Shamrock Shake is a McYummy Annual Treat

There are certain events that come around every year that seem to let us know that something bigger is coming. Black Friday, for example, jump starts Christmas.

St. Patrick's Day is no different. After the long, dark days of winter, there is a return of something special that reminds me that 'tis the season to be Irish.

But it is oh so much more than that! It is like an old lover has returned from war. I know it's gonna happen, but I never know exactly when. I'm talking about, you guessed it, the Shamrock Shake.

The cold minty flavor. The smooth way it glides across the tongue. It is like I have a special love affair with the drive thru speaker every time my Mr. Shamrock comes home to me.

And it always, always means that St. Patrick's Day is upon us.

So when Shorewood Patch decided to feature the 17 Days of St. Patrick, the Shamrock Shake had to be Day One.

Why is a McDonald's seasonal item so addicting?

First of all, nutrition be damned. This is one of the few things that is worth getting fat over.

But then I really did take a close look at the nutrition and I am delightfully surprised. The 12-ounce Shamrock Shake is actually made with reduced fat vanilla ice cream, according to McDonald's published nutrition facts.

It has 420 calories, 10 fat grams, and only 135 miligrams of sodium. So OK, it has 62 grams of sugar, but hey, what doesn't anymore? And yeah for us, it has nine grams of protein.

To compare it to other schmancy drinks, I reviewed the Starbucks nutritional list and discovered that there were no good comparisons. They have only coffee drinks, and my beloved Shamrock Shake has ice cream. Surprisingly, though, most of their mere coffee drinks have the same amounts of fat and calories.

My thought is that if I'm gonna get fat over a drink, it better either come in a stemmed glass or have ice cream in it. I'm not a froo froo drink kinda gal. In terms of coffee, I like to chew it black, thank you very much.

So in order to find a nutritional comparison, I had to go to Steak 'N Shake. They offer a regular-sized mint cookies and cream hand-dipped shake.

Maybe it's the cookies part that loads on all the bad stuff, but it makes my Mr. Shamrock look like Mr. Skinny. Their shake has 1000 calories, a whopping 34 grams of fat, 650 miligrams of sodium (as much as a can of soup!), 127 grams sugar and a lot of protein, 22 grams.

Huh. My Shamrock is not the bad boy shake that I always imagined him to be. So what is it about him that is so mysterious?

I first fell in love with the Shamrock Shake when I was just a wee one. I remember riding in the back window of the family Dodge Dart in an age before car seats. A trip to Mickey D's was always a special treat. The yummy, minty-green milk made it extra special.

"Shamrock Shakes were introduced in the US in 1970," according to Ashlee Yingling at McDonald's Media Relations. "An owner/operator named Hal Rosen in Connecticut came up with the original idea in 1967 to commemorate Saint Patrick's Day."

Later on, when I had a curly perm and abused hair spray, the shake was elusive. It didn't come around every year, it seemed. Maybe because I was in college and not paying attention to anything other than my studies.

No. That can't be it.

Nevertheless, it is an affair that warms my cockles and breaks my heart.

But for now, the Shamrock Shake is back. I better go fix my hair and grab some lipstick.