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December 2012

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

New Year’s Eve at the Irish Center

The week between Christmas and New Year is always slow, particularly for those of us who had to work. But fortunately, it’s still possible to be Irish in Philly. For example, you can hear Slainte, a Jamison offshoot featuring Frank Daly and CJ Mills, at Reedy’s on Frankford Avenue in Philly on Saturday night.

There are sessions galore, including a ballad session with Paraic Keane and John Byrne at Fergie’s Pub on Sansom Street on Sunday. Go, hear these two Dubliners turned Philadelphians, and enjoy the beers and great menu at this cozy pub.

Many local pubs and restaurants are having New Year’s Eve parties, but there’s always the old favorite—New Year’s Eve at the Irish Center, which features the Vince Gallagher Band.

Coming up: local musicians Gerry Timlin, Gabriel Donohue, and Danny Quinn are teaming up to raise money for Hurricane Sandy victims at Catherine Rooney’s Irish Pub in Wilmington on Saturday, January 6.

On January 7, the John Byrne Band will be playing at the North Star Bar (where I once saw Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jew Boys, whom I’m sure left lingering mojo on that stage).

Also coming up for you Irish theater fans—the Lantern Theatre Company is mounting a production of Martin McDonagh’s “The Beauty Queen of Leenane,” at St. Stephen’s Church, starting on January 10. It’s a Tony Award-winning satire of the skirmishes and silent feuds between mothers and daughters. Take your mom.

December 28, 2012 by Denise Foley

News, People

The Year That Was: 2012

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wp-content/uploads/2012/12/bestpics-262×300.jpg” alt=”One of our absolute faves.” width=”262″ height=”300″ /> One of our absolute faves.

Where do we start?

How about parades? There’s no shortage of St. Patrick’s Day parades in the Philadelphia. The biggest and longest one by far is the Philadelphia parade, and it really brings together most of the major aspects of Philadelphia Irish life, from Ancient Order of Hibernians divisions to Gaelic Athletic Association teams to Irish dance schools. The Philly parade gave us one extra special reason to cheer: The Divine Providence Rainbow Irish Dancers, who won an award for their first performance in the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade. We’re so proud of them.

There were festivals, too, including the Philadelphia Ceili Group Festival, the Penn’s landing Irish Festival, the Scottish-Irish Midwinter Festival, and many others. We were there for most of them.

We spent an awful lot of time at Irish music concerts. We clapped along to the clatter of hard-shoe dancing. We applauded the local pageant winners, including Norristown’s own Meghan Davis, who became the 2012 International Mary from Dungloe.

The North American Gaelic Athletic Association championships came to Philly this year, and we were there for most of. We celebrated the championships of three local teams: the Notre Dames, Young Irelands and Eire Ogs. We also spent a lot of time along the sidelines at Cardinal Dougherty High School football field during the summer, as the local teams battled it out among themselves in the games leading up to the North American championship.

One championship that wasn’t decided locally was the all-Ireland Gaelic football win of the team from Donegal. There was substantially more than a passing interest in the outcome of that championship, given the many local folks with roots in Donegal. One of the most thrilling moments in the entire Irish Philly year came the night the Donegal coach, along with two of his all-star players, visited the Philadelphia Irish Center, bringing the Sam Maguire Cup with them.

Truth be told, we shot several thousand photographs throughout the year, at more Irish events than we can count. It’s hard to remember them all. (And no, it’s not because we’re older than dirt.) It was a real job just to narrow things down to 295 photos.

Anyhow, we’ve put together quite the photo essay, some our best moments and best pics. Check them out, above.

December 22, 2012 by Jeff Meade

Food & Drink

A Happy and Tasty New Year

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/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/magnersham-229×300.jpg” alt=”Magner’s Glazed Ham” width=”229″ height=”300″ /> Magner’s Glazed Ham

You can probably tell that cookbook author Margaret Johnson is one of our favorite people. We’ve asked her for recipes many times, and she has come across with some tasty dishes every time. One of the reasons we go to her so often is that her recipes come right from the source: the cooks, chefs and bakers of Ireland.

To read Johnson’s cookbooks, you might think that this retired New England schoolteacher had been traveling to Ireland since she was knee-high to a butterfly, but in fact she didn’t make her first journey until she was 40. The trip, back in 1984, was a birthday present from her husband.

Johnson grew up in an Irish family, and her grandparents—her mother’s parents in particular, who came from Kerry—never forgot their roots. “That’s all they ever talked about, was the old country,” Johnson says, though she didn’t take it seriously as she might have.

She started to pay more attention later on in life, when she pursued a Ph.D. in English. “I took three or four doctrinal seminars in Irish literature. That was the turning point. I became obsessed.”

