Rockin' Corned Beef with Guinness Gravy, Roasted Cabbage and Finglerling Potatoes

Ellie and Kohlton had a grand time at the concert. They arrived early enough to get a good place in line and were able to be near the stage. During the concert one of the guitar players would use a special Volbeat pic and then give it to someone in the audience. Kohlton noticed this and make eye contact with the musician, he then motioned towards Ellie. During another song the guitarist pointed at Ellie, smiled and did the "thumbs up" sign. At the end of the song he handed his pic to her. She was thrilled and might make a necklace from it.

On Wednesday we had a few friends over for dinner. Ethan loves corned beef, so I planned a meal around that. I had Ethan cook the corned beef in the crock pot while I was at work. When I got home I made Guinness Gravy, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Rosemary and Parmesan, and Roasted Cabbage. It was a great meal - worthy of a Saint Patrick's Day celebration this weekend.

Guinness Gravy
from: Closet Cooking

1 tablespoon butter or bacon grease
1 onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons butter or bacon grease
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups Guinness or other Irish stout
2 tablespoons grainy mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 pound french fries, cooked
1 cup cheese curds, or shredded cheddar
1/2 cup corned beef, cooked, diced and warm

Melt the better in a pan over medium-high heat, add the onions, saute until they start to caramelize, about 30 minutes, adding water or Guinness to . the pan as needed to prevent burning.

Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about a minute. Add the butter and cook until bubbling, about 1 minute. Add the flour and cook until it turns golden brown, about 2-4 minutes. Add the Guinness, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, salt and pepper, reduce the heat and simmer until it thickens, about 7-10 minutes.
Top your corned beef with the Guinness gravy and enjoy.
-----------

Parmesan Gremolata Smashed Potatoes
Via: Use Real Butter blog

2 lbs. fingerling potatoes, scrubbed clean
1/2 cup olive oil (or less)
(I also sprinkled my potatoes with Rosemary (I have a rosemary powder that I purchased at the health food store.)
1 tsp sea salt
----
3 cloves garlic, peeled, crushed, and minced
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, minced (should be about 1/4 cup when minced)
1 lemon, grated zest of
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Place the potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water (about an inch higher than the potatoes). Bring to a boil and simmer until the potatoes are cooked through (about 15 minutes for these little potatoes). During this time, preheat oven to 400°F. Drain the potatoes and let dry in a colander or on a kitchen towel. Place the potatoes on the baking sheet (that has been lined with foil) in a single layer. Using the bottom of a heavy glass, gently press each potato flat to about 1/2- to 3/4-inch thickness. Drizzle the olive oil over the smashed potatoes and then sprinkle salt over the potatoes.

Roast for 30 minutes, flipping the potatoes over at 15 minutes with tongs or a spatula. While the potatoes are roasting, mix the garlic, parsley, lemon zest, and Parmesan cheese together in a small bowl. When the potatoes are done, remove them from the oven, and toss them in a large bowl with the Parmesan-gremolata.

(I did not have all of these ingredients, so I simply topped my roasted potatoes with shredded Parmesan cheese and placed them back in the oven long enough to melt it.)

Serve hot.

Serves 4 as a side dish.
-----------

Roasted Cabbage Wedge Salad
via: a Couple Cooks

Makes: 4-8 (Depending on how you slice it)

1 medium green cabbage
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil

Dressing:
3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon mustard
Pepper
Pecorino cheese

Preheat the oven to 450°F. (I roasted mine at 400, along with the potatoes. This made it very efficient.)

Cut the cabbage into 4-8 wedges Place the wedges on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or foil. Drizzle each side of the cabbage with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.
Place in the oven and roast until browned on the outside and tender, about 30 minutes total, flipping the wedges at 15 minutes. (The timing will depend on the size, so larger wedges may need a bit more time.)

(I did not make the dressing. The roasted cabbage was nice enough on its own; it was a vast improvement over the usual boiled, watery cabbage.)

