Mermaids & Martinis

May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light,
may good luck pursue you each morning and night. 
-Irish Blessing

I can't wait for the annual St. Patrick's Day parade on Saturday. The parade expects over 200,000 people! There are no floats, just marching and music. http://nycstpatricksparade.org/.  I recently read that the first St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York was held on lower Broadway (back in 1762!) by a small band of homesick Irish ex-patriots and Irish military that were stationed in the American colonies. Looks like they were on to something big!

The parade kicks off at 11am on 44th Street and marches up Fifth Avenue, past St. Patrick's Cathedral, ending up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Irish Historical Society at 86th Street around 5pm.

If you are hosting a green gathering for friends at home, serve up traditional Irish fare like Sheperd's Pie, or try an untraditional twist with a "mashed potato bar." You could create pretty flower arrangements made with Belles of Ireland, or put together a few monochromatic arrangements by using a green-only array of: Moss, Protea, Mums, and green berry. Send guests home with a cute party favor like this one I made--and, it was great practice emptying a Guinness for the flowers in the to-go "vase" (Someday I WILL master the perfect shamrock in the foam on top)...

I'm hoping to keep my own tradition and wrap up the day with a lucky toast at the best Irish pub in my neighborhood--Dublin 6, love.

http://dublin6nyc.com/

Slainte. 

XO