St. Patrick's Day - Part Two

And now for the rest of the day, or at least that part fit for sharing with the general public, especially impressionable children.

The Scene Of The Crime


Although Marge and Wayne bowed out of the this part of the festivities, their replacements were more than happy to take their place.

Bella And Tom


By now you should pretty much know the names of all the major players so I won't continue to identify everyone except when appropriate, like now.

Sandy And Rico Waiting At The Bar


And I am sure you recognize Allison peeking out from behind.  Allison has never met a flashbulb she didn't like.  You younger readers may have to google "flashbulb" to know what I am talking about.

And here we are, commandeering all of the free tables to accommodate our party.

Whiskey For The Horses And Beer For My Men


Note Sharon's fan.  This is always how it starts with her.







Oh, sure, there were defections.  Sandy and Rico continued to hold down their coveted position at the corner of the bar and somehow lured Sharon over to join them

Real Bar Flies


And where Sharon and her fan goes, Paul soon follows.  If you recall pictures from previous St. Patrick's Day gatherings you probably know why Paul keeps a close eye on Sharon.  Particularly when you are at a bar that is on the second floor.

Paul And Rico, The Fan Belongs To Sharon


Paul always gets a bit nervous when Sharon breaks out her fans.  The rest of us just get excited.

Bella and Tom arrived without tattoos so Marcie leaped into action to change that.

First, A Consultation


There, Something Dignified


Meanwhile, Sandy and Rico continued to protect their little corner of the world.

Ours, All Ours


And Paul managed to get the fans away from Sharon, much to everyone's dismay.

Later, Honey, When We Are Alone


In addition to the drinks, more Guinness for me, Murphy's Irish Pub also provided both live music and excellent grub.

Live Music


Excellent Grub


I am not sure what all they had to eat but I had roast beef, cabbage, and an excellent stew.  I think I missed the French fries, though.

Marcie Didn't Miss Them, Though


How good was the food?  Well it was good enough to lure Sandy and Rico away from the bar, and that is good food indeed.

Now, This Is Some Stew


I was pleased to see that, Murphy's, obviously, an Irish Pub, supported my favorite football team.  And the second most popular football team in the world.

Go Chivas


Being such a friendly group we soon added new members to the fold.  And, once again, after carefully writing down their names I managed to lose them.  However, I did give them my blog address, so maybe if they see this they can send them to me and I can update the information.

The Unknown Friends


I finished up this part of the day by drinking my fourth Guinness Stout and sipping a Herraduro Reposado.

What A Way To Go


From here we ended up, well, let's just say there was a Rocky marathon, coffee drinks, Lemon-Drop Martinis and anti-acid tablets thrown into the mix before the day was over.

I can only hope that next year's events come close to this year's.

St. Patrick's Day - Part One

As anticipated, St. Patrick's day was a long, drawn-out affair.  Not in a bad way, of course.  I was up bright and early doing my prep-work.  This was the making and tasting, and tasting, and tasting of my world famous Green Death Margaritas.

Busy Hands Are The Devil's Workshop


It was a tough job, but someone had to do it.  And the results were most gratifying.

A Freezer Full Of Happiness


Shortly after completing my Margarita mixing the decorating committee, that would be Marcie, showed up.

Green Is So In This Year, Dahling


The Mysterious Chinese Woman was here to lend a helping hand, and that was a good thing.  All my tasting had caught up with me so I assumed a supervisory role.

A Little Higher, Please


We decorated the sliding glass doors with hopes that it would keep the pigeons from flying into them.  It seemed to work, for the pigeons, at least.

Dumber Than Your Average Pigeon


There is no occassion for which Marcie is not prepared, and St. Patrick's Day is no exception.

All Of The Trimmings


And What would St. Patrick's day be without at least one drinking game?

But Does It Have To Be A Jig?


The Mysterious Chinese Woman was discussing her many birthdays (that is many each year).  I certainly don't mean to imply that she, well, you know.  Anyway, she was discussing them with our friends Valerie and Dave, and she mentioned that a traditional birthday dish is a poached chicken with both the head and feet still attached.  They thought she should celebrate one more birthday while they were here so the bought her the requisite chicken.

And An Irish One At That


Dave left a few days ago to head to,  of all places, Alaska.  He had to put on a trade show or something.  Not too surprisingly Valerie decided to stay in sunny Puerto Vallarta and attend the St. Patrick's Day festivities.

A Wise Valerie


Soon my friends Sandy and Rico showed up.  They are from Minnesota, from whence I originated.  In the past they have spent a week here in my place but this year they are down for two weeks and got their own digs.

Sandy


Rico


They were followed by the always fashionable Marge.

Blouse Must Match The Drink


And Marge's husband, the orifice challenged Wayne.

An Opening Is An Opening


Wayne is an architect but I have the vague feeling a house designed by him might be a bit, shall we say, challenging?  The kitchen stove would probably be in the bathroom.

