Is Surname Doolittle Irish or English or …

I always thought it was English until the kids gave me a family crest indicating an Irish heritage, then some web sites I checked said it was both.  I suppose it could have just come from anywhere where a lazy person got tagged with the name “do little”.  I choose to think it’s at least a little bit Irish so I can legitimately participate in St. Patrick’s Day.

In keeping with our any-excuse-for-a-party mentality, we invited a few friends over for a traditional meal of corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes all cooked in the same pan.  We found some Irish music on Direct TV and washed the food down with the traditional Guinness beer and green Marg O’Rita’s along with a green muscadine wine/champagne mixture.

Most of us remembered to wear green – Bev didn’t and color blind Joe said he didn’t know if he was wearing green or not – note he isn’t in the shot :-).

L-R: Friend Kathy, Joe and Carol's daughter Kortney, SIL Pat, Big Dude, and Carol.

Before eating, we were entertained by the latest addition to the family - Madison's eight week old Maltese (no name yet).

Like meatloaf, our favorite part of corned beef is the leftovers (hash, Reuben’s, etc) so Bev bought an 8# piece of meat that contained some of the well trimmed deckle (to make it that big) – I don’t recall ever seeing this brand before, it came from Costco.

I covered the meat with water and one bottle of Guinness, added the spice pack, and cooked it slowly in the oven.  When it was within an hour of being done, I added the veggies which dropped the temp so much, it took about 1½ hours at a higher oven temp to cook them.

We added everything to a platter, but the Red Lobster cheese biscuits, and we all served ourselves.

Prior to the main course, Bev served a spinach/strawberry salad using a recipe from Food.com.

After we took this shot, neighbors Pat and Steve came in from a Cades Cove bike ride and joined us for dinner.

Later in the evening, we had coconut cream pie from the Old Mill Pottery House Cafe & Grille in Pigeon Forge.  We think the nearby Old Mill Restaurant is just so-so (tourists food) but we like the baked goods from the Pottery House (bread especially).

The meal was a big hit and I would use the Mosey's brand of corned beef again.  Tune in later for the left overs.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

3/17/13 event date