~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
July 19, 2014

★~ Today’s Quote: I am the lizard king. I can do anything.  – Jim Morrison Singer.

★~ Flitch Day:

The tradition of the Dunmow Flitch began in Great Dunmow, Essex in 1104 when a local couple so impressed the Prior of Little Dunmow with their marital devotion that he awarded them a flitch (a side) of bacon. The custom continued and the monks offered a “flitch” of bacon as prize for any married couple who could prove to a jury of bachelors and maidens that they had lived together in harmony and fidelity for the past year.  The Flitch custom is mentioned in Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales,” and mock flitch trials are still held every four years in Great Dunmow, England..

“The ancient oath of the flitch was expressed in rhyme:

We do swear by custom of confession
That we ne’re made nuptial transgression
Nor since we were married man and wife
By household brawl or contentious strife,
Or otherwise at bed or board,
Offended each other in deed or word;
Or since the parish clerk said amen,
Wished ourselves unmarried again;
Or in a twelvemonth and a day
Repented in thought in any way,
But continue true and in desire
As when we joined in holy quire.”

When this oath was taken by each couple, it was the duty of the officer who administered it to reply:

“Since to these conditions, without any fear,
Of your own accord you do freely swear,
A whole flitch of bacon you shall receive,
And bear it hence with love and good leave;
For this is our custom at Dunmow well known
Though the pleasure be ours, the bacon’s your own.”

It should be noted that very couples brought home the bacon.

★~ Stick Out Your Tongue Day:

It’s Stick Out Your Tongue Day! If someone annoys you, go ahead and stick your tongue out at them. It’s especially fun to do this to crying children in the grocery store or to make this gesture behind someone’s back … and if someone call’s you immature, you know what to do!

★~ Raspberry Cake Day:

History suggests that the people of Troy were the first to appreciate the fruit of the raspberry bush dating as far back as the time of Christ. The Romans are credited with the spread of this delicious fruit throughout Europe, as archaeologists have discovered raspberry seeds in old Roman forts located in Britain. In the last 15 years, raspberries have become increasingly popular in American cuisine, showing up in everything from vinaigrettes to iced tea. Here is a Raspberry Coffee Cake recipe you might enjoy:

★~ Daiquiri Day:

It’s National Daiquiri Day! The drink many people associate with author Ernest Hemingway was, in fact, invented in 1898 by an engineer named Jennings Stockton Cox in the small iron mining town of Daiquiri near Santiago, Cuba. Ernest Hemingway did inspire the creation of the frozen Daiquiri at El Floridita, a restaurant in Havana. In Islands in the Stream, he wrote: “This frozen daiquiri, so well beaten as it is, looks like the sea where the wave falls away from the bow of a ship when she is doing thirty knots.”

★~ Today in History:

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♥~ 1946  – Marilyn Monroe acted in her first screen test. She passed it with flying colors and was signed to her first contract with Twentieth Century Fox Studios. The first of her 29 films was Scudda-Hoo! Scudda-Hay!

♥~ 1954  – The Lord of the Rings:  First part published anniversary. The Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic The Lord of the Rings, was published. The publishers chose to publish the book in three parts because it was so long. The Two Towers was published on Nov 11, 1954, and The Return of the King was published on Oct 20, 1955.

♥~ 1969  –  Senator Edward Kennedy reported to police in Edgartown, Massachusetts, that he had been in a car accident the night before on Chappaquiddick Island.  He admitted to driving a car into a pond, and said he and others had failed to rescue passenger Mary Jo Kopechne from the car.  Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the accident scene.

♥~ 1980 – Billy Joel earned his first gold record with It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me, which reached the top of the Billboard pop music chart.

♥~ 1986 – Caroline Kennedy married Edwin Schlossberg.

♥~ 1994 – Susan Montgomery blew a record bubble-gum bubble in Fresno, California. It measured 23 inches in diameter.

♥~ 1999  – Thirty years  after Chappaquiddick,  police and the military were searching the waters off Martha’s Vineyard for a plane piloted by Senator Kennedy’s nephew, John F. Kennedy, Jr.  Kennedy, his wife Carolyn, and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette disappeared on July 15th in bad weather during a night flight to Martha’s Vineyard.

