We celebrated Valentine's Day in a restaurant this year, and we usually have a family dinner. That made me want to celebrate St. Patrick's Day at my house! We always celebrated my daddy's March 18th birthday with a St. Patrick's theme. He's been gone a few years, but I still like to think the cake is all for him!
Since Phoebe has really started paying attention to tablescapes and themes, I try to make them extra special with real meaning. "Inspire" was the word theme this time! I didn't inspire her to eat. Instead this meal inspired her to go decorate her bedroom (at my house) for Easter! Whatever works!
Our centerpiece was composed with a few things that I had in different places throughout the house. However, Phoebe and I had just recently found the Belleek candle holder and the tiny Irish cottage ornament at our favorite collectible shop!
Our little purple grape room is back to being a tiny dining room. I designed it fifteen years ago as a "wining women" room! A place for gathering and sipping. Phoebe came along and it was transformed to a room where we could have a baby bed. Now we are back to wine and food, so we christened it with a St. Patrick's Day family dinner! The chocolate cake made with a bottle of Irish beer might have been the focal point of the traditional corned beef meal! Actually, "traditional" it was not. I cooked the corned beef in the crock pot until it was fork tender and served it with a brown sugar grainy mustard glaze. Instead of cooking cabbage, potatoes and carrots with the meat ... I made tiny smashed potatoes and broiled them with a smokey Gouda pimento cheese topping. I stir fried the cabbage and thinly sliced carrots so they would be crisp tender.
Our place setting was casual. Pioneer Woman polka dotted plates; honeybee flatware is Cambridge. Don't you love the Celtic knot napkin rings? I like to use a sheer fabric when I want a tablecloth on this table, so we can still tell that it has a glass top.
