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[Andybev01]

Agreed.

Valentine's and St. Patrick's day are bright spots in the early part of the year.

[Murfreesboro]

I'm already looking at recipe books for both holidays.

[Andybev01]

Anything special or whatever strikes your fancy?

[Murfreesboro]

More trying to get ideas than anything else.

This year, Valentine's coincides with Ash Weds, so we may not have much leisure for a special meal. But I would like to make a chocolate chess pie, which is sort of my go-to for that day.

I enjoy fantasizing about St Patrick's meals, but I have trouble getting my husband on board with that one. I have a little Irish ancestry (mostly, but not entirely, in the northern part), but he has none. And neither he nor my kids are enthusiastic about what gets billed as Irish food. I've wanted to make Colcannon for years, but my husband balks at mixing greens with potatoes. I may do it anyway, since greens are so good for you.

Nobody in my family is remotely Mexican, but I have zero problem getting them to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Mexican food is not a hard sell.

The thing about both holidays is that they are harbingers of spring, so they give me an excuse to peruse spring-oriented menus.

[Andybev01]

Mexican food is so good, and it's really just a handful of basic ingredients prepared in different ways! Easy peasy.

I think I'm on board with your husband re: potatoes with greens, although I haven't tried colcannon my brain can't pair the two to image what that would taste like.

Maybe if the greens are bitter herbs ?

[Murfreesboro]

I think the recipes for colcannon vary, perhaps regionally. Many use cabbage, which I love, though my husband is no fan of cooked cabbage. Others speak of sautéed kale or chard. Green onions, too, I think. I love all that stuff.

[Andybev01]

I loooove cabbage!

I take it that you like brussels sprouts as well?

My favorite prep for them is to render bacon fat, mince the cooked bacon, partially steam halved sprouts, add them to the bacon fat to finish cooking and then toss them with the minced bacon.

...or just steam them and serve with a thick cheddar sauce.

[Murfreesboro]

Oh, I LOVE Brussels sprouts, but my husband does not. We saw some PBS special a few years back that said people who like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, etc, are missing some gene. That if you have one copy of the gene, you can learn to like them, but if you have two copies, you never will. So of course now he tells me I'm defective. I tell him I'm glad of it, and that I'm sorry he can't taste how delicious they are.

Your recipe sounds yummy, and if anything could make my husband eat them, it would be a good dose of bacon. But my daughter, who does like them, won't eat pork of any kind, so as long as she's still at home, I can't experiment with a recipe like that. We usually steam them and then eat them with butter and salt.

[Andybev01]

That's tasty as well but bacon...tales the bacon.

[Murfreesboro]

Oh, there are so many recipes we can't try out because of her hang up about pork. Sometimes we actually do cook pork and buy her some kind of frozen meal. At least she hasn't gone vegetarian on us.

[Andybev01]

Fair point.

[Murfreesboro]

She used to eat pork, and shrimp, too. But she decided when she was about 14 that she wanted to follow a near-Biblical diet, so she's cut out pork and shellfish. She doesn't really eat all the way kosher (she'll eat meat and cheese together, eg), but she says if God gave the diet, it must be a good one. Of course, we eat everything, and I especially love pork. But she has notions.

[Andybev01]

...all the more for me.

[Murfreesboro]

Lol. It just complicates meal planning around here.

[Andybev01]

The subject of pork always calls to mind the diner scene in 'Pulp Fiction'.