♥~ 2003 – A 42-year-old Austrian man received the world’s first transplanted tongue at Vienna’s General Hospital.

♥~ 2009 – Without warning, a mystery object struck Jupiter. An amateur astronomer in Australia detected the new scar that covered some 73 million square miles, an larger area than the Pacific ocean.

★~ Born Today:

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♥~ 1860 – Lizzie Borden accused of axe murder of her parents; acquitted in a highly public trial

♥~ 1865 – Charles Mayo surgeon: founded Mayo Clinic & Mayo Foundation with his brother

♥~ 1941 – Vikki Carr (Florencia Bisenta deCasilla Martinez Cardona)singer: It Must be Him, With Pen in Hand, The Lesson

♥~ 1947 – Bernie Leadon  musician: guitar: group: The Eagles: Take It Easy, Best of My Love, One of these Nights

♥~ 1978 – R.J. (Robert Jackson) Williams actor: Full House, The Big Five, The Price of Life, The Night They Saved Christmas, American Anthem, The Other Woman, Passions, General Hospital

★~ Today’s Gallimaufry: 

Potatoes: Refrigeration causes the starch in potatoes to turn to sugar, and while this might sound like a good thing, it gives them the wrong flavor. The skins will also darken prematurely while cooking, making them look less appetizing.

Onions:  Here’s a weird one. You don’t have to refrigerate onions, but you do need to keep them physically separated from the potatoes. Spuds emit moisture and gases that will make your onions rot. Your best bet is to keep onions in the mesh bag they came in—they like air circulation.

Garlic:  Again, air circulation is key. Garlic bulbs will keep for two months without refrigeration, and if you keep them out of the damp air of the fridge you’ll avoid making all your other nearby produce smell like garlic. Some even say that refrigeration will make garlic sprout prematurely.

Avocado:  Is there anything more delicious and healthy than a ripe avocado? Avocado won’t ripen in cold conditions, so unless you need them to keep for awhile, you should let yours live outside the refrigerator until they’re ready to eat. There’s a popular legend suggesting the presence of the pit prevents browning, so if you only use half of an avocado, be sure to reserve the side with the pit.

Tomatoes:  Cold breaks down the cell walls in tomato flesh and causes them to become mushy and mealy. For better results, store them at room temperature and keep them out of direct sunlight, which can ripen them early and unevenly.

Bananas:  “I’m Chiquita banana and I’ve come to say, bananas have to ripen in a certain way.” So went the original Chiquita commercial from the 1940s. And it wasn’t just a great song it showed you the correct and proper way to store Bananas. Allow bananas to ripen at room temperature, only use your refrigerator when you want to slow the ripening process. Just be aware that refrigeration will turn banana peels brown (though the inside is still unspoiled). Frozen bananas also make a great ice cream replacement for dieters. Does anyone really believe this?

Melon: Fresh uncut melon——is best stored on the kitchen counter where it can properly ripen and sweeten. Only after you cut up your cantaloupe (or whatever) into bite-sized bits should the flesh be refrigerated (but never frozen).

Stone Fruits:  Peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums, cherries, and so on should be ripened at room temperature, stem-end down. Only after the fruits start softening slightly to the touch and begin to smell sweet should they be moved to the refrigerator. Shelf life is three to five days after that. The moment I read this I raced in and rescued my Apricots from the fridge!

Bread: Try to eat your bread before it gets to the point where you need to chill it to stave off mold, because if you end up refrigerating, the loaf will get tough and less tasty. For this reason, a lot of people freeze bread. Freezing preserves the texture, but then you have to deal with defrosting it. And really… who’s got the the time to microwave a slice of bread…

Pastries: It’s the same story with cookies and pastry. You can store them covered outside the fridge, and it’s true they won’t last quite as long, but refrigeration causes baked goods to go stale faster. Keep your cannolis on the countertop where they belong.

Hot Sauce: Not all hot sauces are created equal, but if it’s a vinegar-based hot sauce like Tabasco, you can almost always safely store it in the pantry for months on end. Cold weakens the flavor and changes the viscosity of the sauce, affecting the pour.

