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Author Topic: Baking Marathon  (Read 4302 times)

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penny

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Re: Baking Marathon
« Reply #15 on: March 05, 2007, 03:36:32 AM »

Well, then. have a great St Patrick's Day, Irish friends!

We do have a big meal with more alchohol served than usual (which isn't saying much). But we don't drink to get drunk. (Although we have acquaintences who do.)
When DH was a lot younger, we did have "merrier" holiday dinners with friends, trying to get a little drunk. Turned out DH can hold his alchohol too well, and didn't act drunk even after quite an amount. So he just gave up on the entire concept. Good for us!

And Elena - what prunes?? I meant virgins. You know, in the beginning of the megilah; Esther is chosen out of thousands of virgins abducted from all over the considerable kingdom (Remember: the Persian Empire), who were brought to the palace, primped up for months and then brought in before the King to choose from.
(This, after he executed his wife Vashti for not coming to see him at his party, nude.)


Penny
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Michele Viney

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Re: Baking Marathon
« Reply #16 on: March 05, 2007, 04:56:57 AM »

Penny

Not only is St Patrick's day a saint's day - St Patrick is the Patron Saint of Ireland - making the day a national holiday. In fact we Irish have turned the whole thing into a festival celebrating everything Irish: there are parades all over the country, there are firework displays and theatre and music events. And yes of course there is the drinking! Lots of it!

And then there's the shamrock which everone wears. St Patrick used the little plant to explain the Trinity (a fundemental tenant of Catholicism - three spirits in one entity). Everyone tends to wear something green although some people go overboard and dye their hair green! (As a redhead - I think that would be a bad move for me!)

This is a very potted explaination of Paddy's Day (as we Irish fondly call it) Even better this year Paddy's day is on a Saturday so the festival starts on the Thursday and finishes on the Monday! and Monday is a Bank Holiday so the nation is taking that day off too.

It's going to be a long weekend!
Yippee!

Michele
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JIM DOHERTY

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Re: Baking Marathon
« Reply #17 on: March 05, 2007, 02:07:33 PM »

Penny,

Another point.  St. Patrick's Day always falls during the season of Lent, a 40-day period of penitential fasting (sort of a six-week long Yom Kippur) leading up to Easter.

Traditionally, those observing a Lenten fast suspend it on St. Patrick's Day, and, if St. Patrick's Day falls on a Friday in Lent, most Catholic dioceses make it official by suspending the "No-Meat on Friday" rule.

I don't know how I forgot about wearing something green!  And shamrocks!  They're both such major tenets of the celebration.  I suppose that they seem so much part of the tradition I must have subconsciously thought it went without saying.

Michele, was I right that, in addition to being a national holiday, St. Patrick's Day is a Holy Day of Obligation in Ireland, or was I misinformed?

Elena

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Re: Baking Marathon
« Reply #18 on: March 05, 2007, 03:02:09 PM »

Quote
And Elena - what prunes?? I meant virgins. You know, in the beginning of the megilah; Esther is chosen out of thousands of virgins

Penny, all I can do is blame it on my very visual literal mind - I didn't connect it with the megilah and Queen Vashti - all I saw when I read it were women bathing as far as the eye can see all wrinkling up from the long exposure to the perfume  :D

However, for the adult listeners to my telling of the story to children, I did downplay that part to the point of invisibility.  Having me there to tell the story "officially" had caused a good bit of discomfort for some members and definitely opened up a prime opportunity for healthy discussion and questions over coffee later.

Green - as a child in Chicago I remember seeing the mayor pouring the first container of whatever they used to turn the Chicago River green.  And, years later in Atlanta a company I worked for had a huge front lawn of a grass that stayed brown until June, so for St. Patrick's Day they would spray paint it green.

Elena
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Michele Viney

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Re: Baking Marathon
« Reply #19 on: March 06, 2007, 03:42:24 AM »


Michele, was I right that, in addition to being a national holiday, St. Patrick's Day is a Holy Day of Obligation in Ireland, or was I misinformed?




Jim

Yes you are right, it is a Holy Day of Obligation, just with me not being very Catholic, I don't dwell on that side of things. I never realised though, that if Paddy's Day fell on a Friday that the Church suspended the No-meat rule - Interesting.

