St Patricks Day Blogging Carnival 2010
Welcome one and all to my St Patrick’s Day Blogging Carnival!
Starting a wee bit early because so you have plenty of time to leave a comment or link up a blog post because in doing so you might win a prize in my St Patrick’s Giveaway…..read on…..
For new visitors first a little bit about me – I am a 40-something Christian mum of 3 who has been blogging 3 years. My passions include my faith, family, photography, digital scrapbooking, creating jewellery and of course blogging! (Yes….. I have a very tolerant family!)
So what does my family do here to celebrate St Patrick’s Day here in Northern Ireland?
Sorry to disillusion you…….. but not that much!
I have discovered some great traditions around the world through blogging but they were all new to me. We don’t pinch people for not wearing green, play tricks and blame it on leprechauns, we don’t turn our rivers green and I have yet to find a leprechaun waiting with a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
Are you devastated?
We also don’t live in a cute cottage (although there are still a few around, preserved for the toursists),
I don’t own a donkey and I don’t like Guinness (in fact I prefer hot chocolate from Starbucks!). My kids would prefer an Abercrombie & Fitch hooded sweatshirt instead of a hand knitted woolly jumper and we have NEVER eaten corned beef.
I do however have a red-headed son, and a ginger cat, so there are still some ginger-genes in our family.
Only in recent years have I started to attend the St Patrick’s Day parade in Belfast – and that was mainly as blog fodder! In fact, our kids don’t have the day off school, so they don’t even get to come with me. I will upload this year’s parade photos later this week.
So I thought I would share some traditional food and for my your sake a I sacrificed a few calories to cook an Ulster fry.
To create an authentic Ulster Fry then potato farls, soda farls and wheaten farls are essential. A farl is the name of roughly triangular shaped portions traditional bread which would be cooked on a griddle.
For my your fry I included bacon, sausage and egg. I omitted the mushrooms, baked beans and grilled tomatoes. Also I drew the line at Black Pudding and White Pudding, even for you, my bloggy friends. A quick google search should be the only explanation necessary – not for the faint-hearted!
To see some amazing St Patricks Day home decor and cooking check out Cuisine Kathleen and the many blogs who have linked up.
So on to the GIVEAWAY PRIZES
I have gathered a collection of mini irish cookery books, a linen scrim, a hand crocheted linen hanky made locally, some Cadbury mini chocolate eggs (apparently Cadbury’s tastes different around the world – so you can let me know!) and an irish scene on a blank greetings card (by yours truly), and who knows what else I might find! Gina at Weeds & Wildflower Designs has generously donated TWO vouchers for her digital scrapbooking store, each for $10 – thanks Gina.
If you would like the chance to receive a prize, then link up an Irish related post on your blog and please include a link to this carnival. If you do so you get a DOUBLE entry into the giveaway. Please don’t add the MckLinky to your blog, but instead come back here and post your link.
If you don’t have a blog, or a relevant post, you can still leave me a comment in this post, sharing something “irish-y” – maybe it is your impressions of our country, an irish dish you love, a song, a place…..anything really!
Giveaway will close 10pm GMT on Sunday 21 March 2010. Be sure you leave a way for me to contact you if you are one of the randomly chosen winners.
ummm, soda bread…i love soda bread. Although am confused about your lack of square sausages. i was in N.I. for 2 years and never once saw a proper sausage, they were always square patty things. Very odd 🙂
Visiting for you the first time and enjoyed your take on St Patrick’s Day Celebrations around the world.
The Ulster fry looks wonderful, even without the black pudding!
See you tomorrow,
~Maggie~
I have eaten corned beef twice this week. Does that count for anything?! In the early ’20s, my grandfather couldn’t find work. “Irish need not apply” signs were everywhere in Boston, so he changed his name from O’Neil/O’Neill to Neal. He found work right away after that and my dad was raised as a Neal 🙁
I’ve been trying to reconnect to my Irish roots since my son’s heritage project many years ago. We don’t do the green beer, leprechaun chasing, or the Ulster fry either! LOL I do wear green and pay silent homage to my ancestors who were brave enough to give my family ties life. 😀
In the middle of getting my post ready for St. Pattys day party – will have on my blog and link up on your website.
Have a safe and happy st. pattys day – can’t wait to read other peoples stories.
Hello JanMary, so nice to meet you!
I certainly enjoyed your post…I love learning about Ireland.
Thanks so much for visiting my blog and linking up for the blog crawl..it has been fun..
The sun is finally shining today after some terribly stormy days..I think it will be grand for the parade in NYC tomorrow.
