Being Irish for a Day

Last Saturday was the Chicago St. Patrick's Day Parade and celebration. Every year, the city of Chicago dyes the Chicago River bright green. The river is already normally green, but man, when they dye it for St. Pat's, it looks like toxic waste. I woke up early and me and my friend headed downtown, Busch Light in hand of course :) What, don't judge me. How often do you get to drink beer at 9am on a Saturday? Not often. Anyway, we followed the masses down to the river and watched as the green dye oozed out of somewhere and proceeded to begin the celebration of the Irish. Not only is the river dyed green, but the beer is too. We went to a hole-in-the-wall Irish pub in Lincoln Park and had some green beers. Green beer. Apparently, it's pretty easy to accomplish. You just put a few drops of green food coloring in a frosty mug (or in our case, plastic cups) and voila, green beer. After a few beers, we decided that we should probably eat. And being in Chicago, my friend wanted a Chicago-style hot dog, which apparently the style is called "dragged through the garden." We ate at this place called Firkin & Pheasant (a firkin is an English word for a 9-gallon keg/barrel of beer) and ordered a Chicago-style dog. This thing came out and it had to have been at least a foot long. It didn't even fit on the plate and as promised, dragged through the garden. It had tomatoes, pickles, the greenest relish I've ever seen, mustard, ketchup and housed between a huge bun. Everyone becomes Irish in Chicago in March. It's pretty crazy. I guess it's like the dedication in St. Louis to Mardi Gras. I wish the Italians had a holiday to celebrate like this...