St Patrick's Day Recipe # 2 - A link to a really good article

Came across an good article to share with everybody, take the time to read it, to some it's preaching to the choir and others it can be a wake up call.  It’s Not Just About You 

Now on to some more good stuff.

St Patrick's Day Recipe # 2


 Lamb Shanks in Guinness with Country Vegetables

Ireland's famous Guinness stout adds deep flavor to this hearty stew. You will need a very large Dutch oven to accommodate all the lamb and vegetables.

6 servings

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 6 lamb shanks (about 6 pounds total)
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 5 cups chopped onions
• 4 cups beef stock or canned broth
• 2 12-ounce bottles Guinness stout
• 4 carrots, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 large parsnips, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 rutabagas, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup pitted prunes

Preparation

• Heat 6 tablespoons vegetable oil in heavy large Dutch oven over high heat. Season lamb shanks with salt and pepper. Coat lamb with flour; shake off excess. Reserve excess flour. Add lamb to Dutch oven in batches and brown well. Using tongs, transfer lamb to bowl. Reduce heat to medium. Add 5 cups chopped onions to Dutch oven and sauté until transluscent, scraping up any browned bits, about 5 minutes. Add reserved flour and stir 1 minute.
• Return lamb shanks and any accumulated juices to Dutch oven. Add beef stock and Guinness. Cover and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until meat is almost tender, about 1 hour.
• Add carrots, parsnips and rutabagas to Dutch oven and simmer uncovered until meat and vegetables are tender and stew thickens slightly, about 40 minutes. Spoon fat from surface of stew. Add prunes and simmer 20 minutes. 
  DO AHEAD Stew can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover tightly and refrigerate. Rewarm stew over low heat before serving.
    
  Thanks to all that have sent in recipes!

Tuesday B Shift back. Wednesday C Shift - last day and the cloffice

C shift preparing to go on 5 day break once again prove that they are the tip of the spear, the cutting edge of improv when I comes to necessity.  I present to you...The Bobby Haynes cloffice.

Part closet, part office.  Now if he can put a mini fridge in there...


B Shift came back from break on Tuesday, a few EMS runs, prep of the swiftwater boats and equipment in anticipation of some foul weather,  and some forcible entry training with the crews from Engine 1 and Medic 801.  Later that afternoon, there was a visit from the Deputy Chief, Captain Graham, and guest.
A few more EMS runs and another shift completed.  Stay tuned for the next St Patrick's Day recipe.

"Train like your life depends on it!  Because it does!"

Sunday Junkday

Station 2 celebrated it's first official "Sunday Junkday".  We are hoping it
catches on as a national holiday.  We started the celebration with Bobby's
-right on- sausage gravy this morning (wonderful both times we ate it) then
had some spicy and sweet jalapenos with pepper jack cheese on Ritz. After
adding a little coffee to the mixture we had the makings of a true Grade A gut
bomb.  Lunch became leftover Chinese, chips, salsa and cheese dip and more
coffee.  The kielbasa was delicious and it complimented the jalapeno cornbread
surprisingly well (wonderful both times we ate it).  Peppers, onions, green beans
and potatoes also filled the plate.  After a little more coffee, a few more
calls and a lot more laughs, the chocolate chip cookies got put off until next
shift. 


Hopefully my body can recover and get prepared for "Bacon Blast Wednesday".  It
is going to be wonderful.

-C shift

Hellava Shift...

Hellavah shift.  
The day started early with a pre-breakfast vehicle trauma for Station 1, while Station 2 went over our new RIT bag .  We headed up to station 1 for our group pictures, but they were postponed due to another station 1 call (this turned out to be the last time we would see our station again until dinner).  
On the way back from errands at Admin, Engine 2 finds itself in the awkward position of changing out of our badge shirts and into our gear for a confirmed Yokohama fire.  5 hours of nasty tar like soot and duct cleaning later, the fire was finally out and we could begin cleaning gear, packing hose and reassembling our trucks. 

 Thanks to those who came in from overtime to help. The extra manpower was very welcomed.  

As the sun was going down and Engine 2 was finally repacking it's last of the 1000 ft it had earlier deployed, another fire alarm goes out for the Rescue Engine.  We arrived to find a fence line and yard burning while being fiercely attacked by a neighbor and his garden hose.  After 500 gallons and another emptied hosebed the fire was out.  The engine was soon squared away with a fresh tank of water, a fresh tank of fuel, newly loaded hosebeds and a not so fresh crew who earned themselves some reserve gear.  After dinner the only thing that stood in our way from a relaxing shower was a EMS call.  11 hours after the Yokohama Fire alarm sounded we can finally sit down and consider this day done.  I wonder what the night will hold.  - Barger

St Patrick's Day Recipe #1

This is the first in a series of St Patrick's Day recipes.
Who says you can't start with dessert first?

 Irish Car Bomb Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup stout (Murphy’s or Guinness)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)

2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

2/3 cup sour cream

 

Ganache Filling

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature

1 to 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (Bushmills or other)

 

Baileys Frosting

3 to 4 cups confections sugar

1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 shot of Baileys

 

Make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F.  Wash your dirty, nasty hands.  Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 17 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.

Make the filling:  Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can put it for 20 seconds in the microwave, watching carefully) Add the butter and whiskey (if you’re using it) and stir until combined. 

Fill the cupcakes: Wash your dirty, nasty hands. Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped (the fridge will speed this along but you must stir it every 10 minutes).  Press your index finger into the centers of the cooled cupcakes being careful not to poke too far down  Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top. (***see my Ziploc bag suggestion below)

Make the frosting: Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time. If the icing begins to clump up – don’t worry once you add the Bailey’s it will smooth back out. Once the icing is thick enough it is ready to be spread onto the cupcakes. Ice and decorate the cupcakes.

*If you don’t have a pastry piping bag, use a large Ziploc baggie with a tiny snip cut out of the corner of it. – Ta freakin' da!  Works like a dream!

Getting ready for break and St Patricks Day

Wednesday was a fun day for the Brothers on B Shift at the 2 House, a bit of training on the new RIC bags that are on the Rescue Engine and Engine 3.  The new RIC bags are more streamline, and user friendly that the previous bags.  After lunch, the Rescue Engine rode out to the training center and had a forcible entry review and hands on using the door prop that was provided by the Brothers from Roanoke City.  The crew from Station 3 South Side House of Haz Mat, also came out to the training center and joined in on the door forcing and review.
  A few EMS assist and a possible flue fire with the Station 1 crew wrapped the day up for the most part, and don't for get everybody's favorite...the o dark thirty fire alarm! 

With St Patrick's Day closing in, with parades, and festivities, I'm gonna post some St Patrick's Day recipes on here.  If you have a favorite recipe send it in and we will get it posted.

Be safe, be good.

"Train like you life depends on it!  Because it does!"

Thursday

It was a busy day for the Engines and Medics of Salem today.  The city was dumped on several separate occasions.  Fortunately we  managed to get a little training in with Capt Johnson between the calls. 
After Bobby's sausage, bacon, egg, apple buttered biscuit breakfast a chili cook off was the perfect compliment.  The expert opinions and fine culinary tastes of the Station II crew were taken full advantage of at the annual Ridgewood Gardens chili cook off extravaganza.  All of the contestants were well seasoned (licorice?)and enjoyable but our 1st place pick went to the #6 white chicken chili with the #10 sweet and spicy chili at a close 2nd.  An overall good day for the guys on the East Side.  -  Barger