Begorrah..................

[Billy]

It's March 17................A very happy St. Patricks Day to one and all.

Go drown your shamrocks and have a pint of Guinness and an Irish Coffee on me. And remember the two drink limit Lorraine!

Slainte,

[hensylee]

And Slainte, to you too, Billy. Will have some Irish coffee tomorrow. And the wearin o' the green.

A small story: Went to get my bro Thurs and my sister came out with him-all dressed in lime green. She asked me where mine was. Asked her why - she said today's St Patrick's Day; today's the 13th. Imagine her surprise when I told her she was 4 days early. And she was married to an Irishman! Guess she will celebrate twice.

[Nancy]

Here's my family's Irish Soda Bread (Begley and Lynch backgrounds)

4 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup raisins
2 Tablespoons caraway seeds
2 cups buttermilk

Mix dry ingredients. Add raisins and caraway seeds and blend in buttermilk to form a soft dough. Measure out 3/4 cups flour and dust kneading board with it. Knead dough just to get a smooth shape and doesn't stick to your fingers, too much will make it tough. Shape into a round cake on greased pan. Cut a large cross in the top, brush with butter and sprinkle with sugar. I like to use green sugar. Bake 15 minutes at 350, then 40 minutes at 300.

MAY THE ROAD RISE TO MEET YOU,
MAY THE WIND BE ALWAYS AT YOUR BACK
MAY THE SUN SHINE UPON YOUR FACE
THE RAINS FALL SOFT UPON YOUR FIELDS
AND, UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN,
MAY GOD HOLD YOU IN THE PALM OF HIS HAND

Happy St. Patrick's Day

[Nan]

I'll add my Happy St. Patrick's Day to the others! We are all a little bit Irish on St. Patty's Day.

Like that bread recipe and especially the poem, Nancy,


Take care everyone, Nan

[Jean]

Happy St. Paddy's Day to all Irish or Imagined! Have my corned beef and cabbage and onions waiting for the pot...I like to put in some potatoes also. Healthy happiness to all.

[Zipper]

I'll add my Happy St Patrick's Day to all..Have you kissed the blarney stone, Billy?

My son is in Ireland.. Donegal Co..Town of Bundoran. He says its beautiful..He's a surfer and it's not well known that the waves are great there. The town is 2000 people and 52 PUBS! LOL! He's working in one of them and has found it interesting that all the people meet there, more than in their homes. He's been there for 2 months and will stay til May. Wish I was there, too!!!!

Have a great day everyone!!!

Zipper/Joan *~*

[Ron K]

Hi,

Happy St. Paddy's Day to everyone.

Does it make me a little more Irish because I married the prettiest lass of the Fitzgerald-Branagan klan in Boston 37 years ago? I guess not, but one of my grandmothers was an O'Connell, so I'm a little bit Irish and my family (wife and kids) is more Irish than anything else.

We celebrate St. Paddy's Day every year, but not nearly as vigorously as we did when we were younger.

The corned beef and cabbage is cooking now and I'm looking forward to my first brew or two since I got out of the hospital.

Billy, I hope you have an especially grand day and we look forward to meeting you, maybe at the Vegas reunion this year.

Nancy, did you have freckles and red hair when you were younger? Also, thanks for the recipe.

Ron K

[Nancy]

Ron-

The answer to your question is yes, and so did Joe. I still have freckles when I get in the sun, but you should see Joe, he's covered, even still. Or are they age spots, in both our cases???LOL.

Been listening to music from the Ole Sod all day, how about you?

Billy-

Who are the favorite singers in Ireland today, not the rockers, but good solid groups or individuals. I'm going to look for some Irish cds.

[Zipper]

Nancy,

My favorite Irish singer is Enya. She does beautiful New Age music.

Zipper/Joan *~*

[Lorraine]

HAPPY ST PATRICKS DAY TO ONE AND ALL!:D :D Istarted celebrating yesterday at a dinner party for family and friends For St. PAttys Day. We all enjoyed ourselves. We're half Irish. My mothers maiden name was Doyle. I hope you have had a great day and night of drinking too. No Billy I didn't drink too much!:pHope everyone has a great day! Luck of the Irish to you all!

[Billy]

Hi Everybody - Boy y'all take ole St. Patrick real serious over there.

We just use 17th March as a legitimate break in the lenten season. All the folks who go off the 'demon drink' for lent, have a blowout today and a hangover tomorrow.

Thanks for all your posts, I have a series of questions to answer so here goes.................

Nancy, dunno if you realised but there is one more line to your verse. It reads: "May God hold you in the palm of his hand and never close his fist too tight on you."

