lying and told newer friends or acquaintances that I was Italian and Swiss. Hey, it sounded good!
Every March, St. Patrick's Day would creep up and the majority of my fellow Catholic grammar school friends were thrilled to celebrate their heritage and pride. Our teachers would give lessons on Irish history, teach us how to Irish Step Dance and we even performed the Scottish story, Brigadoon one year as our spring performance.
Back in the 1980s, there were lots of buttons and shirts that read, "Kiss Me I'm Irish!" One year I felt so left out, I made my own pin which read, "I'm not Irish, but you can kiss me anyway!" As a non-Irish kid, I simply celebrated the day by wearing a green sweater over my uniform and green tights under my uniform. However, the very best part of the day was loading up on the traditional "Irish" foods.
"What foods might that be?" you ask ... Why green bagels of course! In an earlier blog, I mentioned Mom often hooking us up with pink bagels on Valentine's Day morning, well she did the same for St. Pat's Day too. We'd feast on green bagels for breakfast smothered in cream cheese. Mom even made our tuna sandwiches on green bagels to help us continue celebrating the Irish holiday throughout the day! After school, my parents would take us to Mitchell's on Rockaway Avenue for the St. Patrick's Day special. It was the one time of year we dined on corned beef and boiled potatoes.
It is because of that family tradition, I'm lost without my corned beef every March 17th. My husband, friends and in-laws have zero interest in any sort of corned beef consumption. Luckily this year, I planned ahead. I'm having dinner with my mom, my aunt with the records, my little cousin, my brother, his wife and my nephew.
23 comments:
I will partake in Corned beef but not cabbage which is typical with most Irish families. Along with the potatoes. I will drink a green beer for you! =)
I found you on CCWA and thought I would drop by and check you out. Nice blog. Of course I read a few already. By the looks of it, I will be stopping by often.
Hey have a great (corned beef) St. Patties dinner tonight with the fam. FYI...green bagels are amazing with a schmear of cream cheese and lox!!!
Can you imagine what your turds would look like after eating a green bagel?
@Jerry I'm not a cabbage fan either - but love potatoes, this year I'm skipping potatoes and rye! Low carb wah wah!
@Tammy thanks! I tried to follow your blog but it's set to private :(
@Copyboy dude, you said "schmear" I love it!
@Ian yuckers! I'm skipping bagels this year see above comment to Jerry. Boo hoo!
aw! if you didn't have plans i would have said to come to my mom's to eat the gross irish feast. we're not irish either, but my mom makes a mean soda bread!
Hi Ally!
Thanks for stopping by my blog!
See, I'm in the same boat with you except different heritages. I always hated the fact that I was 100% Irish. My grandmother spoke only Gaelic, even though she could speak English. She was just a crotchety Irish woman like that. I even used to go so far as a kid to say I was part Cherokee, because that sounded so exotic and I hated being plain old Irish.
Now, I wouldn't change it for the world. But, I do have to say most Irish food is the worst! Except for shepherd's pie and brown bread and corned beef, the rest of it, not so much. My grandmother boiled everything and her house smelled like boiled cabbage all the time. I'm proud of everything about my Irish Heritage except the food.
Happy St. Patrick's day to you! No corned beef here, but those bagels look good!
Never saw green bagels before...those look gooooood.
Leave it to Ian to make the witty comment! I am not into green food, even if it is only food coloring and doesn't alter the taste.
My bride got the green ketchup once, and I couldn't deal with it.
Ketchup should be RED!
In my opinion St. Patty's Day is on the list of 'Pointless Holidays" right up there with Valentines Day. I'm not even wearing green today! But, I must say...even though those bagels are green...they look delicious :)
That pin is awesome! Funny, my family is a mix of about 12 different nationalities (including Irish and Apache) and I've always envied people who were just one or two!
Even with a name like mine, the image of those green bagels makes me want to start hurling. And I'm not talking about the sport...
@Kate can't believe I forgot to mention how much I loved soda bread!
@Joann glad I found you! Shepherd's pie rocks!
@Bossy, Cashier & Joe I hear green is actually not the best ingredient, not sure why.
@Samantha I haven't worn green on St. Pat's Day or red on V'Day since I was like 13 :)
@Riot you're way more interesting having such a diverse heritage!
I made green food last year just for fun. NO one would eat it!
You pick the weirdest things to be envious of. lol
I'm one of those who has a thousand different cultures making me up. But I grew up in an area where it was predominantly Scottish heritage. of which I am not. So I still understand where you're coming from.
Green bagels look freaky, but I'd still try them.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to you and your family! I celebrated by buying a box of Lucky Charms (I really only eat the marshmallows).
I have to tell you that I lost track of how many times I read Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing as a kid.
I hope your corned beef was scrumptious. I am still jealous. I'll take one of those green bagels too.
Cheers,
Robyn
My mom had a corned beef in her crockpot and thought she had it on low but had it on off so no corned beef for me.
I want one of those pins you made. "I'm not irish but you can kiss me anyway"
That corned beef business seems to be an Irish-American thing. It's bacon and cabbage here!
How about green cream cheese on the green bagels...what that's a horrible idea because you wouldn't be able to decipher the dye from the fungus as the cheese got older. Still could pull off some great pranks with that though.
I love St. Patrick's day.... I got my green bagel in the morning, my shamrock shake at lunch, then my plates full of corned beef and potatoes for dinner.... I can't do the boiled cabbage thing....
I remember every kid in the school would always say '1/16 cherokee' or 'A little bit of sioux'....
I hope you had an awesome day! And damn those bagels look delicious! I thought they were donuts! Yummm!
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