Luck o' the Irish

Although I haven't yet felt very homesick during my time down here in Colombia, this time of year seems to be bringing it on.  In Chicago, the weather is just starting to warm up and it makes you want to enjoy the time out side again: reading a book on the patio, grabbing a cold beer after work with the roommates and even running or biking along the Lakefront.  And there is no better feeling than that first afternoon you realize you no longer need a coat.  Blissful.  While I do not miss winter I am really missing spring.  Sure, Cali is pretty much eternal summer, offering plenty of time outside and poolside, and I get the springtime rain twice a year, but its not even close to being the same.  The other thing that always makes this time of year so great is St. Patrick's Day; I may only be 1/8 Irish (I think), but everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's day, and luckily I still got to celebrate this year.  There may not have been a parade or dying the river green, but we made the best of it.

With a little persuasion from Sam, Kelsi and Kristin decided to have some people over to celebrate Saturday night.  I had been hoping someone would have a get together as all of my Pinning gave me some great St. Patrick's Day themed foods and recipes to try.  After spending the morning and afternoon baking and putting some things together, the girls headed to San Fernando to work on some crafty St. Patrick's Day shirts.  "Bésame, soy Iralandésa" was a favorite amongst the group.  I learned that my T-shirt making skills are not what they used to be, but I managed.  With my rainbow cupcake in hand it was time for the photo op.  Of course all I could think of was Muffins!, an oldie but a goodie. 



These cupcakes were more about looks than taste if you ask me; I didn't love the taste and texture, but everyone seemed to enjoy them.  I adapted the recipe from Our Best Bites:



I might have overfilled some...



1 white cake mix

2 eggs

1 C low fat vanilla yogurt

1/2 C milk

1/3 C sugar free applesauce



Pot o' gold

 

They looked pretty darn cool inside.

So they may not have been my favorite tasting, but they were at least healthier than usual and looked pretty awesome.  I was on the hunt for a better for you frosting too.  Most recipes usually call for butter and 5-6 cups of powdered sugar.  Delicious?  Usually.  Healthy?  Not even close.  So when I found this recipe on the same site, I decided to give it a try.  I'll admit, I was a bit very skeptical as I started to cook up milk and flour mush, but in the end it turned out pretty good.  Still a decent amount of butter, but far less sugar.  I would like to try this again, but with a fit of flavoring of some sort, I think it could really use a little something more. 

 

I also threw together rainbow fruit plates.  Yummy!

Kristin and Kelsi made grasshopper drink which were fabulous.  It was like drinking a Thin Mint cookie.  Mmmmmmm.  There was guacamole, Spanish tortilla with green eggs and a Oreo peanut butter green ice cream cake from Sam.  We had quite the spread.  When the boys finally decided to show up, we watched some college basketball, took some more pictures and then when on the hunt for a bar with Guinness.  The bar we were counting on, Talbert's (which I always thought was Talbot's) turned out to be closed.  Bourbon Street which was across the way had Guinness, but was also packed with people.  And students.  And that's just awkward for everyone.  We tried Hooters, but it was a no go, so we finally settled on the Beer Lounge, which didn't have Guinness (like their menu says), but they did have Murphy's Irish Red which I tried for the first time.  Didn't love it. 

The night was more tranquilo than most St. Patrick's days I have had, but I was perfectly OK with it.  It was nice to have a relaxing night where we could enjoy some crafts and food and the company of friends without the massive crowds that I normally deal with during such celebrations.