At this time of year, a lot of us are celebrating our Irishness in the real world by doing perfectly insane things like tossing back Guinnesses at 8 o’clock in the morning or dying our hair green. And maybe we should let that be a lesson to us all: on St. Patrick’s Day, the real world can be a scary place.
Permit me, then, to suggest a less frightening alternative. If you want to honor your Hibernian roots but avoid the green beer, the sloppy amateur drunks and the annual ceremonial mauling of “Danny Boy,” consider a visit to the virtual world. If you want to unleash your inner Paddy … yep, there’s an app for that.
Here’s a random selection of Irish-themed Web sites to start you on your way.
Ice Cream Ireland
It’s equal parts mouth-watering recipes and small-town Ireland news. icecreamireland.com is easily one of the most appealing Irish Web sites.
Kieran Murphy is the editor. He’s also a director of Murphy’s Ice Cream in Dingle, County Kerry.
Murphy is an engaging writer, and he writes often and on a wide range of subjects. Most of his posts celebrate food, especially ice cream, chocolate and other treats. But he’s also a one-man chamber of commerce, extolling the virtues of everyday life in Ireland’s scenic southwest. A recent sampler of stories: a recipe for a cool, minty St. Patrick’s Day milkshake, a dispatch from an ice cream convention (sign me up), and an unashamedly promotional piece boosting the Dingle Walking Festival.
Murphy is also a very good food stylist. He frequently illustrates his recipes―and icecreamireland.com is a treasure trove of mouthwatering recipes―with eye-popping photography so good, you can almost taste the berry tarts.
Give it a taste.
The Daily Spud
Here’s another superb (and superbly silly) food blog from Ireland―or, as the author notes, “the spiritual home of the potato.” Silly this site may be, but there’s nothing half-baked about the Daily Spud.
Like icecreamireland.com, the Daily Spud shares recipes―and not surprisingly, many are recipes for potatoes. Visit this site, and you can learn to prepare the otherwise pedestrian potato in seemingly endless iterations―for example, Colcannon potato cakes, savoury potato crepes, and potato empanadas.
But there’s much more than meets the eye about this Spud. You’ll find many recipes in which the potato does not occupy center stage―like Thai-style curry with straw mushrooms, smoked salmon with Connemara whiskey, and roasted aubergine soup.
The Spud is endlessly entertaining as well, turning cute little phrases like this one: Ooh, bacon & eggs, me favourite. Rashers ahoy!
Irish Central
Irish Central presents a national and, at times, global look at Irish and Irish-American news. The site covers a range of issues, from the plight of the undocumented Irish to Justin Bieber’s fervent hope to one day perform a duet with U2. (Fat chance, we hope.)
Irishsayings.com
It’s not the most extensive Web site about the Irish language, but it has two big things going for it. First, it offers phonetic spellings of Irish words and phrases. A language Web site―any language Web site―is not particularly useful unless it provides a guide to pronunciation. Second, and even better, irishsayings.com offers sound files, so you can also hear the words and phrases. So the next time you want to employ that always useful Irish phrase, Póg mo thóin, you’ll know exactly where to go.
ClareFM
One of my close friends in the Irish traditional music community tipped me off to this one.
Clare FM is a very popular local radio station in Ireland’s West. You can listen live at any time, or tune into the station’s many podcasts. You never know what you might hear. It could be John Ryan’s show featuring music, news and local info. (Including traffic reports. You expect half of them to involve sheep.) Or you might dial up John Cooke’s news and current affairs program Morning Focus. (Regular features include a segment on bird watching.)
The site also features the always entertaining Community Diary. Among the recent community announcements: News of a supervised St. Patrick’s youth disco in the Auburn Lodge hotel, organized by Clare Camogie Board. (Camogie is the women’s version of hurling―one of the most vicious and entertaining sports on the planet.)
But what really lured me to Clare FM was its traditional Irish music programming. It’s among the truest and the best, featuring the show “The West Wind,” presenting Irish music from the source―much of it live. The presenters really know their stuff, and they often bring otherwise unheralded local Irish musicians into the studio for up close and personal interviews. They broadcast live from major Irish music events, like the Willie Clancy Festival and the Ennis Trad Festival. The station maintains a robust archive of the trad shows, in case you missed something.
The Leprechaun Watch
It’s a not-so-scientific study of the Irish supernatural, and you can take part in it.
In the Glen of Cloongallon in Tipperary, the folks at irelandseye.com have set up a webcam in a hidden location. The camera is focused on a section of the field very near an ancient fairy ring.
You can log onto the site at any time and see what’s happening in this enchanted area. If you have a sharp eye, you just might spot a leprechaun. Maybe a fairy or (saints preserve us) a banshee.
Also on the site, you can view a video panorama of the Glen, send an e-card, or even print out a certificate identifying yourself as a genuine leprechaun watcher.
Help! The Faerie Folk Hid My Ancestors
This is the genealogy blog of local former prosecutor and veteran family history rooter-outer Deborah Large Fox. It’s one of Family Tree Magazine’s Top 40 Genealogy Blogs of 2011.
Fox really knows where the bodies are buried. Want to know the best online sources for searching out your Irish ancestors? Looking for the latest update on the release of the 1926 Irish Census? Crave instant access to photos of headstones from the Toomna Graveyard? Fox offers this, and much, much more.
Fox is also a popular lecturer on a variety of topics relating to Irish genealogy, featuring valuable tips for both beginners and more advanced searchers. (For example: How to Use the U.S. Census as a GPS/Genealogical Positioning System). There’s a page on the site listing her topics.
Fox is also a very good friend of irishphiladelphia.com. (Read our interview.)
Of course, there’s always irishphiladelphia.com to guide you in your quest for Quaker City Irishness. (Full disclosure: Whorishly self-promotional message.) So limber up your mouse finger, and get surfing.