The trip to Ireland, on the other hand, was a revelation. “That was kind of like the jumping off point,” Johnson says. “After that, I kept looking for ways to reconnect. I thought about what I could do to keep this connection, and the answer was food.”

Nine cookbooks and more than 60 trips to Ireland later, Johnson has made that connection, and then some. Each book is part food, part travelogue, lavishly illustrated with photos, many of them her own. Her most recent cookbook (which we’ve mentioned before) is “Flavors of Ireland,” published by Ambassador International. Like all of her cookbooks, “Flavors of Ireland” draws on the relationships she has established and nurtured with Ireland’s top culinary artists.

When asked why so many cooks are so willing to share their recipes, Johnson explains: “I am a good correspondent. If I meet someone who has an inkling of an interest in contributing a recipe, I always keep in touch with that person.”

Of course, Johnson doesn’t develop those relationships with the sole intention of getting Ireland’s cooks to part with their recipes. Warm, lasting friendships have developed and blossomed over the years.

With frequent trips back to Ireland and the opportunity to spend each trip savoring the best food Ireland has to offer, you might say that Johnson’s one-time interest and now full-time passion seems like a dream job. She agrees.

“Without question, it really does. People ask, ‘Did you plan it this way?’ and I say, no, not really. I’ve always been a cook, always had an interest in food, and always had a passion for Ireland. I’ve just kept at it.”

Stay tuned for Johnson’s next cookbook, the “Christmas Flavors of Ireland,” coming out in mid-summer.

MAGNER’S GLAZED HAM

Ingredients

One butt half (6 lb.), bone-in, fully cooked ham
12-15 whole cloves
2 cups Magner’s Irish Cider
4 tablespoons pineapple juice
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon of Lakeshire French Mustard or a similar brand

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Score the ham in a diamond pattern, and stud with the cloves
In a small bowl, combine the cider and pineapple juice. Place the ham, cut side down, on a rack in a large roasting pan. Pour the cider mixture over the top. Loosely cover the ham with foil, and bake for 1-½ hours.
In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and mustard. Mix 3-4 tablespoons of the cooking liquid with mustard mixture, and spoon it over the ham.
Continue to cook, uncovered, basting frequently, for 30-40 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer registers 160 degrees F. when inserted into the thickest part of the ham. Remove the ham to a platter or cutting board. Cover with foil, and let stand for 10-15 minutes or longer.
To serve, cut the ham into slices.

KNAPPOGUE CASTLE LEMON CHEESECAKE

Ingredients

Filling
1 3-oz. package of lemon-flavored gelatin
1 cup boiling water
1 8-oz package of cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
Zest of two lemons
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cup heavy (whipping) cream
1 8-oz container of plain yogurt
Fresh berries for serving (optional)

Crust

8 tablespoons salted Irish butter, melted
3 cups digestive biscuits or graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Instructions

In a medium bowl, combine the butter, biscuit crumbs, and sugar. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 10-inch springform pan. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes to firm the crust.
In a small bowl, dissolve the gelatin in the water. Let cool until thick, but not set.
In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice with a mixer on high until smooth. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whip the cream with an electric mixer on high until stiff peaks form. Pour in the gelatin mixture and continue to mix until well blended. Fold in the yogurt and then fold in the cream cheese mixture. Pour over the crust, cover and refrigerate overnight, or until set.
To serve, release the side of the pan, and cut the cake into slices. Top with fresh berries, if desired.

For additional info about Margaret Johnson and her many cookbooks and recipes, please visit her website, http://www.irishcook.com

And check out our related links for many more recipes from Margaret Johnson.

How to Be Irish in Philly

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

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James Keane will be at the Irish Center on Saturday, Dec. 22.

Christmas this year is book-ended by two wonderful events.

On Saturday, world-renown box accordion player James Keane will be performing at the Irish Center with his nephew, fiddler Paraic Keane, and singer/multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Donohue. We’ve heard them all separately and with others and this promises to be one of the most talked-about Irish concerts of the year in Philadelphia. Better be there. Keane’s latest CD, Heir of the Dog, is one of Irish Philadelphia’s favorite trad releases this year. We also hear there may be a Gabriel Donohue CD coming out as well.

(Just a note: You can catch Paraic Keane on Sunday, December 23, with fellow Dubliner John Byrne, at the ballad session at Fergie’s Pub on Sansom Street in Philadelphia.)

