Pictures from Mexico

For my spring break from UCLA we spent a week in Mexico at this resort called the Excellence in Playa Mujeres, a quiet stretch of beach with a few resorts about 40 minutes from Cancun.  We went to Mexico with my parents, my brother Stephen and his wife, Delia, and Delia's parents, Jim and Kimberly.  We had such a fantastic time - it was the perfect family vacation.  The resort was amazing.  The rooms, beach and pools were beautiful.   The staff was so great and the resort was all inclusive so we spent most of the trip stuffing our faces with the delicious food and drinking (maybe) and little too much!  Overall it was truly a wonderful vacation and a much need break before I go into my last 4 weeks of my LL.M. program.

Here are some of the pictures from the trip.

Click here to view these pictures larger

Happy St. Pattys Day

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!!

We had a great weekend celebrating our Irish-ness on the West Coast.  Which mostly included stuffing our faces and drinking too much Guinness,  Bailey's and Jameson.   Sadly no green beer this year but oh well.  LA definitely isn't Boston when it comes to St. Patrick's Day shenanigans but we still had a fun night out with some of our new west-coast friends.  

Elvis also got to do some celebrating this weekend too.  The little man was born on March 16 (thanks Frenchies of Mystic for bringing the sweetest Frenchie into our lives).  In honor of his 2nd birthday Dave got him this cute glittery Irish hat from the party store.  Elvis wasn't really into wearing that hat but he got spoiled with a special can of cowboy stew and some extra treats yesterday.

I decided to let my sweet tooth overindulge this year and put some of that Irish liquor we had to good use.  This morning I made IRISH FRENCH TOAST...using Irish soda bread and Bailey's.  It was delicious!  

The recipe is below if you want to use some of that leftover soda bread you bought in other ways.

IRISH FRENCH TOAST

1 loaf Irish soda bread (cut into 1/2 inch slices)

4 eggs

3/4 cup milk or light cream

1/4 Bailey's Irish Cream

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

GUINNESS CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES WITH IRISH CREAM FROSTING

I also made some cupcakes for the party we went to on Saturday night with of course, Guinness and Bailey's.  Definitely not part of my spring break diet but these were also delicious.  

Here is the recipe from Food.com

Hope you all had a great St. Patty's Day.  More to come soon from the West Coast and a McNeil family spring break in Mexico!!

Merry Christmas - a few months late

I know I've been MIA for a few months now but life has been very busy with the holidays, schoolwork, a few trips back to the east coast and a case of pneumonia.  Just wanted to share this ridiculous photo of Elvis taken with Santa Claus at the Grove before Christmas.  More posts to come soon.  I have lots to share!!