More Than Soda Bread - Special Irish Recipes....

Ah, March – the month with so many special days to celebrate – International Women's Day, Ash Wednesday, Daylight Savings Time, Purim, the first day of spring, my birthday..especially my birthday!

                And if anyone out there has some spare cash, I wouldn’t mind receiving a nice little gift like the one  Victorian surgeon and financier Mitchell Henry gave his wife in 1868 – Kylemore Castle. Take a look at this beautiful mansion situated in breathtakingly beautiful Connemara, Ireland,  and drool, folks:

                Which lets me very nicely segue into the next topic I want to touch on: St Patrick's Day. Yes, the day when the whole world turns green. Or Irish, depending on how you look at it. While just about every other country in Europe sent its sons and daughters out to the New World to seek their fortunes, Irish culture, possibly more than any other, seems to have made an indelible impression.

                Of course, St Pat's as it is celebrated in Ireland isn't quite the St. Pat's that the rest of the world enjoys. Sure, there are parades in most of the little villages and a pretty big one in Dublin, and the wearing o' the green is still a fashion statement on March 17^th. But the day doesn't have the same kind of commercial impact that it has in the rest of the world. The sending of St. Pat's Day cards is starting to creep in, and leprechaun hats and other outfits can be had at dollar stores, but  somehow St. Pat's celebrations tend to be more low key – it's more to do with national identity and pride.  Irish eyebrows were raised when a certain internation fast food chain trumpeted its St Patrick's Day only green milkshakes – the expressions turned to horror at the mention of green beer. "Are you completely mad?" came the response. Some things you don’t mess with.

                Which brings us to Irish food, which in turn nicely closes the circle of my chatter right back to Kylemore Castle. Mrs. Henry's beautiful gift from her husband fell on hard times and in the 1920's was purchased by another group who were also on hard times – Benedictine nuns who had earlier fled the country and now returned to find themselves without a fitting home. With some help from the public purse, they purchased and restored the abbey, and the lovely 'gothic' church that stands in its grounds. I'm sure the mystical setting was a great help to those ladies as they set about their worshipful work. They began a boarding school for girls, and later a restaurant which is open to the public and is one of those wonderful little surprises that the traveller may happen upon while wandering the West of Ireland's winding country roads.

                When you think of Irish food, what comes to mind? Soda bread, both white and brown, yes? Corned beef and cabbage? (which I'm told is more New World than Old World) and, of course, potatoes in all their glory. There's a tradition in Ireland of offering food to visitors – it dates back to the famine back in the mid 1800's. At that time, people would always offer food to visitors, even though they may have had very little in store themselves, because they knew that their visitors could well be starving. So it became a social gaffe to refuse a little bite of something if you're offered hospitality.

                Back to food again. Keylemore Abbey, as it's now called, has a delightful restaurant, and the Sisters have put together a cookbook with some of their specialities. Here are two:

Mikey's Lettuce Soup

½ pound lettuce, carefully washed

3 tbsp butter

4 oz potatoes, peeled and diced

5 cups chicken stock

Yolk of one large egg

2/3 cup cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter and add the chopped lettuce, cook until gently wilted. Add potatoes and stock, bring to boil and reduce heat. Dimmer til potatoes are cooked, then liquidise the soup, return to the pan and reheat gently. Whisk egg yolk with cream, add to soup and continue to whisk. Do not bring soup back to the boil after adding cream! Check seasoning and serve immediately.

Great for when lettuce is in abundance.

Kipper Cheese Souffle

2 Hard boiled eggs

½lb  kippers

2 tbsp cream

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp butter

4tbsp flour

11/4 cups milk

3 eggs, separated

½ cup freshly grated cheddar cheese

Put boiled eggs ad kippers into food processor, blend at low speed until smooth. Place in a bowl and add the cream, mix well and season. Spoon mixture into greased soufflé dish. Melt butter in saucepan, add flour and cook for one minute, then gradually stir in milk and bring to boil. Turn down heat and cook until thickened, stirring all the time. Slowly beat egg yolks into sauce, sprinkle in cheese, season and mix well. Whisk egg whites until stiff, fold into sauce, then pour over kipper mixture in soufflé dish, Bake in preheated oven (375F) for 30 minutes until risen and brown. Serve immediately!

