Entertaining Friday: It's St. Patrick's Season

It's March - finally - and chez Pollard, that means one thing: St. Patrick's Day. Or, more accurately, St. Patrick's Month, since around these parts, we dedicate most of March to celebrating our Irish heritage.

This year, our only official celebration comes tomorrow, when we kick off the month with our annual Fake St. Patrick's Day at Ryan's Daughter (conceived in 2007, when I accidentally organized a big celebration the week before the Baltimore parade).

To get in the St. Pat's spirit, here are a few holiday photos:

St. Patrick's Day, New York, 1947. Also not that different from how the inside of J. Patrick's might look next weekend (and always). Photographed by Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Irish drunks - I mean revelers - in Quebec in 1965. Photographed by Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Kids watching the parade in South Boston in 1974. What struck me about this was - 1974? Doesn't it look like 1950? Photographed by Constantine Manos.

Cooper at the Baltimore parade in 2005. Yes, his shirt does say "Everyone Loves an Irish Girl." He and I wore matching shirts that year. We're cute like that.

Mike at Fake St. Patrick's Day 2009. Believe it or not, this is the most in-focus picture I took the whole day.

St. Patrick's Day Recap

All of my childhood memories of St. Patrick's Day revolve around one thing: whether or not someone was going to force me to eat corned beef and cabbage. Fortunately, my (very Irish) grandmother is not a fan of the traditional dish, so I usually got out of it.

That was it, though. Otherwise, St. Patrick's Day was more of a grownup holiday. Not so anymore. Dixon has been celebrating - at school and at home - for the whole month of March. Behold, the leprachaun trap he and his friend Samara built:

Well, maybe it doesn't photograph that well. Trust me when I say that in person, it's impressive.

This year, my original plan was to throw a big party on St. Patrick's Day. Then, sometime around Kyle and Mary's shower, I realized I just couldn't do it. I didn't have it in me.

But we still had to do something. It was a Saturday, after all, and gorgeous out. Plus, St. Patrick's Day! It's like Cooper's Christmas.

So we called up a few friends, who came over and brought their kids. And beer - we've got a lot of beer here. Food-wise, this is what we ended up with:

Corned beef sandwiches - I definitely wasn't going to cook that in my house!

And this is how things looked after it got dark:

(I mostly included that picture because Dixon took it himself.)

Because I'm me, we had too much food, so on Sunday, we rebooted, with a few modifications:

And then we sent those leftovers to work with Cooper.

Overall, great weekend. Great weather + friends + food. And beer. Don't forget the beer.

Irish-American Heritage Month

A few weeks ago, I learned that March is Irish-American Heritage Month. 

It's safe to say that we've been celebrating our Irish heritage every March for quite some time.

Dixon - like so many other kids in America, I'm sure - has four grandparents who are each at least one-quarter Irish.

The importance of being Irish - what it means - was instilled in me at a young age. The same is true for Cooper. So the same will be true for Dixon.

This year, our celebrating began a week before St. Patrick's Day, with our annual Fake St. Patrick's Day party at Ryan's Daughter, followed by the Baltimore St. Patrick' Day Parade.

Fast-forward one green-wearing week and this is what we did:

A very small, very kid-oriented get-together chez Pollard. With food. So, so much food.

Corned beef (that I cooked) sliced for sandwiches (with fontina and sauteed or smoked onions, all on Atwater's Irish brown bread). Flank steak sandwiches for non-corned beef eaters. Alicia's cabbage noodles. Grilled oysters with hot sauce butter. Soda bread. Radishes. Green-topped mac and cheese (I used a whole bottle of green food coloring on those bread crumbs). Smoked salmon (some of Cooper's best work yet). Jen's reuben dip. Alicia's shamrock cupcakes.

Beer.

So festive. And all of that happened before it St. Patrick's Day even officially arrived.

Old School Thursday: Hug Your Favorite Leprauchan Edition

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! At our house, St. Pat’s, with its Guinness and green and general good cheer, trumps all the other things that happen today. I don’t really care for corned beef and cabbage, so I’ll be cooking lamb tonight – with potatoes, of course. Can’t celebrate the Irish without potatoes.


