Seeking the formula for parenting

Blogger Content: September 2006 - April 2010

Flexible Links

My Blogging Inspiration
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants

Flexible Affiliations


Parent Bloggers Network
- Crazy/Hip Blog-Mamas+
(Random Site)
A Member of Bust's Girl Wide Web
Parenting Blogs - Blog Top Sites
blog search directory
Search For Blogs, Submit Blogs, The Ultimate Blog Directory

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Gray's Corned Beef

If I haven't already mentioned it a million and one times, I'm not from New England; I'm from the suburbs of Chicago. That being said, I was thinking today that in another few years I'll have lived in MA for as long as I lived in Chicago. How weird is that?

My family isn't even the tiniest bit Irish, but every year on St. Patrick's my mom would make corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and serve rye bread. We always had some sort of shamrock cupcakes for dessert. In high school I became a vegetarian so it was pretty much just a shamrock cupcake for me along with a bowl of cereal.

The first year that the Big Giraffe and I were married we were so caught up in school and our jobs that we just forgot about St. Patrick's Day. Seeing as he's just as Irish as I am, it also wasn't a high priority. Instead of making a corned beef, we went out to an Irish restaurant. Not surprisingly, there are quite a few around here.

I was completely psyched when I saw that Gray Corned Beef was listed on the menu. I hadn't eaten corned beef since high school and I was actually looking forward to it that evening. I should have been suspicious when the waiter brought malted vinegar and mustard. I think I probably raised an eyebrow, but just figured that people put mustard on corned beef sandwiches so maybe some people slathered it on corned beef brisket as well.

Finally the moment arrived. I could see the waiter carrying our plates to our table. I could almost taste the corned beef already. He put down the plate and then said he hoped we enjoyed our dinner. I pulled out my fork and knife and looked down at my plate...and was absolutely convinced there was something wrong with my corned beef. It was gray. Umm...where was the bright pink processed meat color? Then again, I hadn't eaten corned beef in about 10 years so maybe I didn't remember what it looked like. Except that I was pretty sure it was a revolting bright pink color hence one of the many reasons I had stopped eating meat in the first place.

I called the waiter over and explained that I obviously had a bad piece of meat. He looked taken back. He explained that it was gray corned beef. Yes, I had read that it was Gray's corned beef on the menu. What was wrong with this waiter? Was it because they had dimmed the lights in the restaurant.

Well, it wasn't Gray's corned beef like Hebrew National Hot Dogs or Oscar Meyer Bologna or any other nitrate filled meat. It was a type of corned beef apparently very popular in New England called gray corned beef and the reason that it's not red is because they don't use nitrates. Figures New Englanders would have their own type of corned beef! I'm kidding!

I have to say that it wasn't too bad, but I definitely prefer my day glow meat on St. Patrick's Day. Today I thought that I had accidentally bought one and I wasn't too thrilled about it since I really only eat corned beef a couple times a year. I was explaining to Sally HP how I was concerned about it and since she's not from here we had the whole conversation about what gray corned beef is. In fact there was even article in the paper today explaining what gray corned beef is. A quick google search revealed that many bloggers outside of New England are envious that they can't have gray corned beef on St. Patrick's Day.

Hmmm....I wonder if in a few years when I have lived here longer than I have lived in Chicago wheter I'll prefer the gray corned beef? Then again, I have found myself in the past year slowly working my way back to being a vegetarian so I suspect that by then the only part of my St. Patrick's Day meal that I'll be enjoying is the shamrock cupcake. That really is the best part of it anyhow! Let's just hope that the Big Giraffe got my message asking him to pick some up on the way home from work since I forgot to get them.

A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: New Englanders really do have their own type of corned beef.

Labels:

posted by Alex Elliot @ 6:46 PM   5 comments
5 Comments:

  • At 3/17/2009 11:57 PM, Blogger Suzanne said…

    Mmmmm.. shamrock cupcake.

     

  • At 3/18/2009 6:53 AM, Blogger Whirlwind said…

    I've lived in New England my whole life and have never heard of Gray Corned Beef.

     

  • At 3/18/2009 10:17 AM, Blogger skiplovey said…

    Does it taste different from the pink corned beef? We skipped the whole thing this year and had pizza. I know, we're very festive like that.

     

  • At 3/18/2009 3:30 PM, Blogger Goofball said…

    I find this a confusing post

    Is corned beef canned? Is it salt?
    why do you eat a Irish traditional meal if you have no Irish heritage?
    And what are shamrock cupcakes? (I imagine some green cake with basil, persil taste or something).


    Clearly I have neither Irish or New England roots ;)

     

  • At 3/19/2009 12:48 PM, Blogger jodifur said…

    did i know that? B/c I'm form the suburbs of chicago!

     
Post a Comment
Home
 

My Profile

Name:Alex Elliot
Home:MA, United States
About Me:Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
See my complete profile

Flexible Media Appearances

The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, Fox TV, August 3, 2007

Flexible Feeds

More Flexible Parenting

Grasshopper New Media Parents
Just Cause
Birth Days

Flexible Categories

Previous Posts

Archives

For those of us who didn't get an instruction manual with our babies and for whom parenting hasn't always gone as planned. On a more serious note this blog is about supporting a woman's ability to make her own choices about parenting including the choice, for whatever reason, to bottle feed her babies formula.

Powered by Blogger
© Formula Fed and Flexible Parenting


Creative Commons License
Formula Fed and Flexible Parenting by Alex Elliot is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Template Design based on one produced by isnaini dot com