Country Cousin

St. Patrick...

Hi Folks!

The calendar says Spring will be here in 10 days. Tempera-tures say it’s already arrived. Hooray for the sunshine!

We’ll be able to enjoy a bit more afternoon sunshine each day, starting Sunday, March 14. Can you believe Daylight Savings Time is alreadzy starting? Don’t forget to turn your clocks ahead before going to bed on Saturday night. Remember - Spring forward, Fall behind. True, we’ll be losing an hour of sleep between bedtime Saturday and time to rise and shine on Sunday, but never fear. We’ll get it back next Fall.

ANOTHER SIGN OF SPRING

Weight limit signs are up on most town and county roads. Effective Monday, March 15, all ATV trails in the county will be closed until further notice to protect the soft trail bed from erosion damage that could otherwise happen during spring breakup. ATV trails will re-open when conditions warrant.

ST. PATRICK’S DAY

One week until the Wearin’ o’ the Green in honor of St. Patrick and the Irish spirit of fun. Now there’s a group of immigrants who went through some very bad times a bit more than a century ago, both at home on the Auld Sod and then over here before they were accepted.

America now happily becomes “New Ireland” one day each year, but it wasn’t always that way. Our shores weren’t very welcoming to them at first.

The Irish immigrants were leaving homes and families they loved in droves because of famine in the Old Country. They came here in hopes of finding prosperity and plenty. Eventually most of them did find it, or at least their descendants did, but it did not come easy. Old tales abound of the ridicule most of those early Irish immigrants endured, of the sweat factory jobs many of them had to take if they wanted to eat, of long hours they spent as poorly paid servants in wealthy homes.

Sure, there was some bitterness. But they worked hard, they didn’t whine, and they turned ridicule around by telling jokes on themselves so well that eventually everyone else wanted to join in the fun. Their endurance and good nature was rewarded with such hearty acceptance that today most of us who are not Irishmen pretend that we are for at least one day each year.

ORIGAMI INSTRUCTION

Looking for a new hobby, a new creative outlet? Try your hand at the ancient art of Origami, or at least learn a bit about it, at 7 p.m. Monday, March 15 in the main building of UW-Marinette. View “Between the Folds: The Art of Science and the Science of Art,” a PBS film on origami followed by discussion led by Professors James LaMalfa, Paul Erdman and Mark Klemp. The public is invited free of charge.

Many years ago a visitor from Japan presented me with a precious and beautiful lady made entirely by folding paper in the proper way. It remains a most treasured possession.

WORK FOR IT

Get a bit disturbed by folks who seem to think they’re entitled to food, shelter, medical care, whatever, just because they happened to be born.

Doesn’t it occur to them that they need to work for what they want and need?

Good advice for all of us is to keep our eyes open for opportunities and prepare for eventualities, so when our ships come in, we’ll be ready, willing and able to unload them. If we wait for someone else to do it, that old ship may just sail away again while we’re left waiting on the docks.

ON THE SOAP BOX HEALTH CARE

Our legislators are being pressured into voting for a health care reform bill they haven’t even read. They can’t possibly have read it because we’re being told parts of it haven’t even been written yet.

The whole idea of putting our health care into the hands of Federal Regulators frightens the daylights out of most of us, and a majority of voters have made that clear in several local elections in formerly Democrat strongholds.

President Obama is attempting to make political hay out of the notion that they (he and the other Democrats) must vote for whatever bill is finally presented because they must live up to promises for change, promises to reform health care. Doesn’t seem to matter if the reform makes things better or worse.

But aside from that, what about promises? Some are important, some are not?

What about his own personal promise?

The one about “transparency”...his pledge during the presidential campaign to have the full text of the health care reform bill posted on the web long enough that everyone has a chance to read it and comment on it before he would sign it into law.

Maybe he’ll keep that promise, maybe he won’t... Doesn’t matter! Once he twists enough arms hard enough to get the votes needed to pass a health care “reform” bill, is there the chance of a snowflake in you know where that he’ll refuse to sign?