As it turns out, St. Patrick doesn’t get a day all to himself. Today is also St. Gertrude of Nivelles’ Day. She is a patron saint of gardeners and travelers and doesn’t she get screwed? Who wants to share their day with St. Patrick? Then again, she’s a saint, so she’s probably above that and doesn’t mind.

That is about all that happened today, though – no major events or birthdays of note. Probably because everybody’d too busy with their green beer to be productive. And rightly so!

Entertaining Friday: St. Patty's Kickoff

St. Patrick's Day is kind of a big deal around my house. Cooper and I are both mostly of Irish descent (we are also both English and Dutch, thus providing Dixon with some very pale skin). We both like celebratory holidays. We both love parades.

For years, we spent the Sunday before St. Patrick's Day at the Baltimore parade, standing right on Charles Street, in front of David and Dad's. Two years ago, though, when we first took Dixon to the parade, we realized that it wasn't quite as much fun as it used to be. It was crowded and loud and kind of annoying. Cooper blamed it on the parade changing. I blamed it on us growing up.

Last year, we decided to skip the parade - but not to skip the celebration altogether. Instead, on the parade day, our friends decided to get together at Ryan's Daughter. It's right around the corner from us, big enough for a group, full of friendly bartenders and after the parade it fills up just enough (but not too much) with elementary school-aged girls in Irish dancing costumes and their proud parents.

So that's why we found ourselves, on a Sunday in early March, filling up Ryan's Daughter's bar. We waited and waited for the parade overflow...but it never came. Because I had organized everything for the wrong day. As it turned out, the parade was the following week. But the thing is, it was a really fun Sunday. We had space, quick service and waitresses who weren't a little crazed by the crowds.

We decided, right off, to start celebrating "Fake St. Patrick's Day" every year. Because, well, why not? This year, the St. Patty's season starts for us on Sunday, again at Ryan's Daughter, with Guinness and Harp, fish and chips and a lot of green clothing.

It doesn't end there, of course. We've got a lot more lined up - which is why tonight and tomorrow night we'll be resting. It's a big week.

Slainte!

Fake St. Patrick's Day Is Tomorrow!

Scenes from last year's Fake St. Pat's

It's that time of year again - St. Patrick's Day season - when people drag out their best funny green t-shirts and green beads and drink more beer in a month than they do for the rest of the year combined.

I love it.

My friends' contribution to this messy month starts tomorrow, with Fake St. Patrick's Day - an afternoon of drinking and oysters, with a side dish of charitable giving, at Ryleigh's Oyster on Padonia Road.

This year, the party starts at 1 p.m. and is a fundraiser for the Dance Head and Neck Center at GBMC. Any and all comers are welcome - we'll be in the bar in the middle of the restaurant. It's always a good time.

Ryleigh's is donating 10% of what's spent during the party to the Dance Center and we'll be raising money a couple other ways, too, including a raffle for gift baskets including items donated from a bunch of very generous local businesses.

Those businesses include some of the best spots in and around Baltimore:
AntiGravity Fitness
Azumi
Baltimore's Waterfront Partnership
Ceriello
Charm City Chocolate
Fox's Den
La Cuchara
Ladew Topiary Gardens
Loyola University Athletics
Nia Baltimore
Ouzo Bay
Plantbar
Prigel Family Creamery
Residence Inn in Hunt Valley
REV Cycle
Wells Discount Liquors
Wit + Wisdom

The baskets will include donations from these organizations, as well as other goodies, including a purse handmade by Alicia and her mom...and lots of wine and beer and liquor. Booze sells raffle tickets!

If you're in the area tomorrow, please stop in and say hi. It's a great cause and an absolute blast. Happy Fake St. Pat's!

Fake St. Patrick's Day - TOMORROW!

This is Mike's St. Pat's shirt - from a few years ago.