Close on the heels of Wayne and Marge were Allison and Steve.

And Now The Party Can Begin


Sharon and Paul were next to arrive.  They were a bit late because Sharon said that Paul's grooming was taking longer than usual.

The Well-Groomed Paul, Not A Single Visible Nose Hair


And The Always Well-Groomed Sharon


That is Bill, Marcie's husband, just behind Sharon.  He is pouting because he doesn't like anything Green so he wasn't drinking the Margarita's.

And last, but not least, Jim and Carol arrived.  Marcie had been waiting to pounce on Jim's head because  she had saved a special tattoo for him.

First, A Little Prep-Work


Now, This Won't Hurt A Bit


And Let Us Not Forget Carol


Steve also had a nice palette for Marcie's artwork.

Big Foreheads Are In This Year


And, of course, the inevitable rivalry.

Mine Is Bigger Than Yours


The Margaritas were going down just fine, but they only do so much damage.  What you really need are Jello shots.

Okay, Plenty For Everyone, Even The Kids


And the Jello shots went down pretty good as well.

Does This Look Dignified?


Who Cares?


And there wasn't any canned fruit or tiny marsh-mellows in the Jello shots either.  After a few of them, though, you did need to hold each other up.

Ooh, How Many Did You Have?


Bar Man Provides Sturdy Support


After drinking almost all of the Margaritas and downing all of the Jello shots it was time for most of us to head to stage two.  Marge and Wayne had to depart, though.  Marge was flying back to Chicago for a few days to see her granddaughter in a school play.  She said she had the lead in Fiddler In The Roof.  Nobody will ever replace Zero Mostel in my opinion.  Wayne was staying here in Puerto Vallarta, but he had to go to the airport with Marge.

Anyway, our next stage was Murphy's Irish Pub where we continued our festivities.

Murphy's Irish Pub On The Malecon


Needless to say there will be more to post about that part of the day, but it will have to wait until tomorrow.  I think I found two friends in the fridge who need my attention.

Make New Friends But Drink The Old


And that, as they say, is all for now.

That Day Again

I awoke this morning with heart palpitations and an impending sense of doom.  Luckily there was an existential reason for my condition: Today is St. Patrick's Day, a day that seldom ends well for Bar Man.  I have already pre-built the guts of my green Margaritas, substituting Racillia (Mexican Moonshine) for Tequila and throwing in a bit of old Mescal in which the worm had dissolved.  Hey, got to get your protein.  Nothing is too good for my guests.  My friend Marcie is coming over early this morning with her green Jello shots and to help decorate my place for our pre-pub crawl party.  I think the current plans are to head to Murphy's Irish Pub for their Guinness stew for lunch and then, well, then who knows what?

But I get ahead of myself.  I thought I would post about a relatively more civil event before this day gets totally out of hand (in about two hours, by my reckoning).

We had another deck party a couple of days ago and, once again, I made my famous, but increasingly frustrating, Deviled Eggs.

I Hate These Eggs


Nothing I do can center the yolks, and believe me, I know all of the tricks.  Why doesn't Ron Popeil  offer an "Egg-Centering Centrifuge?  I would buy one.  After all, I have bought his "Scramble An Egg In The Shell" device and his "Make Square Hard Boiled Eggs" machine.  The "Automatic Egg Peeler" will probably be next.  I also have his "Automatic Pasta And Sausage Maker," but that is another sad story altogether.

I did manage to make about two dozen Deviled Eggs out of eighteen eggs.  That comes out to a totally unacceptable rejection rate of one out of three due to herniated yolks.  I put the excess filling on crackers though, so it wasn't a total loss.

The Finished Product


The Mysterious Chinese Woman made a delicious chili and there was all kinds of wonderful food to be shared.

A Mighty Fine Spread, Indeed








We had everything from ribs to jalapeño poppers.  And desserts aplenty.  I didn't get a picture of Marie's Chocolate Overkill, but it was dynamite.  Marcie is also bringing poppyseed muffins for our party this morning.  I figure it will give us an excuse if we fail our drug tests later in the day.

Everyone was supposed to bring a little something to share with the others, but I am not sure if Bill intended to share.

He Looks Pretty Well Settled In


But the rest of the crew had no problem heading for the buffet table.

Step Right Up And Dig Right In






Here were a few of the usual suspects gathered around.  Bill did share and, to be fair, not all of the wine was his.

Some Of The Usual Suspects


As usual, a great time was had by all.  Well, except for those who chose not to attend and actually tried to get some sleep while the party was still going on.  I think even  the nearby Blue Chairs, notorious for their loud music, called in a complaint.

Okay, I am off to prepare myself for today's events.  Just how, I am not sure.  Maybe drink a pint of olive oil or something.  There should be pictures tomorrow unless I lose my camera or, more likely, lose my focus.  I have long ago lost my way.