St. Patrick’s Day

I felt that this holiday has become big enough for me to write about, or at least I started paying attention to more. You can’t really knock it either because it has a lot of cool stuff going for it. I mean, it’s a holiday where people booze, wear green and have a parade; it has a lot of similar characteristics to Thanksgiving day, except rowdier. Now, I know racism has become a touchy subject nowadays, so I don’t know if referring to alcohol for this holiday is offensive. There are a lot of touchy people out there. I figured it was an excuse to party. How many people who aren’t Mexican go out boozing on the Cinco de Mayo?

However, I always felt weird celebrating this holiday, mostly because I’m Hispanic. It always felt like I was trying too hard to be down with others. It’s like missing the punchline of a joke yet you laugh because everyone else is laughing. But out of respect for their day, I spend money on Guinness.

So last year, I decided to live it up and do a St. Patty celebration and I went to a local spot to celebrate:

I know! I’m so wild!

Truthfully, I feel weird now going out to drink, especially when I have my own place and beer at a bar can cost several limbs. I am sort of an old fart too so those days are behind me. But I never had a real Irish St. Patrick’s Day meal (according to Perkins) and they had a special menu for the day.

Now, for those who don’t know, Perkins is basically a low-rent IHOP. I don’t consider IHOP to be something special so that’s saying something.

The food quality isn’t that great but it’s good if nothing’s around or you’re really hungry and your car broke down. As you can imagine, I was expecting a loose version of what traditional Irish food really is.

The dish the restaurant was offering was corned beef and cabbage and something that looked like a potato ball. So I dig in and hope for the best.

You know what, it was pretty good. I liked the combo of corned beef and cabbage. There was a dip of mustard which I figured it was for the potato, but it wasn’t necessary because I enjoyed the food. Some bites I would use the mustard and some would be plain. The good tastes surprised me because the food isn’t that great there. So either the chef hit a home run, or the meal was mediocre and corned beef and cabbage prepared by a real Irish chef would blow my drawers off, leaving painful burns in my groin area. If I do actually go to a real Irish restaurant, I’ll make sure to go commando.

I did have a Shepherd’s Pie once and it was delicious. Unfortunately, I bought it in the frozen food section. You’d think someone who lived in NYC their whole life would visit an Irish pub and get real food. Then again, I was raised in Coney Island and I never rode the Cyclone rollercoaster. I’m weird like that.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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