I'm finding it fascination "listening" to the Jewish members of the Forum, I'm learning so much! Thanks everyone!

Michele
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penny

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Re: Baking Marathon
« Reply #20 on: March 06, 2007, 09:42:29 AM »

Oh, I'm learning a lot here too, Michele.

BTW, am I wrong, or did Jim nickname him "Pat" and Michele - "Paddy"?

As for no-meat-Friday: I attended first grade in a public school in Brookline, Mass. (Then did it over in Jerusalem the year after...) We had lunch in the school cafeteria (an "institute" that doesn't exist here at all). But I had to eat my brown bag cream cheese sandwiches, because we kept Kosher.

Fridays were a celebration for me: My parents let me have tuna sandwiches in the cafeteria, like all the other kids! (Now I know this is not strictly kosher, but in those days (a little over a couple of years ago  ;)) my parents were more lenient in those matters.)
I can remember the distinct yummy tast of it to this day. It took me some time to reproduce it in my kitchen!
My Jewish memory of no-meat-Friday!

Penny
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JIM DOHERTY

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Re: Baking Marathon
« Reply #21 on: March 06, 2007, 02:08:06 PM »

Michele,

Re your comment below:

Yes you are right, it is a Holy Day of Obligation, just with me not being very Catholic, I don't dwell on that side of things. I never realised though, that if Paddy's Day fell on a Friday that the Church suspended the No-meat rule - Interesting.

It's not necessarily the whole Church.  An individual diocese might decide to suspend the rule, and, in American dioceses that have a heavy Irish population, they usually either suspend or "transfer" it, stating that the Faithful can choose to abstain on an alternate day to make it up.
« Last Edit: March 06, 2007, 02:14:26 PM by JIM DOHERTY »
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JIM DOHERTY

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Re: Baking Marathon
« Reply #22 on: March 06, 2007, 02:13:50 PM »

Penny,

Re your comments below:

BTW, am I wrong, or did Jim nickname him "Pat" and Michele - "Paddy"?

Both nicknames are used when referring to the saint, but I think "Paddy" might be slightly more prevalent.  For men named "Patrick" today, like my kid bro or Mike Hammer's best friend, the nickname "Pat" is far more common, at least here in the States.

As for no-meat-Friday: I attended first grade in a public school in Brookline, Mass. (Then did it over in Jerusalem the year after...) We had lunch in the school cafeteria (an "institute" that doesn't exist here at all). But I had to eat my brown bag cream cheese sandwiches, because we kept Kosher.

Fridays were a celebration for me: My parents let me have tuna sandwiches in the cafeteria, like all the other kids! (Now I know this is not strictly kosher, but in those days (a little over a couple of years ago  ;)) my parents were more lenient in those matters.)
I can remember the distinct yummy tast of it to this day. It took me some time to reproduce it in my kitchen!
My Jewish memory of no-meat-Friday!

I've always had a taste for tuna, myself.  My mom used to make the best tuna salad sandwiches.  Still does, I guess, but she's in California, and I'm in Illinois, so I don't get to eat them as regularly.

The "no-meat" rule was made voluntary (except for Fridays in Lent) back in the '60's, I think.
« Last Edit: March 06, 2007, 02:15:58 PM by JIM DOHERTY »
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Elena

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Re: Baking Marathon
« Reply #23 on: March 06, 2007, 04:57:36 PM »

Quote
The "no-meat" rule was made voluntary (except for Fridays in Lent) back in the '60's, I think... Jim

Definitely, except for the Chicago Public Schools which continued to make us suffer on Fridays with the same 'mystery' fish they served when I was a kid.  Breaded and fried in crankcase oil until it curled up into a solid ball.  My students didn't enjoy it any better than did my classmates!

Put in salmon instead of tuna and you hit on my favorite sandwich filling from my childhood.  Funny, I can smell it after all these years.

Elena
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penny

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Re: Baking Marathon
« Reply #24 on: March 07, 2007, 10:10:44 AM »

Well, I'm not going to argue with you about the voluntary no meat thing. But I'm almost certain that public school in Boston offered no meat on Friday (mid 60s), or I wouldn't have been able to enjoy my tuna!

Penny
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