~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
January 3,2012
★~ Count Down: 363 days remaining until the end of the year
★~ Today’s Quote: “All that is gold does not glitter; not all those that wander are lost” J.R.R. Tolkien
★~ Chocolate Filled Cherry Day:
Do we really need to eat these small cherries, surrounded by chocolate, filled with some sort of thick syrup, on January 3rd? No. I have a better idea. The three kings are still following the bright star of Bethlehem to bring gifts to the Christ child (it does not matter if you believe this or not—just stay with me.) They won’t arrive until January 6th. Let’s toast them on their travels (it is the right thing to do) with a chocolate-covered cherry martini! I will show you how to make one.
Ingredients:
2 Ounces Chocolate Vodka
1 Ounce Cherry Liqueur
1/2 Ounce Cherry Syrup
1/2 Ounce Creme de Cacao
1 Ounce Half and Half
1 Ounce Milk chocolate, melted (garnish)
1 Tablespoon Milk or half and half (garnish)
3 Whole Maraschino Cherries (garnish)
Directions:
To make chocolate covered cherries, melt milk chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave until it’s just melted.
Pour chocolate over cherries, coating them well. Let them cool or stick them in the freezer for a few minutes to harden.
Add ice and water to a large martini glass to chill it.
In a cocktail shaker, mix together all other ingredients with ice.
Shake for a minute to mix and chill the drink.
Dump out ice water from martini glass and strain martini into chilled glass.
Garnish with chocolate cherries
Toast the the three Kings! Drink immediately!
One caveat: this drink may taste like your granny’s chocolate-covered cherries … but it’s not your granny’s chocolate-covered cherries, so be careful when you start tossing those fruitcakes.
★~ Fruit Cake Toss Day:
For those of you who are still holding on to that fruitcake from National Fruitcake Day (12/27), you are now officially permitted to toss it, according to fruitcake etiquette. Just watch out where you pitch that thing; they have been known to do some damage.
★~ Festival of Sleep Day:
Now that we have indulged in an adult beverage and tossed the Fruitcake, it’s time to partake in the Festival of Sleep:
Unlike most holidays centering on gatherings or celebrations, Festival of Sleep Day revolves around rest and relaxation. It is an opportunity to sleep in, be lazy, doze, or nap for 20 minutes, 8 hours, or the entire day. The idea is to get recharged for the new year.
★~ Today in History:
♥~ 1888 – Marvin C. Stone of Washington, DC patented a drinking straw made out of paraffin-covered paper. It replaced natural rye straws. Austrian Marco Hort holds the record for holding the most drinking straws in his mouth -259- at one time.
♥~ 1959 – Alaska (49th state) entered the United States of America; capital: Juneau; bird: willow ptarmigan; flower: forget-me-not; nickname: The Last Frontier.
♥~ 1972 – Don McLean received a gold record for his 8-minute-plus (8:32) hit, American Pie.
♥~ 1987 – The first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was ‘Lady Soul’: Aretha Franklin.
♥~ 2007 – 14-year-old Mike Perham became the youngest person to sail solo across the Atlantic Ocean, reaching the Caribbean island of Antigua after a six-week voyage. The British teenager had been followed by his father in another boat.
★~ Born Today:
♥~ 1892 – J.R.R. (John Ronald Reuel) Tolkien author of The Hobbit (1937) and the trilogy The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien went to Oxford, where he studied philology, the study of the origin of languages. His passion for language lead him to invent High Elvish, composed entirely of his own alphabet, sounds, and structure. Tolkien said he wrote The Lord of the Rings, “to provide a world for the language.”
♥~ 1945 – Stephen Stills singer, songwriter, guitarist: group: Buffalo Springfield: For What It’s Worth; group: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
♥~ 1946 – John Paul Jones (Baldwin) musician: bass: film score: Scream for Help; group: Led Zeppelin: Whole Lotta Love, Moby Dick, Ramble On, Immigrant Song, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Black Dog, Rock & Roll, The Battle of Evermore, Stairway to Heaven
♥~ 1956 – Mel (Columcille) Gibson Academy Award-winning director: Braveheart [1995]
♥~ 1950 – Victoria Principal actress: Dallas, Fantasy Island, Scott Turow’s The Burden of Proof, Naked Lie, Blind Witness, Mistress, Pleasure Palace, Earthquake, Life & Times of Judge Roy Bean
★~ Did You Know:
♥~ The Romans are believed to have discovered sweet cherries in Asia Minor in about 70 BC and introduced them to Britain in the first century AD.
