~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
July 30, 2013

★~ Today’s Quote:  “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right.”  ― Henry Ford

★~Father-In-Law Day:

One morning, Cole and I met my father-in-law for breakfast, and when I saw him, I was shocked. His face was a mess; he had a black eye, scrapes, bruises, a fat lip, and a swollen nose, none of which had been mentioned beforehand. He reacted to my shock by quipping, “You should have seen the other guy!” It seems he had “mildly fainted” while retrieving his car in the parking lot at his golf club. The teen caddy loading his clubs peeled him off the pavement and immediately ran for help. However, my father mopped his face with spit on a handkerchief and drove off before the caddy could return. We live less than two miles from the club, but he drove the 12 miles home. In spite of being shocked and upset that he didn’t call us, I had to smile. Nothing slowed my FIL down. I loved his stories and was awestruck by his ability to build practically anything and his imagination (he once showed up at our Halloween party in a home-made mailbox costume). Sometimes, I swear I can smell his cigar smoke on the patio, and it always brightens my day as I tell his spirit, ” I DID NOT kill the fig plant” (another one of those long stories for another blog post, on another day).

Hope you enjoy the company of your father-in-law as much as I enjoyed the company of mine.

★~Paperback Book Day:

Don’t let all those Kindles, IPads and Nooks fool you—paperbacks are still quite en vogue. Paperback Book Day celebrates the look, texture and experience of reading paperback classic or as my Dad likes to call them a paperback penny dreadful.

★~Cheesecake Day:

Say cheese…cake!

Cheesecake often reflects the region it is from. New York-style cheesecake uses heavy cream and cream cheese in its recipe, while Pennsylvania Dutch-style cheesecake uses a tangy, curdy cheese called farmer’s cheese. Chicago cheesecake is another cream cheese version that has been made popular by Eli’s Cheesecake Company. This style of cream cheese cake is firm on the outside and creamy inside.

Enjoy cheesecake any way you like it: served plain or dressed up with fruit or chocolate!

Strawberry Lemonade Cheesecake Cupcakes (these looked so good and in a serving size most people can handle!)

★~ Today in History:

♥ ~ 1835 – Paperback books introduced. Although books bound in soft covers were first introduced in 1841 at Leipzig, Germany, by Christian Bernhard Tauchnitz, the modern paperback revolution dates to the publication of the first Penguin paperback by Sir Allen Lane at London, England, in 1935. Penguin Number 1 was Ariel, a life of Shelley by Andre Maurois. 

♥~ 1898 – Scientific American carried the first magazine automobile ad. The Winton Motor Car Company of Cleveland, OH invited readers to “Dispense with a Horse.”

♥~ 1956 – The phrase “In God We Trust” was adopted as the U.S. national motto.

♥~ 1975 – Former Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa disappeared.  Hoffa was declared legally dead seven years later. His car was abandoned in the parking lot of a restaurant outside Detroit.

♥~ 1998 – A world-record Power-ball jackpot of $295.7 million was won by a group of 13 machinists who worked together in Westerville, Ohio. The group chose the cash option, and received a lump-sum payment of $161.5 million dollars.

★~ Born Today:

♥~ 1818 – Emily Bronte author: Wuthering Heights; died Dec 19, 1848

♥~ 1863 – Henry Ford‘s  name is synonymous with Detroit, the car industry, and the assembly line.

♥~  1934- Allan “Bud” Selig ran a Ford dealership in Milwaukee before becoming the owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, and later commissioner of baseball.  He  was born, one year after the birth of actor Edd Byrnes, best known as hot-rod driver and parking attendant “Kookie” on the TV series “77 Sunset Strip.”

♥~ 1946 – Jeffrey Hammond musician: bass guitar: group: Jethro Tull: Locomotive Breath, Minstrel in the Gallery, Steel Monkey, Living in the Past, Sweet Dream, The Witch’s Promise

♥~ 1947 – Arnold Schwarzenegger actor: Eraser, The Terminator, Predator, Twins, Conan the Barbarian, Total Recall, Kindergarten Cop, True Lies, Last Action Hero; married to Maria Shriver; 5-time Mr. Universe; part owner of Planet Hollywood restaurants; governor of California [2003-2011]

♥~ 1950 – Frank Stallone actor: Rocky series, Staying Alive, Ten Little Indians, Hudson Hawk, Tombstone, Doublecross On Costa’s Island; brother of actor Sylvester Stallone