My family marches with bil’s family…he is from Leitrim..
I always look for them from the comfort of home.
I am 2 hours east of NYC.
I am linking up..can’t wait to visit the others here!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day, JanMary..My gkids look like the little guy in your post..just adorable!
This comment has been removed by the author.
JanMary,
Thank you so much for coming by my blog. I love your jewelry it is gorgeous. I thank you for telling me about real Irish food, your post was great. I also have a redheaded son. My family tree goes straight back to Scotland, England, and Ireland.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Sherry
I loved your post! Your son is a handsome lad. Thank you for giving us a peek as to what it is like in Ireland today. Happy Saint Patrick’s Day.
A very sweet post and a handsome red-headed son (and cat). I’d take a Starbucks hot chocolate over a Guiness anyday of the week 🙂
Blessings!
Gail
I love your blog, so very interesting, I am going to travel to Ireland in Nov., I have always wanted to go, and “YES”, my ancestors came from County Cork, the name being “Nugent”,can’t wait I am excited!
I am a new “follower” to your blog.Thanks for sharing your pictures and the info.Jo Nugent May
JanMary, Thank you for visiting my blog and a glimpse of what it is like to live in Northern Ireland. Your son and kitty are real cuties!
Peaking back at your blog today and have to say that I can’t wait to see your photos of your area for St. Patrick’s day. I would have thought the entire Isle would be celebrating the patron saint and all the kids would be off for the day. Now your red headed son is adorable. I was lucky enough to visit Ireland a few years ago and was looking for my relatives but little did I know that the name Lynch is like Smith here in the states so I just figured that I was related to most of the folks I met since the name was sc common:) I will be back for another look for sure.
Joyce
What? No leprechauns? My kids are so excited about the idea of a leprechaun coming…and I even had to buy gold coins to buy him off so he won’t mess up the house.
Hello JanMary
Lovely Saint Patrick’s Day post.
Thanks so much for stopping by the Back Porch! I enjoyed your comment.
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
Hello JanMary! So good to hear from you! So glad you stopped my Tea Time Tuesday! Love this Party! Love learning about the bread! I had to laugh about the red-head gene. For, I have cousin’s that have the lovely red hair, so we still have some Irish here! My Dad’s side is Irish, but I’m a little bit of a Melting Pot of Irish, Dutch and Native American Indian, My Pot of Gold. lol Come join my Tea, You have wonderful Bread to serve! I would love for all to see your lovely Saint Patrick’s Day Post!
Janmary,
Thanks for visiting my blog and for your lovely comment. I have added your button and link to my St. Pats post (right near the top of the post).
As I did my post I couldn’t find a way to include my Beleek wares because several are pinkish and would break up my green and white color scheme!
All my best to you,
Carrie – Oak Rise Cottage
I so enjoyed reading about what a real Irish women does on St. Patrick’s Day. The U.S.A. has a way of commercializing everything so they can encourage people to spend more money :0)
What? No woolie?! :0) I have a couple brothers with red hair and we’re Russian …
Your son is so handsome. When my 31 year old son grows out a beard it ends up red. Well whatever you choose to eat or do on St. Patrick’s Day I hope you are blessed from your head to your toes!!
Is it St. Patrick’s Day there yet. Tomorrow for us. I have been to Ireland once about 15 years ago. Have been wanting to go back ever since. Life tends to get in the way, three in college, two weddings… blah, blah… I will make it back though I promise. Have a fun day!
So nice to meet you and thank you for the “authentic” look at St. Patrick’s Day. It made me smile. I can’t wait to see the parade pictures. It seems the whole world pretends to be Irish on SPD :). Your son is adorle and looks wonderful in that green! I went back and added your link to my post. Thanks for dropping by!
It is always nice to come over to someones blog and get and education:) Thanks for sharing, and for stopping by, as it lead me to your blog. I linked up!
Which irish dance school do your nieces take lessons from? (Just wondering, because our school has a sister school in Belfast.)
Prefer hot chocolate, too – it´s so yummy!!
The picture of your son is so cute!!
Interesting Giveaway Prizes – especially wonderful with your fantastic pictures from the great nature in your country – also the recipes from there.
We Americans romanticize everything, including St. Patrick’s Day! LOL I am wanting to prepare an Irish brunch for my niece for her shower. Any suggestions? Both she and her intended have visited Ireland and she actually studied there for a semester while she was in college, so she is familiar with the food. Your little red-head is adorable. There are quite a few Sullivans with that trait running around here! I have a son with dark eyes and hair. So he tans and doesn’t burn like his cousins! *smile* Thanks for the visit!
