Saint Patrick's Day (tomorrow)

Tomorrow is a big day around here.  Today is too for that matter.  Patrick is coming home!!  Moira too!  Moira arrived early this morning, and so we will all be here for Saint Patrick's day!  We are going to need to do some cooking, which means we will need to do some shopping.  I'm pretty excited about it all.

Here are a few recipes of interest:
Irish Colcannon
Roasted Vegetable Lamb Irish Stew
Irish Soda Bread
Vegetarian Mushroom and Barley Irish Stew

It's so nice to have the energy of the whole family together.  It's even more special, now that we have kids who don't always live here.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder.  :-)

Time for some Irish music too.  Chieftains, U2.  Who else? 

Casa Batllo, Barcelona

I've been to Barcelona a couple times now, and love Antonio Gaudi's architecture and style.  I'm not the only one.  All of Barcelona loves Gaudi, and Gaudi loved Barcelona.  This apartment building is one of his later designs at Casa Batllo.  Earlier in the day, we visited Sagrada Familia cathedral, a spectacular, if not seminal symbol of Gaudi.  Still yet, I was tingling virtually my entire visit to Casa Batllo.   It's on what might be opposing ends of the spectrum, both art, and architecture.  Or form and function.  And on both fronts, it's exquisite.  This is a photo of a little artistic note at the top of the staircase handrail.