~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
December 27, 2011

★~ Today’s Quote:  Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand. Henry David Thoreau

★~ Fruitcake Day:

Is there any food product anywhere that is more ridiculed and parodied during the holiday season than the poor old fruitcake? It has been said, there is really only one floating around the entire world. It is hard and stale because over the years it has been passed from person to person every holiday season since time immemorial.

Poor Fruitcake!

How could we celebrate the Fruitcake today? Well, of-course, we could  eat a piece of fruitcake or make one. But another option might be to honor all the fruitcakes in our lives—the friends and family member that are a little dense, nutty, fruity, and always stick around longer than we would like but we love them because they are part of the fabric of our lives.

★~ Make and Cut out Snowflakes Day:

The weather has been unseasonably warm in Chicago this Christmas and we have seen nary a snowflake. So instead of sending our children outside to sled and have snowball fights we have had to move to plan B…cut out snowflakes. At least this craft does not included sugar or colorful sprinkles–all you need is paper and scissors and away you go. If you want to get a little fancy–-Martha offers some snowflake cutting suggestions. 

Fruit Cakes and Flakes–is today a great day or what!

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1903 – The barbershop quartet favorite, Sweet Adeline, was sung for the first time — in New York City. The song was composed by Henry Armstrong with the words of Richard Gerard. The title of the song came from a theatre marquee that promoted the great operatic soprano, Adelina Patti. Now female barbershop quartets call themselves Sweet Adelines.

♥~ 1946 – The American team won the Davis Cup for the first time since 1938. The competition was held at Melbourne, Australia.

♥~ 1971 – Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy and Woodstock of Charles Schulz’ famous Peanuts comic strip made the cover of Newsweekmagazine this day.

♥~ 1978 – The South Pole had a record high temperature of 7.5° F (-13.6° C).

♥~ 1980 – The John Lennon hit, (Just Like) Starting Over, began a five-week stay at #1 on the pop charts. The hit was from the album, Double Fantasy.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1901 – Marlene Dietrich (Maria Magdelene von Losch) actress: The Blue Angel, 1st German talkie; Morocco, Kismet, Destry Rides Again, Judgment at Nuremberg, Witness for the Prosecution; died May 6, 1992

♥~ 1822 – Louis Pasteur chemist, scientist: developed pasteurization process, rabies vaccination; died Sep 28, 1895

♥~ 1931 – Scotty Moore Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician: guitar: Elvis Presley’s guitarist from 1954 to 1958 [Blue Suede Shoes, Hound Dog, All Shook Up]; ranked inRolling Stone magazine’s 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time

♥~ 1941 – Mike Pinder musician: piano; songwriter, singer: group: The Moody Blues:

♥~ 1943 – Cokie Roberts TV news: ABC News Nightline, senior news analyst: National Public Radio

★~ Did You Know: 

♥~ Fruitcake originated in ancient Egypt and was considered an essential food for the afterlife. There are those who think that is the only thing they are good for.

♥~ In ancient Rome, raisins, pine nuts and pomegranate seeds were added to barley mash, making the fruitcake not only handy and lethal catapult ammunition, but also hearty compact foodstuff for the long campaigns waged by the conquering Roman legions.

♥~ “Pickled” or “aged” fruitcakes, as their devotees (and there aren’t many) like to call them, have the legendary ability to last a long time.

♥~ No one knows for sure why and how the fruitcake became associated with the holidays, but it most likely came from the English who passed out slices of cake to poor women who sang Christmas carols in the street during the late 1700s. It is known that in England by the end of the 18th century there were laws restricting the use of plum cake (plum being the generic word for dried fruit at the time) to Christmas, Easter, weddings, christenings and funerals.

♥ ~ One fruitcake custom in England is  for unmarried wedding guests to put a slice of dark fruitcake under their pillow at night so they will dream of the person they will marry. It is said that Queen Victoria once waited a year to devour a birthday fruitcake because she felt it showed restraint.  Yhea, right.

♥~  Claxton, Georgia, is known as the Fruitcake Capital of the World.

♥~  Immigrants from Germany, England, The Caribbean and other parts of the world brought their own style of fruitcakes to the United States and that’s why no one can agree on the definition of a fruitcake. The ones displayed in groceries are almost all Americanized versions of the classic

♥~ Mandatory ingredients include red and green candied cherries, pineapple, citron and raisins, with some pecans or other nuts thrown in or on top of the cake. The more expensive fruitcakes contain brandy, bourbon or rum; the less expensive can be doctored at home, should one be sinfully inclined.

#

The question of the day is…..Do you like fruitcake? Do tell. Odd Loves Company!  Hope you have a terrific Tuesday!

Jimmy Buffett MORE Fruitcakes…. (Thanks El Morno Friend Teresa, for this musical selection!)

♥