Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Celtics forever!

photo by Natalie Minh

Yesterday I posted my healthy Asian-inspired Irish dinner. Tonight I’m making the regular Irish version for my friends. There will be green beer (that I won’t be drinking, PREP!).

St. Paddy’s is a great holiday because I get to embrace my Irish-ness. I used to think that I was half Vietnamese and half Scotch-Irish, but I did a really cool genetic test called 23andme, and found out that that isn’t exactly true. I’m slightly more European than Asian. Take a look.

Regardless, I can say that I am Eurasian. There were rumblings that my mom is slightly French, which makes sense because she is from French Indochina. But look, she’s Chinese too! Not a big shocker.

A shocker is the Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. What the heck?

Tens of thousands of years ago, when people first arrived  in the regions now known as Great Britain and Ireland, they were physically joined. Not the people, the land. Duh. Today the people of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland descend from Celtic, Saxon, and Viking ancestors. Growing up, there was a story about a Scandinavian/Norwegian ancestor that I like to think of as a “Viking”. I’m sure he (or she!) was a seafaring beast that always wanted to eat the drumstick (like me).

I studied underwater archaeology at Boston University and wrote my main research papers on viking ships and their construction. I can’t wait to SCUBA dive on one. Full circle!

Okay, so no awesome food or fitness information in this post, except to say, knowing your genetic background might help you learn more about your body type. For example, I can’t hold onto muscle no matter how hard I try unless I am always in the gym. This is probably because of my Southeast Asian heritage where the women are very slight.

Anyway, enough about me and my genes. Have a Happy St. Paddy’s day and drive safe!

HMU and Photo Credit: Natalie Minh