A traditional St. Patrick’s day dish has turned into more of a nightmare in my household. While it all turned out alright we had quite a few speed bumps along the road. The first hurdle began at the grocery store. We wanted to incorporate a new take on the dish by adding several root vegetables to the corned beef and cabbage. We decided on parsnips, potatoes, and carrots. After visiting 3 local grocery stores and 2 Walmart’s we finally located some parsnips and made our way back home to begin the preparation for roasting the corned beef. Having never braised this cut before we set the roast in a sheet pan that ended up being too shallow. About an hour after being in the oven our house was filled with smoke, setting off the fire alarm, and sending us running downstairs to see what disaster we had created. We pulled the roast out to transfer it into a deeper pan to collect all the juices and ended up spilling even more onto the oven with yet another smoke alarm fiasco. With all the windows and doors open in our house and our dachshund finally calmed down after all the excitement, we finally got everything roasting and back on track, we thought. We ended up staying up until the corned beef was completely cooked and cooled which was a little past 2 AM, with work less than 5 hours away we knew the day ahead of us, St. Patrick’s, might not be as lucky as we had hoped for. Sometimes these types of missteps are discouraging to cooking at home and I can see why it might have been a more desirable option to eat a restaurant that was serving corned beef and cabbage. I think of these times as opportunities to grow as a family. We have to overcome the trials and tribulations and usually unifying, helping, and loving each other through it makes for something more than just another meal. Nonetheless we did it, we pulled the dish together, we had some good laughs about it over the meal that night, and next year we will definitely do it better.