today, McPiper is an Irish Setter:)

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

 
Ingredients
1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg yolk
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Directions
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, butter, cream cheese, salt, almond and vanilla extracts, and egg yolk. Beat until smooth. Stir in flour until well blended. Chill the dough for 8 hours, or overnight.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough 1/3 at a time to 1/8 inch thickness, refrigerating remaining dough until ready to use. Cut into desired shapes with lightly floured cookie cutters. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Leave cookies plain for frosting, or brush with slightly beaten egg white and sprinkle with candy sprinkles or colored sugar.
Bake for 7 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until light and golden brown. Cool cookies completely before frosting. 

http://trickschefs.com/showthread.php?tid=626 

Top o' da mornin' lads!

May you have:
A world of wished at your command
God and his angels close at hand
Friends and family their love impart,
And Irish blessing in your heart. 


click HERE for ordering details:
 
 

St. Patrick's Day

Well, hello and Top O' da Day!  We had a fine St. Patrick's Day celebration.  Our celebratory dinner consisted of some very authentic and traditional St. Patrick's Day cuisine: pizza, bow tie pasta with olive oil, cheese ravioli, and garlic knots, followed by cannoli and cheese cake!!!  Ok, at least some of us wore some green?  

Oh, and I believe the luck of the Irish really was with us, as we got pulled over!  (for the record, I was chatting, yes...but J was driving!)  So, he was going 42 in a 30 mph zone (and the speed limits change every couple blocks here, seriously!  and it was a four lane:D)  So, on top of that crime, I couldn't locate our SC registration (which was in the van, I did find it when we got home)---but I located a WI one, and we handed it to her--(and upon inspection, I realized it belonged to the previous car owners!  Of course, we had to turn ours in when we got our SC license plates (the jeep still has WI plates:O); and if that wasn't enough law-breaking for one night--we found out that in SC you are supposed to get a state driver's licence within 10 days of residency!  Ok, we did not know that--and we could somewhat justify still having WI licences...we were home-owners in WI, until Dec. 26th!  At that point we were 1.5 months away from closing on our new home in SC--so even if I had been aware of the law, it still wouldn't have made sense, to get a license, just to go back a month later to get a new one.  So there:D  So, those were our crimes.  How much do you think the ticket was?  Any guesses?  Oh, back to the license...property taxes in SC are VERY reasonable--especially compared to Wisconsin's which are fairly high.  But, there's a catch--we found this out at the closing of our home---if you don't fill out this property assessement form and have it in by the end of the year (and this requires a valid South Carolina driver's license)---your property taxes will triple---so, the law is not enough incentive for us---but the $$$$$$ sure is:D


Ok, so what was your guess on the ticket amount!  I was shocked--seriously, with all of our "bads" I was seriously shocked that he only received a warning!  The luck O' da Irish was truly with us.  My grandma always said, "everybody's a little Irish on St. Patrick's Day!"

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We were in TWO St. Pat's Parades

The girls and I had a blast yesterday. They rode on the bandwagon with me for two St. Patrick's Day parades. We met the bus (their first bus ride:) which took the band to our downtown Milwaukee parade route, and participated in that parade. It was pretty funny watching a whole bunch of whisky-infested parade-goers stumbling around---the heart of Milwaukee culture:) I heard an interesting story yesterday that in the late 1800's, the Irish population of Milwaukee used to be a lot higher than the German population; until a boat coming over from Europe sunk and the populations shifted (or it could be the other way around, not sure). I don't really know the facts or all the details, but I thought that was interesting.

After the downtown parade, we hopped back onto the bus (ok, I admit, there were a few of us who couldn't find the bus, and I had to make some calls for the bus driver to come get us, tee hee:) and went to Wauwatosa for our second parade. We had some time between parades so we went into a McDonald's and hung out for awhile. Ok, I'm not proud--I can't believe I did this, but I will share: I was holding a tray full of food with one hand, turned to try to get my girls seated and situated, the tray tipped and everything spilled onto the lap of one of our percussionists (ooops, sorry Mike:) Thankfully, I had not filled my soda or obtained any ketchup at that point:) We still had some time after, so we enjoyed walking through the parade line up and looking at some of the floats, listening to the bag-pipers, and hanging out and taking pictures with THE SAUSAGES---true Milwaukee Icons (mascots of The Milwaukee Brewers, for those not familar with the area). We had a great time on the second parade as well--my girls loved it, and waved to the parade-goers as our band played.

Two parades were of course an all day event for us--but we decided the day was not over---so we rushed back to the car and headed up 20 miles north-west of Madison to attend the very fun-filled benefit for the "son" of a high school friend. A few of my grade-school/ high school friends also made the trip and we had a great time. The girls made new friends quickly, and the kids also had a blast!

We had a fun-filled festive day yesterday (while J stayed behind to tear out the creme-colored carpeting in the front living room; he's getting ready to put the wood laminate in, as we speak---the plastic sheets are hung, so I don't have a house-full of dust, like I did the last time he did this:) *** NOTE: My girlfriend said she saw our float on Milwaukee's TMJ4 News!:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1GzXcg-P7g