SultanOfSwing

More than a few.

I mean, yeah, shamrock is a type of clover but it's the 3 leaf kind that should be used.

markonline1

My ex used to do an Irish stew with wheaten bread that was amazing. I don't like vegetables or stew, but man, this stew was awesome. She also used to do potato and leek soup with wheaten. I don't like leeks either, but this soup was god like. I think it was the cream she used to add as a little swirl on the top that did it!

SultanOfSwing

That sounds lovely. Especially with a nice dollop of creamery butter on the bread. Bloody heaven, that

Nutek

Anian

I thought it was just a Manhattan mixed with two kamikazes.

lizzyq

One of my 8 year old daughter's school friends was cut by flying glass in the 1996 blast and our office junior was on the bus heading into the city centre when the bomb went off. Since then Manchester city centre has been rejuvenated, which I am sure was not the original intent.

I wonder how Americans would feel to find bars serving some form of cocktail called an "OKC blaster" or similar?

dc koop

Let's not forget that the IRA received funding from an Irish-American group named NORAID. The money they sent enabled the IRA to receive training and purchase weapons from Libya.

I could never understand why the FBI allowed the activities of NORAID to continue. The agency must have been aware of where the money was going and what is was being used for

9/11 finally brought home the realization that terrorism knows no borders

Pulaski

And the Czechoslovakian communists - that's where the IRA's C4 came from. I never understood why Maggie couldn't get Ronnie to address the issue once and for all.

kimilseung

I just assumed it was officially raised for Sinn Fein. They might say "IRA" in the pub, but the cheque would be written out to Sinn Fein.
edit: Though a quick Google tells me that Sinn Fein was considered a terrorist organization in the US, before 1994.

Pulaski

I doubt many cheques were involved - surely collections in bars were for cash? But in any case it was all routed through Noraid, wasn't it?

moneypenny20

Were the people shoving dollar bills in tin cans labelled Sein Fein really that ignorant that they didn't think their money was going to the IRA for weapons?

Pulaski

Of couse not, I believe most of them believed the hype that they were funding freedom fighters.

They appeared to be entirely unaware that they were funding communist-backed insurgents fighting against a representative democracy in which all adults were free to vote.

dc koop

I once saw a NORAID booth at a Renaissance Fair here in Cal and I'm pretty sure the people manning the booth knew exactly where that money was going.

kins

I'm from Manchester. I was being polite with my reply to my American 'Irish' friends...

kimilseung

Its a pity that a thread about the oddities of Irish-Americans has turned to the troubles, I see how it happened (my joke included), but its still a pity it did.