St. Patrick's Day

I definitely have to sneak this post in before the month of March is over!



One thing I have always loved is traditions. And lucky for me my family has a lot of them! My family always joked that we are Scottish so we love any excuse for a good party, that sits pretty well with me. So although I have no Scottish heritage, I had to find some way to bring a bit of Widdison family tradition to the 17th of March.

St. Patrick's Day at the Widdison home involves your classic corned beef and cabbage, potatoes, and probably some carrots too. Don't forget the Irish soda bread. And we have to have lime sherbet and 7up floats. And my all time favorite pistachio inside out cake which I loved so much I would ask for it for my birthday. Also, you have to have Paddy's Potatoes. Okay, wow, I guess maybe we like to eat just a little. :)

Umm, I didn't make that.

Along with that the night before all of us kids would devise a leprechaun trap, of course to catch the leprechaun and find his pot of gold. Watching Darby O'Gil and the Little People every year left us pretty well informed about the tricky little guys.

Unfortunately we never caught one, but the idea of them being tricked always left them in a frenzy and they would totally trash the living room. The leprechauns would put chairs on the table, and any toys or clothes that didn't get cleaned up the night before would be hung on the ceiling fan. Sometimes they would take the couch cushions and make a fort. Somehow they made it into the kitchen and turned out milk green too!



The best part though, was that sometimes they would leave some of their "gold" and we would feast on the little Hershey's nuggets.

Well, trying to find any of this stuff in Grenada proved more difficult than I thought. Long story short, I settle for Paddy's Potatoes! This is a candy recipe my mom cut from the L.A. Times many moons ago. Pretty much they are these little peanut butter (I think they taste like Reese's) balls. You roll them in cinnamon, sugar, cocoa, and chopped peanuts. The peanuts kind of look like the eyes of the potato. Mine didn't turn out too photogenic, they got a little smashed.

But they were delicious nonetheless.

I also helped out with an S.O. Family Brunch for St. Patrick's Day. CeCe and Patty did an excellent job! It had a rainbow theme to it of course. I got there bright and early to help hang tons of rainbow streamers. They had a super cute back drop for family pics complete with leprechaun hats, beards, glasses, and beads! I graciously agreed to help CeCe with the test shot before the brunch started. They were really scrappin' the bottom of the barrel, I was the only one there at the time. Haha.

That's what I am looking like these days.

My favorite part of the holiday was that somehow the leprechauns found my kitchen here in Grenada and they turned the milk green! Ross told me I should pour a glass of milk for myself. I thought this was a little strange since I reserve the fresh dairy milk for his cereal but I obliged. Much to my glee I found green milk!

Much to his glee he is proudly sporting a green milk mustache in this picture. As Ali would say, "Oh Ron!"

I love the challenge of bringing little bits of "U.S. life" to our life here in Grenada.