The World Famous St Patrick's Day Parade In Boston, Massachusetts

For a real adventure, celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Boston, Massachusetts this year. In addition to the world famous St Patrick's Day parade on Boston's south side, you can also attend a number of concerts, dinners, theatrical performances, festivals and special events throughout March.

As the saying goes, "Everyone is Irish on Saint Patrick's Day," but you can only truly get a sense of this sentiment by surrounding yourself with hordes of other Irish descendents dressed in green, armed with pints of Guinness and cheering as elaborate floats pass by.

In addition to the main South Boston St Patrick's Day parade at 1 pm on Sunday, March 14th, you can also watch several other St. Patty's Day parades. You can begin watching the processions as early as March 6th in Cape Cod (at 11 am). On the 7th, you can travel to Worcester's Park Avenue (at noon) or Lawrence's City Hall (at 1 pm).

On March 14th, the Town of Scituate begins their 1 pm parade at Gate Middle School on First Parish Road. Holyoke's widely heralded parade will take place on March 21st at 11:50 am. Or if you prefer, line up at the Abington Center for their parade on Sunday, March 21st at 1 pm.

Before or after the St Patrick's Day parade, theater-goers can watch the Lion King at the Opera House on Washington Street through March 21 (www.broadwayacrossamerica.com). On March 7th, the Irish Tea Party performs dances to Irish music and serves refreshments (www.irish-cairde.org).

On March 9th, the Hanover Theatre presents six-time Grammy winners, The Chieftains (www.thehanovertheatre.org). Or you may also be able to catch this Irish music concert at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium on March 11th. The Robinson Theatre in Waltham is hosting "A Little Bit of Ireland" by the Reagle Players acting troop from March 12 - 14 (www.reagleplayers.com).

If you're also into movies, you'll enjoy the 11th annual Irish Film Festival, from March 26 - 28 (www.irishfilmfestival.com).

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Hosting Your Own Irish American Festivities With Saint Patricks Day Party Ideas

If you were living in Ireland before the dawn of the Twentieth Century, then you would have celebrated St. Patrick's Day by attending morning mass and eating ham, bacon or lamb for dinner. You would think about St Patrick and early Christianity and would spend the day quietly.

Your family would be thankful that the potato famine has ended and all could be assembled in good health and good spirits, despite the cold. As you know, today's American St. Patrick's Day celebrations are filled with multiple parades, pub crawls, music festivals, competitive games, theatrical performances and dinner parties. Here are some Saint Patricks Day party ideas to help you host your own Irish-American festivities.

Decorations may be among your Saint Patricks Day party ideas as well. Some people feel that there is no such thing as "too much green" and they purchase green tablecloths, confetti, balloons, napkins and paper ribbons.

At www.orientaltradingpost.com, you can get stuffed green gorillas, inflatable leprechauns, shamrock mobiles, leprechaun door hangers and green confetti. They also have pot of gold centerpieces, "Kiss Me I'm Irish" mints, "Happy St. Pats" yard flags, fridge magnets, candles, "faith family friends" pillows, plastic cups and party platters.

You can also find a number of fun and inexpensive Saint Patricks Day party favors here as well. For tasteful decor, you may want to check with your local florist for www.celticbydesign.coma St. Patrick's Day centerpiece. You may also want to visit , www.irishindeed.com or www.simplyirishgifts.com for Irish home decor that's suitable all year round.

Lastly, you may want to wrap up your dinner party with Irish themed movies. Saint Patricks Day party ideas for movies include Going My Way (with Bing Crosby), The Bells of St. Mary's (with Bing Crosby & Ingrid Bergman), The Quiet Man (with John Wayne & Maureen O'Hara), Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt's memoir), Michael Collins (Liam Neeson), Waking Ned Devine, The Field (Richard Harris), In America, Out of Ireland, Gangs of New York (Leonardo DiCaprio), Evelyn (Pierce Brosnan), Darby O'Gill and the Little People, The Crying Game, Veronica Guerin, Leprechaun, and The Magdalen Sisters.

