Sunday, March 14, 2010

WITH A SHILLELAGH UNDER ME ARM AND A TWINKLE IN ME EYE!



















I’ll be off to Tipperary in the morning; although, hopefully not on this train:

“Incomprehensibly, the last coach of the train to Tipperary kept getting vandalised. Paddy, the porter came up with a bright idea. "Why don't we just leave the last coach off?"

The Irish are a resilient mob! Not only are they able to take the mickey out of themselves, but they take little, if any, offence at being the brunt of the myriad jokes at their expense.

It’d be a dull old world without the Irish! Without the Irish, we’d be sadly lacking in jokes for one thing! (Where would I be? My gene tree is a blend of Irish and Scottish – not denim as you thought)!

I’ve sorted through my mass collection of Celtic music; polished my dancing shoes to a mirror sheen in readiness for a dose of “Riverdance” to get my heart a-pumping and feet a-tapping; spruced up my Donegal tweed jacket, and sent a text to my leprechaun mate! And I’ve just remembered I have an LP of bagpipe music somewhere! Did you know the Irish invented the bagpipes, and then they gave them to the Scots as a joke? The Scots haven’t seen the joke, yet!

As for St. Patrick – it’s legendary that he chased the snakes out of Ireland, but what the Irish don’t tell us is that St. Pat was the only one who saw the snakes!!! I wonder what he’d been drinking! I’ll hazard a guess by saying too much Guinness or Bushmills! The tenacious Irish are a lyrical mob, poetic by nature, musical by instinct; inherently comical!

"Mulligan gets on a bus and asks the conductor how long the trip is between Limerick to Cork. "About 2 hours," says the conductor. "Okay," says the Mulligan, "then how long is the trip between Cork to Limerick?" The irate conductor answers gruffly, "It's still about 2 hours! Why'd ya think there'd be a difference?" "Well," says Mulligan, "It's only a week between Christmas and New Year's, but it's a helluva long time between New Year's to Christmas!"

“Molly followed her husband to the pub. Taking a sip of his pint of Guinness, she said, "How can you come here and drink that awful stuff?" "See!!" Shamus cried, "And you always said I was out enjoying meself!"


If you’re lucky enough to be Irish – you’re lucky enough! May your troubles be as few and as far apart as my grandmother’s teeth!

Irish Stew: Grab some meat; some potatoes and lots of Guinness. Drink the stout; forget about the stew.

St. Patrick Day Guinness Cupcakes with Expresso Topping

Makes 24 cupcakes: Prep: 25 minutes Cook: 28 minutes

For cupcakes:
½ cup unsalted butter
360ml Guinness
½ tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups plain flour
2 cups granulated sugar
¾ c. natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. salt
1 ¼ tsp. baking soda
¾ cup sour cream
3 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 175C. Fill two 12-count muffin pans with paper baking cups.

2. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, Guinness and vanilla. Stir occasionally until butter is melted. Pour into a large mixing bowl and set aside to cool for at least 10 minutes.

3. In another large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, gradually combine with the Guinness mixture in three additions. Beat in the sour cream, then beat in the eggs one by one.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pans, filling each cup about three-quarters full. Bake for 22 to 28 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Leave in the pan to cool for 5 minutes; finish cooling on a wire rack. Frost when cooled completely.

For frosting:
3 cups icing sugar
1/3 cup butter, cut into cubes and softened
1 ½ tsp. instant espresso coffee, dissolved in 3 tbs. water

1. In a large bowl, beat the sugar and butter with an electric mixer on low speed to combine. Pour in the espresso mixture and continue beating on medium-high until frosting is smooth and creamy. If frosting is too thick, add water a couple drops at a time to reach desired consistency. Makes enough for 24 cupcakes or an 8-9 inch two-layer cake.

14 comments:

  1. LOL I would like to be havin some of what your havin today. Heehee what a fine lass to be comin up with all this mallarky. Peace

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  2. Hi Lee,

    Happy St. Patrick's day to you too.

    Loved the post. I have some Scot-Irish in me as well as English, French, cherokee indian, and German.

    Janice~

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  3. Oi've got the Oirish in meself, too. And it sometimes comes out...not so much in a fiery temper (although that can happen), but more like gettin' me words mixed or something like that.

    Whatever...Happy St Paddy's Day to you, too, Lee. Slainte!

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  4. Top o' the mornin' to you, lassies!

    Boy! You're a mixture there, Janice!

    "Billy and Pa' were walking in the woods when they came across a sign saying, "Tree Fellers wanted". One of them said, "Ye know, it's a shame paddy isn't here. We could have gotten the job".

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  5. Katfish4:47 PM

    MsLee wow those cupcakes sound DEADLY (kill me now)!

    'Top-o-the-marnin/evenin to ya dear'

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  6. And to you, Mr Katfish, Sir! Nice of you to swing by! All others have now disappeared over the horizon since HS shut down!!! Lost to world and I kinda miss the crew!

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  7. Guiness cupcakes? Really?
    I could be Irish for a day or two.
    V.

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  8. Hahahaha! Voyager! Why the hell not, I say! ;)

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  9. Still in Tipperary I see. Peace

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  10. Sure am, Lady Di!

    I got lost, and then ran into the Gypsy Rover so we popped into a couple of pubs in Killarney and there was so much Whiskey in the Jar we came to the conclusion that Limerick Is Beautiful!

    We were on our way back over the Hills of Kerry to Dublin, when Before the Deluge we ran into Molly MacGuire, Molly Malone and the Minstrel Boy! Across the Fiddlers Green in Finnegan's Wake Where All the Flowers Are Red we spent Seven Drunken Nights.

    Leaving the Irish Rover who had said to me "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" (he always gets my name wrong), I then headed over to Galway Bay!

    Just as Foggy, Foggy Dew lifted I spotted Danny Boy and together we found the Last Rose of Summer.

    As I Roved Out over The Hills of Connemara all I could think of were Cockles and Mussels so with a Draught of Ale, I did a Kerry Jig, woke up Drowsy Maggie.

    Now I'm Looking For a Four-leafed Clover!

    So you can see As I've Roved About on the Rocky Road to Dublin while wearing the Orange and the Green I crossed Four Green Fields and more!!

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  11. I'm a big St. Paddy's Day fan too. I was in a panic recently when I couldn't find my CD of Irish Pub Songs that I compiled myself.

    You know, I think there's a grain of truth with a lot of stories you hear about the Irish. We once stayed at an "Irish" hotel in Washington DC. As long as we were there, we only met up with one person with an Irish accent. It was a lady, and she was sloshed!

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  12. She probably only got an accent when she was sloshed, Dave! A swing back to her ancestor of old! Hahahahaha!

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  13. Lee, where does an Irishman go to on his vacation.
    A different bar.

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  14. Yep! I've noticed that every time I walk into one, Cliff! ;)

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