~ Sue
Your son is adorable! Love that red hair and that grin. I’m afraid we Americans will turn anything into a celebration! Happy St. Patrick’s to you. laurie
What an adorable little guy you have! Happy S.t Paddy’s day. Be safe, have fun! You many enjoy this link:
https://www.andiesisle.com/ThisBlessingIsForYou.html
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog..I will go in and put a link to yours. Even tho you totally schocked me with never finding a pot o’ gold!!!! LOL
Anxious to see your parade photos.. My niece is in Ireland now and hoping she is enjoying herself!!
Your red-head is so cute!!!
What a fun post – I love your Irishness :o)
I do own a donkey, LOL and I am in Colorado !
Hugs ~ Kammy
I enjoyed your post tremendously. I love Ireland with a passion. I spent some time on the Connemara Coast and dined on spring rolls and organic salad–never saw a scone except in Dublin. I live in the Southern U.S. and find that the rest of our country has formed stereotypes that just don’t apply to us all. I don’t eat grits but drink Guinness–and I own 5 donkeys. (And sheep–three lambs this year, so far)
🙂
Thank you for visiting me. It was lovely meeting you!
Hi and thank you for stopping by my blog and I am shocked that you have never had corned beef!!
Is that a myth that it’s from Ireland….what would us Americans do on St.Patricks Day if we didn’t cook corned beef….that is so funny…but you really should try it because it’s wonderful if you cook it in a crock pot…My husband who always knew he was some part Irish just found out the other day through Ancestry.com that his great great grandfather came over from Ireland in 1839 and his name was Diamond which I never knew was an Irish name…It’s all very interesting…It was nice to hear from you and I hope you stop by my blog again….Sue @ Rue-Mouffetard
You have wonderful humor – so glad I found you here!
Love the Carnival. I have been visiting the blogs. Loved hearing more about you too.
Willow
It is so funny that we all have an idea of how we think things should be. I know I would have thought that being in Ireland this day would be a huge celebration. For me this is not a holiday I do much to celebrate at least for now. I do usually try to wear something green but that is the extent of it. I think as my son gets older I will probably do more. I was thinking about what I will do as he gets bigger and I can see myself making green eggs and ham and making his milk green. And finding other silly ways of celebrating. In Gina’s kit Wearing O the Green kit there is a quote I love it says: May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow and may trouble avoid you wherever you go. -Irish Blessing. Hope everyone has a great Saint Patrick’s Day
Ciao JanMary
Here in Rome will celebrate in the downtowns pubs, and irish people by theirown in some pub, restaurant, but never hear about some big celebration, sorry but my unknowless and my english but i was sure Saint Patrck’s Day was on the 19th! i was soooooo wrong
In Lima, Peru its the same celebrations for young and not too young in pubs, restaurants, etc but never some big stuff, but i remember i went once to the irish pub for the Saint Patricks Day and was so much fun!!!!!! i would love to go someday to ireland and visit the land of my grangranfather, but i want to go with my daddy he always talked us about the land of his grandpa so hope soon we can go !!!!!!!
Thank you girl for the fantastic prizes are so so cute, and i will look more about the Saint PAtrisck day!
Baci and have a GREAT day
Wendy
JanMary i forgot to mention that in Puerto Rico there’s a mall called San Patrick, this is their site
https://www.sanpatricio.com/quienes/
Baci
Hi JanMary!
How lovely to see how the real Ireland celebrates St. Pat’s day. I can’t believe you’ve never eaten corned beef, though. I love Colcannon with it & we’ll have both here for guests in just a wee bit.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you & yours.
Erin Go Braugh!
Rett
Here in the Czech Republic there are several Irish pubs and also a lot of fans of Irish music and Ireland, so some celebrations take place there. Czech people have some of Celtic origin (dating two thousand years ago) and some people feel a deep connection with Ireland, sing Irish folk song in original and in Czech translations, dance Irish dances etc. I love them myself quite a lot!
Six years ago we made a two-week tour around Ireland, climbing Croagh Patrick included, and I remember it as one of my best holidays ever. I’m only sad we had just two days for Nothern Ireland, not seeing much apart from Giants Causeway and Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in Belfast. I hope we will have an opportunity to do it better some other time!
Fun party. I loved learning that most of what we celebrate about St Patrick’s Day here in the states, you don’t do. Too funny! You son with the red hair is adorable too. Happy St Patrick’s Day!
Hi JanMary!
Your son is so cute! I do love ginger hair!
There are so many misconceptions about what the Irish do on St. Patrick’s Day here in the USA and I’m glad you cleared up many of them.
