Happy St. Paddy's day to you -- and your pooch! (Also: Irish roots in NYC, and Ina Garten's Irish soda bread)

COMING UP AT 7pm PT/10pm ET:
America's buffest congressman says bye-bye
(See also this afternoon's Breaking News report)

Mitch Waxman reshares a favorite photo

Says our cameramaniac pal Mitch of this photo of his, served up again today on his "Newtown Pentacle" blog: "I fully realize that you’ve seen this shot before, but god help me, I just love it so." We love it too, Mitch, we love it too! What could more graphically illustrate the spirit of the day?

by Ken

St. Paddy's Day isn't a holiday on my holiday schedule, but it's always nice to be able to see people having harmless fun. Depending, of course, on how you define "harmless fun."

In my recollections of the day I always seemed to find myself trying to cross Fifth Avenue while the parade stumbled by, which not only was a near-impossibility itself but exposed the trapped passerby wannabe to the spectacle of the city's schoolkids -- not all of them Irish, surely, or only Irish-for-the-day -- puking en masse on the streets of New York.

I would have liked to say "puking up green beer en masse," but only some of the regurgitated suds was green. Our teens would chug whatever brew they could lay hands on. Nowadays, of course, those puddles of upchuck could include particulate matter of green bagels, green pizza, green-and-white cookies, and green goodness-knows-what.

Over the years I've heard that the Archdiocese has clamped down on, um, celebratory behavior along the parade route, but I can't speak from personal experience. We humans pride ourselves on the ability to learn from experience, and eventually a person may learn to avoid an event like this like the plague.

But to all who've been celebrating: Happy St. Patrick's Day!


REMEMBERING IRISH ROOTS IN NYC



Michelle and James Nevius, authors of Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York and Footprints in New York: Tracing the Lives of Four Centuries of New Yorkers have sent out a St. Patrick's Day greeting with the above image of Old St. Patrick's Cathedral (down in what became known as Manhattan's Little Italy) and a note that "James had a piece published yesterday on Curbed that explores remnants of Irish history in all five boroughs. Follow this link to read "In Modern-Day New York: Remnants of Irish Roots Abound."

"The illustration above," Michelle and James note (which you can click to enlarge), "shows the Irish 69th regiment leaving from St. Patrick's Old Cathedral at the outbreak of the Civil War. The 'Fighting 69th' are memorialized in Calvary Cemetery in Queens -- just one of a dozen places mentioned in the article."

The Neviuses also invite everyone to visit their "expanded and improved website," www.walknyc.com.


IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO BAKE SOMETHING!



Topping the Food Network website's list of St. Paddy's Day treats is this recipe from Ina Garten:

Ina's Irish Soda Bread

Bread baking is notoriously a whole to-do, but Ina's easy-to-make Irish soda bread doesn't call for any kneading, rising or waiting. Simply throw the ingredients in the mixer to bake a loaf that gains a subtle sweetness from orange zest and currants.

All you need is all-purpose flour, sugr, baking soda, cold unsalted butter, cold buttermilk, an extra-large egg, some grated orange zest, and dried currants. You'll find the recipe here. (There's even a video.)

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