                If you're hungry for more, you can get the Kylemore Abbey cookbook on Amazon, where coincidentally, you can also get my romantic suspense/comedy, Winters & Somers:

   

A Bit of Irish....

by Amber Leigh Williams

This year, I’m celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and Irish American Heritage Month in style. Er, well…what I consider style. One of my New Years Resolutions was to finish my contemporary romance rewrite by the end of February so March could be dedicated solely to my new WIP. The new manuscript veers back into some familiar territory – western romance! But the most thrilling thing for me about this book is the Irish characters that play a large part in the story. So I’ve engrossed myself in all things Irish. The music. The brogue. The poetry. And, in particular, those characteristics that are so fundamentally Irish. I thought I’d share some of my Irish research and help those who haven’t yet gotten into the St. Patrick’s Day and Irish American Heritage Month spirit get a head’s start on both….

Some of my favorite research so far has been learning how to put the Irishman’s unique pattern of speech on paper so it lilts off the page for readers. Not an easy task. I’ve watched countless movies, documentaries, and read many books where Irish men and women are centrally featured in order to get a firm grasp of it. The best part of the Irish brogue is the unique sayings. The thing to remember is that the mark of Irish diplomacy is the ability to tell a man to go to hell so that he looks forward to making the trip  Here are a few of my favorite Irish sayings….

A family of Irish birth will argue and fight,
but let a shout come from without,
and see them all unite.

Here's Céad Míle Fáilte to friend and to rover
That's a greeting that's Irish as Irish can be
It means you are welcome
A thousand times over
Wherever you come from, Whosoever you be.

Murphy’s Law:

Nothing is as easy as it looks.
Everything takes longer than you expect.
And if anything can go wrong,
It will, at the worst possible moment.

The Way We Tell A Story….

Says I to him, I says, says I,
Says I to him, I says,
The thing, says I, I says to him,
Is just, says I, this ways.
I hev', says I, a gret respeck
For you and for your breed,
And onything I could, I says,
I'd do, I wud indeed.
I don't know any man, I says,
I'd do it for, says I,
As fast, I says, as for yoursel',
That's tellin' ye no lie.
There's nought, says I, I wudn't do
To plase your feyther's son,
But this, I says, ye see, says I,
I says, it can't be done.

-         Pat McCarty

I drink to your health when I'm with you,
I drink to your health when I'm alone,
I drink to your health so often,
I'm starting to worry about my own!

There are good ships,
and there are wood ships,
The ships that sail the sea.
But the best ships, are friendships,
And may they always be.

Here’s to you and yours,
And to mine and ours,
And if mine and ours ever come
Across you and yours,
I hope you and yours will do
As much for mine and ours,
As mine and ours have done
For you and yours!

You must take the little potato with the big potato.

I have known many,
and liked not a few,
but loved only one
and this toast is to you.

May you have food and raiment, a soft pillow for your head. May you be forty years in heaven before the devil knows you’re dead.

And now for a few of my favorite Gaelic sayings….

“Sláinte chuig na fir, agus go mairfidh na mná go deo.”
Health to the men, and may the women live forever!

“Go n-ithe an cat thú is go n-ithe an diabhal an cat.”

May the cat eat you and the devil eat the cat.

“Céad míle fáilte.”

Means a hundred thousand welcomes. Literally translated it means, "Here comes another one.”

Another great part of researching Irish characters is the music of the Emerald Isle. I loved the following pub songs so much, you just mind find them in my WIP….

It’s well known that the Irish can turn a nice phrase. Studying Irish poetry has been another research delight. Since it happens to be Poetry Month, too, I’ll end this post with a bit of Yeats….

The Lake Isle of Innisfree

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:

Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,

Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;

There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,

And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;

While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,

I hear it in the deep heart's core.

Here’s wishing you all a happy Irish American Heritage Month – and I’d love to hear your favorite Irish sayings, blessings, proverbs, and pub songs! Take it away….