Come one, come all to Ryan's Daughter, tomorrow at 3 p.m., for the 6th Mostly Annual Fake St. Patrick's Day celebration. We will be decked out and drinking - and also raising some money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

For those unfamiliar with the holiday, it started seven years ago, when I organized a small group of friends for St. Patrick's Day. We went to Ryan's Daughter on a Sunday afternoon, planning to meet post-parade revelers there.

But we were a week early. The parade wasn't until the following week - and we were at RD, all greened up and nearly alone. It was awesome.

We've gone back almost every  year since - and the party  has steadily grown. Friends from all parts of our our lives come - and they bring friends of their own. (It's also moved to Saturday, after one particularly fun Sunday nearly crushed us all.)

Last year, my high school friend Rasim asked why we weren't raising money for a charity. After all, if you're out on a Saturday afternoon, you might as well be doing something good, right? So this year, there will be a couple fun ways to encourage donations to the LLS - a Ryan's Daughter gift card raffle (thank you to RD for the donation!) and a tiny bit of swag as a gift to recognize donations.

So if you're in town, stop by! And don't forget your green!

Entertaining Friday: St. Patrick's Day

The first year Cooper took me to the St. Patrick's Day parade on Charles Street, it poured down rain. We were young and didn't care - we watched half the parade then migrated to that funny little back room at Mick O'Shea's for more Guinness in plastic cups. It was a good day and I kept reminding myself that it rains all the time in Ireland, too.

Unfortunately for this year's parade-goers, it looks like this weekend will bring more of that authentic Irish weather. We don't go to the parade anymore, since Dixon would, without a doubt, join the parade, Ferris Bueller-style, but we'll get back there one day.

If you make it downtown, there's a lot going on right on the parade route. We always stood in front of David & Dad's, which is a good spot, beer and bathroom-wise. It's also convenient if you want to get to Mick O'Shea's immediately following the parade (this year, Donegal X-Press is playing at 4, just after the parade's over, so it'll almost certainly be a crush).

This is the first St. Patrick's Day parade for B&O, too - they're right down the street from Mick O'Shea's, with great access to the parade route, and they're calling their party the "Classy Lassie Roundup," which I very much like. Among other things, they'll be serving green beer and a St. Patricks-themed specialty cocktail. And corned beef and cabbage (which I don't really like at all) and green eggs and ham.

Whatever you do this weekend, be careful and safe. It's a rainy, Irish jungle out there.

[Irish ladies, plastic hats - by Flickr user vige, used under the Creative Commons License]

Paris Recap: Day One

(Clockwise from top right corner: the menu at Brasserie Lipp, Cooper in front of the fabulous Monoprix - which is basically Target in Paris, the menu at Les Deux Magots, the remnants of our petit dejeuner, Cooper at Les Deux Magots, before the storm at Relais d'Entrecote, wine in the apartment, mid-dinner Relais d'Entrecote, towing in France, a sign mixing fish with Mimi - who is also our niece. In the center: flowers at a shop on the Rue Bonaparte.)

We are back, moderately rested, and already missing our little studio on the Rue de l'Odeon in St. Germain des Pres. We had such a great vacation - it was short but tres, tres sweet.

I have so much to write about - it's a little overwhelming, honestly. To make things easier, I'll write a single post about each day, then a wrap-up post with some overall observations and commentary. This will happen over the course of...well, who knows? I've been on vacation, which means I've got some catching up to do, work-wise.

So, to start - we left on a Tuesday afternoon, flying direct from Dulles to Charles de Gaulle. (As a side note, Vino Volo, the airport wine bars? Not bad!). We both slept poorly on the plane, though Cooper was pleased to watch a couple movies, and when we arrived in Paris at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, we weren't exactly feeling refreshed.

Still, the airport experience was about as easy as could be and the drive into the city was uneventful, despite rush hour traffic. Cooper's high school friend, Patrick, lives in Paris (he gave us tons of advice - including suggesting we stay in St. Germain des Pres - AND made all of our dinner plans). We couldn't check into our apartment until 1 p.m., so we headed to the place Patrick shares with his girlfriend, Amanda, to stow our luggage and say hello.