♥~ The same chemicals that give tart cherries their color may relieve pain better than aspirin and ibuprofen in humans. Eating about 20 tart cherries a day could reduce inflammatory pain and headache pain.
♥~ Cherries have a very short fruiting season. In Australia they are usually at their peak around Christmas time, in southern Europe in June, in America in June, and in the UK in mid July.
♥~ Annual world production (as of 2007) of domesticated cherries is about 3 million tons, of which a third are sour cherries.
♥~ In many parts of North America cherries are among the first tree fruits ripe; hence the colloquial term “cherry” to mean “new” or “the first”, e.g. “in cherry condition”.
♥~ Hot cherry stones were once used in bed-warming pans and Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream associates cherries with love and romance.
♥~ Very Cherry was the most popular flavor of Jelly Belly Jelly Beans for two decades until 1998, when Buttered Popcorn moved into first place. However in 2003, Very Cherry moved back into the top position, though by a mere 8 million beans.
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Well, so far my year has gone pretty well. I did all the laundry yesterday, so now our closets are filled with clean clothes. I am saying goodbye to some of my campers who have been with me throughout the holiday season, so the tail wagging business is slowing enough to let us catch our breath. I made a ham shank on New Year’s Day and we had leftovers from New Year’s Eve, so our cupboards are filled with good food. I usually take all the Christmas decorations down on New Year’s Day, but this year we are taking them down slowly. The lights will hang around the house until the days become brighter, and I suppose the tree will go out when it turns into a fire hazard.
How is your January so far? What are your predictions for the New Year? Do share! Odd Loves Company!
♥
★~ El Morno Theme Song: Listen and start your day with a Big Smile!
Drinking and sleeping two of my favorite activities. Wish I could stay home from work and give them a proper celebration. Although that martini is a little sweet for my taste. I don’t have one fruitcake to toss.
Time to head back to work. I have missed the place a little. Have a good one.
Love Chocolate covered cherries. That martini sounds so awesome.
My house is slowly moving back to the place where your can put a drink on a table. Most of the Christmas decorations are down but we still have to haul the tree out.
Next up are the exchanges that need to be done.
Have a terrific day.
My Sheltie is taking to heart Festival of Sleep day — he’s been capturing nap after nap, probably trying to catch up on sleep after the bustling holidays. Glad you tackled the laundry (isn’t that a good feeling??). Your cherry martini looks wonderful!
Now that you can catch your breath, I hope the business will pick up again soon! 🙂 My January is okay so far, it’s kinda started not so good with Kalia being so sick over the new year. I hope it will only get better from here. Happy New Year!
I love the Fruit cake I get every year from the Collins St. bakery. Before I discovered that I didn’t care for fruit cake. Try it, you’ll like it!
That choc. martini sounded horrible!!! Give me a Lemon drop one any day.
I certainly spent the day being totally unproductive.
I haven’t done one thing. I have been a real slug. However, Katybeth I did make the bed!!!!
TTFN
MJ
Well, we started the New Year off on a bad note by going to nephew’s visitation last night. He was 27 years old and it is a long story, but let’s just say he didn’t make good choices over the holidays.
I have ALL of my Christmas decorations taken down and put away for this year and even the outside lights are gone. I feel good about that, but I will probably wake up tomorrow and it will be time to drag them out again. At least that is the way it seems anymore. Have a blessed day.
I’ve always thought Christmas was Chocolate Cherry day. My mom has been giving me a box of them since I was little.
When I was a child, my birthday, being a couple of weeks after Christmas, was a non-event. The two sisters across the street would give me a box of chocolate covered cherries every year. I know my dentist was grateful. The chocolate cherry martini? Now THAT’S a celebration!
Tart cherries are impossible to find around here. They’re one of the things I miss about the Midwest.
Happy New Year! My decorations are still up. Take your time. I promise I’ll be last.
At least your laundry is done.