The Fork

The Fork's great grandmother Suzie was Irish as hell, you guys. Like, from the motherland and everything. She came to America in the early 1920s, whereupon she met and married a Greek man named Leo. The two would go on to buy and manage a farm in South Dakota. So, basically, what we're saying is, The Fork is Irish as hell, too. Like, we wish were in Carrickfergus right now, y'know? But we also know that Gary Oldman style EV-REE-ONE is Irish on St. Patrick's Day, so let's talk about that a little bit.

The real reason we're supposed to celebrate is because of some fifth-century minister named—get this—Patrick. But, as we point out in the Picks section of the SFR print edition, it's mostly a white-person drink excuse. Huzzah! Click that link back there for some info on where to go and what to do on the big day.

We also know that this-here holiday is a pretty great reason to try food things you haven't before. The Food Network obviously has a bunch of cool things to try, including our personal favorite—shamrock cupcakes. Over on Martha Stewart's site, there are 25 dang ideas for St. Paddy's, and that's a good thing. We even talked digital manager Brianna Kirkland into going home and whipping up some festive food. Here are her suggestions and a recipe:

I'm not Irish, but I do like celebrating any holiday that's associated with specific foods. We all know that corned beef and cabbage is the standby, but I've read that might not even be such an authentic tradition. I've had good luck making Irish soda bread, really the only kind of bread I've successfully baked. Ina Garten has a good recipe, but it can be hard to find currants in the regular grocer. I love the addition of caraway seeds in this version, which are easily found in the spice aisle of most markets. I haven't been brave enough to try this Guinness float, even though it sounds intriguing. What do you think, does beer go with ice cream?

This year I'm going to go with a true Irish standby and make colcannon. I've seen lots of variations on this basic recipe of potatoes and cabbage. Alton Brown has a decadent version featuring Irish whiskey and browned butter. I think you'll be safe to wing it a bit, and use what ingredients you like. I'm even going to try incorporating this short cut by making mashed potatoes in the crock-pot.

Colcannon

Ingredients

• 3 pounds cubed potatoes (Note: Use what you kind like. Russets make excellent mash, just be sure to peel them first. Yukon Golds, fingerlings and baby red potatoes can go in peel and all.)
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter; cut into pats (I splurged on Kerrygold to make it special for the holiday.)
• 3 cups loosely packed chopped kale (you could use cabbage or any other greens you like)
• 1 large shallot (or substitute with scallions, leeks or regular onions)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Heavy cream or milk, to taste (optional)

Directions

1. Wash and dry all produce. Peel potatoes if necessary, and cut into evenly sized chunks. Tear or chop the kale into bite-sized pieces. Mince the shallot.
2. Cover the potatoes with water, and simmer until tender. Or use the crock-pot recipe above.
3. While the potatoes cook sauté the shallots and kale in 2 tablespoons of the butter. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Drain the cooked potatoes, and return them to the pan. Add the kale mixture, remaining butter, cream or milk, salt and pepper to taste. Mash to desired consistency and serve.

Whatever you do, be it kissin' on Blarney stones or wearing culturally insensitive plastic leprechaun hats, remember—Ireland is gorgeous, and that this scene from Darby O'Gill and the Little People scared THE HELL out of us as kids:

Also
-Our food writer checked out that new place Lion & Honey and had some thoughts about it. Read 'em here. Seems, like, whimsical or something.

-Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, reportedly hit a bunch of Santa Fe businesses recently, and we hear that a fair number were restaurants. The Fork finds this sad.

-We're about ready to name Baja Tacos as the most under-appreciated Brekkie B joint in town. One recent morning found us ill, and the breakfast burrito with green chile and hash browns ($4.75) basically changed our lives. I mean, we kept being sick, but it was a brief and much-needed respite.

-We also had some of the best eggs of our entire lives this week at the New York Deli, which once was Baglemania for all you old-schoolers out there. Get 'em over easy and dip some of that bagel all up in there. They have two locations, too, so go wild.

-The Fork's partner recently made an eggplant parmesan dish, and the secret ingredient that made it so so so so good (other than gobs of cheese) was Panko. So Panko yours up next time; it's a fine tip.

More Tidbits
–La Casa Sena's upcoming Winemaker's Dinner with Dominique Cornin (he's a winemaker) looks pretty awesome and, at $65 a pop ($35 if you're a member of their wine club), it's a relatively (we said "relatively") affordable way to go fancy. Sounds like you should join that wine club, though.

-Over on the NPR site, we can all learn a thing or two about why we don't see gigantic salmon anymore, and it's not just because they're shy—it's because orcas loved eating 'em. Surely our insatiable fish lust across the planet didn't help, either.

-Meanwhile, HuffPo took a look at the 10 most popular desserts (with that coveted second S) on Instagram from last month. We'd eat all of them, probably, but mostly because we're discovering that no meat means you can pretty much eat cheese and candy around here.

-Speaking of which, there's a real-life-ass Candyland out there, and you can go to it! It's called Candytopia, is in Santa Monica, California, is exactly where we imagine stoners might hang out.

-And while we're bringing up St. Paddy's treats, the fine folks at popsugar.com suggest this abomination complete with Lucky Charms cereal, which contains a breed of marshmallow that The Fork always found to have a skin-crawlingly weird texture.

-On the list of things we never heard about until one day everyone acted like they'd all loved said thing THE WHOLE TIME (like kale), is the macaron—not macaroon, mind you. But what's the difference? Well, other than it's completely obvious, we found this handy little piece to help you out.

-While scouring the internet for exciting food news, we discovered on delish.com that country singer Tim McGraw collapsed onstage in Ireland. What does that have to do with food? Not a damn thing. What's up with that, delish? And what's up with The Fork including it, other than to remind you to drink plenty of water? Easy: Homeboy was dehydrated!

-And for those of you keeping track of what we do, The Fork tracked down comprehensive reviews of the world's best melon ballers. You're welcome.