Who's your Paddy?

For the first time in a LONG time I cooked an Irish meal that didn't taste like gruel!!! I finally did it!!

I always try and cook a traditional Irish dish on the big day... partly as an homage to my peeps, partly because I like to try new recipes, and partly because I am trying to inspire Dave to take me back to the motherland. I went once in college but haven't been back since.
Well last night I made a beef and Guinness stew and we ate it at our pub table... it was like we were on the Emerald Isle! So quaint! Dave had a Guinness, I had a glass of white wine (I just couldn't stomach the Guinness) it was nice. So you just have to let brag about this one... considering my past attempts.

Oh yes. There have been many a March 17th where I crashed and burned - literally.

There was the time I cooked corned beef in the crock pot - It was too mushy so we decided to throw it on the grill. Yeah. Did you know that corned beef is full of fat? Yeah. And did you know that fat over an open grill will most likely cause a humongous fire? Yeah. Part of my eyebrow fell out. No joke.

Or how about the time I decided to cook shepard's pie... but in the interest of time I used INSTANT mashed potatoes. Yeah. They were a little runny. And sort of.... ran... into the meat below them. Yeah. It looked and tasted like slop.

Or how about the time I tried to boil cabbage and Dave came home from work and accused me of having really bad gas because he said no piece of lettuce could actually smell THAT bad.

So raise a glass all you chefs out there - by God we deserve a drink. It's a war zone in the kitchen.
Happy St. Patricks day everyone!!