St Patrick's Shake (rerun for the holiday from last year)

 It's colder today in Austin, Texas than in Oslo, Norway, so of course, that means Here Comes Spring!  And to celebrate...The Shamrock Shake is back "at participating McDonald’s."

In other fast-food news, the Golden Arches people want you to know that there is a website so you can find out where to head out to get yourself a Hi-C Orange Lavaburst. Hi-C was on the McDonald's menu from the 1950s until 2017 when it was replaced by the equally repugnant Sprite TropicBerry. 

A word to the wise: if you want an orange-flavored drink, drink orange juice. Hi-C contains "orange juice concentrate, peel oil and orange essences, sugar, water, citric acid and ascorbic acid (vitamin C)" so why not just squeeze an orange and skip the added acids?

Anyway, the Shamrock Shake is back "to mark the first green of spring." And it's bringing a date to the party this year...the Oreo Shamrock McFlurry, which "first debuted" last February to salute the Shamrock Shake's 50th anniversary.

Note to McDonald's: "first debuted" is redundant. One only gets one debut, so please make sure you don't have an artificially colored green milkshake in your hand when you make yours!

"For more than 50 years, fans have eagerly awaited the annual return of the Shamrock Shake, counting on the arrival of Shamrock Shake Season to mark the unofficial start to spring," McDonald's Senior Director of Culinary Chad Schafer said in a news release.

None for me, thanks.

Every McD-ophile knows that the Shamrock Shake was whipped up in 1967 by Hal Rosen, a Connecticut McDonald's owner and operator, who created it for St. Patrick's Day. It went achieved wide distribution in 1970 and has been a seasonal nationwide favorite since 2012.  

It's made with vanilla soft-serve ice cream, artificially flavored Shamrock Shake syrup and fake whipped cream. The Shamrock McFlurry is a shake with Oreo pieces whipped in. 

Green beverages and drinks do not appeal to me. I see people with green tea and drinks from Panera that looks like swampwater.  But then again, I like parsnips and grits and anchovies, so don't go by me!