CatchUp Wanna Be Irish Style

 I had a weird day yesterday.  A feeling hit me that I haven't felt in 20 years and it knocked me off my feet.  It was not a good feeling.  

So once I got home, I got busy with work, folded some clothes, got ready for a cooking class last night and the feeling subsided.  I felt "in control" again.  MUCH better!

If that's an anxiety attack, I'm going to do my best to avoid them.

Anyway, the cars have been in and out of the shop with major issues for the past few weeks.  I'll be glad when all cars are functional again without the engine lights coming on or weird noises from under the hoods or near tires.  

In the market for a new or new to me lawn mower.  My dear brother drove here from western Iowa and mowed my yards a week ago Thursday and they're about due again.  What an awesome brother I've got!

While I tried out his mower, finishing the back yard, he used his gas powered trimmer and started in around my garden.  He accidentally trimmed up two of my 3 tomato plants that I grew from seed before he realized there were "wanted" plants mixed in with the tall weeds! :) I asked him to leave the last one as it was my favorite anyway.  They are NOT being productive plants anyway this year.  I guess I don't know what I'm doing with the garden.

His mower is a zero turn and I think I may be sold on that idea now.  It was very awkward to figure out and I almost drove over him a couple times yelling, "How do I stop this thing?" "PULL BACK!  Like WHOA NELLY!"

oh!  Treat it like a horse, huh?  okey dokey.  I've always WANTED a horse!  I'll name her Nelly, of course.  Or Mr Ed.  It depends on what name hits me as appropriate when I finally pick one out.

Aggie turned 2!!!!  We had her party at the Des Moines Science Center with all the major players of her life in attendance.  So much fun!

Then cake with just the immediate family and grandparents.  Her other grandma made the cake and it was SO good!  It had a raspberry filling! mmmmm  I went off my pre-diabetic diet and enjoyed a half piece.

OH - my A1C got tested again this morning and it's 5.5!!!  Dropped from 5.9 in 3 months!  yay!  I'm still pre-diabetic though and will have to consistently watch what I eat.  Keeping it low carb as much as possible.  I think I'll wait a few more months before I bring a few more carbs into my food though.

I got 2 things entered into the State Fair that just started.  Thank goodness my son-in-law takes such good care of clothing I've made for him!  I've been out of the sewing mojo for some time now.  I've STARTED a ton of projects but haven't gotten very far in actually sewing them together.  

That might be my new hobby.  Dream up and starting projects.  I need a friend whose hobby is to complete unfinished projects and we'll be the dream team!

I've got several ideas for Christmas gifts and once I push all the already started projects off my sewing table, I'll get going on them!

Wednesday night, I attended a cooking class in town nearby and learned how to chop veggies properly with knives!  It was so much fun and I've got 2 quarts of chopped veggies that I'll eat tonight.

Thursday night, I attended the cooking class again with a widow friend and we learned how to make Spring Rolls!  OOOH!!!  Those rice paper rounds made it so easy!  However with 8 carbs per wrap, I only ate one and made two other rolls using lettuce leaves for the wrap.  They were messier and I should have had a fork, but oh well.  The peanut sauce was DELISH and the chef deliberately left out the brown sugar!  So now we know we can!  I was too shy to ask, but someone else did. Whew! Thankful for their boldness!

Oh!  Last weekend, Leon and I met up with Maddy and Meri in Waterloo for the Irish Fest!  

We watched knives being forged from railroad ties

Bohran, tin whistle demonstrations and Myth telling

Maddy and Meri were the only ones who enjoyed authentic Irish cuisine.  Leon ate up most of my Food dollar bucks on lemonade, corn dogs, gelato, burgers, fries and fried cheese curds.  No, I wasn't keeping track...  But I did end up with a burger and a few curds.

We saw the Trinity Irish Dancers from Chicago!  And reminisced about when Meri took Irish dance classes when she was really young.

Lots of quality time with my girls!

Leon climbed 3/4s of a wall!!!  The last time he'd tried this sort of thing, he only got a few feet off the ground.  So he's improving!!

Maddy wove some fabric and may have just struck on her NEW hobby!  She's got a lot of them too.  Like Mother, like daughter!

Enjoyed the Highland games!  They're throwing a 28 pound rock as if it's a discus throw!  Some got it as far as 34 feet!  Mine would have landed on my foot.