If you believe there is, I have a couple of bridges to sell you, one in New York, the other in California. And I’ll throw in the Grand Canyon as a bonus!

SMALL CHANGE

Saw a bumper sticker the other day ... “I’ll keep my guns, freedom and money...you can keep the “change”!

Amen!

MIDAS TOUCH

Remember all the ads for “Midas Mufflers”? Seems one of the good ole boys, back in those good ole days, lacked any knack at all for making money. But he did go around collecting scrap metal. Knew it would be valuable one day. So folks started saying he had the Midas touch...everything he touched turned into a muffler.

He didn’t know it then, but that good ole boy had the right idea. If government regulations and “green” scare tactics hadn’t gotten in the way he would eventually have proven to have the real Midas touch. But, as is so often the case, he became confused and frightened by all the rules and penalties and sold too soon. Someone else reaped the profits.

NIGHTMARE

The old couple weren’t getting along very well. He had a nightmare the other night. His wife and Dolly Parton were fighting over him. His wife won. P.S. He told his buddy about the dream, but he didn’t tell his wife!

COOKIN’ TIME

We generally think of Corned Beef and Cabbage when we think of Irish menus and St. Patrick’s Day. But you might want to try some other Irish foods for a change of pace. Soups are traditional Irish farm fare. They make a little food go a long way. St. Patrick’s Day or not, these hearty soups are wonderful for March eating. If it’s fine outside they can be simmering and ready when you come in from outdoor chores. If the weather is nasty, enjoy their aroma while you anticipate dinner time.

IRISH FARMHOUSE SOUP

If you don’t want to use the authentic neck of lamb try making the soup with a combination of pork neck bones, beef, and chicken necks. I like to double this recipe, though. If there are leftovers, you can freeze everything except the potatoes.

1 pound neck of lamb

2 tablespoons dried split peas, soaked overnight

5 pints water

2 tablespoons pearl barley

1 onion, peeled and chopped

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

2 sticks celery, trimmed and sliced

1 small turnip, peeled and sliced

1 heaping tablespoon fresh chopped parsley

1 small potato per serving

Salt and pepper to taste

Place the meat, peas and water in soup kettle. Bring to a boil, skim, then cover and simmer for an hour. Add the pearl barley, vegetables and salt and simmer for another half hour. Remove the meat and when cool enough to handle cut it from the bones and put it back in the soup. Add the potatoes and cook for another 15 minutes, then add the parsley and pepper to taste and simmer for 15 more minutes or until the potatoes are done. To serve, put one potato in each bowl and pour soup over it. if you prefer, boil the potatoes separately in salted water and put one in each bowl before adding the soup. This should be served with plenty of fresh crusty bread, preferably home made, and lots of butter. The idea is to use your fork to chunk up the potato and then mash it into the soup. Leftovers are at least as good the next day. If you’ve frozen the soup, just boil more fresh potatoes to go with it.

CREAM OF TURNIP SOUP

Or use rutabagas. Then it’s Cream of Rutabaga Soup. Try adding just a pinch of nutmeg. Not authentic, but it is wonderful. No one will guess your secret ingredient. It doesn’t taste like nutmeg at all unless you use too much.

1 cup diced turnip

1 cup diced onion

1 cup diced leek, green and white parts

1 cup sliced celery

1 stick butter

1/2 cup flour

5 pints of chicken broth (Soup stock freshly made at home

is best, but bouillon, soup base or canned broth will do.)

1 to 2 cups light or heavy cream

Salt and pepper to taste (if you use soup base or bouillon, do

be sure to taste first.)

Put the celery, onion and leeks into a soup kettle with the butter and allow them to just start simmering. Stir in the flour. Add the the chicken stock and keep stirring until it comes to a good boil. Add the turnips or rutabaga. Simmer for about half an hour or until the vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Strain the thickened broth into another kettle. Puree the vegetables and return them to the broth. (A food processor or blender is perfect for this job, but if you’re ambitious a potato masher will work.) Put back on the heat for about five minutes. Add the cream and salt and pepper to taste, and the bit of nutmeg if you choose to try it. Serve with plenty of bread and butter, preferably crusty whole wheat or rye.

