Well hello there!  Top of the morning to ya!  Wait, unless you’re reading this at night then umm top of the evening to…whatever, hey everybody, welcome back!  So last Friday was St. Patrick’s Day.  If you didn’t know that already, what’s it like living under a rock?  Comfy?  Anyway yeah, surely you must have noticed that everything was green all weekend…including an orange that I somehow forgot in the back of my refrigerator.  Whoops. 

Anyway, yeah, it was St. Paddy’s Day weekend!  Some of you may be confused as to why I typed “Paddy’s” instead of “Patty’s” but that is the correct term.  I was unaware of that too until I saw so many people getting lambasted (lol I forgot about that word until I just typed it ha let’s make that the word of the day shall we?  Make sure to use it in a sentence before midnight lol post below when you do…) for using the incorrect term.  When I looked it up however, I now understand the rationale.  The name Patrick is derived from the Irish name Pádraig.  Patty is the shortened form of the female name Patricia (or a hamburger patty mmm…but we already discussed those in depth last post!).  So use “Paddy” to abbreviate Patrick and “Patty” to abbreviate Patricia.  Granted, using “Patty” also still makes sense to me since I don’t see a D in the name Patrick, only in the name it’s derived from, but whatever, yolo eh?  As for how people get Jack from the name John or Hank from Henry?  We’ll save that mystery for another day.

Ha, that picture of the Mystery Machine just brought back so many memories!  I used to love Scooby Doo…even though the Witch Island episodes used to somewhat terrify me at the same time lol.  I used to love the way they ran lol.  Scooby and Shaggy were my boys lol but not Fred.  Fred was annoying. And what was up with that ascot?  Who wears those?  I’ll tell you who wears those.  That pretentious dork Fred, that’s who. 

Wait!  Uh oh, hold up, I may have accidentally insulted one of my favorite cartoon characters while bashing Fred Jones from Scooby Doo.  Let me check…okay cool, Fred Flinstone wears a full tie not an ascot.  Although it is dangerously close.  Hmm, are only people named Fred allowed to wear ascots?  Maybe it’s a secret society like the illuminati?  The Fred Ascot Society?  Okay, this rabbit hole is getting pretty deep!  Lol I’m way off topic, my bad…but before we resume the green day theme I ask you why someone fashion forward enough to wear a tie wouldn’t also think to put on pants too?  Although that makes more sense than Donald Duck who just wore a shirt but no pants either.  But at least Donald Duck’s shirt fits well unlike Winnie the Pooh’s!  “Oh bother” indeed.  Anyway, moving on…

So while we’re on the subject of fashion, or a lack thereof, lol let’s take a closer look at that goofy outfit I have on in the featured photos.  If you know me at all by now, you know that hat lights up right?  True story!  Ha, check it out (for video of the hat in action, follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook!)!

So back when I lived in New Jersey, I was only 45 minutes away from the largest St. Patrick’s Day celebration in the United States.  That would be the historic annual parade held in New York City.  But now that I currently live in Georgia, I’m still located near the second largest parade which is held in Savannah! 

The first time that I heard about the Savannah parade was during my stay there to appear on Paula’s Party with Paula Deen on her old Food Network Show (check out this full appearance by visiting the video archives on FatDarrell.com by following this link  http://www.fatdarrell.com/fdmedia).  Coincidentally, I was also wearing an ugly green shirt for that appearance too!  Anyway, that’s when I first heard about this legendary weekend-long celebration where over 500,000 locals (estimates this year were closer to 700,000!) and tourists gather to celebrate each year.  Here are a few photos from this past weekend (courtesy of Savannah Now)!

Fun times eh?  There were also vendors, concerts, traditional foods, contests, family fun and of course beer….lots and lots of beer. 

And you may have also noticed that green fountain!  How cool is that?!  They once tried to dye the entire River green as well but it didn’t turn out quite as impressive.  However, that didn’t stop 3 people from still trying to swim in it this past weekend!  Fortunately, none of them drowned.  Instead, rescue services were nice enough to help them get back to shore and then they even got a free ride in the back of a police car!  …to jail. 

Anyway yeah, Savannah’s St. Patrick’s Day weekend is quite the spectacle so if you can make it down next March it’s definitely worth checking out for yourself!

Okay so this is where I was supposed to have a taste-test of corned beef and cabbage…well, mainly the corned beef since I’ve never had that before but the entire meal is a St. Patrick’s Day tradition for many of those who celebrate.  Anyway, the restaurant that I went to didn’t have any more.  Umm, say what?  Lol how does an Irish Pub run out of corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day weekend?  That would be like iHop running out of pancakes on National Pancake Day!  Seriously lol I wonder if this pub also ran out of beer and potatoes to complete the grand slam of ineptitude?  I suppose I’ll have to wait to try corned beef for the first time although I’ve received very mixed reviews from others.  Everything ranging from “It’s great” to “it’s okay, you just get through it” to “eww, it’s gross and it smells like feet.”  So yeah, I can’t say that I’m exactly disappointed to not try this but St. Patrick’s Day Weekend seemed like the perfect opportunity.  No time to hit another restaurant this weekend though so I’ll have to add corned beef it to the list of foods to try in a future post.

Have other suggestions of foods or restaurants that I should try?  Tell us about it in the comments section below!

