Lucky Foods To Eat While Drinking Beer At A St. Patrick's Day Party

An old joke about Wisconsin small towns is that across the street from every church is a bar. And when Wisconsinites celebrate St. Patrick's Day , we meet in the bar. Miraculously, we've transformed the feast day of Ireland's patron saint into a grand drinking party. The holiday has become a reason to drink copious amounts of good beer. On St. Patrick's Day, WI-Irish join Wisconsin-Germans, WI-Norwegians, WI-Swedes, WI-Mexicans, WI-you-name-the-nationality to raise beer mugs in toast to "The Luck Of The Irish". But unlike New Year's Day with its long list of lucky foods, St. Patrick's Day lucky foods may be any food that helps you wake up feeling reasonably okay on March 18th.
So which St. Patrick's Day lucky foods does the Wisconsin gourmet eat? What are the ultimate drinking foods? High-protein fatty foods and salty foods. Why? Ingestion of fat and protein slows digestion allowing the drinker to consume more beer before feeling ill. And a higher intake of salt helps the drinker retain water countering the alcohol's efforts to make him give it up. That hang-over headache is largely due to dehydration. The only difficulty is inducing the partier to eat these foods rather than filling up completely on beer. That's why the lucky foods are the gourmet foods. They taste even better than beer.
Here are some suggestions. The ultimate drinking food is nuts. High in salt, protein, and the-good-kind-of-fat, nuts top the list of lucky St. Patrick's Day foods. Plus, nuts are easy to serve and easy to eat, - no plates or utensils required. Second on the list is cheese. Cheese fills the belly with good nutrition, and in curd form is also easy to eat one-handed (the other hand being busy holding a beer mug). The traditional gourmet may choose pickled eggs to eat with his beer. Jars of pickled eggs adorn many of Great Britain's pubs, so a jar on your bar at home will add a touch of authenticity to your St. Patrick's Day party.
Since St. Patrick's Day has become a multi-ethnic celebration in the U.S., Wisconsin gourmets feel free to consume well-known drinking foods of other cultures. German Summer sausages are lucky because they too are high in protein and fat. Their delicious flavor entices the drinker to turn from the bar and toward the table.
Lastly, it's well-known that drinking beer often induces a craving for sweets. There's no better way to round-out the gourmet's feast of lucky foods than with decorative St. Patrick's Day cookies. With these scrumptious gourmet Wisconsin foods in your cupboard, you're ready for a grand St. Patrick's Day party!

Wisconsin Holiday Foods: Scrumptious Gourmet Foods For Christmas Eve Dinner And Christmas Morning Breakfast

Festive foods liven up our holiday traditions. Christmas foods decorated in reds, whites, greens, and golden yellows presented on a simple white tablecloth transform an ordinary meal into a holiday feast. So this holiday season if you are looking to coordinate the colorful with the edible, here are some suggestions.
Let's start with the shades of Christmas red. I can't resist the peppermint fudge topped with candy cane chips. Okay, the fudge is pink, but It Looks Christmas! It's certainly as 'Christmasy' as the Santa Claus sugar cookies. And since we're starting with the dessert table, let's match those cookies with ice cream - red, green and white peppermint ice cream! Ah-haa! A peppermint theme here! Peppermint's cool sweetness carries the frosty excitement of winter's first snowfall. And if we've got the peppermint ice cream, how about scooping it on top of a Winter Wonderland Peppermint Chocolate Cake! And since we're talking cake, what about gingerbread! What says Christmas more than a deep, rich gingerbread cake with pure white frosting? Cake with peppermint ice cream and steaming coffee or hot chocolate? Of course we love winter! Of course we love Christmas! We're feasting!!!
But you also want "good food" aka "healthy food" before the desserts? Do those come on a Wisconsin holiday table or are Wisconsinites all sweets now and guilt later? Nonsense! Wisconsin gourmet chefs excel at cooking all courses of a holiday meal!
So let's talk turkey! Low-fat, high-flavor smoked whole turkey for Christmas dinner. It's a no brainer, no-work, and delicious holiday entree. Tired of turkey? Want meat? Easy, - Wisconsin beef is scrumptious. How about a Christmas Eve dinner featuring a Chateaubriand beef roast? It looks impressive, is simple to cook, and tastes heavenly. Equally as festive and a rival in flavor is the Wisconsin leg of lamb roast. Nothing says "special occasion" better than a leg of lamb. And what's a favorite Wisconsin holiday libation? A Tom and Jerry of course, - not the cat and mouse, - THE MIX! The secret's in the MIX!!! Yes, get the party rolling! Put on the holiday music! Listen to Wisconsin's Expressions of Christmas CD as you dine and sip the holiday brews. Christmas Eve only comes once a year, - pull out all the stops!
But what about Christmas morning? How will you feel at 5:45 am when the little ones beg you to rise and see what Santa Claus brought? Will you feel as cheery then as you did the night before? No, but you'll fake it. And Wisconsin holiday food can help. Start off with gourmet coffee, - make sure it's gourmet so it will pack a wake-up punch of flavor and a lot of VA-Va-Va-Voom! Next, serve up the Christmas kringle. A little sugar in the happy shape of a Christmas tree will bring warm smiles to everyone faces. Merry Christmas! - the way it's supposed to be. Another holiday of incredible eating with those we hold dear! Celebrating the good life the Wisconsin way!

