A Touch of the Blarney

May the sun always find you on a cloudy day,

and when you want to be home may you find the way.

May you always have the courage to take a chance,

and never find frogs in your underpants.

Our bonny Irish lass, Mavis, is dressed up in her adorable outfit from last year.  If you click that link and scroll down, you won't regret it for you shall see Betty in her leprechaun costume!

"Any excuse for a costume" is one of my life mottoes.  Ramon couldn't agree more.

I figured if any random group of office and warehouse workers would recognize an Irish Elk, it would be this random group, but just in case I made the banner sign riffing on, "Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day" popularly found on t-shirts, buttons and signs at pubs & bars.

And an excuse for a special adult beverage ain't a bad thing either.  We have made a little tradition of having an Irish Car Bomb at home to celebrate St. Paddy's, because going out on St. Paddy's can be excruciating.  This might be especially the case in a college town.  Annnnywaaaaaaay, tonight we'll do the same, but I've added a twist to the tradition with Irish Car Bomb cupcakes!  I used this recipe with the Jameson ganache variation. I had planned on making these to send with Eric to work for his team, but then about a week before the holiday he got word that the Employee Crisis Assistance Program was holding another fundraiser bake sale that day.  Well, cupcakes for a good cause deserve extra decoration as far as I'm concerned which lead to a clip art search through my files, my bookshelf, and my internet.  A few downloads and some Photoshop time later and I had an Irish Elk (Megalocerus giganteus) wearing a leprechaun hat!

Original art by D Trudeau. whose work can be found here: http://kodriak.deviantart.com/ 

A few more searches, downloads and minutes on Photoshop and I had a couple of labels; one for the flavor of cake and one tying Irish Elk into St. Paddy's Day.

Last time I contributed cupcakes (also elk-themed) to the bake sale, I didn't make a label. I thought maybe the organizer had labels and I didn't want to step on any toes.  I don't think they did and since this is boozy, I thought it a good idea to include one.

I sent Eric to work with a dozen, because that's what fits in the cupcake carrier when they have toppers and will take some to a few neighbors which will leave us with just enough to only slightly overdo it over the next few days as is only appropriate with both dessert and with St. Patrick's Day.

Here's a messy cutaway view of the Jameson Whisky ganache.  I figured that the whole Irish Elk thing was a bit much for the neighbors, so instead I added some green sugar on top for a bit of color.  I thought the Elk-y ones looked more elegant without the sprinkles.  Well, as elegant as a cupcake with an Irish Elk wearing a leprechaun hat on top of it can look.

Sláinte!