Saint Patty’s Day

My first question was: Do they celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day in Australia? In fact, they do; Australians are just as happy as Americans to obsess about green things. My second question was: What do we do?

We quickly determined that green food coloring does not exist at Mornington Station, so green drinks were out. But Jen latched on to the drinking idea (Irish-style) and decided to make a round of hot cocoa to commemorate the holiday. Never mind that it’s over a hundred degrees, she said; we’ll all stand inside the walk-in refrigerator, pretend it’s cold out, and sip our delicious treat.

So that’s exactly what we did. About six of us crowded inside the refrigerator last evening and waited for its chill to overcome our grime and sweat. Then, with the idea of a northern, early spring nip in the air, we drank Jen’s special hot cocoa: mint chocolate, coconut milk, sugar, butter, and one or two secret ingredients, spiked with a bit of Di’s whiskey for extra heat, while staring at shelves of refrigerated food. For a few brief minutes, I could almost imagine the coziness of a temperate climate.