BACON POTATOES

Good for breakfast with fried eggs on the side, or for a main meal side dish, perhaps with meat loaf. Make enough to have leftovers to use with leftover corned beef for an easy corned beef hash that’s so-o-o much better than the hash that comes from a can.

6 slices bacon

8 medium red potatoes, quartered lengthwise

4 onions, coarsely chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Turn oven to 450 degrees. Put sliced bacon on a cookie sheet with sides and bake for about 15 minutes, or until crisp, turning once. Take the bacon out of the pan and drain on paper towels. Reserve the bacon. Put the potatoes in the pan and turn until they are coated on all sides with the bacon grease. Bake for 5 minutes. Add the onion, stir around to coat them with the bacon grease and return pan to oven. Bake, turning the potato quarters once, until they are golden brown and the onions are tender. Remove to a serving dish with a slotted turner and crumble reserved bacon on top.

CORNED BEEF HASH

If you don’t have any leftover potatoes and bacon, any cooked potatoes will do, even mashed potatoes.

1 tablespoon butter

1 small onion, chopped

1 cup cooked potatoes and bacon, diced

1/2 cup leftover corned beef, finely diced

Pepper to taste

Salt if necessary

Run the potatoes and corned beef briefly in the food processor to chop if you’d rather do that than dice them. Melt the butter in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook about five minutes, or until they are limp and translucent, stirring occasionally. Add the potatoes, corned beef and pepper and cook until heated through, maybe five minutes. Add salt to taste if you must. You can let it fry until the bottom gets a bit crusty if you like but it isn’t necessary.

IRISH LACE COOKIES

Serve with Leprechaun Dipping Sauce

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cups oatmeal

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl beat butter, sugar, vanilla and salt together until fluffy. Stir in the oatmeal. Drop by teaspoon on to a buttered baking sheet. Space them three inches apart, because they will spread. Bake 8 minutes, or until they become lacy and flat. Remove to a rack to cool completely.

LEPRECHAUN DIPPING SAUCE

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon sugar

Green food coloring

Beat the whipping cream, sour cream and sugar together until it gets light and fluffy. Stir in the food coloring by drops until it gets to be the color you want. Serve small bowls with the cookies.

THUMBPRINT COOKIES

Enjoy these little beauties now, or plan to serve them as an attractive and delicious addition to your Easter table. Fill with lovely (and unaccountably luscious) green pepper preserves for a St. Patrick’s Day treat, or with rainbow hued preserves for Easter.

No-Stick Cooking Spray

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup (one stick) butter, cold, cut into slices

3 large eggs, separated

2 tablespoons water

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups finely chopped pecans

1 cup high quality preserves, jam or jelly in bright colors

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put baking rack in middle position. Spray two cookie sheets lightly with cooking spray. Beat brown sugar and butter in medium bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed for 2 minutes or until fluffy. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add egg yolks, water, vanilla and salt and beat again until well combined. Add flour on low speed until well blended. Beat egg whites in a shallow bowl until foamy. Place pecans in a separate shallow bowl. Using about 2 teaspoons of dough for each cookie, form into balls by rolling between your palms. (For Easter, make into egg shapes if you like.) Dip each dough ball into egg whites, then roll in pecans. Place on prepared cookie sheet. Using your thumb or the back of a measuring spoon, make a rounded indentation in the top of each cookie. Bake 10 minutes, and then remove from oven. If necessary redefine the indentation with a spoon. (If you have formed egg-shape balls, you may want to make a slightly elongated indentation.) Place about 1 teaspoon preserves into the indentation in the center of each cookie. Return to oven and bake 5 to 7 minutes more, or until lightly browned. Cool on baking sheet for several minutes after removing from oven, and then put on wire rack to cool completely.

Thought for the week: “May you always have a sunbeam to warm you, good luck to charm you, and a sheltering angel so nothing can harm you...Laughter to cheer you, and heaven to hear you whenever you pray!” -author unknown

May the roof above you never fall in and may those gathered beneath it never fall out. - Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

COUNTRY COUSIN

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