The girls got to pet some Irish dogs!

It was a fun day and I put in over 5 miles in walking. My watch confirmed!  Leon was beat!  And now he's thinking twice about attending the State Fair with me because of the walking...

:) Maybe I'll bring him in with a stroller! LOL!

Well, back to work.  Meri's car is in the shop today and I'm working from my bestie's nursing home library for at least the morning.  Trying to be inconspicuous and quiet.  She and I have lunch plans but I'm working and she's got her morning schedule.

I've got a mile in so far today just walking from the car fixing place!  

THAT should work off any carbs I picked up last night or decide to eat today.  sigh.  I have no idea how this whole thing works yet.

Pinch me! No wait...

Today is a day of cooking (and work...).  I'll cook in between calls.  Boiling potatoes is not that time consuming, unless you're the stove.

I'm in charge of Tatties and Neeps.  While it is a Scottish dish, it's one of Mike's favorites so I'll dig out a recipe.  We haven't made it in a good long time.  I'm thinking he's just remembering the name and likes to request it... ;)  In the past, we've made it scalloped style, but I like this mashed version.  I'll do that early, then warm it up before dinner.

This was two years ago.

and one of Robb's favorite things to post on St. Patrick's Day on FB.

For me, I like this one...

But didn't find it for my post.  shoot.

The big recipes come out this afternoon unless Robb feels like it this morning .  I also need to make a Fredonia pie and get it chilling for the afternoon.  

I should probably get a loaf of brown bread in soon too.

Things are coming together...  

I feel so Irish!!!

So Many Potatoes...

I started getting into the St. Patrick's Day mood on Friday and made a cheesecake to be used for our annual Irish meal on Sunday evening.  It had a bit of the blarney about it...  Don't you think?

and a lot of food coloring...

But then I baked it...  and I think my oven was too hot.

I was determined to salvage it, so I took a long knife and cut the top off.  And can I just say, yum?!?  Robb and I ate up the top pieces.
I made a cream cheese/sour cream/sugar/vanilla topping for it and let it chill.
No one guessed that it had been burned.

On Saturday morning, Robb, Meri and I had breakfast at Ryan's pub and got the full British breakfast buffet, then hit the road for Des Moines.

Met up with my SIL and her daughter, Sabrina.

Smile!

In between gigs, Meri and I hit a JoAnn's store and found THE fabric for her prom dress.  More on that another day.

Even though it was only 3 gigs that Robb participated in, it seemed like 15.  This last one was a tent jam packed with drunk rowdy people.  But they loved the bagpipes, so that made it worth while!  

It wore us out.  Not sure how many more years we'll be doing this... 

Here is a sampling.

THEN...  On Sunday afternoon, Robb and I finished up the St. Patrick's Day meal feast for our guests that evening.

In addition to the cheesecake, I slow cooked a bag of frozen blackberries, a bag of frozen blueberries, a little sugar and lemon (and a little cornstarch) into a sauce to be used over some little sponge cakes or over the cheesecake itself.  Not much of THAT left!

The Cod cobbler was a BIG hit!  We're finally perfecting these recipes!

The Dublin Coddle was fantastic!  Maddy DUOed just as we were putting the food out and this is her favorite.  Mine too!  We made her just a little jealous...  Sorry!

The traditional Shepherd's Pie...

And of course brown bread!

We also made Leeks in Cream Sauce which got gobbled up quickly.  and I'm trying to remember what else we made... oh yeah, Colcannon.  I thought that was in the crock pot too long on high.  But it was still tasty.  It's basically mashed potatoes with onions and cabbage mixed in.

This was a new dish that we thought we'd try this year.  Irish dinosaur nuggets with red sauce.
Leon said it was the best part of the meal.

Hard to believe he's part Irish...  SOMEDAY he'll like the other dishes just as much as we do...

What did you do to celebrate Wearing of the Green?

Puttin' On The Green

I've got a little (rather large) shopping list for our annual St. Patrick's Day meal this weekend!  AND I need to help Robb find his whole bagpipe uniform.  I'm not entirely sure where his wool socks are...

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day!!!  As if you didn't know.

I've got to dig out the green food coloring...

Robb and I will go pub hopping with the bagpipe band starting bright and early.  We might hit Ryan's pub for their early St. Paddy's day breakfast before we hit the big town.  And we might be taking Meri and a few of her closest friends.  Robb's sister and her family "might" be joining us for the day also.  

