Party Time, Orange Style

June comes up on the short end of the stick when it comes to holidays. July gets Independence Day, May has the monster Memorial Day doings, but all June gets is Flag Day which, while important, just isn't celebrated quite as wildly as the other two.

Back in 1994, it was just this issue that prompted Gene Sugano and some friends to invent (cue the march music) Orange Shirt Day! It's celebrated on the Friday after Flag Day every year, which this year is June 18.

I see your puzzled expression. What on earth am I raving about? There's no Orange Shirt Day listed on your calendar. It's not celebrated with parades or concerts, and it doesn't have any of the nifty songs some of the other "big" holidays get.

That's where you come in! Orange Shirt Day is a young holiday, and it's relying on a grassroots effort to raise public consciousness.

First, of course, you'll need an orange shirt. If you work in road construction or at a Hooter's restaurant, this shouldn't be a problem. The rest of you might have to hunt a bit. Summer is the time for bright clothing, though, so you shouldn't have to look too far to find appropriate garb.

Once you've got the orange shirt on, you'll start to feel festive. How can you be reserved wearing a shirt like that? You'll naturally want to get together with similarly orange-clad folks and celebrate the day. That's where your foodie tendencies can come out in full flower.

Try planning an "orange" meal to celebrate! For appetizers, there are the ubiquitous Cheetos, of course. Goldfish crackers, Cheese Nips, and yellow cheeses of all kinds are welcome guests. Get creative! Add a bit of orange food coloring to sour cream-based dips and you'll have the color right without affecting the taste at all.

Drinks are easy to cover. You've got a wide array of orange sodas to choose from. My personal favorite is Orange Crush. It is the ne plus ultra of orange pop, but can be hard to find. There's also orange juice if you're feeling healthy, or if you've got some vodka handy and want to go the screwdriver route. Be careful, though! Get a bunch of orange-clad folks tipsy and there's no telling what sort of revelry might break out.

Unless you're adept at pumpkin soup, which is a wonderful creation in its own right but might be a bit hard to get the makings for this early in the season, you might want to skip the soup course. Instead, go with a nice fruit salad. You can vary the colors a bit here, but just make sure the orange slices and/or bits of cantaloupe take center stage. The spicy/sweet taste of the red-orange Catalina dressing makes a great mixer for the fruits, especially when melons and apples are involved.

We'll get to dinner (Orange Chicken, what else?) in a moment, but first let's take care of dessert. We're grownups, we can eat things out of order if we want to! In fact, why not make "dessert first" a tenet of your OSD celebrations? Let the lesser holidays keep to a normal order of eating. We're avant garde, edgy holiday types. We can eat what we want, when we want!

Orange sherbet, carrot cake and, of course, orange Jello are must-haves. Those "whack and eat" chocolate oranges, while not exactly orange in color, support the spirit of the holiday with their marvelous flavor. Orange frosting, available at most grocery stores, can make any cake from chocolate to angel-food holiday-appropriate.

Now that we've had dessert, how about that Chinese restaurant favorite, orange chicken, for dessert? You can find a very easy, party-friendly recipe for the dish on this link. Just multiply the recipe to suit your number of guests. It can be made ahead of time, too! Just put the chicken in a large pot or pan and place in a warm oven. In fact, the longer you keep it, the more the orange flavor will penetrate into the chicken.

Serve it with a side dish of carrot and raisin salad. The culinary genres may not be the same, but the color's the thing!

If, at this point, you find yourself scratching your head and being puzzled at the very idea of this whole holiday shebang, consider this: you enjoy getting together with your friends, right? You enjoy sharing dinners together and the convivial nature of foodie gatherings, right? Why NOT celebrate Orange Shirt Day? It's a ready excuse to get the gang together and have a good time.

Now get out there and GET ORANGE!

Got a comment? Question? Recipe to share? Drop me a line anytime!