If she had the proper words to say,

For St. Patrick's Day, I tried out a new recipe for homemade rolls. This dough comes together quickly, but then it raises in the refrigerator for a day or so. Because the first rise is out of sight, they seem to be much less tedious than regular double-rise rolls.


Southern Refrigerator Rolls.

( Two more pictures, plus recipe. )

I got 49 good-sized rolls, plus a half-dollar sized nugget, out of the dough. We ate about ten of them with the corned beef and cabbage, and then we used a dozen the next night for Burger Sliders. The remaining half of rolls I put in the freezer. I'd pull a handful out and microwave them for 45 seconds or so on a plate, and then serve up with other dinners. They were fresh-tasting, light, and buttery, and I plan to make more soon just to put in the freezer again.

On the 17th, the boys and I feasted on my first-ever corned beef and cabbage. Jack loved it all, but A.J. and I weren't crazy about the cabbage. The meat was seasoned fantastically, however. I couldn't wait to make my first Reuben sandwiches with the leftovers.

Now, I've never had a true Reuben in my life. In fact, just the smell of sauerkraut alone is enough to send me running from a room - ICK. I had also looked around enough to know that a traditional Reuben is served with a Russian dressing. I didn't bother searching to find exactly what a Russian dressing would be closest to, though. Instead, we each dressed up our sandwiches how we felt would be the tastiest. I pan-toasted slices of honey wheat bread in a skillet, and then I topped them with the leftover shredded corn beef and caramelized onions (which I'd been searing in another skillet to warm). I put melty Swiss cheese on mine and drizzled it with a Parmesan Caesar dressing.

OMG, it was to-die-for!


My take on Reubens.

I pan-fried the rest of the potatoes and caramelized onions from the CrockPot together and served them up as chunky home fries with the sandwiches. The entire meal was wonderfully delicious, and I can't wait to make it again. I'll forgo the cabbage entirely this time, just roasting up a nice corned beef in the same seasonings. YUM!

( One more picture. )

For Christmas, my dad had bought us one of those Burger Sliders patty-making grill presses - the kind you see advertised on TV. They make tiny burgers - one pound of ground meat makes 14 burgers - so we needed tiny buns, too. The leftover Refrigerator Rolls were perfect!


Sliders and Potato Bacon Salad.

Please forgive the end, chunky slice of tomato on my burger. I won't waste the ends, even if they don't make for a pretty picture. *wink* Also, this potato salad is my go-to recipe. I love that is has bacon, carrots, and egg in it - the taste is a winner every time.

( Potato Bacon Salad recipe. )

Goodness me, these were SO fun to make! My shamrock cutter was a little bigger than I'd realized, so I only got 48 cookies out of the two doughs, but I had almost one cup of icing left over. I'm sure there's a technical term out there, but I call this "tie-dye" technique. Easy-peasy, and gorgeous results!

( Several more pics, plus a how-to. )

(I was really torn over whether to use my St. Patrick's Day icon or my recap icon. Decisions!)

Yesterday afternoon/evening was wonderful. To be truly honest, though Herb is a sensationally great and easy-going guy, I was a bit nervous to meet the rest of his family on such an important holiday and occasion (his family is Irish, you see). It's one thing to meet someone's immediate family (parents, sister, etc.), but it's quite another to be meeting extended family, step-family et al. - and all at one time. I was also a bit stressed over whether the boys would behave in a new environment, surrounded by strangers and with no toys to play with.

I should never have worried.

We were decked out in our green shirts, our pinch-proof uniforms. Herb arrived at my house around 4:30pm. I wasn't sure what time we were getting together, so I had literally *just* sat down in my recliner and begun to tat his mother a special something - a tiny green clover. I asked Herb if we had about twenty minutes to spare, and he assured me that we did, so I quickly whipped out the new pattern for his mom. When finished, the piece was tiny indeed, but it was so cute. I took a few pictures, and then we gathered our things together to leave for his mom's house.

I carried my fragile, little clover while Herb toted the cake and pie I'd made for dessert. The boys each grabbed their "play jeans" and leprechaun hats (Jack insisted on bringing his orange playsilk with us as well), and we set off all together in our van. His mom lives very close to us, and we arrived in minutes. As he led us around the building to his mom's apartment, a few kids on the basketball court yelled out a welcome to Herb, "Hey, Butch!" I was confused, but I quickly forgot it as we entered the apartment.

We were greeted by two small chihuahuas, and they were so adorable! Missy was very welcoming, and Peanut was just so tiny! I later learned that she is a "toy chihuahua" - my first "dog lesson" of the evening. Herb introduced us to everyone, and the boys quickly scampered off to change into their "play jeans" in the bathroom. They stopped for a moment to meet the new birds his mom had - little finches. And then they set out for the playground just in front of the apartment. Within minutes, they were playing with TONS of other kids, too.

