Salad Days, Meaning of

I've been having this discussion with a few people lately, namely, what does "salad days" mean, and where does the phrase come from? The answer, as in so many cases, is that the phrase comes from Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra: "My salad days,/ When I was green in judgment, cold in blood."

This dictionary defines the term as "A time of youthful inexperience, innocence, or indiscretion." My theory has been that, from the perspective of an old(er) person, the best days of youth are those when one doesn't have a lot of money but is happy. I think of the first days of my married life, when I had so little (in terms of money) and yet so much (in terms of love, and friends). In those days, one is green, like salad, er, greens. But one is also poor, at least relatively speaking, so one . . . eats salads. Apparently, "salad" is more a reference to being "green" rather than (relative) poverty.

I'm not sure the cold-blooded angle fits in, though. I'm not sure I've ever been "cold in blood."

Btw, if you are thinking of starting your own blog, "Salad Days" is a great name for one.