Corned beef and cabbage (#1399)

Topics/tags: Michelle, Postscripted

Warning: This is yet another maudlin Michelle musing.

It’s March 17, Saint Patrick’s Day! Like many people—Irish American, Irish-American-adjacent, and other [1]—I’m celebrating the day by making corned beef and cabbage. Also potatoes. If you’re boiling stuff, you might as well add potatoes. This year, unlike some years, I almost managed to start the meat boiling at the right time [2].

Unfortunately, I’ve found that I’m spending the day feeling surprisingly sad. At first, I thought it was my frustration with the dozen or so things at the College that are taking much too long to resolve. However, even as some of those started to resolve, I continued to feel sad. Then I realized: It’s Saint Patrick’s Day! Deep down, my subconscious knows that Saint Patrick’s Day was one of Michelle’s favorite holidays. Why? Well, her mother was Irish [3], and so Irish-associated holidays, observances, and superstitions were part of her life. Also, some Polish ones, but that’s from her father’s side.

In any case, I know that she enjoyed corned beef and cabbage. And, at least in Central Iowa, the easiest time to find corned beef is right at Saint Patrick’s Day. As long as I remembered how to make it, we’d generally have corned beef and cabbage (and potatoes) each year for the holiday. She’d put butter on her cabbage. I’d generally put vinegar on mine, a habit I learned from her father.

She also loved the tradition of wearing green and, perhaps as importantly, having the right to pinch people who didn’t wear green. I forget whether that policy applies to everyone or only to family and other Irish-affiliated people.

I know that Saint Patrick’s Day wasn’t her favorite holiday, perhaps not even close. Christmas, when family got together, was at the top. Thanksgiving was close behind, for similar reasons. Thanksgiving also gave us an occasion to open our house (or, before we were together, for our parents to open their houses) to friends and the occasional straggler. She loved seeing children at Halloween. I think Easter was often a highlight, at least until her father got sick [4]. When we were a young couple, we celebrated Groundhog Day together. Someday, I’ll resume that tradition.

In any case, Saint Patrick’s Day brought her joy. I miss that joy. I miss sharing that joy and being with her.

She also looked great in green.

Postscript: What do Irish Catholics do if Saint Patrick’s Day falls on a Friday in Lent?

No, it’s not a joke. I’m just wondering. Is there a special dispensation or something? Do they wait until the next day? I can’t recall.

Postscript: Today’s Tuesday. That has me wondering: If you put some corned beef and potato on a piece of cabbage and then fold it over, is that an Irish Taco? And, since it’s a never-ending conundrum, would it be considered a sandwich?

Yes, those are supposed to be jokes.

Postscript: One of Michelle’s cousins says that she roasts her corned beef, rather than boiling. That sounds like sacrilege to me. And how do you incorporate the corning spices? However, I’ll admit that I like roast cabbage and roast potatoes. Perhaps I’ll try that approach sometime.

Postscript: I went through way too many tissues writing this. I wish I could say that it made me feel better.

[1] Presumably not Brits. Possibly not Irish folk in Ireland, either; I’m told they boil bacon and cabbage.

[2] Three hours? Who would think that boiling a hunk of meat would take three hours?

[3] Or half-Irish. It’s close enough.

[4] Yeah, that’s too complicated a story.

Version 1.0 of 2026-03-17.