~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
March 24, 2012

★~ Today’s Quote:“This wasn’t just plain terrible, this was fancy terrible. This was terrible with raisins in it.” Dorothy Parker

★~ Chocolate Covered Raisin Day:

Today is National Chocolate-Covered Raisin Day! Did you know that Nestlé Raisinets are one of the most popular candies for movie-goers? I can’t.

Culinary historians believe that humans first discovered raisins when they came across grapes drying on a vine. These sundried morsels soon became one of the most popular food sweeteners, second only to honey. Raisins are an excellent source fiber, potassium, iron, calcium, and certain B vitamins. Add some dark chocolate into the mix and you’ll also get a healthy dose of antioxidants and important minerals. YUM.

★~ Today in History:

♥~  1958 – Elvis Presley reported to local draft board 86 in Memphis, TN. He became US 53310761. Since Elvis was now ‘government property’ serving his time in the Army, Uncle Sam stood to lose an estimated $500,000 in lost taxes each year that Private Presley served in the army.

♥~ 1960 – A U.S. appeals court ruled that the novel, Lady Chatterly’s Lover, was not obscene and could be sent through the mail.

♥~ 1964 – The Kennedy half-dollar coin was first issued. It was minted in silver its first year, then switched to a copper-nickel alloy with other U.S. ‘silver’ coins the next year.

♥~ 1985 – The Golden Raspberry Awards were presented to parody the Oscar Awards. The movie, Bolero, won the big award, for John and Bo (I’m a 10!) Derek; winning honors for worst director and worst actress, respectively.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1874 – Harry Houdini magician: the great Houdini, escape artist; died Oct 31, 1926

♥~ 1930 –  Steve McQueen (Terence Steven) actor: The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven, Papillon, Towering Inferno, The Sand Pebbles, Love with the Proper Stranger, Hell is for Heroes, Bullitt, The Hunter, Le Mans; died Nov 7, 1980

♥~ 1940 – Bob Mackie fashion and costume designer: 6 Emmy Awards, 3 Academy Award nominations; client list includes: Cher, Carol Burnett, Diahann Carroll, Bernadette Peters, Madonna, Carol Channing and RuPaul, The Carol Burnett Show [entire 11-year TV run]

♥~ 1946 – Colin Petersen musician: drums: group: The Bee Gees [the first non-Gibb brother to become a member]: Stayin’ Alive, How Deep is Your Love, Jive Talkin’, Night Fever, Tragedy, You Should Be Dancing, Love So Right

♥~ 1951 – Tommy Hilfiger fashion, perfume and cosmetics mogul.

★~ Did You Know:

♥~ If you put a raisin in a fresh glass of champagne, it will rise and fall continuously.  It works-sort of.  I used Sprit instead of champaign. I did not want to insult a glass of champagne by dropping a raisin into it.

♥~ The word raisin comes from the Latin racemus, which means a “cluster of grapes or berries.”

♥~ Two jars of raisins could be traded for one slave in Ancient Rome.

♥~ Seventy-five percent of grapes are eaten at breakfast.

♥~ California produces 95 percent of all raisins in the United States and about 50 percent of the raisins in the world.

♥~ If you put a raisin in a fresh glass of champagne, it will rise and fall continuously.  It works-sort of. The video of our experiment is up above. Not sure why you would insult champagne with a raisin, tho.

♥~ It takes four pounds of fresh Grapes to yield one pound of raisins?

♥~ The World’s Largest Box of Raisins sits at the office entrance to Sun-Maid raisins.  it is 2 feet high, 8 feet wide, 4 feet deep and holds about 16,500 pounds of raisins At one time, it did actually hold raisins, but the box is now empty.

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We don’t eat raisins in my house — ever. My sweet mom told me that raisins were evil back when I was a dumb little kid. I simple told Cole that nice people did not eat raisins when he was a dumb little kid. The problem with raisins is they are sneaky. You seldom see a bowl of raisins sitting out on a counter; they usually sneak into a perfectly good cookie, muffin, or slice of bread and surprise you in a most unpleasant sort of way. Remember when those raisin people used to dance around. Just the thought of those commercials causes shivers to run up and down my spine. Chocolate covered raisins? There isn’t much chocolate can’t improve, but even chocolate can’t make a bad raisin good. So, I think I will skip the raisins today, thank you very much, and just enjoy the chocolate.

Cole and I are off to the Indiana Dunes for lunch today! Cole will have a few more lessons driving a stick shift on his uncle’s car, and I’m so happy just to be going out that I’m not sure I’ll even know how to act. Today I started talking to the light plates while I was wiping them off. I switched them on and off, saying, “You are SO clean.” It was then that I realized it was time to spend some time away from home. I hope I don’t hold my napkin in front of my face at lunch and say, “Now you see me, now you don’t”!

So, how will you be spending your Saturday? Inquiring minds want to know. Odd Loves Company!!

♥