Spices:  Once again the humid environment of a refrigerator is detrimental to the flavor of spices, and since most can be safely stored for years without refrigeration, there’s no benefit to cold storage at all.

Honey:  DO NOT refrigerate honey. Honey is one of the world’s earliest preservatives. It has a practically indefinite shelf life; archaeologists have uncovered ancient Egyptian tombs with edible honey inside. (You taste it…no you taste it…hey buddy it’s your dig you taste it…)  If you refrigerate honey it will crystallize, and you’ll have to squeeze that stupid teddy bear even harder to get it and seeking revenge the bear will make sure you end up all sticky.

Peanut Butter: All-natural peanut butter does have to be refrigerated, because the peanut oil can rise, separate from the mash, and go rancid. Commercially processed peanut butter, on the other hand (like JIF and Skippy), can be stored for months without issue—even if the jar’s already been opened. And processed peanut butter tastes good too.

Oils:  Nut oils (like hazelnut oil) must be refrigerated, but for other types of oil you’re in the clear. Oils will become cloudy and harden when refrigerated, and while this doesn’t do lasting damage, you’ll need to wait for the oil to warm before it tastes right or flows properly again.

Maybe Don’t Refrigerate…there are varying opinions…My rule of thumb would be to try and steer clear of giving your family food poisoning.

Apples:  Most people store apples in the fruit drawer, but that’s not entirely necessary. More importantly, it could reduce the amount of antioxidants in the fruit’s skin. Apples will keep for about a week outside the fridge. On the other hand there is something to be said for a cold crisp apple.

Coffee: Go ahead and refrigerate your leftover iced coffee from lunch, but coffee beans and grounds should really be stored more carefully. Condensation created by the fridge or freezer can affect the flavor of the beans, and sensitive palates can detect the difference. For best results, store beans or grounds in an airtight container inside the pantry.

Eggs:  Organic eggs can be left out for a few days, as long as the shell is intact, but they last longer if you put them in the fridge and could prevent a rotten egg smell.

Butter: The FDA does not recommend it, but butter can be left outside the fridge (covered) indefinitely. We never put our butter in the fridge. I did  try a French butter dish, which holds butter upside down and inside an air pocket underwater. The water creates an airtight seal, while the butter remains easily spreadable at room temperature. But while it looked good the butter kept falling into the water. Of-course, my  sweet Mother’s French butter dish worked. So maybe we weren’t chic enough or something.

Condiments: Don’t take the FDA labels too seriously. Despite the  “Refrigerate After Opening” labels, you really don’t have to refrigerate processed condiments like ketchup and mustard. They’ll do fine right there on the kitchen table, just like the ones left beside the menus at the local diner. Ha, you never thought of that did you?

Salad Dressings: Some people refrigerate salad dressings, some don’t. Since most dressings are oil-based, and we’ve already established oil’s longevity outside the fridge, they should be fine. Salad dressings that aren’t oil-based are usually made of processed goop, and those are dense with preservatives anyway. Use your best judgment, of course. And friends do I need to tell you this does NOT apply to Mayo and Miracle whip? I didn’t think so.

Soy Sauce:  The “Refrigerate After Opening” warning on that bottle of Kikkoman is only there because they’re required to write it by law. The truth is, all the salt in the sauce is going to keep the stuff safe for months without refrigeration. Ok, fine. Does anyone know why I have 4 bottles of Soy Sauce in my fridge, then? Uh???

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My teen is off to Madison, Wi. for the weekend. He is going to a family reunion. Someone elses family reunion. He goes every year. At the point he is considered one of the family. He wondered if we ever have a family reunions (meaning my side of the family. Joe’s family all lives in Chicago)  No. We like being the family that says at funerals….”Gosh, we really shouldn’t wait until someone dies to all get together next time.”  One on One works best for us.  I’m not sure what my plans for the day will be….a little of this and that, I suppose. Cole graciously said I could put the second coat of paint on the picnic table. What a guy.

What are you up to today? One thing you might want to do,  if you are a reader, is check out Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited that was just released. They are offering a 30 day free trial. You do not need a Kindle.

Odd Loves Company,