Sylvia's Scenario

This year for St. Patrick's Day, I roasted the corned beef using a recipe from a local chef, Brendan McGill, who has three restaurants here in Seattle and it was the best I've ever made.  The only change to the recipe was to add carrots to the dish because I always love carrots with my corned beef and cabbage. I made  Irish soda bread  on Friday with barely enough leftover for Saturday's St. Patrick's Day dinner because we couldn't stop eating it (especially warm right out of the oven!)  It's also killer as toast for breakfast slathered with butter.   My sister and her husband came over for dinner so we put on Irish music, I set a festive table and we let the celebration begin.    I even bought some Irish cheeses for our appetizers from our local grocery store. Go Irish. Brendan McGill's recipe was in the Sunday paper last weekend and he emphasized that you could purchase one of his corned beef and cabbage "kits" at two

Happy Friday, everybody.  It's Lent and how many of you are eating fish on Friday? I grew up eating fish on Friday so it sort of sticks with you this time of year. I've been following Cooking Light where your meal suggestions pop-up everyday in your email, complete with recipes. You can switch around meals for different days, save your favorites, etc. I really like the site. Of course, I'm not losing weight, which is the whole point of it (I'd certainly love to lose weight...it's my on-going saga) but I love the recipes. And I love not trying to figure out what to cook for dinner everyday. (They also give you breakfast and lunch meals, as well) I'm not losing weight because I have too many "off" days. Isn't that how it always goes? Ten days at Mariner's Spring training  didn't help. After we returned, we got ready for our Mariner season ticket party which is actually the highlight of our Spring and it was really a good one this

Why do people go down to Arizona for spring training? Let me count the ways.  First, to watch baseball in the sun. This is the best way to enjoy the sport. Period.  We don't get a lot of that in Seattle and when February/March comes along, a typical Seattleite really feels like being in some warmth and sunshine.  So, we head south to spring training.   Second, to see major league baseball players up close. This year, we were intrigued with Shohei Ohanti, a 23-year-old California Angel who came over from Japan this year who pitches and bats.  Yes, he does both.  We went to three Angel games during our trip to spring training and saw him get three at-bats.  He didn't get a hit, unfortunately.  He struck out once, ground out and popped up.  The other two games he didn't even play but instead he pitched for a B-class Angel team over at the Brewer's stadium in the morning that was closed for public viewing.  He did really well over t