St. Patty's Day Parade...

So I know it's a bit early, but Alexandria always has their St. Patty's day celebrations the first weekend of March (don't ask me why). As is tradition we started the Saturday morning festivities off at 9am at Erin, Katie & Theresa's house with mimosas and bagels. Some of us had a few too many, but enjoyed seeing everyone. It was nice enough weather outside that the backyard was "open" and people mingled and took pictures. I left a little earlier than everyone else to head back to our place to open the windows, set out the food and heat up the "crack dip"....well, at least that's what everyone called it once they tasted it. It's actually a recipe I got from my mom for buffalo chicken dip...really simple to make and extremely delicious - always a hit with our circle of friends.

Recipe:

*1 (16oz) can white meat chicken

*1 cup Franks hot sauce

*1 (8oz) block cream cheese - softened

*1 cup ranch dressing

*1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Drain the chicken and use a fork to make finely shredded pieces, pour hot sauce to cover. In a separate container (or on stovetop) mix ranch and cream cheese, stir til completely blended with no lumps. Pour the ranch mixture over the chicken mixture, add shredded cheese. Pour into a pie plate or casserole dish and bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Serve with Tostitos scoops!!!

It's convenient that the parade goes down King Street passing directly in front of our apartment. This year we had a record turnout for the parade. I'd say we probably had 30 to 40 people trafficking in and out of our apartment from 11am-1pm. Whatever the reason, whether to use the bathroom, grab a drink, eat some food or socialize, it was a blast. Everyone kept commenting on what an awesome location we had. I thanked them for their kind comments, but in my mind was thinking - yeah, great until you can't find parking and have 4 boxes of Costco groceries to bring upstairs....but I kept my mouth shut.

After we had emptied our liquor, beer and premixed drink supply and the parade had come to an end we headed down to Pat Troy's for the usual after parade drinks and live band performances. The rest of the day was a blast, some headed to bed at 6pm, while others continued the celebration with movies, more bars and a little karaoke. Next year won't be quite the same. Erin, Katie & Theresa will be moving out of their place in June and Mike and I hope that by this time next year we're well settled in to a home of our own. But we'll see how it all goes down!