For more info on these St. Patrick's Day films, visit www.rottentomatoes.com.

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Better Ideas For Planning A Saint Patrick's Day Dinner

Everyone's Irish on March 17th, so why not host your own Saint Patrick's Day dinner? Whether you just love a good, dark Guinness or you're curious what "bangers and rum sauce" tastes like, you can put together a unique and hearty feast without spending much money.

Stews, potato dishes, fish, Reuben sandwiches, corned beef and cabbage are just some of the first foods that come to mind on this special feast day.

Tatnuck Meat Market in New England can barely keep up with the orders for Saint Patrick's Day dinner corned beef each year. Tom Lowe at Lowe's Variety and Meat Market sells about 1,600 pounds of grey corned beef in March.

"Red flannel hash is basically corned beef, cabbage, carrots, turnips, potatoes, beets," explains Kevin Flanagan, another New England meat market owner. "Beets? Irish? Hey, the Irish never had corned beef in Ireland. Corned beef isn't really Irish. It's an American tradition anyway - not Irish." Regardless, people instinctively associate corned beef and cabbage with Irish culture.

At European Cuisines (www.europeancuisines.com/Ireland-Authentic-Traditional-Irish-Desserts-Dessert-Recipes), you'll find recipes for some delicious Irish desserts to serve up after your Saint Patrick's Day dinner.

Here you'll find a number of delicious puddings (potato & apple, apple & barley, honey & lemon carrageen, rutabaga, Irish coffee), as well as Apple Fritters, Bailey's Irish Cream Mousse Pie, Irish Whiskey Cake and Chocolate-Orange Guinness Cake.

Irish traditions are a wonderful blessing to pass down to your children, so it's good that you decided to start this year!

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The Irish Celebrate Saint Patrick

Saint Patrick is not just the patron saint behind many Irish celebrations, but he's also celebrated around the world, with some of the biggest Saint Patrick's Day celebrations taking place in Boston, New York City, Chicago, Savannah, San Francisco and Seattle.

Americans love their corned beef and cabbage and their Irish lineage. So who is this mysterious man behind the celebrations? This article will report what is known about the life of this important saint.

After more than six years as a slave in Ireland, Saint Patrick escaped. According to his own writings, the voice of God spoke to him in a dream, telling him to leave Ireland. He walked 200 miles from County Mayo (where some scholars believe he was being held) to the Irish Coast.

He journeyed back to Britain, where he experienced a second vision from an angel, who told him to return to Ireland as a missionary. Patrick studied religion for over fifteen years and finally returned to Ireland after being ordained as a priest.

Despite the myth that Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated because "Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland," he is reported to have really spread the faith around the nation and converted the masses, which is why we celebrate his day.

Today we celebrate Saint Patrick's Day on the alleged date of Saint Patrick's death, which is March 17th. St. Patrick's Day is celebrated world wide by people of Irish descent, Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Eastern Orthodox and others in English-speaking countries. "Everyone is Irish on St. Paddy's Day," they cry.

Irish festivities include weeks of festivals with dancing, crafts, theatrical performances, historical tours, dinners, competitions, music and mass. The parties in America are usually centered on corned beef and cabbage dinners, parades, pub crawls and concerts.

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Irish Holiday Celebrating St Patricks Day

When someone mentions the Irish holiday of St. Patrick's Day, many images come to mind, such as shamrocks, the color green, leprechauns, Guinness, corned beef and cabbage.

But how many of these things came directly from the motherland and how many of these "Irish mores" are really just American traditions? Have we lost something in all the parades, pub crawls and festivals? Perhaps the real meaning has more to do with St Patrick and early Christianity than with these festivities we partake of today.

Some people are annoyed at how the Irish holiday becomes a tourist-type attraction that has little to do with Ireland and its rich cultural traditions.

"The corned beef and cabbage thing makes me laugh," says Yvonne Ivory, a Dublin native who lectures at San Diego State University. "Other things annoy me," she adds, saying that the Blarney Stone is something reserved for tourists only.