The day after Christmas, an Irish tradition lives on in Philadelphia—the Wren Party, sponsored by the Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann (Coal-tus) of the Delaware Valley, at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Glenside. Every year in Ireland, on the Feast of St. Stephen, the Irish celebrate the martyred saint bu getting together, wear costumes in the spirit of the straw men who once hunted down a wren, killed it, and put it on stick which they paraded around town, collecting money, ostensibly for charity. It’s a long story—some blame the wren for giving away St. Stephen’s hiding place, leading to his death. Hence, this celebration of blood-letting and revenge. Yadda, yadda, yadda. There’s no blood anymore, but there’s lots of music, dancing, food, and frivolity. Also costumes.

There’s more coming up in January 2013 (yikes!), including ringing in the New Year at the Irish Center with the Vince Gallagher Band.

Also, if you’re part of an Irish organization and looking for a last-minute good deed to do this year, consider giving Amybeth Weaver a call. She’s the project coordinator of the Irish Tay-Sachs Carrier Research Project at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia. They’re looking for organizations willing to provide locations for community screenings for Tay-Sachs, a killer of babies and young children, in 2013.

It’s believed that as many as one in 50 Irish people (and people of Irish descent) carry the gene for this horrible disease. This study was launched this year because there have been three cases in the Philadelphia in the last decade among Irish-Americans—a surprise to many who thought this was just a disease of Jewish children. (The gene occurs in about 1 in 27 Jews and 1 in 27 French Canadians or Cajuns.)

For this study, anyone over the age of 18 who has at least three grandparents of Irish descent is eligible to take the DNA test. (Results are confidential.) The aim is to establish the carrier rate among the Irish. Even if no one in your family has had the disease, you could still be a carrier. The condition only manifests in the children of two carriers. And it doesn’t matter how old you are—even if you’re long past child-bearing–since the study is looking only for carrier incidence. (We oldies at Irishphiladelphia.com got tested at the Irish Immigration Center screening last month and we’re way overdue for grandchildren.)

The project is off to a slow start, so consider organizing a community screening through your AOH, LAOH, county society, or other Irish club or group. You’ll be helping other families—and maybe your own—avoid going through the heartache of having a child afflicted with Tay-Sachs. Contact Amybeth at 484-636-4197 or irish@tay-sachs.org

And finally, from us to you, an old Irish Christmas blessing:

The light of the Christmas star to you
The warmth of home and hearth to you
The cheer and good will of friends to you
The hope of a childlike heart to you
The joy of a thousand angels to you
The love of the Son and
God’s peace to you.

December 21, 2012 by Denise Foley

News

An Irish Gathering

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.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/timoneygirlshome-300×255.jpg” alt=”The Timoney Girls” width=”300″ height=”255″ /> Dance teacher Rosemarie Timoney, with students Ragan and Siobhan

The Philadelphia Irish Center/Commodore Barry Club opened its doors on Sunday to the Irish community. Like any good open house, this one had lots of good food and drink, dancing, music, and engaging conversation.

Of course, the whole idea for the Irish Gathering, the brainchild of center board member Frank Hollingsworth, was to acquaint members of the city’s Irish community with this vibrant Mount Airy headquarters for Hibernians. It was also to re-acquaint local Irish who haven’t visited the center in some time.

Whichever camp you belonged to, there was plenty to help you get your Irish up. The ballroom featured music and dance all Sunday afternoon, including tunes by Vince Gallagher, the international Mary from Dungloe Meghan Davis, and Kevin McGillian friends, the Timoney dancers, the Rince Ri School of Irish Dance, the Philadelphia Emerald Society Pipe band, and more. Two Irish radio hosts, Marianne MacDonald and the aforementioned Vince Gallagher, broadcast from the center, local Irish authors chatted with visitors about their latest works, and the folks at Newbridge Silverware offered up some pretty Irish jewelry … just in time for Christmas.

We were there, and we have the pictures to prove it. Check them out.

Music

Irish Christmas Gift Ideas: Denise’s CD Picks

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eDog” src=”http://irishinphilly.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/HeiroftheDog.jpg” alt=”” width=”600″ height=”400″ /> James Keane’s “Heir of the Dog” gets the most play in my house.

Just a warning: I have eclectic (read: quirky) taste. Though I love Irish traditional music, I’m not a strict traditionalist. MY ears don’t catch on fire if someone adds a little jazz percussion or an electric guitar to anything but an Ed Reavy tune (I do hold some things sacred). So, if you have an open-minded Irish music lover (read: oddball) on your list, here are some ideas for their Christmas stocking.

