Happy St. Patricks Day

It's time to fly the flag.  We have a great little country at the edge of the world.  We're the masters of freckles, pale pasty skin, red hair, soda bread, potatoes, Irish stew and all the bland food you can shake a shamrock at.  But we're so much more than the stereotype.  Times are hard for everyone just now, global recession, mass unemployment bla bla bla.  It's time for us Irish to stand up and be proud of who we are, what we have and all the brands we have exported far and wide.  It's time to fly the flag.

1. So many internationally recognised people and brands that are truly Irish; Riverdance, Padraic Harrington, Jedward (cinge!), Westlife, Mary Robinson, Father Ted, Terry Wogan and Graham Norton.

2. We'll always be the natural home of Guinness, it never tastes as good anywhere else in the world.

3. The phenomenon that is U2 will always call Ireland their home.

4. We offer somebody a cup of tea before they're even properly in the door.  "Yes, I'd love one" is the only answer we're prepared to accept.

5. We don't see anything wrong with having 3 types of potatoes with dinner - mashed, roasts and chips, what's not to love about it?

6. We spawned a type of pub that's replicated worldwide.

7. We're known for our oxymorons.  Seachtain na Gaelige (Irish week) is in full swing just now and it's a 2 week event - huh?

8. We can boast the fastest and possibly the most dangerous, sport in the world (hurling).

9. We can ask a policeman "Any craic?" without fear of being arrested.

10. We're a big enough lobby group, as Nike found out earlier this week when they released their "Black and Tan" trainers.

Irish Flag Cupcakes

As ever, I was rushing but I managed to make a quick batch of cupcakes this morning from this recipe.  I just divided the batter into 3 and added green colouring to one batch and orange to the second and left the third batch without any colouring.  When they were cooked and cooled, I cut them horizontally into 3 and filled them with the mascarpone cream (without the coffee) to make the Green White and Gold of the Irish flag.