Sláinte: A Winter’s Tale
Just because I live in Los Angeles doesn’t mean I’m an Angeleno. Natives here love that it’s sunny and quasi-summer...
MoreBy Edythe Preet The secret of distilling spirits was brought to Ireland by fifth-century Mediterranean missionaries, Edythe Press informs us, while Darina Allen gives us a wonderful recipe for...
MoreIn 2020 you can safely bet that the biggest topic of news and conversation is going to be the presidential election. And until midsummer, the hottest sub-topic will be “Who will the Democrats...
MoreHead back to Kansas with Dorothy, fly to Never Never Land with Peter Pan, and read about the two writers that gave us these wonderful characters. ℘℘℘ By mid-November and we are solidly...
MoreThe Ballinasloe October Fair is one of the oldest fairs in Ireland. While now predominantly associated with horses, in its heyday it served as a market for the sale of cattle and sheep by...
MoreSummer is in full bloom! The days are longer, and the light is brighter. But with the drapes pulled back, and sunshine illuminating the corners of every room, suddenly everything looks a little...
MoreImagine Ireland. What do you see? Patchwork green fields, stone walls, crystal streams, ancient ruins, horses…and lace. From manor house to country cottage, windows are draped with the delicate...
More“Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain.” – Anonymous ℘℘℘ When people who live elsewhere than Los Angeles phone me and ask “How’s the...
MoreWith the New Year in mind, Edythe Preet writes about Robert Burns: Scotland’s Immortal Bard. ℘℘℘ In case any reader has ever wondered how a gal named Preet could claim Irish ancestry,...
MoreThe therapeutic benefits of seawater and seaweed baths, as well as seaweed as an important food source, is explored by Edythe Preet. ℘℘℘ I’ve got this thing about immersing myself in water....
MoreCelebrate “Talk Like a Pirate Day” on September 19 by upping your knowledge of these Irish buccaneers of yonder years. Read on and ye’ll discover the Irish men and women who sailed the high...
MoreWith Father’s Day in mind, our columnist writes about her own dad, “a true Irish bard.” ℘℘℘ I live with a disc jockey. No, not like one you’d find in a dance club, not at all. My jock...
MoreThe history of April Fools’ Day and tricksters of folk mythology. ℘℘℘ April is full of surprises. When spring sunshine starts warming the earth, night can fall on a brown leafless landscape...
MoreOnce the winter holiday feasting frenzy ends, hundreds of ads bombard us with ways to lose weight. There is certainly a time to count calories, but then there is Fat Tuesday. Dieters beware. The two...
MoreEdythe Preet’s first of a two-part series on the Irish pig. ℘℘℘ Whenever I travel to a place I have visited before, the first thing I do is make a beeline for a foodie treat found only...
MoreEdythe Preet writes about Ireland’s relationship with its signature crop. ℘℘℘ Back in first grade, my “see Spot run” primer told how Dick and Jane grew potatoes in their backyard and...
MoreEdythe Preet writes about her father’s love of literature and storytelling. ℘℘℘ June always finds me thinking about my father more than usual. It’s Father’s Day month, his birthday...
MoreIrish horses are much more than the stuff of legend ℘℘℘ It is spring. The foals are being born. In their gawky, long-legged honor, I give you the saga of the Irish and their horses. It is a...
MoreSlainte columnist Edythe Preet explores the story behind Ireland’s national symbol. ℘℘℘ Telling anyone with even just one drop of Irish blood there’s no such thing as a shamrock would be...
MoreIreland’s ancient Christmas traditions and the magic of Newgrange. ℘℘℘ The winter holidays are a time to gather with family and friends, to share abundance, to feast, to reflect on joyful...
MoreFrom fairy rings to the perfect Thanksgiving side dish, mushrooms have fascinated people since antiquity. ℘℘℘ Alert! Savvy insider grocery tip I’ve kept secret for several decades ahead!...
More“I was elected by the women of Ireland who, instead of rocking the cradle, rocked the system.” – Mary Robinson, President of Ireland, 1990 – 1997 ℘℘℘ When the 2016 presidential...
