A Timing Dilemma

With St. Patrick's Day falling on a Thursday this year, when to cook that corned beef and cabbage? Corned beef can take hours to simmer, making it a less than ideal midweek meal. We can pre-celebrate this weekend, or postpone it a couple of days until next weekend, or find some other perfectly good option altogether, since corned beef on St. Paddy's Day seems to be more of an American tradition anyway. Hmmmm.