St. Paddy's Day is Almost Here

One of the best ways to celebrate St. Paddy's Day is to make Irish dishes and then of course to celebrate and have fun.You know what they say, " There are only two kinds of people in the world: The Irish and those who wish they were." Everyone wants to be Irish on St. Paddy's Day...so to help you celebrate with good Irish food, here is a recipe for Guiness and Chocolate Brownies. If you love chocolate and Guiness, this is for you.It is a favorite here during holiday celebrations....very decadently yummy.
Enjoy the recipe!

Here it goes........

Chocolate Guiness Brownies

Ingredients:4 eggs, 3/4 cup superfine sugar, 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped 4 ounces white chocolate, chopped 6 tablespoons unsalted butter ,3/4 cup all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup cocoa 1 1/4 cups Guinness stout, Confectioners' sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8-inch-square pan. In an electric mixer, combine the eggs and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the bittersweet chocolate, white chocolate and butter, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and beat into the egg mixture.Sift the flour and cocoa together and beat into the chocolate mixture. Whisk in the Guinness. Pour into the pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. To serve, dust the cake with confectioners' sugar and cut into squares. Serves 8 to 10

Then, if you want to have a very comforting drink, nothing beats Traditional Irish Coffee. Here is how to make it:

1 1/2 tsp. sugar per glass
hot coffee
1 1/2 oz. Irish whiskey per glass
lightly whipped cream, 3 Tbsp. per glass
freshly grated nutmeg
1 Tbsp. grated lemon rind
Assemble four or more Irish Coffee glasses. In each glass combine 1 1/2 tsp sugar with enough hot coffee to dissolve the sugar. Tp each glass add 1 1/2 oz. (one jigger) Irish whiskey. Fill glasses to within 1 inch of the top with hot coffee. Float 3 Tbsp. whipped cream on top and sprinkle the cream with freshly grated nutmeg, if desired

I found this on You Tube...It's about last year's St. Paddy's Day parade, and there is a great song about St. Patrick himself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKlsQk46Di8 You will love the scenes of the Dublin, which by the way is my husband's hometown. Enjoy it all...
It will get you into the spirit of the holiday.

As far as the Irish themselves, Irish people love to joke about themselves. In fact, a great deal of St. Patrick's Day humor is found in toasts raised by the Irish. I think that is what I love about the Irish..their incredible sense of humour. They just love to celebrate, laugh and have fun.
I will be posting pics of our wee parade in Dunfanaghy. Hope you enjoy the pics and in Gaelic, Happy St. Paddy's Day is said like this: La Fheile Padraig Sona Duit

We have a lot to celebrate this month: Sunday is our anniversary; St. Paddy's Day is on the 17th, and Joe's birthday is on the 21st. What a month!