St Paddy's day
I have a St Patrick's day tradition for forcing my wife and children to eat corned beef and cabbage. I used to force Tracey to make it too, but I've since taken that part over. We got up yesterday morning and Tracey commented that she thought the meal took ~8 hours to cook (crock pot), so if I wanted to eat early (2pm), I should get it in. Turns out it takes 9-11 hours, which pushed us back to regular dinner hour. Throw all the vegetables and corned beef in the pot, turn it on low and forget about it.
I also make Winnie's Irish Bread (aka cake) for St Paddy's day. This year, I had both girls "help" me. Melinda scooped the flour and sugar and Gretchen held the measuring cup. Once enough was spilled on the counter to make it worth their while, both girls started pushing it onto the floor and into their mouths, making sure to leave some on their green clothes. After 15 minutes of assistance, Gretchen got bored (I think I may have raised my voice one too many times). Melinda stuck it out to assist with the mixing (which went fine).
I'm a firm believer in licking beaters, so each girl got a beater to lick. Melinda also got the plastic spatula. Through smearing, they both made sure to not leave clean spots on the table or on their sleeves.
By 4pm everything was ready. Everything except the meat because as I mentioned, I should have been up at 4am to have it ready. So, off we went to IKEA - with a considerable amount of trepidation. I say trepidation because we have not had good luck at IKEA. This is likely due to the fact that for the most part, we go to IKEA on Saturday/Sunday afternoons ~4pm when the whole world is at IKEA and our kids would rather be doing anything else (like eating corned beef and cabbage). Surprisingly, this turned out to be our best trip ever. Our IKEA has a newly renovated kids area that I wanted to play in (alas 48'' or shorter and potty trainer only (I missed one of the two)). We dropped Melinda off, found a print for our family room and some lamps for our guest room then let Gretchen play on the kid furniture.
Dinner was as expected. I had a grand time and thoroughly enjoyed the meal. The rest of the family tolerated it. I believe that ultimately the girls will like the meal. This time, though, there was plenty for me. Melinda and Gretchen picked out the raisins from the Irish Bread (leaving bread), Tracey picked out bread (leaving raisins). Melinda actually ate some meat. Neither girl touched the vegetables (maybe a carrot or two).
Happy St. Pats day all.
I also make Winnie's Irish Bread (aka cake) for St Paddy's day. This year, I had both girls "help" me. Melinda scooped the flour and sugar and Gretchen held the measuring cup. Once enough was spilled on the counter to make it worth their while, both girls started pushing it onto the floor and into their mouths, making sure to leave some on their green clothes. After 15 minutes of assistance, Gretchen got bored (I think I may have raised my voice one too many times). Melinda stuck it out to assist with the mixing (which went fine).
I'm a firm believer in licking beaters, so each girl got a beater to lick. Melinda also got the plastic spatula. Through smearing, they both made sure to not leave clean spots on the table or on their sleeves.
By 4pm everything was ready. Everything except the meat because as I mentioned, I should have been up at 4am to have it ready. So, off we went to IKEA - with a considerable amount of trepidation. I say trepidation because we have not had good luck at IKEA. This is likely due to the fact that for the most part, we go to IKEA on Saturday/Sunday afternoons ~4pm when the whole world is at IKEA and our kids would rather be doing anything else (like eating corned beef and cabbage). Surprisingly, this turned out to be our best trip ever. Our IKEA has a newly renovated kids area that I wanted to play in (alas 48'' or shorter and potty trainer only (I missed one of the two)). We dropped Melinda off, found a print for our family room and some lamps for our guest room then let Gretchen play on the kid furniture.
Dinner was as expected. I had a grand time and thoroughly enjoyed the meal. The rest of the family tolerated it. I believe that ultimately the girls will like the meal. This time, though, there was plenty for me. Melinda and Gretchen picked out the raisins from the Irish Bread (leaving bread), Tracey picked out bread (leaving raisins). Melinda actually ate some meat. Neither girl touched the vegetables (maybe a carrot or two).
Happy St. Pats day all.
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