~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
January 7, 2013

Today’s Quote: Grow old with me! The best is yet to be. ~Robert Browning

★~ Old Rock Day:

Are you curious about how old, an old rock is? Me too. Google to the rescue. As of 2008, the oldest rocks on Earth are 4.03 billion years old, from the Acasta Gneiss in the Northwest Territories of Canada. These rocks were found in the Canadian Shield, a very ancient section of the Earth’s crust. Originally the rock was part of a very old mountain chain, the core of which was exposed over billions of years due to glacial activity. The rock formed during the Hadean period, the oldest geologic division of time on Earth, which began at the planet’s formation 4.57 billion years ago and continued until the dawn of the Archean, 3.8 billion years ago. Many of the world’s oldest rocks are from this era.

Other extremely old rocks have been found in Western Greenland and Western Australia. These are about 3.8 billion years old.

★~Tempura Day:

Tempura is a tasty deep fried Japanese dish made with lightly battered vegetables and seafood. The original cooking technique is attributed to the Portuguese, who landed in Japan in the sixteenth century to establish new trade routes.

The word “tempura” is  related to the European roots of the dish. It comes from the Latin phrase “quattuor tempora” meaning “Ember Days.” This term refers to the holy days and Fridays when Catholics avoided meat and only ate vegetables or fish.

Tempura batter is made with cold water and wheat flour. Some recipes also call for eggs, baking soda, oil, or spices for extra flavoring. A traditional tempura will usually include shrimp, scallops, eggplant, green beans, sweet potato, mushrooms, or bamboo.
Food Network Alton Brown Tempura

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1785 – French aeronaut/balloonist Jean-Pierre Blanchard successfully made the first air-crossing of the English Channel from the English coast to France.

♥~ 1896 – Fannie Merritt Farmer published The Boston Cooking-School Cookbook, later renamed The Fannie Farmer Cookbook. It was the first cookbook to use accurate measurements.

♥~ 1926 – The wedding anniversary of George Burns and Gracie Allen who were married by a Justice of the Peace in Cleveland, Ohio.

♥~ 1927 – The first 31 transatlantic telephone calls were made between New York and London transatlantic telephone service. The calls cost .00 (equivalent to about $900 today) for five minutes.

♥~ 1979 – In the AFC title game, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Houston Oilers 34-5 for a Super Bowl trip and their third AFC championship title. They played in a steady rain at Three Rivers Stadium. In the NFC championship game, the Dallas Cowboys shut out the Los Angeles Rams 28-0. (The Steelers beat the Cowboys 35-31 in Super Bowl XIII Jan 21.)

♥~ 2000 – These movies opened in the U.S.: Magnolia, with Jeremy Blackman, Michael Bowen, Tom Cruise, Melinda Dillon and Henry Gibson; and Snow Falling on Cedars, starring Ethan Hawke, James Rebhorn, Sam Shepard, Max Von Sydow, Youki Kudoh, Rick Yune and Celia Weston.

★~ Born Today:

♥~ Mary Lee – Merrilymarylee’s Weblog. Wishing you a most wonderful birthday. May all your birthday wishes come true! Including but not limited to getting rid of those Damnsquirrels.

♥~ 1745 – Jacques Montgolfier inventor [w/brother Joseph]: hot air balloon

♥~ 1912 –  Charles Addams. He had a normal, happy childhood and went on to draw macabre cartoons. He created The Addams Family.

♥~ 1908 – Estée Lauder cosmetics mogul: started Estée Lauder Companies with a jar of skin cream developed by her chemist uncle;

♥~ 1957 – Katie Couric (Katherine Anne Couric) TV news anchor (and managing editor): CBS Evening News with Katie Couric; TV host: Today

♥~ 1964 – Nicolas Cage (Nicholas Coppola) actor: The Best of Times, The Rock, Leaving Las Vegas, Vampire’s Kiss, Raising Arizona, Racing with the Moon, Moonstruck, Peggy Sue Got Married, The Cotton Club, Birdy, Valley Girl, Con Air, Face/Off, The Family Man, Windtalkers; nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire

★~ Did You Know: 

♥~ World’s Oldest Model:  Daphne Selfe is in her 60th year of an extraordinary modeling career. At the age of 83, she is Britain’s oldest catwalk model, gracing runways for Dolce & Gabbana, Tata-Naka and Michiko Koshino.

♥~  Oldest Yoga Instructors: Bette Calman from Australia (86-year-old) is the World’s Oldest Female Yoga Instructor. The oldest male is B.K.S Iyengar from India. He is 94 years old.

♥~ The World’s Oldest Mother Rajo Devi Lohan,  gave birth to her first child in November 2008, at the age of 70.

♥~  World’s Oldest Bottle of Champagne (184-years-old): Twelve of the wine industry’s top tasters were given the rare chance to pop the cork and taste the world’s oldest bottle of Champagne. Only two bottles now remain of the Perrier-Jouet 1825 Vintage, recognized by The Guinness Book of Records as the oldest remaining Champagne in the world.

♥~ World’s Oldest Working Microwave : Frederick Stephens was among the first in Britain to buy a microwave  over 40 years ago and 150,000 meals later, it is still going strong. The 78-year-old believes it’s the oldest working microwave in Britain and maybe the world. He paid $300 – equivalent to more than $3,900 in today’s money – for the brown Panasonic NE-691 and has used it every day in the four decades since.

♥~ World’s Oldest Joke (3900-year-old) A team of academics from the University of Wolverhampton discovered the world’s most ancient gag. The joke dates back to ancient Sumeria circa 1900 BC.  It is a one-liner about Flatulence

♥~  World’s Oldest Flute (35,000-year-old): University of Tuebingen archaeologist Nicholas Conard and his team assembled the flute from 12 pieces of griffon vulture bone scattered in a small plot of the Hohle Fels cave in southern Germany. Together, the pieces comprise a 8.6-inch instrument with five holes and a notched end.

♥~ World’s Oldest Sculpture (35,000-year-old): A voluptuous ‘pin-up’ woman. The six-centimeter carved mammoth tusk, is  thought to have been a symbol of fertility for early man, it is known as ‘Venus’.

#

Last night, everyone on Facebook was watching Downtown Abbey, which I had never heard of and it’s already in Season 3.  True,  I don’t watch any television but I might watch amazing, wonderful, fabulous…if I knew about it. I might even rent seasons 1 and 2.  Are you watching? Do share!

Cole starts back to school today. The holidays are really, truly over and the pine needles and tinsel are only. Sigh. The New Year? Well so far mine has been pretty good, and you?

Odd Loves Company!