Happy St. Patrick's Day

As I am of Irish descent, I like reading books by Irish authors, and books with Irish characters and set in Ireland. In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I have compiled links to some books I have reviewed that fit this category. Slainté!

Click on the book title to go to my review.

Mary Higgins Clark- A Piece of My Heart

Helen Cullen- The Dazzling Truth

Jude Deveraux & Tara Sheets- Chance of a Lifetime

Colin Jost- A Very Punchable Face

Ciara Geraghty- Rules of the Road

J. Courtney Sullivan- Friends and Strangers

Lian Dolan- The Sweeney Sisters

Jeannie Gaffigan- When Life Gives You Pears

Maureen Stanton- Body Leaping Backwards

Mary Beth Keane- Ask Again, Yes

Santa Montefiore- The Daughters of Ireland

Lisa Genova- Inside the O'Briens

Erin McHugh- One Good Deed

Matthew Thomas- We Are Not Ourselves

Hazel Gaynor - A Memory of Violets   

Alice McDermott- Someone  

Kate Mulgrew- Born With Teeth

On Broadway- Jez Butterworth's The Ferryman  

On Broadway- John Patrick Shanley's Outside Mullingar

              

Friday 5ive- March 12, 2021

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post about five things that caught my attention this week. This week marks the one year anniversary of the pandemic lockdown here in NYC. Last year on March 12th when Dorothy and I locked the door to the Book Cellar, the nonprofit used bookstore where we work that supports New York Public Library branches, we had no idea what would happen in a year. But hope is on the horizon if we stay vigilant, and everyone gets their vaccine when it's their turn.

1)  St. Patrick's Day is next week, and we always celebrate with corned beef and cabbage, a favorite meal of my sons. I decorated a bookshelf with some green books and books by favorite Irish authors.  It makes a good March Zoom background.

2)  I received my 8th medal for my virtual Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James) ride on the Conqueror Challenge. It was a 481 mile ride from France to Spain, and the postcards highlighting sights of interest I received for this one were fascinating. Next up is a 750 mile Boston to Bar Harbor ride, a three month ride.

3)  It was a week of Zooms. We had a family Zoom for my mother-in-law's birthday, filled with lovely flowers, festive balloons, pretty cupcakes decorated like flowers, and gifts galore for the beautiful birthday lady. It was nice to have so many grandchildren participate.

After the birthday Zoom, we had a family wine Zoom with a very informative and entertaining person from Stag's Leap Cellars Winery in Napa Valley. Terri gave us background on the winery and the wines we tasted were excellent, a good time was had by all. The Fay Cabernet Sauvignon was my favorite.

On Monday, the Facebook group Peloton Moms Book Group hosted a talk with author Kristin Hannah, whose new novel, The Four Winds, which debuted at number one on the New York Times fiction bestseller list. The book tells the story of Elsa, who with her teenage daughter Loreda and young son leave their family farm on the Texas panhandle when the Dust Bowl storms and Great Depression decimate their farm. They flee to California only to fight horrible living conditions, discrimination, and farm owners who take advantage of the refugees, to try and make a life. It was a fascinating discussion, and we learned all about Hannah's research and writing process. My full review of her best book yet publishes Sunday in the Auburn Citizen and online at auburnpub.com. (Hint- I gave it a rave review.)

Our wines from Stag's Leap Cellars

4) We watched a terrifc documentary on Apple TV+ this week- Boys State. The documentary, about a program where 1,100 young men from all over Texas come together to create a democratic government of their own. They split into two groups- Nationalists and Federalists, decide on party platforms, and elect representatives. The film focuses heavily on the race for Governor, and the candidates they highlight are such interesting young men, after watching this documentary you know that you will be seeing them as future leaders. The film won the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize. 

5) On the book front, I finished Kate Quinn's WWII novel The Rose Code,  a 626 page book that flew by.  Three women who work at Bletchley Park outside London are trying to break the German communication codes and one stumbles upon a spy. It continues Quinn's WWII brilliant novels (The Alice Network and The Huntress) about women who did more than their part for the war effort.

 

Speaking of WWII, I started Jacqueline Winspear's newest Maisie Dobbs novel, The Consequences of Fear. We're up to 1941 in this popular mystery series, and private investigator and psychologist Maisie is now assisting the SOE (Special Operations Executive) British spy agency by assessing candidates psychological state of mind before they can work with the French resistance. Maisie and her able investigator Billy are also working on the case of young boy who witnessed a murder. I'm halfway through and as always, it's great to visit Maisie's world and the friends and family we've come to know over 16 novels. It publishes on March 23rd.