"The myth is if you kiss the Blarney stone you become eloquent. I've never heard of Irish people kissing the Blarney stone. And I've never seen green beer in Ireland."

As the Irish became more successful in America, other successful immigrant groups, such as the Polish, the Italian, the Ukrainian and the Latinos could all celebrate their similar experiences.

Irish-Americans wanted to bring over pieces of the traditional Irish way of life for their Irish holiday, but they also wanted to celebrate their new success. Corned beef replaced bacon, ham or lamb. They took St. Patrick's shamrock "Holy Trinity" metaphor and made four leaf clovers a symbol of good luck.

They took the Gaelic tradition of fairies and devised the leprechaun. Sometimes Irish-Americans get a tough rap, but the Irish truly assimilated into American culture, while still retaining their Irish traditions.

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The Signs Of A Food Allergy

Infant food allergies most commonly occur when parents are introducing their babies to new foods. Sometimes certain proteins cause the body to make an antibody called IgE, which alerts the baby's system that a foreign invader has arrived.

For babies, ninety percent of food allergies come from milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts (walnuts, cashews, Brazil nuts or almonds), fish (tuna, salmon, cod), shellfish (shrimp, lobster, crab), soy or wheat.

The American Academy of Pediatrics used to recommend that parents wait until their child reaches the age of 3, at least, to try something like peanuts because of the potential for serious allergic reactions, but recently they admitted there is no research to back up the theory that late introduction to certain foods prevents allergies. You may find, however, that it's less stressful to deal with a food allergy reaction in an older child.

The best way to cope with serious food allergies is to keep your infant away from their food trigger. Make sure babysitters, relatives, daycare workers and school officials know about their food allergy and subsequent reaction. Breastfeeding offers good protection against allergies, so it's best to breastfeed as long as you can.

When your child is old enough to understand, try reading books to him or her about asking before eating, coping with teasing from other kids and staying safe. Most communities offer resources for parents to communicate with their kids and caregivers about this topic.

At about nine or ten months, parents like to start moving their babies away from a diet consisting solely of baby food. Pediatric food allergies can be a scary thing for parents, so they sometimes hold off on introducing certain foods.

Even if there is no added food allergy risk, it is easier to manage older babies with allergies. Allergy reactions are the worst for peanuts and shellfish, so many pediatricians recommend waiting until your child is at least three years old to introduce these things.

Whole cow's milk should not be given to babies under a year of age because the proteins are too complex for the baby's stomach to digest. However, yogurt and soft cheeses are a subtler way to introduce dairy, as these products are broken down.

Honey is another substance doctors recommend holding off of on (until age 1 or 2) because it may cause a disease called infant botulism.

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Better Meals With Basil

Basil is one of those herbs found in many recipes, especially European and Asian recipes. Eating pasta without basil, is like eating pasta without the pasta.

You need to improve the taste and can make the pasta meal much more delicious by adding basil. You can buy sauces, like Pesto sauce to add to your pasta, but I like to make my own sauce, with fresh basil from my garden.

As any cooking master will tell you, the secret to a successful meal is the herbs and spices you add to the meal, to enhance the flavour. Imagine eating roast chicken, without herbs and spices. The meat would taste rather dull. This is why you need to enhance the meat with herbs and spices.

I like to grow my own herbs so that I can use fresh ingredients, whenever I need to create a more delicious meal. I believe a meal should be enjoyed, rather than endured. One should always look forward to meal times, especially when cooking with basil.

While cooking a regular meal, you may think you want to stray from your regular recipe and add something different, to make the meal much more delicious.

Your secret ingredient is basil. You can grow basil in a window box garden on your window sill, and grab a few leaves when you need to improve the taste of your meal, while cooking.

These days, I like to add fresh herbs to almost all my recipes, for added natural flavour. Makes the meal so much more delicious.

One of my friends, comes over with his wife once or twice a month and I know they come at a time when they can enjoy my cooking, cause they always ask what I will be cooking. I know they like pasta, that I make myself, with my own sauce that no one knows all the ingredients.

I do admit, one of the ingredients is basil.

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