Those Begleys and Lynch's must have come from a small town close to here called Pomeroy. They were high class folks cause us 'poo' folks never put caraway seeds in the soda bread...........

On your music question...........Our biggest export in the music business at the moment is Daniel O'Donnell but only a small number of his songs are truly Irish, the rest are 'country.' If you want the 'pub' style of music, the Dubliners and the Wolfe Tones are still popular, Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers have been around for a long time with all the oldies. For Irish easy listening check out Gene Stuart or Larry Cunningham of if you prefer female vocals, Bridie Gallagher or Eileen Donaghy.

Daniel O'Donnell's sister Margo has a bunch of albums also - I do some of the cover pictures for her CD's and she's real popular both here and in the States. In Northern Ireland, Philomena Begley (maybe a relation of yours) is the top selling female vocalist. If you tell me exactly what type of music you like, I can be more specific.

Joan, what a small world, your son the surfer is in 'Beautiful Bundoran' (There's a song with that title) My neighbours have a holiday cottage in Bundoran and spend almost every weekend there. Tell me his name and the name of the pub your son works in and some of us will drop by and surprise him. They could try to search for him, but with 52 pubs in town, knowing them they might just quickly forget who they were looking for.

As for me kissing the blarney stone, despite my talkative nature, I haven't kissed it. Passed it many times in the middle of the night in my 'band' days coming home from dances, but never actually got there in daylight.

Ron, hope to meet you some of these days too. A Fitzgerald and a Branagan sounds like a good mix of genes and a sure recipe for freckles. Those O'Connell's were so famous they even named the main highway in Dublin after them. But I'm sure you already knew that. As regards Janie's hair, ask no questions and you'll hear no lies.

And Lorraine......the last of the female Leprechauns I know you're Irish cause you said you 'enjoyed' the party last night. If you'd been American, you'd have said you 'had a good time.'

See I'm learning y'all's language - and now I'm off to have the last Guinness of the evening.............well maybe I'll have time for a Bushmills as well.

I'll leave you with ancient Irish greeting.........

May you live long and die happy and may you be in Heaven for a half an hour before the Devil knows you're dead.

I hope this translates.

[Nancy]

Billy-

My relatives warned me about people who bake up the "cheap" bread. Can't be trusted!

Thanks for this nice list of musical artists. Philomena Begley, well, I'll just have to have a look at the family tree.

I like your poetic ending better than the original.

[Zipper]

Hi Billy,

Yes, it is a small world..Ireland is one of my son's favorite lands. He taught surfing all thru college, then continued so he could travel the world off season here. We are of Irish background also..My freckles are still with me..lol!

Next I talk to my son I will ask the name of the Pub and post it here in a new thread to you. I know you're 8 hours later there so it's very late. People here are still eating corned beef cabbage..lol.

Thanks for your response,

Slainte,

Joan

[Zipper]

Hi Billy,

Yes, it is a small world..Ireland is one of my son's favorite lands. He taught surfing all thru college, then continued so he could travel the world off season here. We are of Irish background also..My freckles are still with me..lol!

Next I talk to my son I will ask the name of the Pub and post it here in a new thread to you. I know you're 8 hours later there so it's very late. People here are still eating corned beef cabbage..lol.

Thanks for your response,

Slainte,

Joan

[Mb]

Hello all!

Yesterday I cooked fourcorned beef, two large heads cabbage, 3 lbs. of carrots, 5 lb.s of potatoes, and baked two large soda breads. The poor folk kind, Nancy. My folks never used caraway seeds either!! Hee Hee.

I am 100% Irish. Maiden name Barry, who was married to a Buckley. Mom's maden name McGowan.......and the list goes on.


Question...................I would REALLY like to know what is a traditional Irish dessert. Help!

Marybeth

[Nancy]

I guess there about as many recipes for irish soda bread as there are birds on the trees.

Re: "Rich" folks bread-- I can truly vouch for the fact that we're really practical. In times of war, if you don't eat it right away, it can double as a cannon ball. Can you "poo" folks boast the same thing???

[Ron K]

Hi Janie,

I love your sense of humor and I thought your line about my hair was really good. I didn't even think about tar and feathers. I did think of a few funny replies, but I was afraid they would only get me into more trouble.:D

Okay, I won't ask about your hair. Let me back out of this gracefully and say "you must have been a beautiful baby...".

I have an interesting story about my hairline, since you seemed curious. Over the past ten years or so, my forehead has increased by about 3 inches. However, when the cardiologist started me on blood pressure medication about 6 months ago, some of the hair started growing in again. (I guess not all side affects of medications are negative.) I suspect that if they take me off the bp meds, the hair will start falling out again.