Stay safe and socially distant, wash your hands, wear a mask, and get a vaccine when it's your turn. We're getting so close to beating this, I can feel it. I hope you do too.

This post was shared with The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader's Weekend Cooking posts.

 

Weekend Cooking- St. Patrick's Day & Easter

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.


Last weekend, my family had back-to-back celebrations- St. Patrick's Day on Saturday and Easter on Sunday. We always have the same meal for St. Patrick's Day- corned beef and cabbage, champs potatoes, carrots, pistachio bread, and a family favorite, Irish bread pudding for dessert.

This year I had to work on Saturday at the Book Cellar where I volunteer, so I got up early to peel the potatoes and put the corned beef in the slow cooker, a method I had not used before to make corned beef. I ran home during my shift to put the cabbage in the slow cooker at 2pm so that dinner would be ready by 6pm.

The meal was delicious, and even though I made the bread pudding the day before, it tasted fabulous on day two. The recipe for Irish Bread Pudding is here.

Sunday was Easter, and I spent the day in the kitchen. I made Ina Garten's Herbed-Roasted Lamb, which I made last year, and it turned out perfectly. My husband made a tasty gravy from the drippings.

I tried a few new recipes this year, including a scalloped potatoes recipes I found on Pinterest. I used a mandolin to slice the potatoes thin and then cooked them in a skillet on the stove for a few minutes before putting them in the oven.

Simple Scalloped Potatoes

These were the best scalloped potatoes I ever made! I'm not a big fan of scalloped potatoes, but these were fantastic and my husband will be happy to know that I will make them more often now. The recipe is here.

While on a plane a few weeks ago, I watched Giada at Home on the Food Network and she made
Peas, Bacon and Prosecco that I thought would pair well with Easter dinner. It was a big hit with the smoky, crispy bacon complementing the sweet peas, and everyone had seconds. The recipe is here.

Peas, Bacon and Prosecco

We started with a pear salad because someone sent my husband pears from Harry & David, and we ended with three little cakes from Two Little Red Hens- Brooklyn Blackout, Red Velvet and the surprise favorite, Raspberry Filled Vanilla Cake. We also had deviled eggs and strawberry jello salad.

Three Cakes from Two Little Red Hens

There were seven of us for Easter this year, and we had a wonderful time. The conversation was engaging (there was a suggestion that two of our dining companions should start a podcast because their banter is hilarious), and the meal turned out to be the one of the best I have ever made from start to finish. Everything turned out perfectly and that almost never happens.

Our Perfect Easter Dinner

It was a memorable weekend indeed. Have you ever made a meal that you thought was perfect from beginning to end? Tell me about it in comments.

Weekend Cooking- St. Patrick's Day

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

My mother's family is Irish- the Brady clan- and so we always look forward to celebrating St. Patrick's Day. When I was younger, it was going to Tinker's at 9am and drinking green beer all day or until you could no longer drink. Thank goodness I gave that up.

After I got married and had two boys, we celebrated St. Patrick's Day a little differently. We'd have my family over for the day and I would cook a big dinner. We always had corned beef boiling on the stove,  one of my older son's favorites. I'd throw in a couple of heads of cabbage, which he also enjoyed. (Me, I can live without that.)

I also make a version of colcannon potatoes- mashed potatoes with chopped scallions and tons of melted butter poured into a well in the middle of the potatoes. I can't remember where I got the recipe for that one, but we don't make it with the traditional cabbage.

Dessert is the perfect ending to the meal. This recipe for Irish Bread Pudding I found in Cooking Light magazine years ago, and no  matter how much I make of it, it is never enough. It really is one of our favorite desserts of all-time and so easy to make. (And the Caramel Whiskey Sauce is heavenly!) I found the recipe and pinned it here.

Source: myrecipes.com viaDiane on Pinterest

In searching Pinterest, I found this recipe for Pistachio St. Patrick's Day Bread and I think it will make an appearance at this year's St. Patrick's Day celebration. It's from Better Than Burgers.

Source: blog.betterthanburgers.net viaDiane on Pinterest

So enjoy the holiday, don't overdo the green beer and I'd love to hear about what special dishes you make for St. Patrick's Day in the comments section. Slainte!