MoreAs St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated around the world, Edythe Preet looks to March 17, 1776, and the role the Irish played in America’s bid for freedom. ℘℘℘ Pop quiz: What color ink is used...
MoreIreland is known for its redheads and also, Edythe Preet discovers, for its ginger lovers. So this Christmas, make some ginger cookies, grab a glass of milk, and settle down with J.P. Donleavy’s...
MoreIn Irish folklore the raven was thought to be a messenger from the other world. ℘℘℘ Autumn is upon us. The leaves have gone gold and scarlet, night falls earlier, the air turns chill, and the...
MoreWhile most people think of Ireland as a nation of “meat and potato” eaters, vegetables and dairy products are also a vital part of the Irish diet. One of my favorite Irish proverbs concerns...
MoreThe long days of summer are upon us, and gardens everywhere are in bloom. Admiring the pretty flowers will satisfy some, but Sláinte columnist, Edythe Preet, likes to eat her plants. Freshly picked...
MoreAn Irish saying has it that “A dinner is not a dinner at all but only an excuse for one if it does not contain a plate of meat.” It’s a good bet that America’s penchant for “meat and...
MoreWith Valentine’s Day just around the corner, Edythe Preet gives us the story of Áine, the goddess of love, and star-crossed lovers – the warrior Diarmuid Ua and Gráinne, daughter of the High...
MoreEvery year December swoops in with a blizzard of holiday parties. There are office parties, cookie trading parties, trim the tree parties, cocktail parties, secret Santa parties, and more. But the...
MoreIn one of my favorite movies – Michael, a tale of Michael the Archangel visiting earth to help a few folk find their way in life – a particularly sweet scene shows the central characters all...
MoreBack in the nineties a friend’s gorgeous garden made me 40 envious shades of green. Then in 2002, I moved into a little 1950s bungalow with a big backyard that was choked with weeds, discarded bed...
MoreIt is perhaps a love of words that endears the Irish to Saint Patrick. Son of a West Britain Roman family, at age sixteen Patrick was kidnapped by pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland. Six...
MoreIt rained yesterday. That might not be a big thing in Ireland or New York where drenching downpours only generate brief comments from the weatherman. In Los Angeles even scattered showers are top...
MoreWhen it comes to goblins, ghosts, and ghoulies, most folk – without a fluttering heartbeat’s hesitation – will name Transylvania as the epicenter for scary creatures of the night. There’s...
MoreEdythe Preet writes that music defines Ireland’s identity. For every country there is an iconic image that immediately brings the nation to mind. The United States has the Statue of Liberty....
MoreEdythe Preet writes of the many reasons why Ireland is called the Motherland. Civilization began when hunter-gatherers learned to cultivate grain and evolved into permanent agricultural communities....
MoreBrigid – Ireland’s red-haired saint – was one of history’s liberated women. Everyone knows that in Ireland one will encounter “forty shades of green.” Lesser realized is that another band...
MoreJust before midnight on December 31, 2012, hordes of people will be crunched together like so many sardines in the icy cold midwinter streets surrounding New York City’s Times Square. They will be...
MoreBird or game, it’s all about carving against the grain, writes Edythe Preet, Irish Heritage Kitchen chef and Sláinte columnist. An old Irish saying has it that “A dinner is not a dinner at all...
MoreHow the tradition of hospitality to strangers has its roots in an ancient law. ℘℘℘ For more than a thousand years Ireland was regulated by the Brehon Laws. Here are a few of my favorite...
MoreIf you ever visit Ireland during the month of June, it’s tempting to maximize summer’s daylight hours and ramble until the sun goes down. Not a good idea. In the island’s northern latitude,...
MoreHow Ireland perfected the journey from abstinent Lent to the celebratory feast of Easter. Throughout the history of Western civilization, spring’s arrival was always a time for feasting and gaiety....
MoreThe legacy of the Celts in Ireland and how, in the absence of grapes, they used their wine making skills to create a honey-wine. Odds are, you’re familiar with the fact that beer, stout and whiskey...
MoreNew Year – A Time of Big Portions Edythe Preet, Irish America columnist, Jan 2012 Who needs Hocus Pocus when we have global positioning satellite systems, cell phones, ipods, and full-body...
