Everyday's a Holiday

Holidays of the Year

April 18, 2006

April 18th - Paul Revere Day

"Listen little children and you will hear about the midnight ride of Paul Revere. He's going up the alleys and down the streets, crying (insert school name here) can't be beat!"

That's a little cheer I remember from my early cheerleading days back in grade school. There's hardly a person alive you doesn't know the story of Paul Revere's infamous midnight ride. Of course, if Longfellow hadn't written his own poem about the event, erroniously giving Revere all of the credit, we may not even know the name Paul Revere. For, despite common myth, he didn't actually make it on his midnight ride to Concord. Nor was he intially trying to warn the town of approching British troops. On April 18, 1775, Revere set out to warn Samuel Adams & John Hancock their lives were in danger. Once he'd delivered this message,(sometime after midnight) it was determined that the British must have further plans other than capturing two prominent leaders...the stores of ammunition in Concord. Setting out on horseback, once again, this time accompanied by William Dawes, they're plan was to warn the citizens of Concord. Along the road they met up with another patriot,Samuel Prescott, who joined them. While Dawes & Prescott were warning families, Revere was captured by British troops. The others fled, but continued their mission.

With this warning, the American troops were prepared the next day for the onset of the American Revolutionary War. No one knows for certain who fired the first shot in the War for Independence.


To make an Apple Tansey (a recipe from Colonial Williamsburg)
Take three pippins, slice them round in thin slices, and fry them with butter; then beat four eggs, with six spoonfuls of cream, a little rosewater, nutmeg, and sugar; stir them together, and pour it over the apples; let it fry a little, and turn it with a pye-plate. Garnish with lemon and sugar strew'd over it.

April 14, 2006

April 14th - Good Friday

Today celebrates the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. If He died for our sins, why is the day called "Good"? Some historians believe it is a derivitive of "God's Friday". Most say it is because of the goodness of Christ, dying for our salvation. Either way, today is a Holy Day worldwide for all Christians. It is a day of fast & abstinance, so make sure to have a non-meat meal, and contemplate the importance of the day.

April 13th - Holy Thursday

Today is the day Christian's worldwide celebrate the events leading up to Christ's death. The day is typically recognized with the story of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples. It was a way of saying "I am one of you. I do not hold myself higher than you, but with you." It is also known as Maudy Thursday. Throughout history it has been a day in which the "rich" would make donations of food, clothing, etc. to the poor. People would gather at the castle gates for "castoffs" with pride and respect on both parts.

I'm not suggesting you go wash someone's feet today, but rather consider making a donation to a local charity, Goodwill or some other organization. Perhaps start your Spring Cleaning. And most of all, act humbly.

April 11, 2006

April 11th - Cheese Fondue Day

This warm cheese dish originated in Switzerland and more specifically in the Canton of Neuchatel. The dish consists of at least two varieties of cheeses that are melted with wine and a bit of flour and served communally out of pot called a "caquelon". Long forks are used by each guest to spear a cube of bread then the bread is dipped into the cheese and eaten.Fondue dates back to the 18th century when both cheese and wine were important industries in Switzerland. The simple to prepare meal utilized ingredients that were found in most average homes. French gastronome Brillat-Savarin mentioned fondue in his 19th century writings, but fondue really hit its heyday in 1952, when chef Konrad Egli of New York's Chalet Swiss Restaurant introduced a fondue method of cooking meat cubes in hot oil. Chocolate fondue followed in 1964.

My favourite Fondue "tradition" is that anyone who accidentally drops their bread/meat/veggie into the pot, then has to kiss the person directly across the fondue pot from them!

Wisconsin Cheese & Beer Fondue
1 lb. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 tbsp. flour
1 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
Dash cayenne (or add a dash of hot sauce to the melted mixture)
3/4 c. beer
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
PREPARATION:In bowl, combine cheese, flour, mustard and ground cayenne; mix to blend well. In fondue pot, combine beer and Worcestershire sauce. Set temperature at 375° and heat until bubbling. Gradually add cheese mixture and stir constantly until cheese melts and mixture is smooth, about 5 minutes. Reduce temperature to 200° and serve with crusty bread cubes or other dippers.

April 07, 2006

April 7th - Day of Beauty & Mothers

ok, first I must apologize for being a slacker & not having new posts everyday this week. I will try to rectify that. But perhaps you will forgive me, since it is "Beauty & Mother's Day" in Armenia!

In that country, the greeting is: "Congratulations on your April the 7th, " Even women and girls congratulate each other. Armenia is the only country, that I know of, that celebrates Mother's/women's day for a whole month from March the 8th to April the 7th. It is about celebrating the female member of the species, and I think that is wonderful & beautiful! So today, no recipe...have that man or child, or heck, even just take yourself out, buy flowers, having a little pamering and celebrate the wonderful woman you are! What a great excuse for a girl's night out! Have fun! You're beautiful!

