The Irishman in the Room

I love family history work, and am very proud of my heritage. I love the rich cultures that my ancestors passed down to me in a blend. I am, as one of my professors would say, "mostly Celtic, but 3/4 German". That's not technically true, I have strong Scottish lines on both sides of my family. But I must confess, I do have an Irish side. Sometimes, my Scottish side and my Irish side don't always agree. On the outside, I like to let my Scottish pride shine, but occasionally, deep down, I still have a secret love for ballads, potatoes, and the Little People. While contemplating the trip to the Emerald Isles I'm hopefully taking this fall, I prepared a full Irish dinner the other night, complete with colcannon, "spotted dog" soda bread, and (because I am Mormon) a tall mug of root beer. I also made this delicious Chocolate Irish Potato Cake, which was worth the time it took to shave chocolate into it. The recipes were all quite simple and easy to follow; I found many of them on this website, http://www.irishabroad.com/culture/kitchen/recipes.asp, which has links to some fantastic blogs. As I was preparing the food, I was talking on the phone to a fellow-Scottish friend (who will, by the way, be a famous author someday), who asked me what I was doing. I told her I was making colcannon, and she paused, and said, mostly in jest, "How dare you?" I guess I couldn't hide the Irishman in the room, and so I mentioned that I do, in fact, have an Irish side that I am quite proud of. I proceded to defend my mother country, explaining that while I am mainly Scottish, I have a love and understanding of the Irish. She paused for a minute, decided to be open-minded, and continued with our previous conversation like nothing had happened. Listening to the Irish Tenors while munching potato cake, I felt proud of my Irish ancestors. As I hummed "Scotland the Brave" while brushing my teeth that night, I realized just how happy I am to be a Scot-Irish-Brit-Romanian-German-American. 

Truth be told, they all make pretty amazing cake.