♥~ 1956 – Delta Burke actress: Delta, Designing Women, Filthy Rich, Chisholm; Miss Florida

♥ ~ 1958 – Kate Bush singer: Experimental IV, Running Up That Hill, The Man with the Child in His Eyes, Wow, Wuthering Heights

♥~ 1963 – Lisa Kudrow actress: Friends, Mad About You, The Opposite of Sex, Analyze This, Dr. Dolittle 2

★~  Good to Know:

One of America’s most intriguing cold cases heated up this past June when a tip from a retired mobster sent FBI and Michigan law enforcement officials wielding shovels and bulldozers to a suburban Detroit field in search of Jimmy Hoffa’s remains.  Two days and no bones later, the only thing unearthed was the fact that the country is still fascinated by the disappearance and alleged murder of former Teamsters president James Riddle “Jimmy” Hoffa who has been missing since he was last seen outside an Oakland County restaurant 38 years ago.

In American pop culture, a good whodunit is irresistible—and as such, exploring the unsolved mystery of what happened to the notoriously corrupt labor leader with mob ties has become practically a national pastime. Almost four decades, hundreds of FBI agents, zero convictions, dozens of theories, books, one Oscar-nominated film, countless jokes (“Yo momma’s so fat, she rolled over and they found Jimmy Hoffa”), and a whole lot of digging later, the as-yet fruitless search for the labor leader’s remains has become the stuff of legend.

During the past four decades, a number of plausible stories have come to light as to whodunit, where it happened, and with what sort of weapon was used. Here are five popular leads that have been investigated since Hoffa’s disappearance in 1975.

The Purple Gang:  The most recent lead, was provided by former mafia captain and now octogenarian Anthony Zerilli this year. Zerilli, son of reputed Detroit-based Purple Gang leader Joseph Zerilli, told the FBI that Hoffa was clubbed with a shovel and buried under a concrete slab in a field on his cousin’s land in Bloomfield Township, Michigan. After two days of excavation, law enforcement officials said they were unable to find anything.

Tony The Greek: In 1989, Donald Frankos (a.k.a. Tony the Greek) grabbed the nation’s attention when he told Playboy magazine that Hoffa was buried beneath Giants Stadium after a mafia hit squad (of which Frankos claimed to be a part) shot him, dismembered him, froze him, shipped him to Jersey and buried him near the western end zone in East Rutherford—fondly dubbed the “Jimmy Hoffa Memorial End Zone.” The FBI found no evidence that any of Frankos’ claims were true, and no remains were unearthed when Giants Stadium was torn down in 2010. Jimmy Hoffa, however, is nonetheless jokingly referred to as the biggest fan of New York football, having “attended” every game since 1975.

The Hitman: In 1982, Charles Allen—a self- described former hit man for the mafia—told members of Congress that Hoffa was murdered on the orders of mob boss Anthony Provenzano, ground up into little bitty pieces, and shipped to Florida, where the remains were tossed into a swamp.

The Irishman:  Frank “the Irishman” Sheeran, a former Teamsters official and friend of Jimmy Hoffa, confessed on his deathbed to killing his old pal on mafia orders (in addition to claiming involvement in the JFK assassination). Law enforcement officials found some blood in the house where Sheeran claimed to have murdered Hoffa, but it was not Hoffa’s blood, and there hasn’t been enough evidence unearthed yet to support the confession.

The Iceman:  Richard Kuklinski, another self-described mob hitman, confessed on his deathbed in 2006 to killing Hoffa.  Kuklinski said he was paid $40,000 to nab Hoffa from the restaurant parking lot, after which he claims he punched Hoffa, and stabbed him in the head with a hunting knife. Then, he drove the body to New Jersey and left the car in a scrap metal yard.

Other theories about what happened to Hoffa, including the possibility that he was disintegrated in a fat-rendering plant, or buried under a horse farm, a suburban driveway or beneath General Motors HQ in Detroit. What we do know for sure is that the search for the truth continues on.

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Let’s send positive thoughts to El Morno Friend Joanne who is in the middle of taking the bar exam. She has promised to join us again as soon as the exam is DONE.

Do you have a favorite cheesecake? Do you know where Hoffa is….?

Wishing everyone a terrific Tuesday!

Odd Loves Company!

♥~