~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
December 30

★~ Today’s Quote: And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy to his mighty heart, till the Devil whispered behind the leaves “It’s pretty, but is it Art?” Rudyard Kipling

★~ National Bicarbonate of Soda Day:

Baking soda and bicarbonate of soda are different names for the same thing; For example in Australia, they mostly refer to it as bicarbonate of soda, but in America, it is referred to as baking soda.

Do you ever get Baking Powder and Baking Soda mixed up? Me too!

Baking soda works with foods that are acidic. If you are making biscuits that call for buttermilk and baking soda, but you substitute regular milk, your biscuits may not rise. Buttermilk is acidic and releases the raising power in the baking soda. Add a tablespoon of vinegar to each cup of milk.

On the other hand, if you add an acidic ingredient to a recipe with baking powder, you will need to add a little soda. Let’s say you are making cookies and substituting 1/2 cup lemon juice for the water in order to make lemon cookies. The recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of baking powder, but you will need to neutralize the acid in the lemon juice. Substitute baking soda for one teaspoon of the baking powder. Baking soda is 4 times as powerful as baking powder, so use only 1/4 teaspoon baking soda for each teaspoon of baking powder in the original recipe.

Do you follow any of this? I think, I will just stick to the recipe and double check if I should use baking powder or baking soda. I once used a dash of curry instead of a sprinkle of cinnamon in six loaves of banana nut bread…Double checking is always a good idea for this want-a-not cook.

FOCUS KATYBETH!  We are celebrating National Bicarbonate of Soda Day! The ancient Egyptians used natural deposits of sodium bicarbonate as a cleansing agent like soap, but it wasn’t until 1791 that French chemist Nicolas Leblanc produced sodium bicarbonate in its modern form. In 1846, two New York bakers named John Dwight and Austin Church established the first factory to make baking soda.Baking soda is a white, odorless, crystalline solid that is completely soluble in water. Baking soda rise to the occasion when it comes to multi-tasking! Check out Did you know for more useful baking soda tips.

★~ International Bacon Day: 

Today is one of the most important days of the year. A day in which millions of people around the world will celebrate a gift from Above. The poor man’s caviar. The delicacy of the disadvantaged. Today is “International Bacon Day,” an event that brings together men and woman from all backgrounds, nationalities, creeds and colors, as only bacon can do —”International Bacon Day”, started in 2004 by some students at the University of Colorado, is celebrated annually on the Saturday before Labor Day around the globe. Some countries recognize IBD on December 30, while others do IBD on the first Saturday in January after the New Year. No matter the date, “International Bacon Day” is a time to pig out on pig. The creative use of bacon on this day truly boggles the mind – bacon beer mugs full of melted cheese, bacon roses, bacon turtles, you name it. Some enterprising people have even used bacon to make clothing.

Now go! Get out and celebrate, nay, sing the praises of, bacon! It’s your chance to show the world that if we all ate bacon every day, war, famine, disease and skinny people will be no more! Kiss a pig today in honor of “International Bacon Day.” Hug a butcher. Take a pig to a butcher. We couldn’t do it without either of them. Then go make yourself a BLT.  I really like Bacon!

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1940 – The Arroyo Seco Parkway, the forerunner of the Pasadena Freeway (between Los Angeles and Pasadena), was dedicated by Los Angeles, California Mayor Fletcher Bowron. It was the first freeway in the western U.S. and was designated as a historic engineering landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1999.

♥~ 1963 – Let’s Make a Deal premiered. The game show was hosted by Monty Hall. “Alright Madge, you can keep the monkey and the motorcycle or trade them for what’s in the big pretty box…”

♥~ 1978 – Ohio State University fired its football coach Woody Hayes. The action came one day after Hayes punched Clemson University player Charlie Bauman during the Gator Bowl (Bauman had just intercepted an Ohio State pass).

♥~ 2006 – A 67-year-old Spanish woman became the world’s oldest mother after she gave birth to twins in Barcelona. She had previously undergone in vitro fertilization in the U.S.

★~ Born Today:

♥~ 1865 – Rudyard Kipling novelist, short story author, poet: Nobel Prize for Literature [1907]; The Jungle Book, Captains Courageous, Wee Willie Winkie. Though he never fought in battle, his poems about military life became classics among British soldiers around the world.  Rudyard Kipling said, “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.”

♥~ 1937 – John Hartford Grammy Award-winning songwriter: Gentle on My Mind [1966]

♥~ 1959 – Tracey Ullman singer: They Don’t Know, Breakaway; actress: Tracy Takes On, Mackenzie, Give My Regards to Broad Street, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Tracey Ullman: A Class Act, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Bullets Over Broadway, The Little Lulu Show, Panic

♥~ 1965 – Heidi Fleiss ‘The Hollywood Madam’: her prostitutionring had numerous famous clients; she was jailed for tax evasion, money laundering; author: Pandering, The Player’s Handbook, Sex Tips

♥~ 1975 – (Eldrick) ‘Tiger’ Woods golf: champ: Masters ; first player to win four consecutive majors (2000-2001: US Open, British Open, PGA, Masters]; youngest player to reach fifty career victories [age 30: Aug 6, 2006]

★~ Did You Know: These uses for Baking Soda:

♥~ Make a hand cleanser and softener : Skip harsh soaps and gently scrub away ground-in dirt and neutralize odors on hands with a paste of 3 parts baking soda to 1 part water or 3 parts baking soda with gentle liquid hand soap. Then rinse clean.

♥~  Musty books: Do you have some old and musty books that you can’t bear to throw out? Sprinkle some baking soda between the pages, and brush it out a few days later for a fresh scent

♥~ Heartburn? Take a teaspoon of baking soda mixed with one-half glass of water.

♥~ Modeling Clay: Turn baking soda into modeling clay by combining it with one and 1/4 cups of water and one cup of cornstarch.

♥~ Paint Brushes: Restore stiff brushes by boiling them in a solution of 1/2 gallon of water, 1/4 cup of vinegar, and a cup of baking soda.

♥~ Fluffier omelets: adding half a teaspoon of baking soda for every three eggs used.

♥~ Clarifying hair treatment: Remove the product build-up that makes your locks limp and dull. A teaspoon of baking soda mixed in with your regular shampoo can be used as a clarifier once a week or so, and a little baking soda dissolved in hot water will clean crusty hairbrushes, too.

♥~ Polish silver: Wash items, then place on aluminum foil in the bottom of a pot. Add a baking-soda solution (¼ cup soda, a few teaspoons salt, 1 quart boiling water) and cover for a few seconds. The result? A chemical reaction that gets the black off the gravy boat.

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Don’t you think it is interesting that Heidi Fleiss ‘The Hollywood Madam” and Tiger Woods were born on the same day 10 years apart?

Ok…back to the more mundane…. Baking Soda do you have a favorite way to use it? Have you ever known a piece of bacon to be left on a plate? Me either.

Gotta run…I hear Oscar Mayer Maple Bacon calling my name. . . Odd Loves Company so leave a comment if you have a morno moment.

♥