A lot of mights...

BUT it will be a mighty fine day and lots of Irish goodness all weekend long.

Have a grand one!

Irish Heaven - Leftovers

 We had our annual St. Patrick's Day meal on Saturday night.  Robb and I spent the afternoon getting ready.  We had 11 people around our table that evening and according to our instructions, they came hungry and prepared to take home some leftovers.

On the table...

Dublin Coddle 

Shepherds pie.  According to my sil, made with real shepherds.

We don't scrimp!

Leeks in cream sauce

and then desserts...

Buttermilk pie.  This was delicious!  and in this photo, raw.  This still needed to be baked.

and Maddy's favorite, Blackberry crumble made with blackberries and apples.

Too bad she wasn't here!  I guess we'll be making more around Easter time.

There were loads more dishes that we served but I didn't get pics of them.  Colcannon, Tatties and Neeps, boiled cabbage, green beans with cracked pepper (trying out a recipe for the wedding!) and several others that I can't remember at the moment.  We did open a couple cans of Haggis, heated it up and served too.  That was actually better than I remembered it from a previous stint of real haggis!  This didn't require as much salt...  yummm

Anyway, everyone left by 8 and the dishes stayed on the counter until the next morning.  

We were just too worn out.

Several meals so far have been made up of leftovers.  And I'm ok with that!

Killing my feet with the Irish

So Leon was gone on Friday, Maddy came home early and when Meri DID come home, she was bummed about something and almost fell asleep in my office tub while waiting for me to get off the phone to talk.  So I handed her a blank sheet of paper and a pen and we conversed that way.  In the end, I sent her in with Maddy to make pizzas because I had to work late.  

Don't you hate it when something big comes down the pike on a Friday late afternoon and suddenly you're in conference  calls right and left?  sigh... Friday afternoons are for winding down and making lists of things you want to do and shop for over the weekend!  For cryin in the mud...

By the time I came in the house, the girls were just finishing up baking the pizzas and then left for a bonfire.  Robb and I were practically alone!  Unless you count his mom downstairs or the 3 dogs vying for attention and will have an accident if you don't give them enough...  

Saturday morning, Robb and I left early to go test drive another car...  But this one shows promise and is being sold by an old friend of Robb's sister.  We've bought cars from him before.  He's a good one!  It's a minivan (yeah - I'm back in that stage of my life again.  I guess I missed it!)  has bucket seats in the middle so THAT'S a plus!  No one has to touch anyone else!!  It has a dvd player, which is a must if you drive Leon on long trips.  He has to have his superheros or Scooby Doo if he's in the car for more than 30 minutes!  

So anyway, we'll find out more on Wednesday when our BIL gets a chance to test drive it with Robb.  He's a fab car expert and I say that in the most admiring way possible!  He can hear a ping and tell you exactly what's wrong with the car and is always right.  He's like a car whisperer.  So our friend is holding the car until then.

After the test drive, Robb and I went everywhere.  My three favorite stores for groceries and in this order.  Aldi's for whatever I can pick off our list, Sam's club for the big stuff and then Walmart to finish off the items that I couldn't find at the other two.  The only thing that NO ONE had was apple cider.  REALLY??!!!  sigh.  That is the most vital ingredient in Dublin Coddle and Saturday. my friends, was our annual St. Patrick's Day meal with my bestie and her hubs.  Robb and I spent all afternoon working on the food.  And if I could find the right cable to download the photos from my old camera, I'd show you what we made!  But I can't.  I accidentally took all the photos with the camera memory instead of the SD card...  So all the photos at the bottom of this post are photos OF a photo viewer...

So anyway, I sent Robb to a local store when we got home because I knew they ALWAYS carried apple cider.  And they did.

We also picked up Maddy's car that was in the shop for a few days getting worked on for her Colorado summer adventure.  I got to drive it home and it felt nice!  Still had the road noise, but that's because of the tires.

Oh yeah, St. Patrick...  We had the girls be our sous chefs for as much of the afternoon as we could.  They also had to fit in rollerblading and piano jamming.  Meri made the leek/onion/blue cheese tartlets that turned out superb and she discovered she doesn't really like it.  Maddy made apple/blackberry crumble, which is her personal favorite.  Robb and I made a billion things, but the new thing was Black Currant Fool, which you have to be careful on how you pronounce it, because if you put the comma (pause) in the wrong place, you might offend someone...

