Choir practice then church then brunch then hunt for a new space heater for the enclosed patio/family room as one of them died tonight.

I'm doing real shepherds pie and Irish car bombs. CF try just using ground lamb instead of hamburger. Makes a world of difference.

I use Gordon ramsey's recipe. It's awesome.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=mwiMEAxfCx8&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DmwiMEAxfCx8

I don't like lamb at all Phil. I've tried it that way before and beside it's a little bit out of my price range.

"I'm doing real shepherds pie and Irish car bombs" - I'm an open-minded guy but I fail to see the humour in 'Irish car bombs'. What audience are you aiming that at Phil?

Irish Car Bombs are a type of drink, too (shot of bailey's and jameson dropped into half a pint of guineas and chugged).

Hmm, looks like auto correct has struck again.

Celtic, understand if you don't like the flavor of lamb, but price-wise, it should only be $1-2 more for a pound than hamburger.

Nigee, do they have the same drink in the UK by a different name? As far as bombers go, ICB is one of the more popular in the US. It tastes like chocolate milk.

Oh well that's still more then I really wanna pay right now. I make homemade mashed potatoes so I figure that evens it out for everyone else.

I wasn't intending to do anything themed for dinner tonight, but this thread has inspired me. Now I'm thinking I'll make some kind of lamb main dish (garlic rosemary rack, roasted leg, or maybe shanks in Guinness depending on what's on sale), colcannon, and maybe these for dessert: http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2013/03/mint-and-chocolate-fudge-oreo-bars.html

@ philcore

Indeed, although we tend to drink them in pairs and call them Twin Towers.

No, I can't say I've seen anything similar. Frankly the idea of adding shots of Baileys and Jameson to the glory that is Guinness is a tad offensive. Almost as offensive as the concept of bolting a Guinness. This in turn isn't quite as offensive as the thought of a Guinness trapped in a half pint glass (especially when using the inferior US pint).

The name sucks a bit too.

@ Celticfox

What is hard cider? Is there an irish fondness for cider ice lollies that I've been unaware of? :D

Best Irishy sort of food will be pie and champ with onion gravy. Although why anyone would limit themselves to only having this on St Paddy's day I have no idea.

Now that I know it's SPD I'll probably spend the rest of the day making fun of Catholic people, Irish people, and generally people who live on islands. I shall use this thread.

I spent yesterday going to parties and laughing at all the people getting white girl wasted. It was funny until my gf (who is in fact a white girl) got wasted and then I spent the night taking care of her. Not so funny....

Though like THM, this thread has inspired me to make some delicious food tonight.

^Catholic, Irish, island people and Tom Bombadil

@Octavious Hard cider is alcohol apple juice? Here's the website to the brand I normally drink: http://www.woodchuck.com/ . Don't have any Guinness around so this is next best thing to me. Rerally pairs well with Shepard's Pie too :)

Hard cider can be from more than just apple cider. BJs makes a great berry based hard cider.

@cf: I think he's mocking you for calling it "hard", they just call it cider, no need to clarify that it has alcohol in it. What we call Apple cider (the reason we qualify the alcoholic type) they just call Apple juice.

Ah.. That's a shame. I'd been hoping that cider brandy had taken route on your side of the pond and earned the respect it deserves. Bloody hard to find good cider brandy here :(

In the UK we call hard cider "cider" and apple juice "apple juice".

@ Draug

Technically cider is made solely from apples, and only from cider apples at that. Although the fashion is for all sorts of fruit to maskerade as cider variations these days. Strawberry is rather popular in the UK, although I've yet to find one anywhere near as good as a well made real cider.

Erm... could you clarify what a BJ is?

BJ's is a brand.

No, phil. That ain't mockery. That's a question. I'd always associated the word "hard" with spirits.

That's what I figured as well Oct. We call it hard cider since certain press apple juices are called cider as well, but aren't alcoholic. What makes them different from apple juice I'm not 100% sure on.

And Omg, what a potential can of worms you've opened, saying that you like woodchuck ... They don't think that the US should taint the word cider by fermenting our own apples. I got a lesson on this about 4 years ago from trim101. He recommended Magners, Gaymers and Bulmers, and said stay away from strongbow. So far I've only been able to find Magners, and it is quite awesome. But I drink stringdow all the time, because at least its English, and I think its pretty good.

Well that's what I can get easily. I don;'t drink very often so I'm not horribly picky.

@Oct: I assumed mockery because of the twin towers reference.

