We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day just a smidgen early this year…

The corned beef went into the crockpot very early this morning. I’d never done corned beef in a crockpot, so it promised to be an interesting experiment. Now that I have, I’ll never cook it another way again. (Here’s the recipe: Put meat & spices in crockpot. Just barely cover with water. Put it on high for 6 hours. Then add cabbage and carrots, and potatoes if desired. Add hot water to just barely cover the cabbage, and put it on high for 2-3 more hours, depending on how well done you like your veggies.)

I also baked Irish soda bread. FROM SCRATCH. I don’t normally bake (or cook, if I can help it) so I was surprised that it turned out as well as it did. Lyse told me 5 or 6 times that it was scrumptious. (Here’s the recipe: Mix 4 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 2 teaspoons salt in a large bowl. Add 1 pint buttermilk. Stir until just moistened. Knead only until dough holds together fairly well. Form into a ball, place in pie pan and smoosh it so the top is flat. With a knife dipped in flour, cut an X across the top — if it doesn’t have the X, it’s not authentic Irish soda bread! Bake covered at 425 degrees for 30 minutes, then bake uncovered for another 15 minutes. Best either fresh out of the oven, or cooked the day before and stored loosely covered overnight.)

We also had crackers and Irish cheese (Dubliner, which was a bit hit with everyone, and Blarney Castle, which I liked but everyone else said tasted like anise). And cupcakes with green frosting…because there’s just something about green frosting that makes me smile.

Geoffrey and Lyse spent last night at the VA emergency room, since Lyse re-injured her back and could barely move. I spent all day yesterday (and a good chunk of the night, too) doing laundry and crocheting…but all the laundry in the house is clean! Then today there was cooking, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning out all the critters’ cages and clipping Bun-Bun’s nails (which he HATES), cooking, and cleaning the kitchen. Have I mentioned how much I hate cooking? (But I did get another corned beef, to have next weekend for the vernal equinox. Because I have always looooved corned beef.) I think I slept enough this weekend that I’m on the tail end of being sick — I almost felt healthy today.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!