300! (plus Kiss Me, I'm Irish!)

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my 300th POST!

Wow. I have really filled 300 separate entries with my ramblings, recaps, thoughts, plans and gazillions of pictures. It just seems crazy - back when I started this blog in 2008, I didn't think that someday I might be hitting "Publish Post" for the 300th time. What's even crazier is that there are people out there who actually read all this stuff. Are you all wishing you had your 300-posts-worth of time back? Never mind, don't tell me. Regardless, thanks for sticking around!

And...Happy St. Patrick's Day!


I do love this holiday. Last year we had a great New York-y St. Patrick's Day, complete with the super long (but awesome) parade and some fish and chips at a local pub. This year is going to be a bit more mellow, as I have actually had some work come in this week. So, I'll be working all day. I'm a little bummed to have to miss out on St. Patrick's Day festivities, but really, I'm not at ALL complaining about having work! And I'm still sporting my green of course, plus I have the parade on TV in the background while I work. Ah, the lovely sound of bagpipes to serenade my day!

Want to hear the plus side to being stuck inside on St. Patrick's Day? I get to smell the Guinness Beef Stew I have cooking in my crock pot for dinner tonight. I don't think I've ever made this before, but I'm pretty excited about it. I wish I could share the smell with you, I really do. But instead, I'll share the recipe I'm trying. Eric sort of put together a few he found online, and this is basically what I'm doing:

Crock Pot Guinness Beef Stew

Ingredients:
2 lb. beef round cut into one-inch cubes
1 cup all-purpose flour
Oil
1 large onion sliced into wedges
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lb each: carrots & potatoes, cut into chunks [Note: I actually have more potatoes and fewer carrots, because that's just how I roll]
12 oz. mushrooms, sliced
Salt & pepper to taste
1 can tomato paste
1 bottle Guinness stout beer
1 cup beef broth
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
Oh, and I might throw in some peas, too. Gotta have that green!

Evenly coat the meat with flour. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the oil. Brown each side of the meat without allowing it to stick.

Meanwhile, add all other dry ingredients (except mushrooms) to the crock pot and turn on low. When meat is browned, place in crock pot. Pour in the broth, stout and tomato paste.

Cook for 4-5 hours on high heat, or 8 hours on low. About 30 minutes before the cooking time will end, add the sliced mushrooms. Remove bay leaves and stir well. Return lid and continue cooking until mushrooms are soft.

Yum!

(Disclaimer: I cannot attest to the actual deliciousness of this recipe, as I have not yet tasted it. I can only vouch for the smell, which so far is very enjoyable. But I mean, it's meat and potatoes and beer all mixed together. What could be bad about that?)

Happy St. Patrick's Day from this Irish girl!

Adding the second-best part of the stew to the crock pot (the first-best part is the potatoes, DUH)

So, tonight I will be dining on my (hopefully) delicious stew, drinking some McSorley's Ale, and just enjoying being Irish in a quiet, orderly, generally sober fashion. (Is that an oxymoron? Has that ever been done before?) I wish you all a Happy St. Patrick's Day as well, and thank you again for helping me reach this 300-post blogging milestone!

May you have all the happiness
And luck that life can hold,
And at the end of your rainbows
May you find a pot of gold.
~Irish blessing