Happy Green Beer Day!

As a pagan and snake lover, it might seem a little strange to celebrated St. Patrick's Day. It is. But I am such a fan of all things Irish that even a Catholic saint is not enough to keep me from dressing in green.
Most of us have heard about St. Patrick banishing the snakes from Ireland, but how exactly did he, supposedly, do it? I didn't really know either.
Well, there are a few versions to the story. One says that he stood on a tall hill and with a huge wooden staff drove them all into the sea. Another version says that one ancient serpent resisted and St. Patrick had to trick him. The saint made a box and invited the snake to enter. The snake smartly refused, complaining that it was too small. They argued for a bit, and the snake finally got in the box. The stories say that the serpent got in to prove that it was too small, but I am convinced it was just so Patrick would shut up. We will never know. Of course, the saint slammed the lid and threw the box into the sea.
St. Patrick did not banish snakes from Ireland, for the simple reason that there were no snakes to begin with. Ireland separated from the rest of the world before the ice age was over, so once all the ice melted there were no snakes in the island at all. And since they can't swim through the English Channel, Ireland has never had them.
Most likely, the story is meant to represent St. Patrick driving out the pagans from Ireland. Since the Bible has snakes as symbols of evil, and pagans were and still are considered "evil", it is only fitting that they represent one another. Plus the druids that were practicing their religion in the British Isles long before the Chritians arrived had the serpent as a powerful symbol. It's an interesting allegory.

Topkapi is on my lap now, staring at the computer screen as if she could read. She looks horrified.

But enough with the history lesson. All you need to know is wear green to avoid getting pinched and drink tons of beer with food coloring. That's it!

I have some baking to do, the recipe of which I will post later along with a picture of the finished yumminess. It will not be green because I don't have food coloring and it is raining which makes me too lazy to go to the supermarket. We'll just have to pretend.

Here is the recipe for
Pecan Shortbread Cookies

2 1/2 cups flour
6 tbsp. brown sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 cup pecans, chopped (I used walnuts)
8 tsp. jam
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp. milk

Preheat oven to 325 F.
Mix flour, brown sugar. Add butter, pecans. Knead into a ball. Roll dough out into four logs. Place in prepared baking sheet and make a 1/4 inch groove down the center of each log. Spoon jam into grooves.
Bake 30 minutes. Cool and cut into slices.
Stir powdered sugar and milk and drizzle over cookies.