One thing that I have tried, numerous times however is Chipotle!  If you follow me on social media you already knew that, if you don’t follow me on social media YOU SHOULD follow me on social media so click the buttons on the side panel!  Anyway, fitting with the green theme, here’s a recipe to replicate their amazing guacamole at home and save yourself the dollar upsell lol.  Sure, I could have held off on posting this recipe until May around Cinco de Mayo (the other booze-filled cultural celebration) but burritos wait for no one my friend.  With that said, here ya go! 

CHIPOTLE GUACAMOLE

Courtesy of Culinary Hill

prep time: 5 MIN cook time: 2 MIN –  Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

2 large Hass avocados, halved and pitted

2 teaspoons lime juice

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped

2 Tablespoons cilantro leaves, finely chopped

1/2 jalapeno pepper, including seeds, finely chopped

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium bowl, combine avocados and lime juice. Toss until evenly coated.

Add salt and mash until smooth.

Stir in onion, cilantro, and peppers. Taste and add more salt if desired.

To refrigerate, place in a bowl and press plastic wrap directly on top of the entire surface of the guacamole so no part is exposed to air. Serve with chips.’

Have another great recipe of any time you’d like to share?  Tell us about it in the comments section below!

For today’s fit tip, I considered posting a few green smoothie recipes as well, however I just posted the cactus pear shake recipe a few weeks ago.  The larger concern however, was the fact that most of the recipes that I could find or think of require a juicer or a high-powered blender.  If you’re short on time or would like a little less clean-up, here are 3 simple ways to turn any protein shake green and ramp up those nutrients without any additional equipment!

Dynamic Fruits and Greens (available at www.dynamicfruitsandgreens.com and at various retailers) – I first learned about this stuff through Life Café at Lifetime Fitness but the product has expanded globally since then and with good reason.  It’s delicious!  They have flavors ranging from Strawberry Kiwi and chocolate (I’ve tried and loved both) to Espresso, Mint and more!  A single scoop provides over 50 nutrients, fruits and veggies via non-GMO organic ingredients with 0 sugar!  The flavors all taste just as advertised and mix easily with water so you can drink it alone or ad it to a smoothie to ramp up the flavor!  No blender necessary!  They have other blends including some heavier on the veggies or on the fruits if you prefer, plus a blend just for kids although the adult version is fine for all ages as well.

Another blend that I’m a big fan of is Green Vibrance from Vibrant Health.  This stuff has nearly every green imaginable including kale, spirulina, chlorella and more!  It also has fruits, digestive enzymes and 25 billion probiotics per scoop!  It’s pretty powerful stuff but as you might have guessed, it tastes a bit like grass when you drink it by itself.  They do make a version that’s flavored with 25 grams or chocolate or vanilla protein but to do so, they sacrifice some of the nutrients in the original blend.  My recommendation is to go with the original version and add a scoop to the chocolate or vanilla shake of your choosing for the best of both worlds.  Citrus juices will help cut that taste a bit as well however just be careful how much sugar you’re adding if you rely on fruit juice to get it down each time.  Otherwise, just do it like a shot with a tooth-brush nearby or a chewing gum chaser!  Although based on the alcohol consumption most of you probably had this past weekend, I doubt those greens are the nastiest shot you’ve ever downed.  So just man or wo-man up lol you can do it!

Last but not least is Matcha Green Tea.  Like the prior 2 items, you can also drink this by itself or add it to a shake.  This is powerful stuff too with so many benefits!  It has fat loss properties, antioxidants, immune system support and it also helps to boost your energy levels!  Plus it helps with mood support, digestion and has even been credited for possibly reducing cancer symptoms!  Wow – this list goes on but you get the point!  Again, this may also be an acquired taste but the benefits are worth giving it a shot anyway!

I covered the benefits of several other green foods a few years ago for an article that I wrote for Urblife.com called Shamrock Solid.  You can follow this link to check it out in it’s entirety!  http://urblife.com/the-life/essential-green-super-foods/

Have a fitness question you’d like answered?  Ask in the comments below!  Wanna give a shoutout to someone who’s made progress toward their fitness goal?  Tell us about it below as well!

Today’s Soundtrack

Get Lucky – Daft Punk ft. Pharrell Williams

Holiday – Green Day (Surely you saw this one coming…)

Jump Around – House of Pain (from their Shamrocks and Shenanigans album)

Dreams – The Cranberries (Another great Irish band from the 90’s)

One – Mary J. Blige ft. U2 (from Dublin…U2 that is, not Mary J lol)

Reel Around the Sun – Riverdance (Don’t laugh, this song will actually get you kinda turnt in the gym!)

Ruff Ryder’s Anthem – DMX (lol so will this one…Stop!  Guac!  Shut ‘em Down Open up Shop…)

Nothing Compares to U – Sinead O’Connor (If you’re a real Prince fan you know this was a cover of his classic right?)

Macho Man – The Village People (Matcha, Matcha Man…..)

Have another song that fits today’s themes?  Tell us about it in the comments below!

Okay well that about does it but before I go, Happy Spring!  The new season officially started today (March 20^th) even if it still doesn’t quite feel like it yet.  As always, thanks to all who continue to leave comments, like and share this page – you’re the guacamole to my tacos (aww, is there a Hallmark card that says that?  If not, there should be lol).  I’ll be back again on Thursday with another post but in the meantime, follow me on social media for more fun content!  Make it a great day people and May the fork be with you…

“It’s Yabba Doo Time.”

-Darrell