~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
March 13, 2014

★~ Today’s Quote: “When in doubt, wear red.” – Bill Blass

★~ Jewel Day:

Celebrate your gems and jewels today! Spruce up your jewelry box, wear a seldom-worn piece of jewelry, or polish up those gems. Reminder: Take your gems to the jeweler to check the stones and make sure they are nice and secure in their settings.

★~ Ear Muff Day:

Big-eared Chester Greenwood is the father of the ear muff. Greenwood patented the “Champion Ear Protector” on March 13, 1877. It later became known as “ear mufflers,” and was eventually shortened to “ear muffs.” Ear Muff Day is celebrated by wearing ear muffs.  If it is not an  ear muff  sort-of- day, may I suggest a pretty pair of earrings instead?

★~ Coconut Torte Day:

A coconut torte has layers of rich, dense cake with a creamy filling, all flavored with coconut and topped with shredded coconut.

Torte vs. Tart vs. Cake

A torte is not a tart. A tart is similar to a pie with a crust.

A torte is not a cake. Cakes are made with sugar, eggs, butter, and flour. However, a torte uses little to no flour. They often use finely ground nuts or breadcrumbs. As a result, tortes are denser. They also do not rise very much, so they are often layered to give them height.

Chocolate Coconut Torte
from “A Taste in Time” by Beverley Sutherland-Smith

4 egg whites
1 cup castor sugar (superfine sugar)
1 cup dessicated coconut*
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1/2 teaspoon almond extract or vanilla extract

*Dessicated coconut is drier and shorter than shredded coconut. You could use coconut meal or if you can’t find it, use almond meal and substitute coconut extract for the almond extract.

Preheat oven to 180C (356F). Grease a shallow pie pan.
Beat egg whites to stiff peaks.
Add sugar and continue beating.
Fold in remaining ingredients, then pour into pan.
Bake 20 minutes or until the top has set and is crisp on the edges.
The torte will firm as it cools.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1781 – Astronomer William Herschel announced that he had found the planet Uranus. It was the first planet in the solar system to be discovered by telescope.

♥~ 1930 –  Astronomer Clyde Tombaugh announced to the Harvard College Observatory that he had discovered a ninth planet, which would be named Pluto. In 2006, Pluto was downgraded to the status of “dwarf planet.”

♥~ 1938 – Attorney Clarence Darrow, the defense lawyer at the Scopes “Monkey” trial, died on this date in 1938. It was exactly 13 years after the day the Tennessee House voted to ban the teaching of evolution in state schools. Passage of that law led to the Scopes trial.

♥~ 1968 – The Byrds received a gold record for the album, Greatest Hits, which featured Turn! Turn! Turn!, written by Pete Seeger.

♥~ 1970 – The cover of LIFE magazine was extremely popular. It showed the extremes of the new hemline hassle that was raging a battle between long versus short skirts.

♥~ 1988 – Yielding to student protests, the board of trustees of Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, a liberal arts college for the hearing-impaired, chose Irving King Jordan to become the school’s first deaf president, replacing Elisabeth Ann Zinser, who could hear.

♥~ 1998 – Candice Bergen and the cast of Murphy Brown filmed the 247th and final episode of the award-winning and sometimes controversial CBS sitcom. The episode, titled Never Can Say Goodbye (Part 2), featured appearances by Julia Roberts, George Clooney, and Mike Wallace, as well as Bergen’s real mother, Frances.

~ Born Today:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/1aFymSogiUY[/youtube]

♥~ 1939 – Neil Sedaka, songwriter, singer: Oh! Carol, The Diary, Stairway to Heaven, Calendar Girl, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen

♥~ 1941 – Charo (Maria Rosario Pilar Martinez Molina Baeza): ‘The Cuchi Cuchi Girl,’ actress

♥~ 1955 – Glenne Headly, actress: Mr. Holland’s Opus, Grand Isle, Mortal Thoughts, Dick Tracy, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Purple Rose of Cairo

♥~ 1956 – Dana Delany, actress: China Beach, Baby for Sale, A Time to Remember, Sirens, Mother Ghost, Final Jeopardy, Desperate Housewives

♥~1960 – Adam Clayton, musician (group U2): Sunday Bloody Sunday, With You or Without You

★~ Good to Know: 

[youtube]http://youtu.be/tDBSa5TMX2Y[/youtube]

John Green gives us the lowdown on children’s TV.  He enlightens about the seizure-inducing Pokemon show,  Barney the demonize dinosaur, and  Tinky Winkie’s sexual orientation.

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The view outside my window is sunshine and glistening snow; on my desk is a vase of happy yellow daffodil.  I am hopping all of these lovelies brighten my mood (sad-crabby).  Today on Facebook it is throwback Thursday. That works for me :-D. El Morno would have been here sooner if I hadn’t started to cry because I could not come up with an idea for Good to Know. Thank goodness for John Green.  I don’t even like coconut.

What I need is a walk around the block, a 20 minutes nap in the sun and a chocolate cupcake. I’m going for it! And I’ll live vicariously through the wonderful Thursday that I am wishing you!

Odd Loves Company.

 

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