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| Green tights. Check. |
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| Ireland weather.. rained 5 minutes after this was taken |
Some fun facts: No one dyes their beer green here and the pinching is unheard of. Americans are way more into the green thing! Gotta love how Americans have to put their own spin on things :p
Saturday night we got together to make a super awesome St. Paddy's Day themed dinner. All of the dishes had to contain Guinness. We had Guinness salad, Guinness bread sticks, Guinness corned beef grilled cheeses, Guinness stew, Guinness macaroni & cheese, and Guinness brownies. I made the mac n' cheese and it was absolutely delicious.
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| First serving -- Guinness Mac n' Cheese, mashers, and Guinness corned beef sammie |
I'm gonna give you the recipe for the mac n' cheese right now because it blew our minds:
3.5 cups pasta (we cooked a whole bag, YOLO)
2 cups heavy cream
3 cups mature cheese (sharp cheddar in America) / other assorted cheese
a bit of shallots
3 tsp butter (we probably used a lot more)
3/4 cup Guinness stout or draught
breadcrumbs
Pretty much you cook your pasta while also browning the shallots in 1 tsp butter. Pour the cream into the shallot pan and reduce to half. Pour the Guinness into the same pan and reduce to half. Throw half your cheese in this mixture and let it sit for 10 or so minutes. Brown your breadcrumbs with the remaining butter. Drain your pasta. Mix pasta, cream mixture, and remaining cheeses and then put it in a baking dish. Put da crumbs on top. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350F. This has been cooking with Amber.
We enjoyed our meal while watching Inglorious Basterds. I ate and ate and ate.. too much really. I couldn't even sleep later because my stomach was still stuffed, oops.
Sunday morning I got up bright and early to catch the parade in town. Anne picked me up and we wandered the streets until we found an awesome spot to watch. We were there really early so we had front row seats--worth it. The only bummer was it started to pour (or piss as they say in Ireland) rain. Weather in Ireland is super unpredictable--it was just sunny! I left the house with a small jacket and instantly regretted it once I started to get pummeled with rain. Anne and I kept close for warmth and tried to stay strong. The parade finally started and the streets were absolutely packed with people. It was by far the largest amount of people that I've ever seen in Galway.
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| SO COLD MAN |
The parade was full of a lot of dancing, awesomely dressed children, and circus stuff. I'll just show you some of the highlights:
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| They force children to learn the recorder here too! This is the school I tutor at. |
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| Only in Ireland... |
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| Awesomely dressed kids |
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| Laying on the wet ground. I call that dedication. |
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| First set of bagpeipes I've in Ireland.. it's more of a Scottish thing |
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| AMERICA |
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| This one is for you El Cap'ees. I pretended those alpacas were llamas. |
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| Traditional dance |
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| Adorable children everywhere. |
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| They were shooting people with water guns. Notice the crowd? Everyone ducked out. #aintnoonegottimeforthat |
I'm so glad I got up and saw the parade! I understood a lot of the cultural references and that made me feel like a bit of a local :)
After the parade ended, everyone flooded into the pubs and started drinking. This was at about one o'clock. Anne & I ended up joining up with her roommates and a few other friends. We ended up pub hopping for the afternoon. All of the pubs had trad music (traditional Irish music) playing. I'm starting to recognize the songs, but I cannot sing with as much gusto as a true Irishman! Met so many awesome people on St. Pats! St. Patrick's Festival was probably one of the best experiences I've had thus far in Ireland!
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| Anne, Mags, Erin, and I |
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| New friends & old friends |
I have something like 9000 words to write in the next two weeks. So I may or may not have a blog post next week, we'll see. I hope everyone had a grand St. Patrick's Day--I know I did. x
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