By Andrea McGovern
WILLOUGHBY-Michelle Morgan fondly remem bers baking sprees at the home of her grandmother, Agnes Sexton, when she and two of her sisters were invited to help bake holiday cookies and rolls.“It was really a lot of fun for us kids,” she said. “First of all it was out of the ordinary. My grandmother’s house was fun. She had a nice dining room table and we’d do the prep work there. Then Grandma would bake them in the kitchen. And there was the smell of the fresh hot rolls.”
“Of course, when you are a kid, you don’t have to worry about the dishes,” Morgan said. We only did the fun part. We were learning to do the rolling and finding out the techniques they knew. Then we got to eat our reward.”
Morgan said she still likes to bake cookies. Her favorite dinner recipes are casseroles, such as the tuna and potato chip casserole, below.
Growing up in Willoughby, Joe and Bernie Morgan’s six kids all went to school at Immaculate Conception School, where Morgan is still a parishioner.
“We knew we were Irish,” she said. “But we really didn’t do a lot with the Irish traditions. There weren’t any Irish dancing schools around then, and we didn’t go to the parade. We wore shamrock buttons on St. Patrick’s Day.”
But her great grandparents had come from Ireland, and she said she grew up with “the whole mystique about the Irish and their heritage.”
“In Irish culture, everything has a lot of symbolism and meaning. People are very expressive through their jewelry, clothing. They don’t do it by wearing green.”
She said the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day is much wider in America than in Ireland. In that country, the Irish mainly celebrate the saint’s feast by going to church, she said.
Morgan said the Irish have a good natured way of dealing with problems and issues. “Life was difficult for our ancestors, but they were strong people,” she said.
Morgan became the proprietor of the Plant Magic flower shop in Wickliffe in 1998. Owning her own business was a shift from her previous management positions. In 1999, she began to carry Irish merchandise through her companion business Irish Crossroads. Both are located on Euclid Avenue in Wickliffe, but will move to Willoughby this year.
Having an Irish store, Morgan travels several times a year to Irish gift shows, one of them in Dublin every January. She enjoys buying and gains immense satisfaction when people find the perfect gift in her shop.
“When people love the items I have provided for the store it gives me a great feeling,” she said. “Whether it’s an article of clothing or a gift, when I hear someone say, ‘So-and-so will just love that,’ it really makes me happy.”
Irish soda bread fans will be happy this Sunday, when Morgan’s shop presents an Irish soda bread contest from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Breads can be brought in on Saturday, before 4:00 p.m. or on Sunday from 10:00 to 10:30 a.m. Customers and a panel of judges will select winners in the categories of best traditional soda bread; best raisin soda bread; and most unique soda bread.
McGovern is a freelance writer.
ANDREA MC GOVERN
Michelle Morgan’s family kept the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day to a minimum, focusing more on their proud heritage in other aspects of their lives.
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