With that taken care of, Patrick headed to work and we hit the town, walking around St. Germain a bit before stopping for a restorative croissant and coffee. After another quick walk, we decided the croissant wasn't enough, so we settled in for a proper lunch at Les Deux Magots, the storied cafe on the Rue de St. Germain - a favorite Hemingway haunt.

The weather was gorgeous, so we sat outside on the patio, which feels private, thanks to high shrubbery, but still central to the city. I hadn't been before and thought it might be touristy - and maybe it was but it was still fabulous.

I ordered a glass of rose and Cooper had a Heineken, then we settled into our meals. For me, a tomato quiche that could not have been creamier, with perfectly flaky pastry, plus the sort of light green salad that everyone in Paris effortlessly produces. For Cooper, an omelet with ham that was the perfect introduction to the French genius with les oeufs. He was so tired...but totally happy.

After lunch, we realized we were going to pass out, so we went back to Patrick's for a little nap. Then we woke up, took a cab to our apartment, and took another nap. Nothing too long - just an hour or so. I unpacked and then we started to get a good look at our new home for the next few days.

We rented a studio apartment via airbnb - and I would do it again in a heartbeat. It wasn't big - but it was bigger than most of the hotel rooms in Paris. Plus, for the neighborhood, it was an absolute steal. The view was lovely and it was so close to everything we needed.

After our naps, we took a walk, walking down the Seine, checking out the crazy taxidermy and general oddies at Deyrolle, and stopping for a drink and the Crottin de Chavignol (tangy goat cheese served with cumin seed) at Brasserie Lipp (Hemingway haunt #2).

We then made our way to Relais d'Entrecote, which Patrick suggested as a good choice for our first night in Paris. (Knowing we'd be tired, he and Amanda both worked late on Wednesday then had dinner with us for the rest of the trip.)

Relais d'Entrecote doesn't take reservations and people start lining up well before its 7 p.m. opening. At 6:30, we were first in line - but we were only alone for about a minute. By the time the restaurant opened, there was a healthy line stretching down the block.

Understandable, too. It's not the typical Parisian dining experience - at Relais d'Entrecote, you get salad, steak frites and dessert. Your only choices are what to drink, what to have for dessert and how done you want your steak. That was exactly the amount of thinking we were in the mood to do our first night in France. We were tired.

Not surprisingly, the one thing they do, they do well. The fries were crispy and thin (McDonalds-esque - and I say that in a good way) and the steak was sliced thin and cooked perfectly. It's served with a fantastic sauce that I'm pretty sure includes lots of butter, something like anchovy, maybe some Dijon mustard and possibly parsley (something green). It was so good and I need to try to replicate it before I've lost the taste memory.

For dessert, we had a little strawberry custard tart - and I remembered that strawberries in France are, justifiably, legendary. So sweet, so juicy, so perfect.

After dinner, we stumbled back to our apartment, stopping at the wine shop/bar across the street to pick up a bottle of spicy red. When in France and on vacation, right? We each had a glass and fell into bed, exhausted, before 10 p.m.

Which was fine, since we had a big day ahead of us the next day, starting with the Arc de Triomphe and getting bigger from there. Stay tuned for that...

Going Green

As ever, the month of March is all about the Irish around here.

We started the month with our annual Fake St. Patrick's Day celebration. This year, the party was held at Ryleigh's Oyster Hunt Valley, where two amazing bartenders took care of a crowd that was dozens strong for four straight hours.

After years of just meeting for drinks, last year, FSP became a benefit (thanks to Rasim's smart suggestion). This year, we raised over $2,500 for the MLD Foundation. Not bad for some afternoon drinks! The money was raised by selling koozies, raffling off baskets including donations from local businesses, and a 50/50 cash raffle.

It was a great time - both during the afternoon and back at our house that night. Lots of oysters, lots of beer, lots of generosity.

Clockwise from top left: Irish Cooper; Erin wearing my grandmother's pins; the scene at Ryleigh's; the front of Mike's shirt; some of the raffle prizes; the after party; the back of Mike's shirt; the koozies and (center) a big basket full of Irish gear.

