Irish America

Irish America

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Sláinte! Apples: The Fruit of the Gods

By Edythe Preet

Fall 2022

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Apples are abundant in Ireland in the fall, and they play a key role not only on the table but in festivities as well. Several years ago after a rigorous day of exploring County Laois, I pulled into a pub for a well-deserved pick-me-up pint. It was a wee bit early for the local drinking crowd and the long bar held only one customer, a young man who looked more like a fellow … [Read more...] about Sláinte! Apples: The Fruit of the Gods

Cockles & Mussels, Alive, Alive-o!

By Edythe Preet

March/April 1997

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"She wheeled her wheelbarrow through streets broad and narrow, crying "cockles and mussels, alive alive o." – From the song, "Mussels and Cockles" that remembers the street vendor, Molly Malone. The Irish have been eating shellfish since humans first set foot on the Emerald Isle. Huge shell piles called middens have been found at every seaside archaeological site, … [Read more...] about Cockles & Mussels, Alive, Alive-o!

The Fair Days of Summer

By Margaret M. Johnson

Summer 2021

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For hundreds of years, Fair Day was an integral part of Ireland's rural community, writes Margaret M. Johnson. The holding of country fairs in rural Ireland goes back so far into the past that their beginnings are delightfully entangled in myth, history and tradition. Whether originally a pagan ritual or an occasion for farmers to sell surplus crops, the country fair has … [Read more...] about The Fair Days of Summer

Sláinte: Hail to the Chef

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By Edythe Preet The secret of distilling spirits was brought to Ireland by fifth-century Mediterranean missionaries, Edythe Press informs us, while Darina Allen gives us a wonderful recipe for pea soup. In an issue of a prestigious American travel magazine, a well-known author wrote about the food of Ireland. After dining at one of the Republic's most illustrious hotels, he … [Read more...] about Sláinte: Hail to the Chef

Sláinte! An Irish Christmas with a Drop of Scottish

By Edythe Preet
December / January 2020

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Head back to Kansas with Dorothy, fly to Never Never Land with Peter Pan, and read about the two writers that gave us these wonderful characters. It’s mid-November and we are solidly into my favorite time of year. After the clocks are turned back and it gets dark early, for a brief three months I invariably long for the halcyon days of my youth. Then all I had to worry … [Read more...] about Sláinte! An Irish Christmas with a Drop of Scottish