Shots done, my current backyard and a St Patrick's Day dinner...

This week I received my second Moderna vaccine.  According to current thought, after two weeks I will be able to be a little more relaxed about being in the company of other vaccinated people.  But I will still need to wear masks, wash hands, and be socially distanced from folks I am not sure of.  I will also still need to be wary of doing in-store shopping, taking a class in-person, or going out to eat!

I am looking forward to having my life be more normal.  I am tired of feeling cooped up in my home.  I want to be able to go into a store and not fear being struck down by a virus.  I want to be able to go out and start meeting the people I have been living near for the last year+.  I want to explore the shops and theaters and classes in the area that I have not yet gone to.  I want to try restaurants that Rob and Kate have not already taken me to.  I want to drive to Delta Junction to check out a quilt shop.  I want to be able to go into Walmart and get a shopping cart and just wander around (I have not done that in well over a year!) I want to start (again) my search for a "home" church although it will be a very difficult thing to find a church family like Parkesburg Mennonite.  I really am missing the wonderful sisters and brothers I had to leave behind when I moved.

I was looking out of my dining room window this week.  I realized that I may not have posted any pictures of my backyard.  So I took a couple to show you what it looks like.  You can see what I am currently looking at so you can better appreciate the spring flowers and greening up that has begun happening in the lower 48.

This is looking to the left, towards Tolovana Drive.  If you look carefully, you can see the roofline of a house beyond the pine trees.  The snow you see is between 20 to 24 inches deep.

This view has moved to the right.  That is the house that is directly behind my home.  I will take some pictures come "spring" after all of the snow is gone.

I had a very nice Saint Patrick's Day dinner.  It was just me and Miles, but I continued my family tradition of having Corned Beef and Cabbage on the 17th of March... for luck.  Who could not use an extra dose of luck these days?

I took my camera along for the ride and will share my favorite way to do this St. Patrick's Day meal that never fails and is so very flavorful!

The corned beef recipe is very different from what most people do.  It is a recipe that my mother found, tried, and then used ever after to make her corned beef.  I have tried all kinds of ways to cook this meal and I have to agree with her, it is the best way to cook corned beef.

Here is the recipe.  I do not know where she found it.  It has been used for many, many years.  I 'googled' it and could not find any recipe with these unique ingredients.  The 'note' was a handwritten notation on her typed recipe in her files.

I love this time of the year.  This is as cheaply as one can find a corned beef brisket.  Every now and then, when I get a hankering for this meal, it is more difficult to find a brisket at this price.

This is the part that I usually forget about doing.  Well, maybe forget is not right, I just run out of time because I get started too late.  Soaking the brisket in water removes some of the salt, but in a pinch, rinsing well under running water, works as well.

This little packet of spices is very important.  Make sure that the brisket that you buy has this included unless you regularly have a bottle of Pickling Spice in your spice cabinet.  

This is the final big piece of the meal.  This is a really big cabbage.  I was happy because when it cooks down, there is not a lot of volume left.  I am ready to assemble the corned beef portion.

I have lined a 9 by 13 pan with Heavy Duty foil.  If you do not have that, several layers of regular foil will work.  The only issue with using the standard foil is that you run the risk of losing the liquid that is created and you do not want that to happen.

I have layered some of the veggies in the bottom of the pan.  It gets the beef above the bottom so it does not run the chance of burning.

Place the brisket on top of the vegetables and sprinkle with the packet of spices.  This brisket was large enough that I added some extra Pickling Spice from my spice rack.

The key to the flavor in this recipe is the orange.  These are Cara Cara Oranges.  It was a larger orange than I normally use.  I put the orange slices against the meat and then add some onion slices on top of the oranges.

After adding just a 1/4 cup of water, wrap everything up inside the foil.  Do your best to make sure the foil is tightly wrapped so that all of the moisture and juices stay inside.

Place the pan in a 300-degree oven and allow it to slowly cook.  The original recipe calls for 4 hours of cooking time.  My mother reduced it to one hour per pound.  I used my mother's time and it makes for a wonderfully juicy brisket.

Here is the recipe for the head of cabbage.  I found this one on the Internet at myforkinglife.com.  Quite honestly, I had not tried this recipe before.  I like doing my "Steamed/boiled cabbage" in my Instant Pot.  I have been trying all sorts of different recipes and had not yet found a favorite... until this one.  It is simple and fast and tastes like you have steamed it for a long time and then added a slab of butter, a nice amount of salt and pepper for a truly southern delectable delight!!

Chop up the cabbage... carefully... into 1-inch pieces or thereabouts.  It creates a large pile of cabbage pieces!!

Put one cup of Chicken Broth in the bottom of the Instant Pot insert.  I have a large jar (Costco size) of Better Than Bullion Chicken flavor in my fridge and use it all of the time to make broth.  Also cut up 1/2 cup of butter.  The recipe calls for Unsalted, but I just used my Sweet Cream butter and it worked just fine.

I put all of the cabbage into the insert.  It was filled to the top.  If you use an Instant Pot you know there is a fill line.  With this recipe, you can fill the cabbage to the very top as it is a dry ingredient.  You only have to keep the liquid below that line.  Ask me how I know!  I did not get a picture of the cabbage in the pot before I cooked it.  Guess by the time I got to this stage I was just hungry, but trust me, it was FULL!

Here is my Instant Pot starting to build up pressure for the 6 minute cooking time.

While the cabbage steamed, I prepared the meat.  Here is it opened up.  I am always amazed at how the brisket shrinks when cooking.  This will provide me with several meals, and hopefully a Ruben sandwich or two.

Please note the level in the pot.  The raw cabbage was all the way, I mean all the way to the top.  This is a lovely mixture of cooked cabbage, broth, and real butter!

And here is the result.  There is fall apart, juicy brisket, sweet carrots, and perfectly steamed cabbage with a buttery covering sprinkled with salt and pepper.  Irish Heaven on a plate!  And only one pot to wash as the juice stayed in the foil and did not leak into the 9 by 13 pan.

I hope that those who read this might give it a try.  I promise this will be the best corned beef you will ever make!