Dressing:
Meanwhile, in a canning jar, combine 4 tablespoons olive oil, 3 tablespoons sherry vinegar, 1 teaspoon mustard, an fresh ground pepper. Shake to combine (or whisk the ingredients together in a small bowl).
When the cabbage is done, remove from the oven and place each wedge on a plate. Drizzle with the vinaigrette and top with grated Pecorino cheese.
Notes


-----------
Here is another recipe from Closet Cooking. I have not tried it, but it sounds wonderful:

Slow Cooker Corned Beef with Guinness Glaze
via: Closet Cooking

1 3-5 pound corned beef in pickling liquid and spices
1 bottle/can (12+ ounces) Guinness or other Irish stout
1 small onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons grainy mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Place the corned beef along with the pickling spices, onion and garlic in a slow cooker/crock-pot, top with the Guinness and cook on low until fork tender, about 8-10 hours.

Set the corned beef aside, strain the solids from the Guinness and juices, place the liquid into a large sauce pan, add the brown sugar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper, bring to a boil reduce the heat and simmer to reduce by half, about 15-20 minutes.

Cut the fat layer from the corned beef, glaze with the Guinness glaze and bake in a preheated 400F oven until the glaze starts bubbling, about 10-15 minutes.

Ready for a Little Head Banging? Ellie & Kohlton Go to the Volbeat Concert

As the capstone for Ellie's 16th birthday, we sent Ellie and Kohlton to the Volbeat concert.

It is at the Odgen, it is in a tiny venue that used to be a movie theater.



Here are a few songs that I recognize:


And how about this one:


Here is one more, an older song:

Frozen Dead Guy Days 2013 - Nederland, CO

Ellie and I went up to Nederland on Saturday so that we could go to Frozen Dead Guy Days up in Nederland. It was snowing and we drove carefully to get to Kahlton's and Mark's house. The mountains are so beautiful when they are covered in snow.

It seemed kind of fitting since it is a winter festival.


The cold and the snow did not put us off. It made us rather silly. Once we got there we found that the town was much more empty than we had expected. It turns out that one of the major canyon highways was closed. A tour bus had crashed into the river. There were also car crashes on the other side of the canyon. Thus, most of the events were moved to Sunday as we were expecting better, more sunny weather.

They did manage to see the coffin races. It was silly fun, too. There were teams of 7 people, six carrying a "coffin" and one person riding. One team, the "Frigid Beavers" were women from Oklahoma who were doing the race to celebrate one woman's 60's birthday. One woman said that it was the hardest thing she had ever done as she was trying to run at a very high altitude. I was so impressed.

We went back to Mark's and Kohlton's house at around 3:00 0r 3:30. The roads were getting dicey as the rain that had fallen on Friday night had become ice underneath the snow. Ellie and I decided that it would be better to stay over than risk the drive home. Thankfully, Mark and Kohlton were gracious enough to let us stay the night.

Sunday morning broke with a bright orange glow backed by a bright blue, cloudless sky. I stood at the window at the top of their stairs and looked out the window, trying to memorize the scene. Soon the sun began to warm things up. And though it was a windless morning, small piles of snow began to fall of the pine boughs. A little later on larger amounts began to rain down. Mark calls them snow bombs. They are unpredictable and fun, as long as you are not underneath them. After a leisurely morning, we headed back into town to take in the parade, the frozen t-shirt contest, the ice sculpting, the polar plunge and what ever else we could see. This time around the town was full and parking was hard to find. We had a great time walking around. I was able to greet and pet many different, wonderful dogs. Ellie would have liked to stay longer, but we headed back to home on mostly dry roads, thanks to the efforts of the snow plow guys. It was a really fun weekend.

Inspiring Videos - Shane Koyczan, Spoken Word Poet

Shane Koyczan is an amazingly talented poet. He also has managed to pull together a group of artists to create an anti-bullying video. Below you will find that video and a TEDtalk that he offered. I hope you find them thought provoking, perhaps inspiring, too. (There are a few words that might offend some.)






Here's another incredible video, released on Feb. 28th. It was a collaborative project between students, many different types of artists and others who believe that this message needed to be shared:



How about his poem about the intensity of teenage love?

Ellie's 16th Birthday

My sweet girl turned 16 on Wednesday.

