★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
May 11, 2013

★~ Today’s Quote:  A healthy social life is found only, when in the mirror of each soul the whole community finds its reflection, and when in the whole community the virtue of each one is living. Rudolf Steiner

★~ National Twilight Zone Day:

Hosted and created by Rod Serling, The Twilight Zone aired from 1959 through 1964. Strange and surreal things transport ordinary people into another dimension during  the twisted sci-fi thriller with the super-creepy theme song.

~ After WWII, Rod Serling tested experimental parachutes for the U.S. Army at $500 per jump!

~ Rod Serling wrote or co-wrote 92 of the show’s 156 episodes.

~ Guest stars on the Twilight Zone included :Jack Klugman, William Shatner, Burgess Meredith, Dick York, Roddy McDowell, Cliff Robertson, Lee Marvin, Jonathan Winters, Carol Burnett, and Robert Redford, Burt Reynolds

~ The Twilight Zone won an Academy Award for its final episode.

~  Rod Serling has been hailed as the most honored and prolific writer in the history of television.

Cue music. . .

National Miniature Golf Day: 

Miniature Golf has been around since the 1800s.  During that time, people considered it highly inappropriate for a woman to raise a golf club above her shoulder level. In 1867, the Ladies’ Putting Club of St. Andrews, Scotland built a small scaled-down golf course so that women could play the sport without creating a scandal. It was the first miniature golf course in history.

Miniature golf courses began popping up in America during the early 20th century. However, these facilities were usually located at hotels and private resorts, so they were not yet available to the masses. In 1916, James Barbar of North Carolina built “Thistle Dhu,” the first quintessential miniature golf course. The design of the course was neo-classical, similar to the style of the Tuileries Garden at the Louvre in Paris. By the 1930s, miniature golf had become a popular pastime all across the country. Last year, Miniature Golf Day was on September 21,2012.

★~ Eat Whatever You Want Day

Ice Cream Bread  a FUN way to celebrate Eat Whatever You Want Day. In just a few steps you can turn ice cream into bona fide warm, fluffy bread!

INGREDIENTS:
2 pints of ice cream (Ben and Jerry Chunky monkey is a good first choice)
3 cups of self-rising flour

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 F
Let ice cream soften at room temperature for 10-15 minutes.
Grease and flour bread pan, or line with parchment paper
Mix melted ice cream and flour until well combined. Add optional mix-ins.
Bake for 35 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Invert and allow to cool completely.

NOTES:
~ Use any full fat ice cream and quality ingredients, keep the preservatives to a minimum.

~ Make your own self-rising flour using this simple equation: For each 1 cup of flour add 1½ teaspoons baking powder, and ½ teaspoon salt

~  Cooking time varies between 35 minutes to an 1-1.5 hrs. The best judge of done is when a tooth pick or skewer inserted into the middle of  the bread comes out clean. If the top starts to brown too much, cover it with aluminum foil and continue to bake.

~ Creative add-ins! Chopped walnuts, very ripe banana, chopped chocolate bar, marshmallows . .

~ Can you even begin to imagine this bread as French toast…just sayin’

★~ Today in History:

♥~1858 – Minnesota entered the union and became our 32nd state  known for its lakes, mosquitoes, harsh winters, and walleye. It’s also known for some great writers, including Robert Bly, August Wilson, John Berryman, Sinclair Lewis, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Not all of them were born in Minnesota, but they became associated with the state over the course of their careers. Bob Dylan, another native son, was born in Duluth and grew up in nearby Hibbing.

♥~1927 – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded; although the first Oscars were not presented for several years after its founding.

♥~ 1970 – The triple soundtrack album ‘Woodstock’ was released in the US, going gold within two weeks.

♥~ 1978 – Margaret A. Brewer became the first female general of the U.S. Marine Corp.

♥~ 1997 – Deep Blue, IBM’s supercomputer, made history by defeating chess-master Gary Kasparov. After losing the first game in the match, the computer gained a win in game two, and managed draws in games three, four and five. The final score was 3 1/2 points for Deep Blue and 2 1/2 for Kasparov, who, for the first time ever, conceded defeat. Afterwards, he bolted from the room shaking his head in disgust. “I’m ashamed by what I did at the end of this match,” Kasparov said at a news conference. “But so be it.”

