Pandemic Paddy

 St. Patrick's Day means that we are now in our second round of COVID holidays. Last spring, I remember thinking, "It's good that we are having these spring holidays during the pandemic, because it would be really sad to have the fall holidays and Christmas during a pandemic, and at least in the spring we can still go outside." Welp, here we are.

Since approximately 2015, I have really come to enjoy St. Patrick's Day more than I used to, because I actually do more things for it. And it's the beginning of springtime.

Usually Wednesdays are my busy day. I have a class at noon and then an evening class that lasts almost three hours. But the professor for the Wednesday class felt bad that we didn't get a spring break this year, so she gave us the week off. (I think it was as much for herself as it was for us.) And since I don't know when I will get another St. Patrick's Day like this year, I decided to take full advantage of it.

Growing up, we always added green food coloring to food. That's fun, but the food tastes the same as it does every other day of the year. I think it's much more fun to have actual flavors that go with the green. Then it doesn't taste like what you have every other time of the year. So anything green goes. (I still think of my ridiculous roommate seven years ago who claimed that lime wasn't a St. Patrick's Day flavor but mint was, and then he struggled to defend his position.)

My mom made an avocado pie after I mentioned that they exist. One of my roommates eight years ago made one, but he didn't share it. So this was the first time I had one. It was tart, similar to a key lime pie. I wouldn't say I loved it, but I did like it enough to possibly have it again.

Recently, Kneaders published their recipe for Irish stew, so I decided to make Irish stew on Tuesday. I took some liberties with the recipe, and it didn't turn out nearly as good as the Kneaders version. It was OK. My parents liked it more than I did. I doubt it's very Irish, especially since I used beef instead of lamb. (I don't even know where you buy lamb!)

And in the spirit of supporting small businesses, I went to Top Hat Video, which is a rental store that still exists. I don't watch that many movies, but I wanted some for the holiday, so I rented three.

On Tuesday evening, I watched Song of the Sea, which is about the Irish folklore of selkies, beings that can be either humans or seals. I wanted a St. Patrick's Day movie and ended up with a Halloween movie—it takes place on Halloween, since that is when faerie folk are active in Irish folklore, but it's not what you expect from a Halloween movie. It was phenomenal! The animation and art are spectacular, the music is lovely, and the story is engaging. I really struggle to identify any flaws in the movie. 10/10. Why haven't more people heard of it?

Wednesday was the big holiday, and I took much of the day off. I attended my noon class (only my green glasses and shirt were visible on Zoom) and worked on my side gig for two hours, but other than that I had fun. I put corned beef and cabbage in the slow cooker in the morning. I first started doing that in 2015, and I really like it and look forward to it. The stew and the corned beef were probably the first time I have personally cooked with meat since last St. Patrick's Day. I also made Irish soda bread.

 And continuing the green theme, I made avocado milkshakes, which have been my tradition since 2016. It's fun to have something green without any food coloring.

It looks greener in real life.

That evening, I watched the other two movies I rented. First was Finian's Rainbow, an old Fred Astaire musical. It was terrible. If I'm going to watch a movie with a leprechaun, I want the leprechaun to be the main focus, not a random side character in a heavy-handed critique of racism. The only good parts were the voices and some of the songs. 3/10. Leprechauns are such an iconic part of pop culture, so why aren't there any high-quality movies about leprechauns?

The other movie was The Secret of Kells, made by the same studio that did Song of the Sea, and it seemed like a trial run for Song of the Sea (since Kells came first). The animation is pretty, but less so; and the story is less engaging. It's a fantastical origin story of the Book of Kells, a real-life medieval illuminated Bible. 7/10. 

Then the holiday was over until next year, but fortunately the rest of the holidays this year are better holidays. I'm so excited for Eastertime! It's such a wonderful time of the year.

The other exciting part of the week was that all the snow melted, so I was able to get back on the trails! But I wasn't able to spend as much time as I had hoped. And I was dismayed to wake up to more snow again this morning. Oh well. It won't stay long anymore. I didn't see any glacier lilies yet, but they're coming!

It won't be long before everything is green again!