St Patrick's Day Meal

Steaming bowls of lamb stew and freshly baked soda bread (this time with raisins and caraway) provide a simple yet very satisfying meal for St Patrick's Day. In most years the table would have been decorated with a big bouquet of Helleborus foetidus, too. But this year the hellebores are late and show cold damage. The daffodils came from the grocery store: only a few 'Rijnveld's Early Sensation' were actually blooming in the garden, and I wasn't about to cut those.  It does not get much better than a meal like this taken in a quiet evening at home.  

Cantabrian daffodils

Daffodils have yet to make an appearance in the open garden, but in the protected cold frame several of the tiny white-flowered hoop petticoat daffodils are starting to bloom. The parents of these plants grow wild in Spain and north Africa. The nomenclature in this group is… euphemisms fail me…a mess. Some of the names I’ve seen are ridiculous. For now I’m keeping records of my sources and the “as received” names. And I’m still waiting for someone to sort it all out.

In the meantime, let's just enjoy them.