Tag Archives: Holiday

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day 2022

Saint Patricks Day Dinner
Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01171

Today was Saint Patrick’s Day and in our house it is all about the corned beef for dinner. We make it a different way every year. This year Allison picked up two different Corned Beef briskets. We got point and flat. We have determined that flat is the best for corned beef hash and we enjoy eating the point for our dinner. This year I did the flat in the crock pot with vegetables all day long. I used two bottles of Sam Adams Winter Lager. This was in the pot all day long. Right before I picked the kids up for karate I used the instant pot to sauté some onions and garlic and then poured in two cans of coke added the point brisket and covered with some additional water. That cooked on high pressure for 115 minutes.

The point was by far more tender. It may be the cut of meat but I think the flat may need the instant pot next time. I love how that device cooks things. It is amazing.

We’d been busy the night before so Allison did not have time to bake Irish soda bread so after Krav class this morning I went over to The Pastry Box and picked up one of their Irish Soda breads. It was very good like everything they make there. IT was a great meal all around.

Happy New Year’s Eve 2021

Celebrating New Years Eve
Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01096

We spent the last day of 2021 playing games, eating and enjoying each other’s company. In between playing on Andy’s new Oculus Quest VR we played some additional games together. We started out playing some Fortnite together. I picked up the Axolotl skin for Andy so he could play as that one. He even wore his Halloween costume to play.

axolotl Fortnite

after that we broke out the Marvel Battle Stones game from Funko. This game uses a bunch of mini characters as play pieces and there are cards that are the battles. Rolling dice and using strategy are the best ways to play this game. We have a bunch of the add-ons and extras, too. I found some of the series two packs at Big Lots and so I picked them up before Christmas. We opened up a bunch of new characters.

Marvel Battle Stones

For New Year’s Eve we usually do a big meal of appetizers and things to pick on. This usually means checking through the freezer in the basement for whatever we might have down there. We were pretty much out of stock but there was a rack of ribs that had been in there for a while. I thawed them out and covered them with a dry rub. I baked them in the oven for 2 hours and then some time on the grill. They came out great but I have to learn that too many rubs on one item is too much. They were not as good as I would have liked and so we only had a few of them. But we did have other things throughout the night and I got the chance to try out some hot sauce that my brother-in-law got me.

ribs

For a whole family game we played Minecraft Uno and also a round of Rummikub. This game can be both fun and frustrating. It was frustrating for Andy this time around. But he stuck through and did okay in the end.

rummikub

I was a bit tired tonight and have to go back to work tomorrow so I turned in at 11pm after we watched the ball drop in Puerto Rico. The kids and Allison made it through to midnight. Andy was asleep 4 minutes after midnight, too. He played some games with his friends who were also awake for the New Year. We have begun to allow him to play Fortnite with his friends for a half hour at a time. He is having a nice time with them and they are some good kids. He tells them that his dad makes Fortnite videos and some are even watching my channel. It was a nice family day and we look forward to the year ahead.