Therein Go Brahr!!!

The Daily News

1  Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! 

2  Okay, that's the last time I slug down Hennessy's before sunrise. 

3  Next St. Patrick's, I'll drink the Sunrise first.

4  Nah, just kidding' ye.

5  The Best Irish Joke Ever. This is Gold. Or Emerald. 

Two men were sitting next to each other at Murphy's Pub in San Francisco. After a while, one fellow looks at another and says, "I can't help but think, from listening to you, that you're from Ireland!"

The other fellow responds, proudly, "Yes, that I am!"

The first one says, "So am I! And where about from Ireland might you be?"

The other fellow answers, "I'm from Dublin, I am."

The first one responds, "So am I!"

"Mother Mary and begora. And what street did you live on in Dublin?"

The other fellow says, "A lovely little area it was. I lived on McCleary Street in the old central part of town."

The first one says, "Faith and it's a small world. So did I! So did I! And to what school would you have been going?"

The other fellow answers, "Well now, I went to St. Mary's, of course."

The first one gets gets really excited and says, "And so did I. Tell me, what year did you graduate?"

The other one answers, "Well let's see. I graduated in 1964."

The first one exclaims, "The good Lord must be smiling down upon us! I can hardly believe our good luck at winding up in the same place tonight. Can you believe it. I graduated from St. Mary's in 1964 my own self!"

About this time Vicky walks up to the bar, sits down, and orders a drink. 

Brian, the bar man, walks over to Vicky, shaking his head, and mutters, "It's going to be a long night tonight."

Vicky asks, "Why do you say that, Brian?"

"The Murphy twins are drunk again!"

3

4  I didn't make that joke up. I stole it from this site:

The Best Irish Joke Ever. This is Gold.

5  A goodly chuckle here on St. Patrick's Day!

6  A chortle, a smile, and this.

7  Moving On, Part One: Ironically, I decided to hit tonight's dinner with a corned beef recipe I came across years ago at Ponch's parents' house. His Mom made a corned beef that was baked with a sauce that knocked me out. 

8  I tried that a few times, and it worked. How then, is this ironic? 

9  Listen: I inherited my love of cooking from my Mom. She learned from her Mom, who brought a lot of love and magic over from Genoa. I loved growing up with a strong Italian side to my family. San Francisco and Italian gatherings are ensconced in my memories of Delano Avenue in San Francisco. 

10  So...this is St. Patrick's Day. Yesterday I planned on making that corned beef, but I thought I would search online for a good recipe.

11 Enter Rachel Ray. I saw lots of recipes that looked good, but I have worked with some of her stuff and it is really fun.

12  She cooks the way I do: We don't always use recipes; we use instincts. 

13  I chose hers, and last night I cooked it. Over three pounds of corned beef in a sauce made up of dijon mustard and light brown sugar, peppers provided, and a splash of red wine vinegar. 

14  I coupled this with some extremely fresh Jewish rye. No potatoes this time around. And I even forgot to throw a bunch of cabbage into a salty pot of water.

15  Nope. 

16  That's the way I learned how to make the stuff, but I found improving o the old sent me on what became a cooking adventure. 

17  I applied ample sauce, then cooked it in aluminum foil, downside-up, for a little over two hours. The juices ran all through it during cooking. I then opened it and broiled more sauce for a couple of minutes, 'til it slightly browned and crisped. Rachel Ray. I have come to trust her stuff, especially since her rebellious side allows me the freedom to make slight changes. 

18  The house smelled wonderful, the flavor immense. She said two hours, but if your corned beef is a little heavier than three pounds, it is okay to allow another half hour, but check through the oven window. I loved the smell that ran through the neighborhood. It had both sides of ancestors smiling. Fun night, last night was. 

19  So both parents were there to help; my Dad with his entire childhood being on Gennessee Street in San Francisco, and my Mom's childhood providing instincts from the Italian side of the family, that one coming off Delano Avenue.  

20  Italian cooking. Whew! Teaches anyone about how if food be the music of love, cook on!

21  Lovely. 

22  And I have an entire day to spend with the babies. Wee lasses who know how to laugh. Nothin' better on a St. Patrick's Day.

23  We will enjoy a bunch more of that feast later in the day, although those two little cuties aren't quite ready for a corned beef feast. But they will be all around the love today.

24  Moving On, Part One: I went online last night and Googled that grand old house on Gennessee, hiding itself amid a bunch of others that have been painted and modernized. It has a quaint oldness to it, not as big as I remember, but that's the beauty of a childhood memory: everything exists on a grand scale.

25  That little place boasts six rooms and one bath, according to one source. Ah, the good old days. The six rooms include the dining room, the living room, etc. Don't be fooled. Still, I like that it can boast largeness, because that feeling ran through all of us, usually on Easter, not St. Patrick's Day, but what's an occasion among a bunch of Irishmen and wimmins? 

26  To a kid, it didn't matter what day it was. What mattered was the old garage (the place was built in 1912, so it was already old when we were tiny kids), below everything, dark, dank, and with a mysterious collection of antique door knobs that lent a bit of mystery to a child runnin' past. 

27  What mattered was the garage that led up to the back yard, which was where all the kids played and ran around, while the adults cooked, partied, played cards, and often allowed us the run of the place. 

28  What mattered was the front porch that looked out to the wall of the house next door, but that had a small balcony that served itself up well for leaning over and spitting off the side. A clean spit traveled and curved with a good wind. You might as well have been spitting' into a canyon. It whistled in the wind, and then echoed with an elegant splat, followed by giggles of laughter.

29  To a kid, it was a fun place. My recollections are really a series of old pictures in albums that are somewhere now. Musty, dusty love. 

30  Moving On, Part Two: Life moved on. If I may bring us back to the near-present, come along. Here go:  We moved to our house up in Sac in June of last year, and it occurs to me each day that we never fully unpacked. 

31  We got here, took off, traveled, came back, ran down to the Bay Area, came back up, hit a few family events, went to the hospital when of sudden, water broke. We practically lived in that hospital for what seemed a week, and finally arrived back home, but with new additions. 

32  Crazy, I know, but it's also been great fun. 

33  I get spun around nearly every day, but I never tire of the dizziness and goofiness. Maybe it's me getting older, maybe it's me getting wiser, or maybe it's just me enjoying the thousands of blessings that have surrounded me of late. 

34  I appreciate every day, these days. I've seen worse, and I have seen lights on the ceilings of hospitals from the bed, so I appreciate all I have now. 

35  I'm yawning, not because I'm boring myself, but because I typed up a lot o' this nonsense last night, well into the one a.m.  It's officially St. Patrick's Day, as well as a Throwback Thursday, so raise a glass, mates, and cheer!

36  I'm gonna take off now, because it's still last night to me. I'm hangin' off a shamrock trying' to stay awake.

37  For myself, a cup o' coffee in a few hours, and a new sunrise. For me, a funky TV morning show called Good Day. For me, a look up at the sky. For me, the smiles on the faces of those wonderful babies. 

38  And then I will roar into St. Patrick's Day, and the corned beef, the children's laughs, and all the rest.

39  So to you, I might say go out and have fun, stay safe, and by all means, laugh.

40  Because you can.

41  Because you can. 

42  See you again.

43  Have a GREAT day. 

44  Peace.

~H~

fin.