Happy St. Patrick's Day

[kkt]

I was expecting a European user to open this this early.

Why would we do that? Even putting aside that I don't believe there's Irish members, why would we Europeans wish Americans a happy Irish national day?

Sure its a holiday in Ireland, but the Liffey, Shannon or Lagan don't get turned green, nor do they look kindly to the 'celebrations' elsewhere like 'drink 5 Guinnesses, get a free hat' promotion and other stuff that flattens Irish culture to little more than getting drunk (though to be fair, that is something many many Irish people will do today. I would say that Brits do the same on Bank Holidays, but pointing to a shared culture is just going to annoy the Irish).

There is a parade in Dublin, but that was started relatively recently and for the American tourists who came over and expected big things and were disappointed. The Irish are a friendly bunch who are willing to put on a show, on their day, for the 'plastic paddies' who make the trip, but that doesn't mean that they see St Patrick's Day the same as Americans.

I was going to say it's odd as you don't do anything for the larger group of Americans of Scottish descent celebrating 'the culture' of the home they've long since forgotten (something Europeans really don't get) but there's apparently Tartan Day, which isn't a thing in Scotland. It's quite illustrative wrt St Paddy's Day actually - Americans have made up a load of celebrations for a homeland they don't know, ignoring what actually goes on back in the land their great-great-great grandparents left. The difference is that the American celebration of Ireland is on the Irish national day, rather than day that's totally invented like with the Scots (Jan 25th Burns Night is the key celebration, but 30th November St Andrews Day is the day the Scots get off work).

So what do you think about Sunday, Bloody Sunday? The event or the song, take your pick.

The event:  really really stupid thing to do that didn't do anyone any good.  Authorities need a trained police unit for protest control that knows how to use just what force is needed, knows that protest is legal and healthy in a democracy.  Not regular army soldiers.

[abefroman329]

Yesterday, the Bears shared a photo to social media where the Chicago River was dyed orange and the caption read "that's much better" or something like that.

I must admit that it did not immediately occur to me why that would be problematic.

[Pink Jazz]

I wore green yesterday instead of my usual pink.

Here is an easy recipe for green velvet cake that I made last year:

   
• 1 box yellow cake mix (I use Betty Crocker)
• 1 cup buttermilk (If you don't want to buy liquid buttermilk you can buy Saco Powdered buttermilk and follow the directions to make equivalent liquid buttermilk and mix with water)1/3 cup cocoa powder (I use Hershey's)
• 1/3 cup oil
• 4 eggs
• Green food coloring (Gel is highly recommended, I use Chefmaster Leaf Green). Add until you get a desirable shade of green.
• Cream cheese frosting

Bake at 350F for 12-14 minutes.

[dlsterner]

Here is an easy recipe for green velvet cake that I made last year:
   ... snipped ...

A few years ago for St. Patrick's Day I made a green velvet cake for the gang at work.  I basically found a red velvet cake recipe on-line and substituted an equal amount of green food coloring for the red food coloring.  With typical cream cheese frosting and green (rather than red) sugar sprinkles.

The cake was quite tasty - but with one unintended - and unfortunate - consequence ...

How should I say this gracefully ... I noticed that, during my next constitutional, the result had an odd green tint.  Obviously from the food coloring.  Felt a bit embarrassed figuring this happened to everyone else who had a piece of cake.     But nobody said anything, except for compliments on the cake.