April 02, 2006

April 2nd - International Children's Book Day

Since 1967, on or around Hans Christian Andersen's birthday, 2 April, International Children's Book Day (ICBD) is celebrated to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children's books. Each year the "International Board on Books for Young People" select a different country to host for the year & select the theme, a noted author of the host country writes a special message to the children of the world, and a famous illustrator creates the poster.

This year, 2006, the host country is Slovakia. The theme is "The Destiny of Books is Written in the Stars". The poster was created by Peter Ciserik. Today's recipe is one for the mind & soul...the message by Slovakian author Jan Uliciansky. And from me, please read & encourage your children to read. It is the greatest gift you'll ever give them.

The Destiny of Books is Written in the Stars
Grown-ups often ask what will happen to books when children stop reading them. Perhaps this is one answer:

"We'll load them all onto huge space ships and send them to the stars!"

Wow...!

Books really are like stars in a night sky. There are so many, they cannot be counted and they are often so far from us that we do not dare to reach out for them. But just imagine how dark it would be if one day all the books, those comets in our cerebral universe should go out and cease to give forth that boundless energy of human knowledge and imagination…

Oh, dear!

You say children cannot understand such science fiction?! Very well then, I shall come back down to earth and allow myself to remember the books of my own childhood. This is anyway what came to my mind when I was gazing at the Plough, the constellation we Slovaks call "the Big Cart", because my most precious books came to me on a cart... That is, not to me first, but to my mother. It was during the war.

She was standing at the roadside one day, when a cart came rattling along - a hay wagon piled high with books and drawn by a team of horses. The driver told my mother that he was taking the books from the town library to a safe place, to prevent them from being destroyed.

At that time my mother was still a little girl eager to read and at the sight of that sea of books her eyes lit up like stars. Until then she had only seen carts full of hay, straw or perhaps manure. For her a cart full of books was like something out of a fairytale. She plucked up the courage to ask:
"Please, couldn't you give me at least one book from that big pile?"

The man smiled, nodded, jumped down from the cart and unfastened one side with the words:
"You can take home as many as are left lying in the road!"

The books tumbled noisily out of the cart onto the dusty road and in a short while that strange wagon had disappeared round a bend. My mother gathered them up, her heart beating loud with excitement. When she had dusted them down, she found that among them, quite by chance, there was a complete edition of the tales of Hans Christian Andersen. In the five volumes of various colours there was not a single illustration, but in a miraculous way those books lit up the nights my mother so dreaded. This was because during that war she had lost her own mother. When she read those tales in the evening, each of them gave her a little ray of hope and with a quiet picture in her heart, painted with half-closed eye-lashes, she could calmly fall asleep, at least for a while...

The years passed and these books found their way to me. I always carry them with me along the dusty roads of my life. What dust am I talking about, you ask?

Ah!

Maybe I was thinking of the star dust which settles on our eyes when we sit reading in a chair on a dark night. If, that is, we are reading a book. After all, we can read all kinds of things. A human face, the lines on a palm, and the stars...

The stars are books in a night sky and they light up the darkness.
Whenever I doubt whether it is worth writing another book, I gaze up at the sky and tell myself that the universe really is boundless and that there must still be room for my little star.

April 1st - April Fool's Day

"The first day of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year." - Mark Twain

In sixteenth-century France, the start of the new year was observed on April first. However, in 1562, Pope Gregory introduced a new calendar for the Christian world, and the new year fell on January first. There were some people, however, who hadn't heard or didn't believe the change in the date, so they continued to celebrate New Year's Day on April first. Others played tricks on them and called them "April fools." They sent them on a "fool's errand" or tried to make them believe that something false was true. Today Americans play small tricks on friends and strangers alike on the first of April.

Here's a recipe to fool the kids, and get them to eat something healthy at the same time!
Colorful Cupcakes (really meatloaf)

Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef
12 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
3 tablespoons ketchup
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Potato Frosting:
3 cups mashed potatoes
Food coloring

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 12 muffin tin cups with foil bake cups. In a large bowl, mix together all of the meat loaf ingredients until well combined. Divide the mixture evenly among the lined cups (the liners should be about three quarters full). Place the filled muffin tins on cookie sheets and bake the cupcakes for about 15 minutes or until cooked through. Divide the mashed potatoes among three small bowls and stir a few drops of food coloring into each batch to create blue, yellow, and pink pastel frostings. Spread a generous dollop on each cupcake. Makes 12 cupcakes.