Green Scene

ENGLISH (OR SCOTTISH?) EYES ARE SMILING: I don't suppose anyone will be surprised to learn that the topic du jour was St. Patrick's Day. And, thankfully, there was no shortage of resources to help us learn more about this holiday.

We started with a BrainPOP animated video about the holiday. It was really thorough and entertaining. We learned that March 17 is believed to be the day that Patricius Magonus Sucatus (better known as St. Patrick) died, and that the patron saint of Ireland was not Irish. He was English. Or Scottish. But definitely not Irish. ;)

Born to wealthy parents, Maewyn Succat was kidnapped at age 14 or 16 (depending on whom you believe) and taken to Ireland, where he was enslaved. He worked as a shepherd, and during his six years of slavery he spent a whole lot of time praying - and learning about the Irish culture. When he won his freedom, Succat went home to England. However, he returned to the Ireland, preaching his way across the Emerald Isle, converting people to Christianity. During his proselytizing, St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, giving birth to the shamrock's association with St. Patrick's Day.

Interestingly, the jubilant celebration of St. Patrick's day has its roots on the North American continent. Irish soldiers in the English military marched through New York City on March 17, 1762.

We learned that St. Patrick's day is celebrated in different ways around the globe. Here in the USA there's a huge parade in New York, and the Chicago River is tinted green. In Buenos Ares, they party all night long (that appears to be the case in Seattle, too. We live about 2 blocks from an Irish pub and it ain't pretty on March 18, let me tell you.)

In Ireland, March 17 it's a more solemn holiday, and celebrants go to church. Except in Dublin, where it's a 5-day party. (Can you tell there are conflicting reports out there?)

Next, we hopped to the History Channel's Web site for more St Paddy's day factoids. The History Channel had a looong list of facts about the holiday, as well as multiple videos. We watched "The History of St. Patrick's Day," a biopic about St. Patrick, a short video about leprechauns, and a video about how green came to symbolize the holiday (originally St. Patrick was associated with blue, as he wore blue robes).

On Biography.com we found a cool interactive map of Ireland. It show the country and when you click on a specific city's name, facts and gorgeous photos pop up.

COLOR WHEEL CONTINUED: For our special St. Patrick's Day dessert, we decided to make rainbow cupcakes topped by clouds and surrounded by gold coins. The first thing we had to do was transform a standard box of white cake mix into several vibrant colors to layer into cupcake tins. We decided to use red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet (no indigo, which means it wasn't an official Roy G. Biv rainbow). The kids helped crack the eggs, add the oil and mix the batter. They also applied gold dust to some mini Nilla wafers to transform them into gold coins.
I divided it between six small bowls and then they added the food coloring and whipped up the colors.
Next, it was time to painstaking layer six strata of batter into each little cup. That = not much fun, but the result sure is purty. (And actually, they're even prettier on the inside - the colors actually arc, just like a real rainbow.)

LOST & FOUND: Wednesday = swimming lessons for the kids. CJ's lesson was midday. The good news is, this week we remembered to take his goggles. The bad news is, once we got home post CJ's lesson, we discovered that somewhere between the pool in Ballard and our home in Magnolia, the bag holding his street clothes (pants, socks, goggles and unmentionables) had emptied. And, of course, today was the one day we couldn't park in the pool lot. We'd parked 3 plus blocks away. Crap.

The good news is, Annabelle's lesson was at 5 p.m. We went about five minutes early and set off in search of items lost. Across the street from Ballard High School I spied one sock of CJ's. That was a start. We walked a block, turned the corner and up the block I saw his pants. And goggles. And sock #2, and yes, even his underpants. Score!

The kids both had a good lesson - Annabelle was in tadpole mode, per usual, and CJ even got his entire head wet today!

HEAVY ON THE HOME EC: Tonight's menu: Shepherd's pie (in honor of the enslaved Maewyn Succat, forced into shepherdry), with Guinness beer batter bread. While CJ and Christian were at Tae Kwon Do, Annabelle helped prep. She helped measure exactly 12 ounces of Guinness for the beer bread (not as easy as it sounds, given the foam involved).

Annabelle also grated cheese and helped spread the mashed potatoes atop the lamb. And she was super thrilled to accompany me to the alley, where she harvested chives to top the shepherd's pie. During dinner, she told Christian no less than three times that she had "made" the chives. : )

I knew the kids weren't going to be interested in the shepherd's pie, so I made rice for them and added green dye, of course. Annabelle and I also made some shamrock-shaped cheese treats, which were a big hit with Mr. CeeJ.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: From Biography.com - "Did you know that at 198 calories a pint, Guinness has fewer calories than 1% milk or orange juice."