BTW, lady of many mysteries, why haven't you listed your birthday in your profile? ;) ;)

Thanks for the info re: the Fitzgerald name.

Ron K.

[Zipper]

Hi Janie,

Yes, I wonder if it is the Irish background..My Cardiologist is from Kilkenny and received his degree in Dublin..His son is ALSO a surfer..Hmmm interesting..My other son (his twin) is also a surfer. We Irish love the water and the green lands around it, I guess!

Slainte,

Joan/zipper

[Billy]

Well, Marybeth in true Irish fashion, I was going to say the closest dessert was the 'Sahara,' but enough of the 'blarney.'

In the olden days traditional desserts were kinda dictated by the available ingredients, so Apple and Rhubarb pies were real popular. Outta season they mainly made do with creamed rice and canned fruit.

BTW - I am intrigued by this recipe of Corned Beef and cabbage. Never heard of it in these parts, those Forefathers (Or ForeMothers) must have hatched the idea on the boat-trip across.

Take care,

[hensylee]

Now I know why my Joe wanted rhubarb pie! It was his Irish ancestry - his gparents were from Ireland.

Everybody here celebrates St Paddy's day - if you aren't Irish, you become Irish for 3/17. That day I am Elizabeth Ann O'Black!:D

[Mara]

Billy,
are you a fan of Eoin McLove?

If you know who this is, I'll really be laughing.

[Billy]

Hey Mara,

I have a feeling David introduced you to this kind of entertainment. Surely Fr. Ted hasn't travelled across the atlantic.

We only sent the show to England so that the 'Brits' could use it as a language learning exercise.

I think I like your sense of humour - Watch out for Kevin McAleer, he'll knock you out.................if he's sober.

[Mara]

you're right. i love Ted. "Hurray Ted we're going to heaven" I wish Dermot Morgan hadn't died. That show was too funny.

We actually get Ted on BBC America now. I never thought that would happen. I thought the Catholic Legion of Decency would have shut it down. My very Catholic friend from work was not amused by it. She thought it made fun of priests and Catholics. I think it is too funny. It used to be sandwiched in between Harry Enfield and Ground Force. Both great shows!

I would move to the UK just for the television. (....and the Cadbury's and the single nougats and the bacon and the fish and the Irn Bru.)

David had all the Teds on video, so our first big purchase was a VCR that plays all the different formats so we could watch Ted.

David says the Scots sent "Rab C. Nesbit" to the English as a lanuguage learning exercise! He said that sometimes Rab C. was broadcast with subtitles because the English couldn't understand the Scottish accents. Is that hilarious or what!?

Drink!

[Billy]

So Mara.......................

Where does Mr Billy Connolly rate in your top 10 Comedians?

My middle son Steven (the footballer) just thinks that there's nobody to compare with him. He just 'dies' laughing every time the 'big yin' comes on screen.

[hensylee]

Watch BBC all the time - My favorite is "Are you being served". Years ago when my sister and I worked together, we would call out to each other "Are you free" - the other would look round before answering "Yes, I am free". We had a ball with it. It was on our local Educational Station before BBC was here. :D

[Mara]

Billy Connelly is great! We got a "Best of" video of him for Christmas. You know he was on a really bad sitcom here called" Head of the Class" Ughh. was it awful. Too bad the show was so terrible, he is great. He was awesome in "Mrs. Brown".

We also like Craig Ferguson. And Robbie Coltrane. Ardal O'Hanlan's comedy video was not that funny. He's a lot funnier on Ted. And Harry Enfield is great. We got "Kevin and Perry Go Large" for Christmas, too. Those skits were hilarious!

Hensylee-
I used to watch "Are you being Served" But after the 500th time it's old. Our PBS station played them to death. Now they show pretty good stuff. Brittas' Empire, Last of the Summer Wine, As Time Goes By.
I think my all time favorite is " Good Neighbors" known in the UK as " The Good Life" That was a great show! But it's not on over here any more. The all time funniest episode of any British tv show was the episode of "Vicar of Dibley" where Alice and Hugo get married. I laughed until I was crying! I won't tell you what happens in case you get that show and see it!!

[Billy]

Hey Mara.....

Did you know that a book based on the life story of Billy Connolly has just been released in the bookstores here.

And surprise! surprise! - It has been written by none other than Mrs Billy Connolly. Haven't read it yet but I'm reliably informed that it is a great 'read.'

[Mara]

Thanks for the tip Billy. That's just what we need, another shipment from Amazon.co.uk!

I'll have to check it out.

Billy Connelly is really funny.

If you haven't seen Craig Ferguson in "The Big Tease" it is a great no-brainer movie to rent.