The kids helped me get the dinner ready and finish decorating. They found this balloon in the bag and declared it to be the coolest balloon ever!

I spent a lot of time and effort to create special decorations. They were inspired by the color schemes in the 1950's style diners.

We had a pyramid of donuts instead of cake - it was very fun!

She got a new mountain biking jersey and shorts.

We spent the last part of the party enjoying sitting around the fire. It was a perfect night for it; it was just slightly chilly with no breeze and clear skies that allowed us to see the stars.

My Celebration of My Wonderful Men - My Son, Part II

I think one of the fundamental challenges of being a parent is knowing when to guide, when to hold and how much to trust. This is most challenging when they are teenagers. It is risky business.

I am so thankful to find that Ethan's wisdom about how strongly to work towards being himself is paying off and shining through. He has always been wonderful, even when he was in the middle of the rough part of being a teenager. And he is indeed such a wonderful young man. I'd like to share some stories about him with you.

My stories begin with one that happened earlier about a week ago. There had been a decent snow storm and the streets were littered with several types of snow - sloppy and wet, rocky ice segments and the beautiful, fluffy stuff. Ethan and I were on our way to drop my car off at the repair shop. He was in his car right behind me. I was cruising down the road in the middle of the evening when I noticed flashing tail lights at a curious angle. As I approached them, I could see that a car was in one of the deep ditches on the side of the road. I thought about stopping, but continued on as I did not have my phone. I felt a tinge of guilt. At that same time I realized that my son's tail lights were no longer in my rear view mirror. I knew then that he had stopped to check on them. That is just the kind of man he is. He made sure that no one was trapped in the car and then checked with the closest neighbor to find out if he should call the police. He stayed long enough to be sure that everything would be okay. On the way back home we waited and watched as the car was pulled out and the people were on their way home. It was gratifying.

This was not an isolated situation. This past summer Ethan and a friend were down town when Ethan spied a vagrant having a seizure by the side of the road. Another man was standing near the woman having the seizure, looking confused. Ethan went over to offer help. The man's response was vulgar and rude. They did not want help. However, Ethan knew that help was needed so he crossed the street and called for help. Another vagrant approached Ethan and thanked him, saying something like, "I thank you for offering help. Sometimes people are stubborn and won't accept the help they need." Ethan stayed until medical help arrived. It made him late to his event, but that was not as important as making sure that a woman he did not even know would be okay.

On an entirely different note, my boy has been spending a lot of his free time down at the state capital taking in discussions about proposed bills. He is very interested in the outcome of a few of the proposed bills. He has spent many a day down there. In fact, he is down in the Senate chambers as I write this. He has become very interested in the way our system of government works. He has learned a lot about communication and persuasion. He has also met a number of interesting people. I am thankful that he does not take our Bill of Rights for granted. I am thankful that he is taking an active part in trying to keep as many of our freedoms as possible.

I am a thankful for my son and the wonderful young man he is.

-------------
Here's what we had for dinner last night. We have not been great about eating better lately as my job has been really stressful. My family is much happier when I am cooking dinner each night. This one will be on the keeper list:

Sweet Potato Tacos
via: My Big, Red Kitchen

1-2 pounds Taco Meat (ground beef with taco seasoning)
Sweet Potatoes (baked at 400 degrees for about 50 minutes, or until soft)
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Mango Salsa

Other optional toppings:
Sour Cream
Guacamole
Regular Salsa
Tabasco Sauce

Split open the sweet potatoes. Top with taco meat, then shredded cheese and mango salsa.

Cyclefest 2013 - A Starting Point

It felt really great to get back into Photoshop today. I started to design the postcard for the 2013 Cyclefest fundraising event for the Colorado High School Cycling League (Ellie's mountain bike league).

This was supposed to have a steam punk theme, but I also have three words to work with, so this is a start. This one is just a digital sketch, of sorts. Ellie does not actually want to be the poster girl for the event.

I thought that perhaps this version has too many words, so I took them out and added a sunburst.

What do you think? I am not at all sure that I am on the right track. I have sent these ideas to the artist that I am working with.