~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
June 8, 2015

★~ Today’s Quote:  “ Form follows function – that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union. ~ Frank Lloyd Wright

★~ June – National Soul Food Month

Let’s start with figuring out, what the heck soul is to begin with since the distinction between soul and southern cuisine are hard to make. In the 1969 Soul Food Cookbook, Bob Jeffries summed it up well by saying:

“While all soul food is southern food, not all southern food is ‘soul.’ Soul food cooking is an example of how really good southern Negro cooks cooked with what they had available to them.”

The term soul food didn’t even exist before the 60s. With the rise of the civil rights and Black Nationalism movements during that era, many African Americans sought to establish their cultural legacy. So terms like “soul music” made way for “soul food” to describe the food that their ancestors had been cooking for generations.

The traditional West African diet was mostly vegetarian. For thousands of years, the traditional West African diet was mostly vegetarian, centered on things like millet, rice, okra, hot peppers, and yams. Big portions of meat were for special occasions!

The transatlantic slave trade brought many foods to the Americas from BOTH Africa and Europe. Rice, sorghum and okra were West African staples while foods like cabbage came from Portugal.

The soul food classic Collard greens have been eaten for at least 2000 years. It’s believed that Ancient Greeks ate collard greens. In soul cooking, collard greens are typically boiled down in a pot of salted water with a piece of smoked meat like a hamhock or turkey leg. The broth leftover in the pot after cooking greens is called ‘potlikker’.

Back eyed peas are eaten all over the world, but in the Southern U.S., eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day is thought to bring prosperity in the New Year.

The “chitlin’ circuit” was the name given to the string of performance venues that were acceptable for African American entertainers to perform during the age of racial segregation in the United States. The name derives from the soul food dish chitterlings or stewed pig intestines. They are slow cooked and take time to make right.

Soul Food is the epitome of Slow Food: No short cuts! Patience is a key element in soul cooking.

Fried Green Tomatoes 

★~ Best Friend Day:

As we grow older, more friends become best friends in different ways. There is a childhood best friend that knew you back in the days; the best friend that you raised your children with over the years; the best friend you may only talk to twice a year, but it only takes you a few moments to catch up; perhaps the best friend you gossip with at the office; or, perhaps, the sister or brother that was once a thorn in your side but grew up to be your best friend.  While our list of best friends may have grown to include more people, what makes a friendship “best” is sharing our most important secrets, hopes, dreams, aspirations, and disappointments with each other throughout the day or over the years.

★~ Name Your Poison:

“Name your poison” is what bartenders say when someone sidles up to the bar (in the movies). However, it can also mean ‘make a choice.’ Maybe it’s the choice about how you plan to kill someone —

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1786 – Commercial ice cream was advertised for sale for the first time — in New York City. Could this be the reason why we have celebrated both Chocolate Ice Cream and Rocky Road ice cream in the last couple of weeks?

♥~ 1947 – Lassie debuted on ABC radio. It was a 15-minute show about an extraordinary dog. Lassie’s barking on the radio was provided by the star of the movie Lassie Come Home, a collie named Pal. Animal imitator Earl Keen provided the whines and other dog noises. The announcer was Charles Lyon; Marvin Miller and Betty Arnold played Lassie’s owners. The sponsor was Red Heart dog food. (A Doberman or a Terrier would have burried the books and insisted Timmy wake up to throw a ball, take a walk, or do something fun! )

♥~ 1948 – Television was born and Milton Berle ushered in the television era for the next 18 years as the host of the Texaco Star Theater. Known as Mr Television he sold millions of television sets ultimately making TV the most popular form of entertainment in America. Mr. Television … Uncle Miltie … Milton Berle made generations of televisions  laugh till tears ran down their faces. Those were simpler times. Those were the days…

♥~ 1988 – All Nippon Airways announced that painting eyeballs on its Jets cut bird collisions by 20 percent. Update April 2000: All Nippon Airways will remove the eyeball markings, which proved useless in preventing birds from flying into the engines and causing damage.

♥~ 1991 – Battle Creek, Michigan, served breakfast to 44,938 people at the world’s longest breakfast table, a new world record.

★~ Born Today:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/SbyAZQ45uww[/youtube]

♥~ 1867 – Frank Lloyd Wright architect: Pennsylvania’s Falling Water, NYC’s Guggenheim Museum; “No house should be on any hill or on anything, it should be of the hill, belonging to it …”; died Apr 9, 1959

♥~ 1933 – Joan Rivers (Joan Alexandra Molinsky) comedienne; author: Bouncing Back: I’ve Survived Everything… and I Mean Everything …and You Can Too!; TV host: The Tonight Show, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers; “Can we talk?”

♥~ 1940 – Nancy Sinatra singer: These Boots Are Made For Walkin’, Sugar Town, Somethin’ Stupid [w/pop, Frank], Jackson [w/Lee Hazelwood]; actress: The Wild Angels, Speedway

♥~ 1957 – Scott Adams cartoonist: Dilbert

♥~ 1966 – Julianna Margulies actress: The Good Wife, ER, The Newton Boys, What’s Cooking?, The Mists of Avalon

♥~ 1970 – Kelli Williams actress: The Practice, Zapped Again!, Switched at Birth

♥~ And of-course El Morno friend Irene! 

★~ Frank Lloyd Wright Gallimaufry:

Today is the birthday of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, born in Richland Center, Wisconsin (1867). His life spanned an era full of dramatic changes: he was born two years after the Civil War ended, and died in 1959, a year and a half after the first Sputnik launch.

His first professional mentor was architect Louis Sullivan. Sullivan coined the saying “form follows function,” and he believed that American architecture should have its own unique qualities and not simply try to replicate old European standards. Sullivan’s philosophy greatly influenced Wright, who took it one step further with his own theory that form and function should be one. His simple, clean designs inspired the Prairie School architects, and “Taliesin,” his Wisconsin home, was the perfect example of the Prairie Style. When it came to designing homes on commission, he always claimed that the clients’ wishes came first – but was plainly of the opinion that his clients didn’t really know what they wanted. “It’s their duty to understand, to appreciate, and conform insofar as possible to the idea of the house,” he once said.

Wright would often tell his students: “Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” His aim was to design buildings that complemented – even seemed part of – nature. He used building materials like wood and stone, and never painted them. His designs were horizontal, with low rooflines, so that the buildings blended in with the landscape as much as possible. He incorporated walls made almost entirely of windows, to blur the line between the outdoors and the indoors. The glass walls were also functional, using winter sunlight to help heat the house. “No house should ever be on a hill or on anything,” he said. “It should be of the hill. Belonging to it. Hill and house should live together each the happier for the other.” Even when he designed skyscrapers and other urban buildings, he always tried to incorporate elements inspired by natural structures. One of the most famous of these is New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, which resembles a giant white snail shell.

Frank Lloyd Wright, Chicago

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We had a wonderful relaxing weekend. Fun at the beach house on Saturday and just a hang around, rainy day Sunday. I finished planting my impatiens this weekend so the rain was well timed. Now, I’m ready to bark and wag into our week. First stop COFFEE and then maybe a donut,after all, it is Monday!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Monday.

Odd Loves Company,

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