I’ve got a green hangover this morning.

Last night we hosted the Concord High Alpine team for a pre-race pasta dinner. 20 athletes plus assorted parents, coaches and siblings.

I tried to be really green: no disposable plates or cutlery or cups or napkins.

Oh, and also no water in the kitchen. The pipes to the sink and dishwasher are frozen — so now all this has to be carried into the mud room and hand washed in the utility sink.  Just thinking about it makes my already chapped hands hurt.  We’ll see how those Skoy cloths hold up to all this.

Despite the extra work, it was really pretty easy to green the team dinner right up. I have about 40 plastic dinner plates that I have bought on sale over the years for outdoor barbecues. I’ve already mentioned my giant collection of metal forks from the Salvation Army Store, and unlike a recent meat loaf disaster, the pasta didn’t require a hacksaw knife to get it into bite sized pieces.  Last year I picked up about 20 packages of cloth napkins at the Company C tent sale (four for two bucks!) and I bought soda in cans (and wine in bottles).

I’m also feeling pretty good about all the money I didn’t spend. I am thinking it would have cost at least $20 to buy disposable products for that many people, more for cute stuff.

Still, and I know it’s wrong, but a tiny part of me wishes we had just filled a couple garbage bags with paper plates and paper napkins and plastic forks and plastic cups, and had gone to bed with a spotless kitchen.