Kind of like "Let's eat, Grandma!" or "Let's eat Grandma!"

I made the Black Currant Fool with black berries and I'll share the recipe on a day later this week when I have nothing better to blab on about.

Mike and Ada drove up and we had a very fun time.  It was like an Irish all you can stuff in buffet.  I think I gained another five pounds by Sunday morning.  We did cook about 20 pounds of potatoes and probably that much in Leeks...  So I guess I ate my fair share...

There are several other menu items that weren't handy when I took these photos, but here we go!

Leek/onion/blue cheese tartlet on the left and Leeks in cream sauce (with bacon) on the right. 

My oven was filthy... sorry!  I did run it through the cleaning cycle yesterday and it looks sweet today.

Corned beef with cabbage.  The corned beef turned out tough this year.  Robb thinks it's because of the place we bought it, but I'm thinking it was because I kept pulling off the lid of the pan whenever it boiled over...  Oh well.  We'll go back to the other place to buy it next year just to be safe.  Maddy and Meri actually loved it tougher!  Weird.  I guess we'll make two next year!

Cod and onion pie.  You DON'T put whipped topping on this stuff!  Robb invented this one.  It was originally Chicken and onion pie in the cookbook, but he made it with cod and it was delish!

Onion pie.  ANOTHER pie you don't want to put whipped topping on...

Apple and blackberry crumble.  It has steel cut oatmeal mixed in with the crumble and YUMMM..  Go ahead and put whipped topping on this one!

 

The obligatory Irish brown soda bread!  I think it would have tasted better dipped in some potato soup, but this wasn't a soup supper! We'll use up the rest later with soup!

MMMMM and Dublin Coddle which is my and Maddy's favorite!  Robb used cut up brats instead of pork sausage this time.  It turned out Extremely good! We've got plenty of cider leftover to make more when and if the leftovers ever run out.

 There were lots of other dishes.  But my mind is a potatoey mash this morning...  

At the end of Saturday, my feet and legs were literally killing me.  I had been on them ALL day.  I had washed so many dishes to keep up that I don't think a single pot went unused in our kitchen that day...

Maddy headed north right after dinner.  She texted when she got there.

I'll post again on Wednesday because I have tomorrow OFF!!!!  YAY!!!!  I'm going to be a bagpipe groupie tomorrow and follow the band around to the various pubs in Des Moines.  If you're wanting to see a bagpipe band for St. Paddy's, email me and I'll give you the itinerary!

Gotta go.  Have a great St. Patrick's day!  Eat your green eggs with ham for breakfast and don't forget to wear green or you'll get pinched.  In elementary school, that was the rule.  It didn't matter if you were Catholic or Protestant or whatever.  If you didn't wear green, you'd be gold and white by the end of the day.

Back with cream sauce!

Where have YOU been?!!  It's been a wild wild 1.5 weeks...  

The puppies have gotten bigger.

 

As has Leon...

I got to spend a full day with Maddy thrifting and finding little known shops all around central Iowa that we never knew existed!  We now know where to find a fringed hippy jacket for around $8.  

That place was cool!

And it took these girls a little bit to realize that, while it may seem like a funky idea at the time, to hold the camera upside down for a photo.  It's really just a photo that is upside down.  The camera takes the same picture no matter how you hold it...

The Friday before St. Patrick's Day, Robb, Maddy and I cooked and cooked all day.  We got everything ready for our annual meal that night out at my bestie's.   Below are a few of the items.

Corned beef and cabbage, because everyone thinks that's all the Irish eat.  So it's there by obligation.

 

 

Dublin Coddle.  I overcooked it a bit much... But it was still delish!  Next time you make stew, add sausage, bacon and apple cider!

 

Brown bread, made in my bread machine.

 

New dish this year, Irish Beef Hand Pies!  We made them the week earlier for when my nieces and their boyfriends came over for dinner.  It was a hit then so we included it in this years meal.

 

 

Leeks in cream sauce!  That's always a hit and was almost all gone...

 So that was the end of Maddy's spring break and she headed back to school on Sunday.  She spent most of her free time memorizing her lines for the part of Missy in Rumplestiltskin in her school's children's theater production!  I can't wait to go see it!  I miss her already.