Heir of the Dog
James Keane

Stellar button accordion player James Keane—the Italian Castagnari accordion company created its signature keanebox in his honor–in a recent interview said that he’d dialed back the speed in places on his latest CD, “Heir of the Dog” to a “kitchen-style tempo.” You couldn’t tell by me. I was sure that he went through boxes like ballerinas go through toe shoes—once and done. In Keane’s case, I was sure they just spontaneously combusted. Dang, he’s fast. This is the CD that I’m most likely to carry with my in the car, though listening to the foot-tapping tempo on the road may be more dangerous than texting. Playing with Keane on this CD is Kathleen Boyle of Cherish the Ladies on piano, Eamon O’Leary on guitar and bouzouki, and Tom English on bodhran. You gain great appreciation for them—and for Keane—on the smooth and ethereal “O’Carolan’s Dream.” But what I love most about this CD, my pick for trad CD of the year, is that it immediately transports me to a carefree night at a session, with a beer in front of me, and a feeling that’s there no other place that I’d rather be. (Keane will be performing with nephew, Paraic Keane, and singer/multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Donohue at the Irish Center on Saturday, December 22!) www.cdbaby.com/cd/jameskeane

December Moon
The Henry Girls

I first heard The Henry Girls at my favorite pub in all of Ireland, McGrory’s of Culdaff, in Inishowen, County Donegal, in 2010. My husband and I went in for the session—no Irish music, unless you include Van Morrison, but plenty of contemporary classics—anchored by the McGrory brothers and by the three McLaughlin sisters (they’re the Henry McLaughlins—the nickname is an Inishowen thing). They covered everything from The Band to Richard Thompson and the aforementioned Morrison. When we got home, I looked up The Henry Girls and downloaded their CD of largely Irish traditional tunes, “Dawn.” Their sisterly harmonies and exquisite playing brings a newness to some old favorites, like Early in the Morning, O’Neill’s Lament, Glashedy Boat Song, and some newer tunes, like Thompson’s “Dimming of the Day,” and “Morning Has Broken.” Their virtuosity is on the march in “December Moon,” a total and delightful surprise. Most of the tracks were written by the band, and their Irish influences meld well with the international flavors they’ve absorbed. The first track on the CD, “Sing My Sister Down,” owes its roots to spiritual music, while “December Moon” has a decidedly Cajun feel. They also bring magic to Elvis Costello’s quirky, “Watching the Detectives,” my new favorite song. I’ve read that they’ve performed with one of my other favorite Donegal groups, the Inishowen Gospel Choir. I would kill for a recording of that. The girls have toured the US but have been skirting Philadelphia, largely, I think, because no one has invited them here. Can someone please reach out? www.thehenrygirls.com/wordpress/

Another Side of Town
Seamus Kelleher

I’ve already said I loved this CD. This local boy—Doylestown, via Galway—is making good as a solo act after many years with the Irish Band that-could-fill-a-football stadium, Blackthorn. This is his second solo CD turn, and I’m thrilled that a guy who is my demographic (a Boomer) can get better all the time. (That means there’s hope for me.) Kelleher shines here, not only on instrumentals (his forte), but on the ballads like “Reno’s Winter Sky,” a story song about an encounter with a soldier at a baggage claim in Reno, and the eponymous track, “Another Side of Town,” which I nearly wore out hitting the back button. His remake of his earlier tune, “Four Cups of Coffee,” with Philadelphia R&B singer Charlene Holloway, is risky, earthy, and worth the price of admission. Nice, nice CD. Good on ya, Seamus! http://www.seamusk.com/

Somewhere Along the Road
RUNA

Someone once said that Richard Burton was such an accomplished actor that he could read the phone book and make it sound like a Shakespearean play. I feel similarly about Shannon Lambert-Ryan’s singing. She could warble 10 pages of Smiths and it would sound like the angels singing to me. And when she performs duets with her husband, Dublin-born Fionan de Barra, as she does on the familiar A Stor, A Stor A Chra, we’re talking heavenly host here. The rest of the angels are Cheryl Prasker who brings a little folk and a little jazz in equal measure to percussion and fiddler Tomoko Omuro of Japan whose first few notes on the opening track, The Dreadful End of Marianna for Sorcery, will pierce your heart. I didn’t think anyone could do a better version of Farewell to Tarwathie than Judy Collins, but sweet Judy Blue Eyes, RUNA brings more life and poignancy to this paean to whalers than you do, sorry. Likewise, they take a song, like The Foggy Dew, that we’ve all heard a million times and make it something new, sweet, and wonderful, like the best Christmas present. www.runamusic.com/wordpress/

December 14, 2012 by Denise Foley

December 2012

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

The Year That Was: 2012

A Happy and Tasty New Year

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

An Irish Gathering

Nearly a Wrap

How to Be Irish In Philly This Week

Irish Christmas Gift Ideas: Denise’s CD Picks