Herb played the role of attentive parent with the boys outside, and I stayed inside and got to know his family. His mom and step-dad were so welcoming from the get-go, and they asked me a few things about Philip as well. His dad and I talked for a bit about his tour in Vietnam and his service in the Marine Corps. I enjoyed listening to his uncle and cousins play several familiar tunes on the guitars. I noticed that everyone was mentioning "Butch," and I finally had to ask. It turns out that "Butch" is Herb's nickname! Though I know two names for him myself, that's not one of them, and it continued to catch me off-guard the rest of the evening! Though it almost seemed too soon, dinner was ready!

I called the boys back inside, and we sat down for a scrumptious and traditional St. Patrick's Day dinner - my very first! I'd never had real corned beef before (unless you consider Carl Buddig® lunch meat "real"), and the cabbage and potatoes were divine. A.J. stuck to just corned beef and rolls, but Jack was brave enough to try the cabbage and potatoes. Though he ate the things on his plate well, Paul (Herb's step-dad) was kind enough to then cater to the boys, making them a few corndogs as well. They were so spoiled. ;-)

We rested a bit before digging into the desserts, and the boys went back out to play until it became too dark to see. Everyone seemed to enjoy the Lemon & Lime Poke Cake and the Key Lime Pie, so I'm glad they were both successes. Myself, I had a small piece of each! Herb's dad, uncle and cousins left then, and his mom and sister chose to entertain themselves with needlepoint and the dogs while the rest of us played a few hands of Uno. Jack won the first hand, and he decided to stop playing while he was ahead, sitting out the subsequent rounds. ;-) He asked Pat (Herb's mom) if she had any movies to watch, and she produced a handful of DVDs and many good Disney movies as well. He picked Shrek, and I was happy to listen to Herb sing along with each song in the movie, as he sat on my right while we played Uno.

And speaking of that, I won't ever sit on Herb's left again. I swear, he was SO MEAN to me during the game. I was the unlucky recipient of so many of his 'Draw 2, Reverse, Skip' and 'Draw 4' cards! He hates me, I can tell. I threatened to make him walk back to my house for his car, and then he let up just a little. ;-) It was a fun game, and A.J. seemed to really enjoy himself after Paul and Pete (Herb's step-uncle) teased him enough about his cards.

Finally, it was almost 10pm, and we had to get going. Herb helped me to round up all our things and get the boys going. Jack insisted that it was the "most fun place" and he "didn't want to leave EVER!", but we had to go. While navigating the dark yard back to the car, Jack bonked his knee right into an unlit lamppost, and there were a few tears, but he quickly recovered. The boys had a quick shower as soon as we got home, and then they went straight into bed. I changed into jammies so I could pre-treat a stain on my shirt, and then I joined Herb watching some TV. He had tuned into a poker tournament on the Travel Channel, and we watched it until we decided which movie to watch. Though we were torn between Maverick (watching the poker game got me hankering for it) and Kicking and Screaming, Herb finally settled on the latter, having not yet seen it.

I tatted another clover while we watched the movie, and then I fell asleep somewhere towards the end. And I think I fell asleep again while he watched the outtakes (a shame!). I'm not sure of the time, but I think it was after 1am then, and I shuffled sleepily to the front door to bid him goodbye and lock it. Then I snuggled into my covers and was completely back to dreamland within a minute or two.

All in all, it was a fun, memorable day. I'm so glad he invited us along to his family's shindig, and we had a great time. Even as we were leaving, his mom gave us all big hugs, and Jack was already coordinating his summer schedule with her ("Can we come back?" "Sure you can! You come anytime!" "On Easter. And then on my birthday? And then A.J.'s birthday, too?") It was cute.

Holy shamrocks, it's March! How did that happen so fast?

Still, I was prepared for the month. I flipped my HP calendar over to March just before heading to bed last night, not able to wait even a second longer. March = Slytherin, you see, and Slytherin = my green babe of eye candy. Mmmm, Mmmm, Mmmmmmalfoy!

I forgot for a moment what day today was until picking up Jack at preschool. I was alarmed for a bit to see him sporting a big bruise on his forehead, but when I asked him about it, he informed me that it was a cross instead. "Cross?", I asked myself. "Oh! Cross!" He'd been Ash-ed on Wednesday, you see. "Pastor David ashed me today!"

I placed my Creative Memories order tonight, and as such, I earned my 30-day Success incentive. Between the new stuff coming and the super-cool watch I received last week, I'm all sorts of excited about my new business! I've got to pin down a date for Memoranza for certain, and then get to work on these postcards.

I think I've got the tiniest bit of windburn from earlier today. Still, we had fun outside once more, and I will be sad to see this awesome weather leave for a little bit.