Ireland - Our Fourteenth Meal

For our fourteenth date night, we "traveled" to Éire. Ireland was an interesting one to plan, since I've never been to the country, but like most Americans, have eaten various Irish (or Ir-ish) foods for St. Patrick's Day. I wanted to mostly stay away from things we've had before -- so no Jameson or Guinness at this meal! 

Historically, Ireland has apparently not been known for its cuisine (though I understand it has an excellent "larder" and a well-regarded modern food scene) -- but as Mark said, "I like this kind of food." Simple but good fare.

For the main course, I made us Irish Stew. I don't eat lamb normally, because I feel sad for the little creatures, but I tried it for this dish. The flavor was pleasant but unusual (to me), deeper and stronger than beef or pork. Apparently the inclusion of carrots in this dish is controversial... some purists would have them omitted.  

The colcannon was nice -- mashed potatoes with cabbage, onion, and bacon folded in. Mark really loved it.

I've had soda bread before, but had not made it myself. It was very good-- though I should have left it in a few more minutes. I think the big X on top is rather attractive. It was interesting baking with baking powder instead of yeast or levain, for a change.

 

For dessert, we had Irish scones with black currant jam. Yum! I forgot to put the egg in - doh! - but they turned out quite tasty anyway.

I used Kerrygold butter in damn near everything, so that surely helped. :) Ireland is apparently known for its dairy farms.

After dinner we watched Waking Ned Devine (1998), which was innocent and charming. They gave the traditional Irish toast, sláinte, pronounced "slahn-chuh." See this page for some more Irish toast ideas. :)

When? November 21, 2020

Who cooked? Lauren

What's for dinner? (Recipe links) Irish Lamb Stew, colcannon, soda bread with Kerrygold butter, Irish scones with blackcurrant jam

Ireland Stats

• Population: 4,882,495 -- so small! WA State has 7.2 million people. Impressive that Ireland has been so influential despite being so small... or perhaps as an American I have an outsized impression of Irish world influence, due to the large influence of Irish immigrants in America?
• GDP: 344.8
• Life Expectancy: 82.1 -- high, 16th in the world!
• Founding Date/Age in 2020: 1542 (formation of the Kingdom of Ireland) / 478
• Official Language: English & Irish
• Most Eurovision wins (the Eurovision Song Contest is an annual international song competition, organised by the European Broadcasting Union and featuring participants representing primarily European countries)
• Most globalized country according to Globalization Index (a measure of the openness of a country to international trade)
• Highest gross national savings