Saint Patrick's Day Celebrations 2017

Irish Compassion ...

Shortly after take-off on an outbound evening Air Lingus flight from
Dublin to Boston, the lead flight attendant nervously made the following painful announcement in her lovely Irish brogue:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm so very sorry, but it appears that there has been a terrible mix-up by our catering service. I don't know how this has happened, but we have 103 passengers on board, and unfortunately, we received only 40 dinner meals. I truly apologize for this mistake and inconvenience."

When the muttering of the passengers had died down, she continued,

"Anyone who is kind enough to give up their meal so that someone else can eat will receive free, unlimited drinks for the duration of our 5 hour flight."

Her next announcement came about 2 hours later:

"If anyone is hungry, we still have 40 dinners available."

Irish wink . . .

Did You Know? - Corned beef is a salt-cured beef product. The term comes from the treatment of the meat with large grained rock salt, also called "corns" of salt. It features as an ingredient in many cuisines. Most recipes include nitrates or nitrites, which convert the natural myoglobin in beef to nitroso-myoglobin, giving a pink color. Nitrates and nitrites reduce the risk of dangerous botulism during curing by inhibiting the growth of Clostridium botulinum spores.

Beef cured with salt only has a gray color and is sometimes called "New England corned beef". Often sugar and spices are also added to recipes for corned beef.

It was popular during both World Wars, when fresh meat was rationed. Corned beef remains popular in the United Kingdom and countries with British culinary traditions and is commonly used in sandwiches, corned beef hash or eaten with chips and pickles. It also remains especially popular in Canada in a variety of dishes, perhaps most prominently Montreal smoked meat.

Did You Know? - The appearance of corned beef in Irish cuisine dates to the 12th century in the poem Aislinge Meic Con Glinne or The Vision of MacConglinne. Within the text, it is described as a delicacy a king uses to purge himself of the "demon of gluttony".

Cattle, valued as a bartering tool, were only eaten when no longer able to provide milk or to work. The corned beef as described in this text was a rare and valued dish, given the value and position of cattle within the culture, as well as the expense of salt, and was unrelated to the corned beef eaten today.

Quotation To Remember: As you slide down the banister of life,
May the splinters never point the wrong way.

Did You Know? - When they were first cultivated, carrots were grown for their aromatic leaves and seeds rather than their roots.

Did You Know? - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme is the third studio album by American music duo Simon & Garfunkel. Produced by Bob Johnston, the album was released on October 24, 1966 in the United States by Columbia Records.