Last weekend, we continued the celebration with a families-and-friends brunch at our house. I made corned beef hash and my mom cooked a zillion eggs to order, Cooper smoked a gorgeous piece of salmon, and so many people brought dessert. We've been swimming in sweets for days.

It was, of course, a great time. And it lasted, as brunches do, from noon until almost 9 p.m. Needless to say, we were all exhausted on Monday. Including the kids. But it's worth it, of course, to celebrate our Irish heritage. Especially since we are gearing up for a 2016 trip to the motherland itself!

Clockwise from top left: the dessert table, including a sour cream coffee cake (my mom), chocolate chip cookies (Chad's mom), grasshopper brownies and car bomb cupcakes (Mike's mom) and a Bailey's bundt cake (Alicia); Cooper with Maggie and Biz; the salmon; "potato" candies from Eddie's; Jen and Mark's reuben dip; radishes with Irish brown bread from Atwaters.

Funnily enough, we didn't do anything Irish-y at all - other than wear green - on St. Patrick's Day itself. In fact, we ate Indian food that night.

But we're not quite finished. Hardcore Irish-Americans that we are, we have one more party to go to this coming weekend. And it's sure to be a good one. Slainte!

Fake St. Patrick's Day

Another year, another few hours wasted (in a good way) at Ryan's Daughter. This year's early St. Patrick's Day celebration was a big one and a good one, with lots of people - from 18 months to much, much older - stopping by.

I was especially happy to see everybody dressed up this year. There was a lot of this:

That's Larry who, together with his wife Kerry, is fully committed to theme dressing.

Ryan's Daughter has a very cheap happy hour menu from 3 to 6 on Saturdays, including crab dip (and I like theirs) and Golden Vale chips, which are basically thick fries loaded with lots of unhealthy things. They're good. Plus, even though I usually go the fish and chips route, last week I ordered a cheeseburger for dinner. You know what? It was really good, especially since it was cooked medium rare, which is how I ordered it. I always order burgers that way...and they usually arrive well done. It was a nice surprise.

Overall, it was a great day - gorgeous outside and fun inside - and I'm more than a little sad it's over.

Potatoes, Potatoes, Potatoes

This weekend is our annual Fake St. Patrick's Day celebration, when we converge on Ryan's Daughter a week before actual St. Patrick's Day. (Backstory: Six years ago, I screwed up the  date of the parade...and we realized that it's actually more fun to celebrate before the crowds hit.)

In honor of the day - which is one of my very favorite all year - I was planning to write a post about Irish drinks.

But then I came across this article about an Irish potato farmer who's re-cultivating the "lumper" - the strain of potato that was wiped out in the potato famine.

He's like an Irish Sean Brock! (Except a potato farmer, not a chef.)

Apparently the potatoes had a nasty reputation for bad flavor and soapy texture. But now that they're back in the ground, thanks to Michael McKillop of Glens of Antrim Potatoes, the people of Ireland have discovered that the lumpers actually taste pretty good.

Last year's yield was too small to sell, but this year's will make it to market.

Maybe one day they'll even make it across the Atlantic. So we can eat like our ancestors did. For a while, anyway.

Last Night's Dinner: St. Patrick's Day Edition

FINALLY it's St. Patrick's Day. I don't think I can take much more celebrating. I'm so tired.

This year, we decided to completely ditch the parade, which has been the centerpiece of our celebration for years. It's such a fun parade - laid back enough that people cross the street in the middle of it - but in recent years, our tolerance for the bathroom lines and the general crowdedness has dropped.

Instead, we went to Ryan's Daughter last Sunday, the 9th, and this past Saturday, we had friends over to our house. That is what this post is all about.

About 20 people came over, and everyone brought something, so we had about five times more food than necessary. I won't laundry list everything, but there were a couple of high points, if I do say so myself. All of the food I made was either Irishy (but no corned beef and cabbage - I just can't deal with the smell) or green and orange. I especially liked the Emerald Isle onion dill horseradish dip (looks cool and refreshing, but it's not), the seasoned leg of lamb I got at Trader Joe's (Cooper grilled it and it was amazing, even without any additional marinade) and I was outrageously proud of the Irish flag I made out of boiled carrots and green beans and roasted potatoes. I might have been a little more excited about it than everyone else.

