Irish Stew

There are friends from Dublin in town on one of their regular visits.  They are husband and wife, married 45 years.  He is Irish and she is Thai, or I guess by now she is Irish too.  Yes, I would support that judgement as she makes a great Irish stew which I tasted last Friday when Om and I went to their apartment for dinner.  Om was so impressed that he got the recipe. 

Well, this week, Om did his first ever Irish stew.  It was yummie.  It just was that it was Irish stew without the beef.  The mashed potato and the gravy with the vegetables were great.  What happened to the beef?  We had it there but it was Thai beef and too tough.  So out it went to be gently cooked for a few more hours later on and
to be used at another meal later in the week.  So is Irish stew Thai style. 

This is a great country for loving their food and for imitating.  Here was an enjoyable case of the two coming together and then seeing the outcome.  The outcome was not the same both both meals were enjoyable. 

So what am I sharing here around a simple story of my week? 

Cultures do come together but not to be the same.  They come together because people meet and enjoy each other and want to learn from the other and try something new that they like.  The result can be their own style but it still is the coming together of peoples in everyday reality.  Om knows it is Irish stew but more importnatly he knows it comes from our Irish friends.  This is a way we build bridges.