So… this is my own, somewhat infamous (in my family) St. Patrick’s Day story.

Many, many years ago – 1967 or ’68, I was in charge of decorating a St. Patrick’s Day bulletin board in the Science classroom of my Junior High (7th & 8th grade). I was a straight A student, never in trouble and the Science teacher was the football coach. I was left to my own devices to do the board with no supervision whatsoever.

There was no green construction paper.

I remembered my Grandmother Ruthie telling me that some ancestors were Orangemen and she was probably just yacking, not really thinking I’d be taking all of this in… In the Irish religious wars, the Protestants were the Orangemen and the Catholics were the Green. We were Protestant, i.e. Orangemen.

There WAS orange construction paper.

So, I decorated the bulletin board with orange shamrocks.

Remember, it was the late ‘60’s.

My mother was called.

Thankfully, my family thought it was funny – I have no recollection of any ramifications other than the joking.

We all wear orange on St. Patrick’s Day ! …well, I would if I had any orange clothes. I don’t have any green either, though.

A good weekend, good food, good drink, good times to you and your families no matter what color you wear on the day! (Comments are open … :) )

Meanwhile…on the food front…Here in the U.S.A., whether it is truly Irish or not…corned beef and cabbage is the food of the day on March 17. I love both corned beef and cabbage and both are always on sale for March 17.

Last year, I departed from the package instructions and cooked my corned beef like I cook a pot roast and it was good.

This year, based on a recipe for pastrami from Tori Avey (recipe here) and a bit of perusing around the internet, I put my briskets in a roasting pan, with water, tightly covered and roasted them at 290F for 6 hours. Oh my!!! Fork tender, moist and delicious corned beef.

At the moment, I’m stuck on corned beef with cabbage/carrot/green pepper slaw and melty mozz on my own black bread**.

I will make the rounds of corned beef hash, etc. before it’s done. I have 2/3 of 2 briskets in the freezer and 1/2 of the 1/3 still in my frig. It will be a good eating week!

**Black bread: I really call this pumpernickel even though it is not a traditional pumpernickel recipe. I haven’t had a good deli pumpernickel in many years and might be remembering wrong, but this tastes like pumpernickel to me :) !!

1 3/4 cups white flour ( I’m using Wheat Montana White )
1 1/4 cup King Arthur Perfect Rye
1/2 cup buckwheat flour (I’m using Bob’s Red Mill buckwheat flour)
1 T molasses
1 3/4 (almost 2) cups warm water
1 T salt
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp fennel
1 pkt yeast (I’m using SAF Instant)

**Edit 3/17 morning…forgot the caraway and fennel – I crush them together with a mortar and pestle and add with the flour.

Mix all well. Cover with plastic wrap. Let sit in a warm spot for 4-12 hours. Refrigerate for up to 10 days.

Wet hands. I bake 1/3 at a time and use a foil medium bread pan lined with parchment. Gluten cloak per Artisan Bread in 5 minutes per day.

Cover and let sit/rise for 30-60 minutes.

Preheat oven and baking stone at 460 for 30 minutes. Brush top with a bit of cornstarch wash and sprinkle with more caraway seeds.

Bake at 460 in pan for 20 minutes and then 10 on the stone for an additional 10 minutes.

Email me if you want to make this and are unclear. Above is a “summary” of the method. If you are used to the no knead method, it makes sense :) !!