This past weekend I took a morning to hang with daughter.  We decided to visit a local Farmer's Market but I decided to surprise her with a stop for a quick breakfast at Roadrunner Cafe.  It was the first time either of us had been to this certain little cafe.  I was taken back by how sweet and homey it felt.  There were clearly regulars hanging out and talking and the owner (I assume he was the owner) was involved with the conversation.  He also was so nice to daughter and she loved, for the first time ever, the strawberry smoothie she got.  I say the first time ever because usually she hates the smoothies from coffee shops but she loved this one and the impressive whipped cream on top!

I got a caramel macchiato that was the best thing I have ever had!  I decided I even liked it better than Starbucks!!  

If you are ever in Tucson I highly recommend this local cafe :)

After we ate we took our drinks to go and headed to the Heirloom Farmer's Market up at the Steam Pump Ranch.  I was super excited because I LOVE the Rillito Park one.  When we got there I noticed immediately that it was so much smaller.  I do not know if it is always like this but it was this past Saturday.

I got some gigantic cucumbers (made a cucumber salad with those) and some pretty plump carrots (which I am eating right now with hummus).  
I do have to say though I will probably stick with the Rillito one though because it is closer to my home and it had more options.
Either way though I am a firm believer in Farmer's Markets because they are local people just trying to make a living with great ideas and stupendous food!

"Amerirish Corned Beef"

Every year I have a tradition of making corned beef on St. Pat's Day and this year was no different. I started the tradition originally about 13 years ago when I met my boyfriend.  His entire family is Irish and I thought to help bring a part of his family into our little family this would be a good tradition.  Some years I go big with lots of treats too but some years (like this one) I am just to busy and stick to just corned beef.

But I wanted to share it with you, especially since some of the side items came from a little adventure my daughter and I had last weekend at the Heirloom Farmers Market here in Tucson.  We found huge carrots and amazing little white potatoes.  The carrots though were so big and plump they were bigger than my hand (and my hands are huge!)

Any who...

I made this corned beef in my crock pot (like I do every year) but this year I changed it up just a bit.  I would normally follow my same recipe but this year I couldn't because I didn't have a bottle of Guinness. *GASP*  So instead I used a bottle of Bud Lite...hehehehe.  I am calling this the "Amerirish Corned Beef".

I have to say that this was the best corned beef dish I have ever made! I ate pretty much the majority of the meat and definitely most of the amazing carrots!  And when I say most I mean out of the crock pot I ate most of it by myself, hehehehe. My boyfriend also loved this meal and said he would never have known I didn't use Guinness!  Check my recipes page for the recipe :)

After this amazing meal I made the kiddos a treat (which I wasn't going to do but my amazing boyfriend ran to the store special for me to make it).  I made the kiddos a rice crispy skill bar but I used lucky charms.  I owe a big thank you not only to my boyfriend but to a co-worker who inspired me to make them.  She actually blogs too and you can see here over at the Bubbly Brunette.

So to this St. Patrick's day, Cheers and I hope everyone was safe and happy!