MoreNo Christma-a-as! No Christma-a-as!” Such was the town crier’s chant in the streets of 17th-century Dublin when Ireland felt the hammer blow of Oliver Cromwell’s Puritan iron fist. Garlands of...
MoreSlainte! Columnist Edythe Preet explores how Feile Na Marbh or “Feast of the Dead” became Halloween- with recipes That which we know as All Hallows Eve actually began as a harvest...
MoreEdythe Preet explores the history of Ireland’s favorite bivalve, from Mesolithic times to today’s Galways Oyster Festival. Opening an oyster can be a daunting task. Those little critters...
MoreEdythe Preet on the history and influence of Dublin, and James Joyce-centric recipes. ℘℘℘ When I was young, my father’s oft-repeated favorite riddle was: What is the richest country in the...
MoreEdythe Preet explores ancient traditions of fortune telling and explains how to see the future in a cup of tea. My Irish grandmother, Margaret McCaffrey, was a psychic. “Pooh! Not possible,” you...
MoreDublin’s iconic Molly Malone statue Lately, I’ve been craving oysters, crab, and mussels. I could write it off to the fact that I keep seeing rafts of the succulent treats on shopping forays....
MoreEdythe Preet looks at the legacy of the Vikings in Ireland, including influences that linger in Irish winter holiday celebrations. One day while searching for I can’t remember what in my foot-thick...
MorePop quiz: what’s the most popular Irish boy’s name? Odds are, the first one that came to mind was Patrick. Wrong. While Saint Patrick is Ireland’s patron, his name comes in at #18. Go ahead,...
MoreMany scholars contend that our prehistoric ancestors gave up their hunting-and-gathering lifestyle once they learned how to bake bread. Although there is evidence that barley was sown and harvested...
MoreMy friend Vickie’s face blossoms with one of those secret smiles when I tell her she’s a cheesy broad. Truth of the matter is, she’s a cheese guru who, given the slightest opportunity, will...
MoreJust because I live in Los Angeles doesn’t mean I’m an Angeleno. Natives here love that it’s sunny and quasi-summer all year long. Not me. Locals think I’m crazy. Crazy like a fox, I say....
MoreAs my sophomore year of high school began in 1960, the country was buzzing with the coming election. An Irish American was running for president! My Irish relatives rallied to the call and even my...
MoreWhen autumn arrives, trees turn shades of ochre, orange and scandalous scarlet, scents of wood smoke waft on the suddenly chill air, and I am annually reminded of my first trip to Ireland. It was...
MoreJust when I think I have my dad all figured out, a new snippet of info comes to light, and June always finds me thinking more about him than usual. It’s Father’s Day month, his birthday was the...
MoreThough I am at most times a mild-mannered pacifist, last week I had a meltdown. But I had a good reason. I was fighting to save a tree. Every winter since moving into my Fifties Bungalow in 2002, I...
MoreOne day last summer while inspecting the progress of my vegetable plants, I heard something that sounded like a giant cell phone on vibrator setting. Turning in the direction of the noise and peering...
MoreAs I sit and write this during the global economic meltdown of October 2008, I admit to getting tired of listening to all the pundits predict that 2009 is going to be a humdinger of a financial...
MoreBack in first grade my See Spot Run primer told how Dick and Jane grew potatoes in their backyard and roasted them in an autumn leaf bonfire. If those kids can do that, I thought, so can I. Mom...
MoreOf all the months of the year, only August has no “official” holiday. That’s poor marketing if you ask me. Holidays generate more “stimulus” to the economic calendar than...
MoreThe sacred nature of water was revered by our ancestors for its healing powers. It always amuses me when a phone call with someone on the East Coast includes the question: “How’s the weather in...
MoreMy friend Michael says he has a charming mother. He hastens to add: “I know you think we all do, but my mother has charms other than the ones on her gold bracelet. She has the ability to stop...
MorePining for a pint of stout, an earful of blarney, and a toe-tapping fiddle tune but find yourself far removed from the Emerald Isle? Fret not. Edythe Preet has the answer. Be ye in an off-island...
