~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
August 8th

 

★~  Today’s Quote: “Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere”  Erma Bombeck

★~ Zucchini Day:

The other day, a friend of mine was ranting about a friend of hers who sent  three large zucchinis home with her son after a play date. Using a child to pass off zucchini, she said, was weak.  My friend gathered her plethora of zucchini, separated them into brown bags, and sent them to her husband’s office with instructions to “just leave them anonymously on your colleagues’ desks.” Who knew zucchini management could sink to such depths.

Today is not Zucchini Bread Day, but there are many other recipes that make creative use of this bountiful summer vegetable (actually it’s a fruit sort of–explained below..)  Grill it, bake it or mix it into salads, pastas and muffins.

Naturally, at my house, we are going to FRY IT!

★~ Dollar Day:

We’ve heard the expression “the buck stops here,” but where did the buck start in the first place? Well, it started on this day in 1786, when Continental Congress established the United States monetary system. Of course, back then the dollar could probably buy you a horse — now you’re lucky if it gets you a pack of gum (but that’s a discussion for another time). Celebrate Dollar Day by just being happy for every dollar you have in your pocket and every dollar that may come your way.

★~ Bonza Bottler Day – Celebrated when the number of the day is the same as the number of the month.  P-A-R-T-Y.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1964 – Joan Baez and Bob Dylan shared the stage for the first time when the singers performed in a concert at the Forest Hills Music Festival in the Forest Hills Tennis Stadiumin Forest Hills, NY.

♥~ 1969 – The photo session for the cover of The Beatles ‘Abbey Road’ album took place on the crossing outside Abbey Road studios. Photographer Iain McMillan, balanced on a step-ladder in the middle of the road took six shots of John, Ringo, Paul, and George walking across the zebra crossing while a policeman held up the traffic. The band then returned to the studio and recorded overdubs on ‘The End’, ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’ and ‘Oh! Darling’.

♥~ 1974 – Roberta Flack received a gold record for the single, Feel Like Makin’ Love. Flack, born in Asheville, NC and raised in Arlington, VA, was awarded a music scholarship to Howard University in Washington, DC — at the age of 15. One of her classmates became a singing partner on several hit songs. Donny Hathaway joined Flack on You’ve Got a Friend, Where is the Love and The Closer I Get to You. She had 10 hits on the pop charts in the 1970s and 1980s.

♥~ 1988 – 39,012 fans attended the first night baseball game at Chicago’s Wrigley Field.

♥~ 1991-  Students at Stanly Community College in Albermarle, North Carolina, set a world record by filling a container with 5,438 cubic feet of popped popcorn.

♥~ 1999 – Tish, the world’s oldest captive goldfish, died in Yorkshire, England, at the age of 43. At least. Seven-year-old Peter Hand had won Tish at a fair in 1956. The fish swam with the family until his death.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1937 – Dustin Hoffman Academy Award-winning actor: Rain Man [1989], Kramer vs. Kramer [1980]; The Graduate, Tootsie, Midnight Cowboy, Little Big Man, Dick Tracy, Hook, Search for Tomorrow, Outbreak, Sphere

♥~ 1938 – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Author best known for her book The Yearling (1938), which was the best-selling novel in America in 1938 and which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939.

♥~ 1953 – Donny Most actor: Happy Days, Stewardess School, Dead Man’s Island

♥~ 1978 – Garfield’s sidekick, Odie who first appeared in the “Garfield” comic strip Aug 8, 1978.

★~ Did You Know: 

♥~ In a culinary context, zucchini is treated as a vegetable, which means it is usually cooked and presented as a savory dish or accompaniment. Botanically, however, the zucchini is an immature fruit, being the swollen ovary of the female zucchini flower.

♥~ The flower of the zucchini plant is also edible.

♥~ The world’s largest zucchini on record was 69 1/2 inches long, and weighed 65 lbs. Bernard Lavery of Plymouth Devon, UK, grew the humongous veggie.

♥~ A soap bar called Fresh Zucchini Flower Big Bar Goat’s Milk Soap (rolls off the tongue, no?) is made with real zucchini.

♥~ A zucchini has more potassium than a banana.

♥~ The word zucchini comes from ‘zucca’ the Italian word for squash.

♥~ Biggest is NOT best. The most flavorful zucchinis are small- to medium-sized.

★~ Odd To Know: 

The Best Zucchini Recipe:

1 bushel zucchini

1 raincoat

1 pair of sunglasses

Fast car or sneakers

Directions:

Go to a busy parking lot. Drive around until you find an unlocked car. Put the zucchini in the back seat and drive away FAST before you are discovered!

Or walk around your neighborhood late at night, and sneak up on your neighbors front porch and leave them a Zucchini, run fast.

#

Cousin Carla videotaped Cole throwing a zucchini in the air and slicing it last summer. Let’s just say it did not end up in the salad. On the other hand, Cole did not end up in the emergency room; so, all’s well that ends well.

I have never grown zucchini. Actually, I have only ever had one garden. When Cole was small, I went through that phase of working the soil and harvesting the plants with my young son. And then my freshly manicured nails got dirty. Gloves? I can never find a right and left at the same time. I just decided to support my friends’ gardens with appreciation. Plenty of summer veggies, fruits and flowers seem to flow to my table, and yes, I will even “ooh” and “aah” over all the zucchinis that come my way . . . Cole needs the practice.

♥
Kb