This weekend was also the official opening of our house - floors are finished, pictures are hung and everything's finally in it's place. It was a bit of a test for me - I was just hoping that the flow would work out the way I'd imagined it. And it did - between the island and the deck and having the kitchen and dining area open to one another, I think we have created an ideal having-people-over space.

So, totally successful meal and party as a whole. But now I'm pretty burnt out. Typical, I guess. Maybe as I get older, my Irish hardiness is waning.

Fake St. Patrick's Day Recap

Me, Stacy, and a few of those props.

Another Fake St. Patrick's Day has come and gone...and it could not have been more fun. We saw tons of friends and friends of friends at Ryan's Daughter on Saturday - it was, as always, an absolute blast filled with funny jokes and lots of Irish props and funny t-shirts.

This year, the addition of a philanthropic element was an important one. We raised $750 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society - just from people donating and from the raffle for a Ryan's Daughter gift card.

My high school friend Rasim won the gift card, which was fitting since he was both the biggest donor overall and also the person who, last year, suggested we make it a charity event.

As soon as it was over, we were all already talking about next year. It's such a really great time - and just keeps getting better.

Those Weeks: March 4th to March 14th

It's been busy times around here - and not just because of Fake St. Patrick's Day (though that was the most notable event going on during the past week and a half - and where the oysters, in the shot above, came from).

Last weekend, we followed Fake St. Pat's with brunch at Petit Louis with my parents and grandmother. The restaurant's consistency, both in food and service, never ceases to amaze me. As a group, we were unadventurous - quiche and salad for the ladies and croque monsieurs for the men. Pasta for Dixon (talk about unadventurous). But it was all just right.

After brunch, we had a quiet afternoon then hit Ridley Field for the Loyola vs. Duke lacrosse game, which Loyola won, handily. It was packed, cold and very exciting, especially for Dixon, who is about to start his third season tearing up the field for Kelly Post. This year, he told me this morning, he's planning to stick with defense but maybe also give goalie a try. "I like defending things that are important," he explained. "Like the goal. Or against zombies." Noted.

I've been too busy to cook much but I have given a couple recipes a try. The first, pictured on the top right of the photo above, was a roasted shrimp and gremolata dish from Bon Appetit.  I thought it was great - easy to make and super flavorful. Cooper, however, did not love it - too much parsley for his parsley-averse taste buds.

Food and Wine's spinach carbonara also received somewhat mixed reviews. It was quick and certainly healthier than regular carbonara but it didn't really wow me. Still, not a bad dinner and there's something to be said for putting a bunch of antioxidants on the plate.

This weekend, our annual celebration of all things Irish continues. Tonight, we go out in Annapolis with my high school friends - not for St. Pat's but because my friends Pete and Liz are in town from Maine. Tomorrow, rest and then Sunday, Irishy brunch here with family and friends.

I am celebrating already, by eating soda bread for breakfast (pictured bottom left). No, I didn't make it. I imagine I might make it through my whole life without ever making bread from scratch. I bought it at Trader Joe's. And it's good!

I hope everyone celebrating this weekend has a wonderful (and safe) time. Slainte!

Guinness Cocktails for St. Patty's Day

Despite what this Food & Wine article claims, the Black Velvet cocktail is not "insanely good." In fact, when Cooper and I tried it, we both kind of hated it.

But that doesn't mean Guinness won't work in some drinks.

The aforementioned F&W article mentions a Guinness and vanilla vodka concoctions, made Cuffs in Boston, called an Irish Velvet. That sounds pretty decent.

This creamy whiskey drink, the Foynes' Red Eye, also sounds good (if a little heavy).

And I think the Black and Black sounds good, too.

But realistically? Guinness is probably best just served straight.

Happy almost-St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

Tuesday Tables: Green!

