Going Green

I just love a good color scheme. On Independence Day, I like to make red, white, and blue desserts. On Valentine's Day, I seek out the red and turn edible things pinkish with red food coloring. I do sort of the same thing for Halloween with orange or black. On St. Patrick's Day, the whole green thing gets taken to great heights. Probably because there really isn't anything else to do to celebrate it. Does anyone actually know the origin of this holiday?

Green seems particularly fun because it's the natural color of so many things, and a completely unnatural color for so many others! Green flowers, for instance, kind of catch you off-guard, even though parts of the flower are green. When I was a teenager, I used green nail polish at the appropriate time. In college, my roommates and I wore green lipstick and painted shamrocks on our faces with green eyeliner for a huge group date dinner we hosted.

This is one holiday that's magnified by being around kids. This morning, my kids ran around, trying to find all the green things in the house. The three girls have matching green shirts on. The crossing guard had on a glittery green bowler hat. The kids in the schoolyard were sporting all manner of festive headwear, from over-sized leprechaun hats to shamrocks attached to headbands with spring-y stems so they bobble around in the air.

Favorite green foods:
-Key lime pie yogurt (Yoplait)- the yogurt itself is green, not just the picture on the cup
-Apple Jacks- the only green-boxed cereal I know of. The green cereal bits are a relatively recent addition to the peachy-colored ones.
-Mint chocolate chip ice cream
-Kiwi
-Green kool-aid
-Lime Jello
-Guacamole
-Green bagels from Fry's- they've done this for years. Last year, a fellow shopper asked, "What's wrong with the bagels? Are they moldy?" I don't think mold grows in that particular shade.
-Anything shamrock-shaped. My sister's birthday is today, which has led to some cake creativity over the years. We had pretty good success with a flower-shaped cake surgically altered to be a shamrock. Finally, the cake pan people wised up and created a shamrock pan. I've got shamrock cookie cutters and shamrock sprinkles. I think Julia's birthday has motivated a higher degree of St. Patrick's Day observance in our family.

Tonight, I think I'll make waffles for dinner. Food coloring will be involved.