Happy Corned Beef and Cabbage Day

I often tell people I'm a vegetarian because it's easier than going into the whole complicated truth which is that I'm about a 80/20 or maybe 70/30 split - vegetarian/omnivore. But that 20 to 30% nonvegetarian me is mainly all about eating fish and chicken. The occasional sausage (because I'm from Wisconsin and it's just in my genes, okay!) But about two or three times a year I eat red meat. St. Patrick's Day is one of those times.

I don't cook it at home because I am the only one in the family who likes it. Particularly the cabbage part. I guess that's the northern European part of me. I go out and order it at a restaurant each year. William swore he wanted to go with me and strung me along all day with "later, let's go later" and then went off with his friends. (He didn't actually want corned beef and cabbage, he just wanted to go out to eat so he could order a hamburger and big plate of fries.) I finally called him on his cell and said I was too hungry to wait any longer, I was coming to pick him up. He said "Oh, I forgot. I just ate at Burger King. You can go without me."

GRRRR. I called a friend but by then it was too late for her to make plans. So I went alone. Well, me and Jim Butcher and Sue Monk Kidd. They didn't order the corned beef dinner either though. Just me. (The Lithuanian me. The Irish me. The French me. The Spanish me. The Austrian me.) The quarter Irish me loved it.

Erin go bragh!