Saint Patrick's Day 2011

This is Vivi's plate, complete with green milk...she thinks I'm a rockstar!

I love corned beef.  Yep, it's true. As a kid, my mom never cooked an actual corned beef brisket.  But, I think that was probably because in the 70's brisket wasn't very mainstream in the South, certainly not the Irish "corned" preparation.  Being from a Florida fishing village, it's doubtful that my mom grew up eating corned beef brisket, or that she'd ever even heard of it until adulthood.  As I was growing up however, it was Dottie who introduced me to corned beef and pastrami deli meat.  I loved them both.  So, even before I ever encountered a "real" corned beef myself, I'd already consumed many a'package of deli meat of the Irish persuasion. I believe I was in high school when my Uncle John brought this new, heavenly, off-the-wall creation to Thanksgiving:  a corned beef that he actually corned himself and finished off in the smoker.  Divine!

So, of course this time of year is when you can find a plethera of corned beef in the grocery stores and when it's on sale.  I dare you to find one on sale any other time of the year.  Being a corned beef lover, I've checked.  Pretty much weekly.  Believe me on this point.  Anyway, it is that time of year, and I couldn't be happier!  

Even though my family is primarily German (way back in the old days of course), and I've never been to Ireland, and my hair only turns red in the summer, I am a fanatic for this meat. You see where I'm going...yes, it was Irish dinner night Chez Akre.  I'm pleased to report that even the sweetest 5 year old leprechaun in the world not only gave the meal a thumbs up, but she ate with Irish gusto!  Our menu?  Corned beef, Syracuse salt potatoes and sauteed green beans.  And for the Vivver, green milk...it's magically delicious, you know.

Green and t-ádh

Lastly, I was told in the car on the way home that Viv's teachers said "it's ok" to bring treats for the class tomorrow.  Hmmmm....wonder why they didn't actually say this to me or any other parent?  So, feeling particularly "Super Mom-y" I opened up the cabinets and cranked out some green sugar cookies with green & white sprinkles.  Oh yeah,  I'm that girl! I can't be stopped. I'm cook-a-rama-licious.  Don't hate.


So, on this eve of St. Patrick's Day, I bid you (thanks to the fine folks at Google)  Lá Fhéile Pádraig Happy le mo chairde go léir Cócaireachta.  

Christmas Cookies

I'm no baker extraordinaire, but I can bake.  I've had some stumbling blocks: I'm terrible at pie crust, I've never perfected pizza crust, but I think that's because my oven doesn't go up to 4 million degrees like a restaurant's and I'm pretty impatient when it comes to bread unless it involves the bread machine.  But, when the feeling strikes me, I can bake.

A few years ago, okay more than a few, my friend Eugenie said, "hey, let's make Christmas cookies together and we can give them as gifts."  We were both single and non-moms at the time you see.  So, I said enthusiastically, "Yes, let's do it!"  

What a disaster.

To this day, I can't put my finger on what went wrong.  Maybe we made a crummy cookie dough, maybe it was our rolling technique, maybe it was our apparent lack of talent when it comes to decorating cookies.  Perhaps it was all that wrapped up together.  All I remember is they were a pain in the ass to make, at least half of them broke, decorating was a joke and I came away from the experience saying "Yeah, not doing that again."

Well, now I'm a mama.  And this year, the Vivster is really getting the whole Christmas thing and she's diggin' it.  So, I faced the music and realized come hell or high water, I was going to have to tackle the old rolled out "decorated" Christmas cookies for Santa.  I've been so excited about it that the only preparation I've actually made so far is to buy food coloring and sprinkles.  Then, this morning came a revelation!

I had bent down to give Vivi a big squeezy hug and as I stood up, I glanced over at the closet door that has a Pillsbury calendar hanging on it.  Since I am an electronic kinda girl, I never look at this calendar; it's for Neil...he's semi-electronic, semi-paper.  Anyway, he had flipped it over to December and lo and behold, there's this big, beautiful photo of peppermint candy crunch cookies.  "Hello?"  Vivian loves peppermint.  I mean, really loves it.  So much that after Christmas, I have to hit all the sales to stock up on candy canes so we have a stash for the rest of the year.  And here, right on the closet door all this time was the answer to all my cookie-making prayers.


It calls for Pillsbury sugar cookie dough from the fridge case.  Yes!  Can I hear a Hallelujah?  It calls for crushed up candy canes...I've got those, in abundance!  It calls for one other thing; I can't remember.  Maybe powdered sugar to make a glaze.  Who cares? It's only one more ingredient.  No food coloring needed!  No sprinkles needed, unless we just want to use them (with reckless abandon of course) and I don't have to make dough.  I just roll it out!  

I'd say this is nothing short of a true Christmas miracle.