MoreAn Irish adage advises: Go East for a woman; go West for a horse. When I was a girl I had a bicycle. I wanted a horse. That was not in the cards for this city child, so I named my bike Lightening and...
MoreI don’t watch much television. Mainly because, despite the hundreds of channels, the menu is mostly repeats. Every so often, however, something extraordinary airs and I become (dare I admit it?) a...
MoreA Wedding Day and Bloomsday Coincide Coincidences never cease to amaze me. Once is, well, coincidence. Twice, will earn a ‘hmmm.’ Three times, sends the eyebrows soaring. But when something...
MoreNearly thirty-eight years ago an exuberant friend named Eddie burst into the office where I was working as assistant to a Hollywood producer commanding, “Come with me right now. I want to introduce...
MoreFrom space, Earth resembles a big beautiful marble with swirling patterns of blue (oceans), white (clouds), and green (trees). As global warming makes weekly headlines, we are warned of the dire...
MoreAmericans vacation in July. Europeans do it in August. No one goes anywhere in September. During the peak summer months, regardless of continent, the shops are crowded, the beaches are jammed,...
MoreWhen I set out this year’s veggie garden, it never occurred to me that 6 eggplants, 5 peppers, 4 cucumbers, 6 string beans, 3 zucchini, and 8 tomato plants, plus a few 4-inch pots of herbs,...
MoreAn Irish American chef will be responsible for feeding some 30,000 Democrats. ℘℘℘ It’s a big year for Boston. For the first time in U.S. history, the city will be hosting a presidential...
MoreOne Sunny June afternoon several years ago, I stood on a Wicklow cliff overlooking the Irish Sea. All around me, mounds of wild roses covered the ground. No genetically crafted sterile blooms were...
MoreJust recently I moved into a little house with a large front lawn and a very large back yard. All needed some tender loving care. The house, a darling early fifties bungalow constructed during...
MoreSeveral years ago after a rigorous day of exploring County Laois, I pulled into a pub for a well-deserved pick-me-up pint. It was a wee bit early for the local drinking crowd and the long bar held...
MoreOn my second trip to Ireland half a dozen years ago, a fellow passenger in the Aer Lingus jumbo asked me, “Do you know what happened when St. Patrick got rid of all the snakes?” I took...
MoreOften when I sit down to write Sláinte! I find myself ruminating about my Dad’s favorite foods, which writing this ongoing series has revealed to me are almost always directly related to the...
MoreCall me crazy, but oatmeal cookies have never had a spot on my favorite foods list. They’re too sweet. I prefer my oats prepared in such a way that I can really taste the full nutty flavor. I...
MoreChristmas is one of those words that immediately brings thoughts to mind. First, and foremost in these troubled times, is the hope for peace on earth. Hard on the heels of our heartfelt sentiments...
MoreAsk anyone to name five favorite holidays, and it’s a sure bet Halloween will be on the list. Then ask how the celebration came to be. More than likely you’ll be told Halloween means All...
MoreThe most joyous event of the Celtic year is Lughnasa (August 1), the beginning of the annual harvest. The Celtic calendar was structured on nature’s agricultural cycle and great festivals...
MoreOne of summer’s finest gifts is its long hours of sunshine. This is especially true the farther one travels from the equator where a midwinter’s night is so long that only a few hours of...
MoreIn the 13th century when theologians were arguing how many angels could stand on the head of a pin, Thomas Aquinas, an inquisitive scholar of the Dominican Order of Friars, posed the famous...
MoreTime passes and things change. As people migrate from nation to nation around the earth, they may leave the land of their birth behind, but their travel gear is packed chock full of tradition. No...
MoreCome fall, the days grow shorter, temperatures drop, and trees shed their leaves. Just as certainly, as soon as there’s a chill in the air and a hint of winter weather creeps onto the scene,...
MoreRegular readers have probably deduced I’m a boomer – a member of that generation born after WWII when the troops came home. Along with more than one hundred thousand other Americans, my Da...
MoreA love of lace is woven into the fabric of Irish life. ℘℘℘ Perhaps my favorite possession is my mother’s trousseau chest. Treasure chest is more apt since it’s filled with...
More