A Better Way To Give Mothers Breakfast On Mothers Day

One old Midwestern tradition that many mothers wish their children would forget is the Mothers Day tradition of serving mother breakfast in bed. My brother and I enjoyed this tradition and eagerly participated. We'd prepare toast, juice, coffee, and even eggs and bacon as we got older. Not that our mother actually ate those foods for breakfast, she preferred fruit. But our tradition didn't call for fruit so we didn't serve it. Instead, we'd place our idea of a grand Mothers Day breakfast on a large and cumbersome, wicker bed-tray, carefully carry the heavy tray upstairs, and then try to balance it on our mothers' legs. Naturally, coffee sloshed and juice spilled. Sometimes food toppled to the floor, but my brother and I were never overly-concerned since the dog was always under-foot, and the winter blankets would soon be sent out for spring cleaning. Our mother would make happy, exuberant comments of praise and thanks, but a discerning eye could detect the panic in her expression. My brother and I were so happy to serve our mother breakfast in bed.
As the years progressed, our mother rose earlier and earlier on Mothers Day. If we too didn't plan to rise extra early, she'd beat us to the kitchen. In retrospect, Mothers Day morning resembled a foot race. Eventually, the evening before Mothers Day we'd explicitly tell her to sleep in. But sure enough, there she'd be in the kitchen when we came down to make her coffee. We'd complain that she was ruining the tradition. She'd smile apologetically, but she wouldn't return to bed. Now as a mother myself who has cleaned up too many spills accidentally made by young children I understand why mom always sprinted to the kitchen on Mothers Day.
But just because a mother may be the earliest Sunday riser, doesn't mean she should cook her own breakfast, - especially on Mothers Day. The trick to pleasing a mother with breakfast is to give her something she actually wants to eat, and not make a mess of the kitchen in the process. To figure out what this magic Mothers Day breakfast is I've asked some Wisconsin folks who treat their moms to breakfast what they serve. I shouldn't have been surprised. I've seen it myself, although I've never been lucky enough to receive it. One of Wisconsin's most popular Mothers Day breakfast gifts is the Mother's Day Coffee Klotch Bakery Gift. This Mother's Day gift is delivered with a classic Danish almond kringle, pecan, angel food cookies, and a heavenly seven sisters coffee cake made with sweet almond paste and custard. The gift also includes an assortment of coffee packs. These delicious bakery treats are unique to Wisconsin. Plus, no cooking or prep is required. But what I hear that mothers like best about this gift is that there's plenty to share with family and friends, and sharing food is often what moms like to do best. So giving Mother a Coffee Klotch Bakery Gift has become a tradition in some Wisconsin families. I'm sure my mother would approve of this one.
Here's a link to more Mothers Day gift ideas. For more stories about Mothers Day giving read Edible Antics - Having Fun With Food .

Pass The Springerle For An Old-Fashioned St. Patrick's Day Party

St. Patrick's Day is an OLD holiday. Not as old as Christmas and Easter of course, but the 5th-century missionary who made the Irish Catholic has prompted party-ing for over a millennium. The Catholic Church considers St. Patrick such an honorable fellow that if March 17th falls on a Lenten Friday, Irish bishops will lift the day's ban on meat-eating. Pass the Irish Stew - It's Party Time!
Given the extreme age of this feast day, I think it merits celebration with a highly-traditional food. Let's eat food with history older than corned beef and cabbage (which I think was first made in the U.S.) How about 14th-century Springerle cookies? Yes, Springerle cookies are the traditional way to send good wishes on St. Patrick's Day. They are anise and lemon-flavored cookies which are pressed into iron baking moulds, dried and then baked. The moulds give the cookies a raised surface which is then intricately hand-painted with decorative icings. Today we call this type of cookie embossed. Embossed Springerle cookies originated in Europe in the Middle Ages and were exchanged as we exchange holiday and greeting cards. (Out of paper? Send a cookie.) The scenes on these Medieval cookies depicted the seasons and symbols of the holiday celebrated.
Embossed Springerle cookies are gaining popularity in the gourmet food scene. The texture and flavor differ from today's typical cookies. And this edible artwork can be so impressive that if you want to save it for display you can. Just leave it out to dry and it will harden into a decorative ornament you can bring out to celebrate St. Patrick's Day for years to come.

Looking for more ways to celebrate St. Patrick's Day? Check out my other blog, Edible Antics - Having Fun With Food. Be sure you say a prayer for the cook.