It's March and March means Spring. Also, St. Patrick's Day! Either way, it's time to get green:

Apples!

Radishes!

Tulips!

So pretty and fresh, all three.

[Photo credits: Apples from Crystal Catering. Radishes from Real Girl's Kitchen. Tulip from Country Living.]

Recent-ish Adventures

Two months without a post? Ridiculous. Things have been busy in our world lately - and blogging is, apparently the first thing to go when I have too much to do. Well, blogging and folding laundry.

Instead of blogging and folding laundry, we have been doing these things:

Clockwise from the top left:

Dixon drinking a blood orange fizz at Silver Queen Cafe. (Remains a terrific BYOB.)

Gorgeous hamachi crudo at Pen & Quill. (First visit in a while - and it was really, really good.)

Spying on the fish cutting operations at J.J. McDonnell. (Locally owned, impressively operated.)

Raffle baskets lined up for Fake St. Patrick's Day at Ryleigh's Oyster. (This year, benefiting House of Ruth - it was an enormous success).

Cooper at Dylan's Oyster House. (Short, good menu, fantastic space, instant classic of a restaurant.)

Iberico ham at La Cuchara. (Literally melts in your mouth. La Cuchara is still breathtaking, with fabulous food and service.)

Bmore BRD sandwich at R. House. (Breakfast, lunch and yoga at R. House/Movement Lab has become my Wednesday routine. I'm here right now. It's amazing.)

Laura Black photographing Dixon - and waffles - at Iron Rooster. (Our (cool) progeny collaborations are bringing me so much joy.)

Crab soup and pizza at Silver Queen. (Seriously, go there.)

And in the middle...the cheese knife Dixon made for Mike and Alicia. (It's pretty awesome.)

Good times, all around. Just busy ones.

Entertaining Friday: A Year of Parties

At the beginning of every January, my friends and I start worrying that we don't have anything planned. Having just come off of a busy Christmas/birthday season, somehow it feels like we've got this vast expanse of time in front of us, and like we're never, ever going to see people socially again.

So we start planning. And that is how we, invariably, end up with every weekend from January to April booked up. That's fine with me - I like having plans - but I think it might be smart for us to give it more of a long-view approach. Plan way ahead. Decide, roughly, on the best excuses for a party every month and go from there.

So that's what I'm going to do - right here:

• January: Chinese New Year celebration (costumes! Chinese food!)
• February: Valentine's Day wine tasting (prizes!)
• March: St. Patrick's Day (obviously. In our house, this involves more than one weekend.)
• April: Maybe the return of the Sunday all-day brunch? Grilled cheese party?
• May: Memorial Day! Last year we spent all day Sunday at Boordy, then came back to our house to grill steaks at night. I think that's a good way to kick off summer.
• June: Our annual beach trip!
• July: Fourth of July - parade and cookout
• August: This past year, we had a boys/girls weekend at the end of August. The boys played poker at Jen and Bill's and the girls and kids came over here for a sleepover. It was great.
• September: Labor Day (at the beach). Plus, Dixon's birthday.
• October: This year, it'll be Tom and Cail's wedding in New Orleans. But maybe next year we'll revive the barn party, which was so much fun.
• November: Mock Thanksgiving (plus real Thanksgiving, of course)
• December: The double-birthday (Kit and Cooper) and Christmas parties, of course.

Tired yet? No. I'm not either.

Trendy Monday: Ireland (Again)

As is usually the case around this time of year, my thoughts have turned to the cuisine of the great Emerald Isle, such as it is. Our annual St. Patrick's Day celebration kicked off yesterday with an afternoon (and evening) at Ryan's Daughter (more on that tomorrow on Examiner.com) and all week I'll be working on the menu and details for another get together on Saturday.

So of course I've got Irish food on the brain.

But the trend here, actually, is what I'm not seeing. Last year at this time, I couldn't open a magazine, or my email, without being hit over the head by some kind of "new Irish food rocks" article. Not so much this year. I'm guessing that's not because the new Irish food no longer rocks, but simply because it's not so new anymore.