Wearing of the Green . . .

It's Saint Patrick's Day -- the day when everyone is Irish and everyone eats corned beef and cabbage!

This year, however, we'll trade in our green sweaters for a green tank top for it is supposed to be near 80 today -- definitely not  normal St. Patrick's Day!

We'll have our corned beef and cabbage tonight -- it's tradition -- but with  nice bag of bangers from Costco, we've enjoyed eating "Irish" most of the week.     They're wonderful for breakfast and we just had to have that traditional pub dish --

Bangers and Mash!     We've enjoyed it every time we've been in England t least once.   It is truly comfort food!

And it's best eaten with . . .

 A necessity in the larder!

The real English mustard which after living in England last Spring, it is always now in the larder at Linderhof -- it goes so well with ham sandwiches and we can buy it in our supermarket.    No trip to the city for this product!

And for dessert -- not a green dessert nor something made with beer and whisky but rather an apple cake -- apple cakes are a traditional Irish dessert (as beer and whisky things are not nor are green things) -- from a fellow blogger and long time friend, Mary from One Perfect Bite.  

It is a great apple cake -- not only for St. Patrick's but for anytime you have some apples that you want to make into a cake.  

We served it in a puddle of Bird's Custard (another product which is always kept in the larder -- alas, not easily sourced in our little town on the prairie but a British dessert wouldn't be  British dessert without custard or cream!)

We hope everyone enjoys a Happy St. Patrick's Day and may your day be filled with good food and green beer (or Guinness!)

MARY'S KERRY APPLE CAKE

(From One Perfect Bite courtesy of Margaret Johnson)

1/4 c. butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg beaten

4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced (2 cups)

1/4 e. chopped walnuts

1 t. vanilla

1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. nutmeg

1 c. flour

Preheat oven to 350.   Generously grease an 8 inch square pan.   In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.    Add egg, apples, nuts and vanilla and stir well.    Sift in dry ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon or your hands.    This is a very stiff batter.

Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake until cake is lightly browned and a skewer inserted into its center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.    Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then unfold and serve hot or cold with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

NOTE FROM MARY:   I was not able to unmold my cake, so I sliced and served it from the pan.   Yield:  8 to 10 servings.

NOTE:    I did not try to unmold my cake and so served it from the pan.   I got SIX generous pieces.