St. Patrick's Day

I had a wonderful time on St. Patrick's Day this year. I was a little worried because I knew that by staying in Des Moines I would be missing out on marching with my cousins in the parade in St. Paul. It has been three years since Captain Potato made an appearance, and I hope to be up there next year.

For me, St. Patrick's Day has always been more about spending time with family than drinking. Don't get me wrong, we will tip some back, but really it's a time to catch up each other. If I wasn't going to be with my family this year I decided that I should make some cinnamon rolls like my Grandpa McCarty used to. Instead of using his recipe I used one from The Bread Bakers Apprentice. I made the stick roll version, as that is what Grandpa always made. They ended up with a candy shell that was almost crunchy. They were really good, but not nearly as good as Grandpa McCarty's.

After having cinnamon rolls for breakfast we went to an early lunch/late brunch with Allyson, Ryan, and Sarah. We tried Baby Boomer's because none of us had been there before. I'm glad we tried it, as I've already been back. They have the best pancakes I've ever had. They taste like yellow cake batter.

After brunch we walked a few blocks to the parade. I was looking forward to the parade, as I have always had a wonderful time in the St. Paul at the parade. There was one key difference: half of the parade in Des Moines was made up of people walking Basset hounds. After 15 minutes we decided we would head to Shorty's for some Smithwick's and Guinness.

Proof that John had a good time:

Actually, he did have a good time. His BFF Ryan Seymour was there.

Allyson and I picked up matching "Kiss Me I'm Iowish" shirts between brunch and the parade. I have been wearing mine constantly since St. Patrick's Day.

After having a few beers we headed to Fong's for some fruity drinks and crab rangoon pizza. As I am typing this post I now realize that we basically spent the entire day eating.