I love St. Patrick's Day. My mom's dad was born in Ireland, so the holiday has always been a big deal for my family. I think the day has gotten reputation for getting rowdy at the bars, which is all good and fun - but for me, St. Patrick's Day is more about family, culture and remembering your roots.
This was my first March in San Francisco, and this city knows how to celebrate. Sorry LA, but you didn't do this Irish day justice the last two years. SF came complete with a parade, bagpipers, bands, dancers, and the finest food & drink offerings from the Emerald Isle.
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Lucky for me, SPD landed on a Sunday, which meant an entire weekend of celebration! Okay, I know the East celebrates for the month of March, but I'm in California and I'll take what I can get.
Saturday started with a few friends over for a breakfast of bacon, Shamrock pancakes, muffins, oranges and Irish coffees. YUM :)
Then, we boarded a bus downtown to the Civic Center. We caught the last bit of the parade and enjoyed music and drinks in the glorious sunny weather!
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I may or may not have sung along and tried to get my crew to learn every other word. They're lucky I didn't try to teach a jig!
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Bag pipes and drum lines! Be still my heart.
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After a rest and regroup at our friends Ben and Shestin's, we headed out to the sunny Marina district to check out a few other spots before calling it a day and heading home. We were so lucky the day was so beautiful, because we did a TON of walking. What a great way to see such a beautiful city.
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Sunday morning, the official holiday, Webb and I gathered up some ingredients and headed down to Los Gatos for dinner with his family. I was reminded what REALLY good weather is like (aka not windy or foggy) and fell back in love with that adorable town. Webb's mom and I whipped up a great Irish feast of corned beef (I brined it myself all week, thankyaverymuch) cabbage, roasted potatoes and carrots, spinach salad and Irish soda bread! Aw man, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.
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I love how festive the Knudsens are! The table was decorated to the nines, and Andie definitely won the costume contest with green pants, shirt AND sweater.
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Even Ernie matched with his orange spots!
Dinner was a great time, and we ended by reading the famous Irish blessing which I love so much:
May the road rise up to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
And the rains fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.
Since my Grandma's soda bread recipe makes 2 loaves (of course!), we brought the extra loaf over to our good friends Jason and Krista, who just found out they are expecting! I'm so excited and if that baby is anything like their parents, he/she will be the funniest most well dressed kid around.
I hope you had a fantastic St. Patrick's Day, and if you did - you probably have a good amount of corned beef leftovers. What to do with all those chunks of salty meat you eat just once a year?
I've never tried this, but I do love me some soup and looks soup-er (ha!) easy.
If I didn't sleep in to the last possible minute this morning, I would have for sure made this. Tomorrow!
Not that you need a recipe for a Reuben Sandwich, but check the link for some reub-spriation.
My two cultures colliding! I deem this corned beef pizza St. Paddy's Pizza, and thinking I should copyright that.
Pastry dough and corned beef? I am so there.
May the luck of the Irish be with you all ;) Erin go bragh! Till next year, St Patrick.
great post! I love it. You're my favorite Irish lass.
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