I’m also glad you enjoyed reading about The Irish Hunger Memorial in NYC that I wrote about for my St Pat’s post– it is the reason so many people of Irish descent live in the USA, and one of the reasons they started to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day –it was a way to celebrate the fact they ultimately survived and prospered and to give thanks to him. Sadly most descendants don’t even know about the struggles anymore.
I’d love to enter your give away because I’d have those candies when I visited Ireland and I bought one of those cookbooks when I visited the gift shop at The Giants Causeway a couple of years ago! I love it and I’d love a few more books 🙂
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Pat
I added your link to my blog post!
How fun! I put two links in a row, because they go together (Leprechaun Trap and Happy St. Patrick’s Day). I know that all of my family’s traditions are not TRUE Irish traditions (although part of my heritage is Irish), but they are still fun and bring back happy childhood memories of New England, where I grew up. This year was our first time making a Leprechaun Trap, which was a fun idea Gabe and I saw in a book. He loved it!
I didn’t do much for this St. Patrick’s Day (and I don’t have a blog), but I did start my day with Irish Breakfast Tea.
I LOVE corned beef… but I am trying to be a vegetarian.
Your red-headed son is a real cutie!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day
Bunny Jean
I’m not a big St. Patrick’s Day tradition person either. But enjoying a Guinness is usually on my list! Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!
I had no idea that our ginger cat was an Irish thing. 🙂 Blog posted, along with lots of long-awaited photos from our Ireland trip in October. It’s still St. Patrick’s Day here–one whole hour left!
My mother lived in Ireland till she married and moved to Canada. She said she never ate corned beef and cabbage till she came here.
I linked up my blog entry showing some cards I made for the occasion.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Thanks so much for the interesting insight into how St. Patrick’s Day is and is not celebrated in Ireland. I had posted (mistakenly) on the W&W forum the following…
We’ve never actually celebrated St. Patrick’s Day at all and won’t be this year either. However, we deliver for Meals on Wheels, and they had a volunteer-appreciation dinner last night with a St. Patrick’s Day theme. Food was corned beef and cabbage and Irish stew; lemonade and cornbread were both green, and they had gone to great effort in decorating with that theme. Today is our day to deliver, and I know they are still having some sort of festivities at the center today. Thanks for the chance to win a voucher.
Then I saw your comment as to how corned beef and cabbage is not considered Irish. I actually still have not eaten any, but I have been under the misconception that it is Irish fare.
I’ve been privileged to see quite a bit of the world, but Ireland has only been on my wish land. I think of it as green, green, green. I love Irish music, and I just recently watched a Public Broadcasting program on the history of some of the music. It was very interesting and had some unique music and stories.
Thanks again. I really did enjoy reading your blog.
I had blogged your announcing https://bentonflockes365project.blogspot.com/2010/03/announcing-janmarys-st-patricks-day.html and a little reminder here https://bentonflockes365project.blogspot.com/2010/03/36571-36572-36573-36574.html
Hope you had a fantastic St.Patricks-Day.
The first time I saw people “grean clothes” this year here in Germany and special stuff in differnt grocery stores.
Visiting here from SITS and I’m so glad I stopped by! I jumped in and joined your bloggie Irish Carnival. 🙂
My DH is Scottish and we are quite the chocolate and tea snobs around here. British chocolate is SO much better than American chocolate. I blame it on the corn syrup that American candy companies add as their main ingredient. So, yes I would agree with you. British Cadbury chocolate tastes quite different! Of course, now you have me craving Mars eggs. Thanks for that! 😉
Oh and we always have stock piles of Yorkshire Tea in our pantry. Got give it to the Brits! They know they’re tea like Americans know coffee.
Love the post! We do all have our stereotyped expectations of what the people of a certain area live like! I am originally from Louisiana in the U.S. and people always assumed I must live in New Orleans, surrounded by swamps and have alligators roaming around free. And eat jambalaya and gumbo at every meal..together of course. Thanks for stopping by the blog. I added my link to your post. I am assuming you found me through Kathleens 🙂
BTW my favorite St. Patrick’s day tradition is definitely the pinching part lol.
I love corned beef, Starbucks, and Guinness! I even recently had Guinness ice cream. Yum!
Hello my far away friend!
Just wanted you to know I received my lovely package from the giveaway! I will feature them in an upcoming post..it was my first giveaway to win!! I will use the beautiful Irish linen on a tablescape. Thanks so much! What fun!
I’m having a giveaway too..come for a visit!
Miss Bloomers
I love how your sons hair is the same color as your cats fur. Very cute.
-Mike of ontario honey