Happy March and St Patrick and St Joseph Days!

I have been fortunate to take many trips to Ireland over the years...

...my first trip was in 1972 when I was a teen.

 

I am half Irish, so Ireland has always been a place of both my heritage and dreams. 

You can see where I've traveled in Ireland on this blog label--47 posts in all, along with this label's 9 posts.

One of the most memorable trips I made in Ireland was visiting St. Patrick's grave in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland. You can view the post about this visit here.

Over the years, I've celebrated St. Patrick's Day by preparing many Irish American meals of Corned Beef and Cabbage and Irish Soda Bread. My recipe for Irish Soda Bread is on this blog link, and a gluten-free version of Irish Soda Bread is on this blog link.

Another place I have been fortunate to travel to over the years is Italy!

I also first visited Italy as a teenager in 1971 and fell in love with it!

My husband was born in Calabria, Italy, and emigrated to the US as a young child with his parents in the 1950s. He became a naturalized citizen in 1974. It has been wonderful visiting his hometown many times, where some relatives still live.  Some of our visits to Italy can be seen on this blog label--17 posts in all!

Although I've shared some Italian recipes over the years--click on this label to see them-- I've never shared the recipe for the special pasta I make for St. Joseph's Day, celebrated on March 19th. 

Since St. Joseph is known to be the foster-father of Jesus Christ, March 19th is also the day when Italians celebrate Father’s Day.

There are two different recipes I use to make St. Joseph's Pasta, also known as Pasta con le Sarde. I use the Italian Sons and Daughters of America recipe, which is closest to the way my Calabrian Mother-in-Law made it.  I have also used Cucina Italiana's recipe, which is Sicilian-style, although I leave out the raisins.

 Both are delicious! Both recipes incorporate toasted breadcrumbs as a topping, instead of cheese, as the breadcrumbs resemble the sawdust of St Joseph's craft of carpentry. 

March is the month of both holidays and also the month of the beginning of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and traditionally has changeable weather. One day it was in the 70s here along the Colorado Front Range, and then we had significant snowfall the next day! After many windy, dry days with wildfire Red Flag warnings, it was good to see the snow!

There are predictions that by the end of this week, we will have unseasonal warm weather up to 90 degrees!

I hope that where you live, the weather has been good, and that you are also enjoying the month of March

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