I've been ordering ICBs for so long now that I forgot how taken back I was the first time a friend ordered one in an Irish pub here. And this particular pub was run by a guy from Belfast, which would certainly be the most sensitive to the name. But after a while, its just a drink. Hell, kamakazes have been popular as drinks for decades, and those crazy batards took way more lives than actual car bombs in Northern Ireland.

@ Phil

True, but kamakazes were attacks by miltary people against military people 70 odd years ago. Car bombs are attacks by scum on civilians which still happen. I was just putting the name into perspective. Mockery was not intended.

Except for those kamakazes who attacked hospitals, sure, and the fact that the first round was an unprovoked attack.without declaration of war...

@ Draug

Don't know much about attacks on hospitals, to be honest. Nor have I ever had a drink called a kamakaze for that matter. If you insist that the name is callous and a sick because of it I will agree. Not so much because of the unprovoked attack though. The kamakaze aspect of that was no different than a rifle bullet or a bomb would have been in the same situation.

Being a freshman at university, ask anyone in my res hall and they have reached the same conclusion:
Drinking beer while wearing green is what St Pats Day is all about.

Some people on my floor have been drinking since 8 this morning, and are still drinking, lol.

But speaking of which yesterday I found out that I actually own no green clothes, something I am going to have to remedy next time I go shopping. Where turquoise to a St Pats Day party did get some drunks upset.

The true colour of St Patrick's day, of course, is St. Patrick's blue.

is it? I don't know anything about St Pats day and frankly I don't really care (sorry if that offends any Irish out there).

As far as the average university student is concerned, it just gives them another excuse drink, not that they needed one anyway.

Just finished eating some of muther's good old carned beef and cabbage. Now we're conducting our annual viewing of The Quiet Man.

I was jist pointing out that kamikaze pilots attacked more than military targets. I don't care if you want to call a drink a kamilaze or an Irish Car Bomb or any other ne. I prefer a Vesper Lynd myself. That or a sea breeze, bay breeze, or simply a single malt scotch neat in a chilled glass.

@oct. Fair enough.

@draugnar: if the unprovoked attack you're referring to was Pearl Harbor, then they weren't kamikazees, just Japanese bomber pilots.

The nation that eventually used the kamikazee pilots was Japan. Regardless of whether they used kamikazees at Pearl, my statement still stands. I ddin't say kamikazees were used in the first attack just that it was unprovoked and without warning.

Likewise naming a drink a B52 would not be a name.of a military on military combat weapon as they often bombed factories which had civilians inside.

About the only safe name for a drink that involved an act of violence would be calling one a Panzer or a Sherman tank. You sure as Hell wouldn't name one an atom bomb.

@Draug

Methinks you may be over doing the sensitivity a tad. At the end of the day the only thing that matters is would the name lose you customers. Calling something Irish Car Bomb in the UK probably would because it's an unpleasant reminder of indiscriminate civilian murder and it associates the Irish and violence which is generally frowned upon (in much the same way a drink called mexican inmate may be frowned upon in the US). On your side of the pond this has far less weight (unsurprising, I guess, as you funded a lot of said car bombs) and so it works as a name.

In much the same way a huge number of military terms could be hugely successful names in certain places. I see no reason to try and stop this.

@oct: I think your right about the sesitivity differing due to location. Someone, probably has named a drink a jihad, somewhere in the world. But it damn sure wouldn't go over well in a bar in Tel Aviv. Regarding the IRA bombings, it seemed like I heard about them a lot in the 80s and maybe 90s, but I haven't heard much in the last 20 years or so. Do they still occur?

Not as often. The paramilitaries have for the most part had their backs broken. Mostly you here about attacks being foiled rather than them being carried out (explosives found in cars etc). The fear is very much still there in Northern Ireland though, and a policeman was assassinated a few months ago. On the British mainland it's becoming more memory than reality. It's a good 15 years since I was kept from school by a bomb scare.

@Oct - I'm not sensitive. I don't honestly give a fuck what they name drinks. I was merely pointing out the exact same thing you did: that names of drinks could be offensive depending on where the drink is at. So having a drink called the blitzkrieg in London or the Atom Bomb in Japan or the Pearl Harbor in Hawaii might not be the best thing in the world. It wasn't me who tried to write off the name kamikaze as not being equal to Irish Car Bomb. I was pointing out that it could be viewed just as equally offensive. It is very much dependent on the part of the world.

Four hours later, I'm still trying to figure out what is supposed to be offensive about a drink called a Mexican Inmate. I guess I just live in the wrong part of the world.

Instead of me making roast lamb and colcannon, my evening plans got hijacked by my in-laws. We ended up taking my wife's stepmother out to dinner at a Thai place to celebrate her birthday. WTF?

As long as you got the green curry, it still counts.