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1888 – Irving Berlin– Little Israel left school after his father died. He was only 8 years old when he took to the New York streets and sang on street corners and in saloons to make money for his family. This was the start of his career in song, dance and movies.  Although, Irving never learned to read or write music, and he never learned to play in any key but F sharp he wrote God Bless America (1917) and scores of Broadway tunes

♥~ 1894 – Martha Graham modern dancer:  Denishawn dance school and performing troupe, Graham company, established school of modern dance at Bennington College; choreographer: Cave of the Heart, Appalachian Spring; “The center of the stage is where I am.”; died Apr 1, 1991

♥~ 1904 – Salvadore Dalí surrealist artist: Accommodations of Desire, The Persistence of Memory, Visage of War; died Jan 23, 1989

♥~ 1932 – Valentino (Garavani) fashion designer: dedicated Collection Blanche to Jackie Kennedy [1967]; his ready-to-wear collections have been shown in Paris since 1969; founded Valentino Academy [1990]

♥~ 1946 – Robert Jarvik physician: inventor of the Jarvik 7 artificial heart [implanted into Barney Clark in 1982: kept Clark alive 112 days]

★~ Odd News this Week:

♥~ Cocaine Habit: Police on the Colombian Caribbean island of San Andres arrested three fake nuns carrying $35 thousand worth of cocaine under their clothes. The three suspects, Colombians aged 20, 32 and 37 were arrested at the airport of San Andres as they were trying to enter the island. All three had hidden two kilos of cocaine under their religious habit. According to the police official, the drugs — 60,000 doses — had a street value of $35,470 and was likely to be distributed locally.

♥~ Bacon Secret to Longevity:  105-year-old Texas woman, who became a widow at age 38 and worked as everything from a cotton picker to a hay baler while raising 7 kids on her own, says bacon is the secret to her longevity, the Huffington Post reports.

“I love bacon. I eat it everyday,” Pearl Cantrell told NBC affiliate KRBC when asked her secret to living so long. “I don’t feel as old as I am. That’s all I can say,” Cantrell added.

The great-great-grandmother, who lives in central Texas and still dances – some of her favorites include country dancing, waltzing and two-stepping – celebrated her 105th birthday recently with a three-day event that included more than 200 guests. Although Cantrell retired decades ago, she kept mowing her own lawn until the age of 100, according to the West Texas Tribune – a heart-healthy habit that probably helped keep her going as well.

♥~ Scratch, Sniff, Evacuate: Energy West in Great Falls, Montana, distributes scratch-and-sniff cards to its customers so they can learn to recognize the smell of a gas leak. After a batch of expired cards were trashed, they were picked up by a garbage truck that compressed them with the other trash, which released the smell to the entire town as the truck traveled its route through town. Gas customers recognized the smell, alarms were raised, and several buildings were evacuated due to the smell. The gas company apologized, but you have to admire a campaign that successful.

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And on the third day, Comed said, “Let there be light, and there was, and it was GOOD. Yes, I have power! My generator has been cleaned up and put away, along with two new 50-foot industrial extension cords. It earned an easy-access parking spot in the shed, and while I hope we don’t bond again soon, I’m grateful to know how to use the damn thing.

Yesterday, Chicagoans shivered through the chilliest May 10 in 32 years; it was warmer in Alaska and the Yukon! Today, some of us will shiver through the annual Chicago Waldorf Mayfair. The day is overcast and chilly, but over the years we have persevered through far worse, holding on tightly to Maypole ribbons and parading around the Maypole in near tornado conditions. We weren’t quitters. These days, the young parents insist on moving the fair inside when fair conditions turn cold and wet. They will never know the joys of a soggy bakery lemon bar or tofu burger or what it was like to try to start a charcoal grill under a hood of coats with wet matches. The school old-timers will laugh at them as they hustle their kids inside the warm, dry school and share stories of Mayfair’s past when it was so cold that the children’s lips froze to their recorders (slight exaggeration). Or maybe we will talk about the years of petting zoos and pony rides without hand wipes or hand sanitizers to wash up with after the ride or petting was over. Those kids ate their tofu burgers with hands that had patted a goat. OMG, I miss those days, but I won’t mind reading tarot cards (my job for the day) without puddles of water at my feet and frozen fingers.

What are your plans for this Super Saturday?

Odd Loves Company!