There are not alot of things that I can say I am crazy in love with, OK the husband & kids don't count! I really like clothes (trust me, anyone that ever physically sees me loves that fact that I wear them!) I really like watching the sunset on a beautiful spring day and I like the fact that I was born and raised in gorgeous San Diego, you get what I mean right?
But I am crazy in love with the
Gospel, I am crazy in love with the
mountains and skiing and I am crazy in love with my IRISH heritage!
I loved that my daddy would make us
corn beef and cabbage every St. Patty's day even though no one really liked it. I try to keep that tradition going today, only I have added potato's and whoopie pies with green filling, which seems to be the only part of dinner anyone really
likes:):)
I like the fact that I have some pretty cool company in the Irish Heritage dept. I mean how can you not like that Bono, Pierce Brosnan, Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell, Peter O' Toole, and Enya all share Irish blood.
I remember growing up in San Diego and going to every Celtic fair that came to town. My mom would drag us to every cultural event there ever was and I usually complained the entire time. Not when we went to the Celtic one's! I loved watching the
dancers doing the Irish Jig and Step dancing. I loved the costumes they would wear and the Celtic music they played. I always wanted to learn how to do those dances!
I will never forget one festival we went to my mom was looking at a
map of Ireland trying to find a tiny town we had a relative from, she was doing genealogy and needed to find it. After searching this map for what seemed like forever in my 8 year old mind, she turned to me and asked if I could find it. I will never forget turning to the map and feeling as if someone was standing over me pointing it out to me, there was no one there that you could see but instantly I pointed my finger to the direction I felt and there it was! That experience left such and impression on me and my mom's words of "you must be really close to your Irish ancestors" has never left me.
It is on my " bucket list" to one day go to
Ireland, I love the pictures, music, food and can't wait to one day stand on it's beautiful cliffs.
I am also very grateful for my Irish traits, I never really appreciated them as a kid but man do I have freckles! I have found that if I avoid the sun and with makeup that I can keep them pretty well hidden but give me a full two days or so in the sun and I am blooming like it's spring on my face! I would also avoid the sun because of my hair, (oh my I will never get along with you hair!) turns a golden blond with shades of red highlights! I hated the freckles and reddish hair growing up but looking at my pictures as a kid, they were really cute!!
I have also come to appreciate my fair skin and green eyes. I never really wore green on St. Patty's day because I just told everyone they couldn't pinch me, I had green eyes! Worked on everyone but my brothers!!
I am proud to be Irish! I hope I can share that pride with my kids so that they appreciate their heritage as well! I look forward to one day meeting all the Gibson's in heaven! I can tell my kids that when I am gone up to heaven and you hear thunder from the skies, no worries it will just be me wearing clogs and finally learning the Irish Jig:):)
HAPPY ST. PATTY's DAY!!
Carlingford, Cooley Peninsula, County Louth, Ireland
TREAT: Whoopie Pies with GREEN filling: YUMMMM:):)
Ingredients
- 3 cups sugar
- 1 cup butter
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 6 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 tablespoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups milk
- Filling, recipe follows
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, or preheat a convection oven to 315 degrees F.
In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar, butter, and eggs together until well combined. Add the oil and vanilla and beat again.
In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. Add half of the dry mixture to the egg mixture and beat or stir to blend. Add 1 1/2 cups milk and beat again. Add the remaining dry mixture and beat until incorporated. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups milk and beat until blended.
With a large spoon, scoop out 32 circles of batter onto a baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool.
Spread filling onto 16 circles and place remaining circles on top, to make 16 Whoopie Pies.
Filling:
1 1/2 cups shortening
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 1/3 cups marshmallow topping
Dash salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 to 1/2 cup milk
3 to 4 drops GREEN food coloring
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine all ingredients except the milk and beat well. Add just enough milk to achieve a creamy consistency. Spread filling across cooled cookie circles.
(courtesy Moody's Diner)
