Melba Toast Day - March 23, 2019

DIANE'S CORNER ... 

Celebrate Melba Toast Day

I lived on a diet of Melba toast, carrots, and black coffee.

Alanis Morissette

Melba toast is a wonderful little treat, light and crispy and just generally delicious to crunch down on. It can be had in so many different ways, smeared with butter, jam, or peanut butter. You can even have it with bits of cream cheese and fruit, and its light flavor just perfectly complements anything you put on it. Melba Toast Day celebrates this delightful little treat and all the things it can become with a little creativity.

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History of Melba Toast Day

There’s actually an interesting story behind Melba Toast! Melba Toast was created to honor the amazing Dame Nellie Melba, it’s not even the only one that was named after her, and they were all created by the same fellow, French Chef Auguste Escoffier. Melba Toast was created because she truly loved toast, but couldn’t find anything thin enough to suit her pallet, and so the chef rose up to the challenge and put it all together. The Chef was obviously enamored of the amazing Nellie Melba, and as a result she got some of the most delightful treats you could hope for.

You know what else Melba Toast goes good with? Peach Melba, another treat named after her. Peach Melba is a wonderfully sweet dessert made with peaches, raspberry sauce, and vanilla ice cream. The whole thing comes together to be just amazingly delicious, and the light crunch of Melba Toast is just the perfect way to add another dimension to its taste.

Melba Toast Day is here to remind us that even the most seemingly innocuous little thing, like a thin crunchy toast, could have a story behind it that’s bigger than we know. Sure, it’s just one chef’s adoration for his favorite singer, but who wouldn’t want to be immortalized? Even if it is in a food.

Dame Nellie Melba GBE was an Australian operatic soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early 20th century, and was the first Australian to achieve international recognition as a classical musician. She took the pseudonym "Melba" from Melbourne, her home town. 

3D STREET ART

Word of the Day wordsmith.org

prosopography

MEANING:

noun: A study of people in a group, identifying patterns, connections, etc.: a collective biography.

ETYMOLOGY:

From German Prosopographie, from Latin prosopographia, from Greek prosopon (face, mask), from pros- (facing) + ops (eye) + -graphy (writing). Earliest documented use: 1577.

USAGE:

“William Lubenow’s book examines the society’s first century via a prosopography of its 255 members.”
Christopher Kent; Review; Canadian Journal of History (Toronto); Apr 2000.

“To give too much away would be to spoil the fun for those keen to delve into Wheen’s enthrallingly seedy prosopography. Suffice to say that Hajdu (hoy doo) was a remarkably protean creature set on fame and wealth above all else. Morality, it would seem, assumed less a back seat than a separate car altogether in a lifelong career of self-aggrandisement.”
Chris Power; The Great Pretender; The Times (London, UK); Oct 19, 2002.

Idiom of the Day

JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED

Synonym | Variant

• exactly what the doctor ordered

Meaning

• exactly what was wanted or needed
• just the right thing at the right time
• the ideal thing
• a good thing which benefits the health or is very enjoyable
• a situation for all to enjoy
• something so good for you that a doctor might have written a prescription for it
• often said about food

Example Sentences

1. I was so hungry, and that meal was absolutely delicious! It was just what the doctor ordered.
2. It was a good idea to take the kids out for a walk in the sunshine. Now it’s calm and quiet in the house – just what the doctor ordered.
3. A trip to the seaside would be just what the doctor ordered for the whole family. It will give us all a chance to relax.
4. I feel so much better after that spa treatment. It was just what the doctor ordered.
5. Your arrival in the office happened just at the right time, Bill. You know the work inside out and have helped us tremendously. You are just what the doctor ordered.
6. The new chef is exactly what the doctor ordered. He is a genius with a frying pan!

Origin

The phrase dates back to the first half of the 1900’s.

Source: theidioms.com

This Day in History

1066 - The 18th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet took place. 


1490 - The first dated edition of Maimonides "Mishna Torah" was published. 

1743 - Handel's "Messiah" was performed in London for the first time at the Covent Garden theatre. It was presented under the name "New Sacred Oratorio" until 1749. 

1775 - American revolutionary Patrick Henry declared, "give me liberty, or give me death!" 

1836 - The coin press was invented by Franklin Beale. 

1839 - The first recorded printed use of "OK" [oll korrect] occurred in Boston's Morning Post.

1840 - The first successful photo of the Moon was taken. 

1857 - Elisha Otis installed the first modern passenger elevator in a public building. It was at the corner of Broome Street and Broadway in New York City. 

1858 - Eleazer A. Gardner patented the cable streetcar. 

1868 - The University of California was founded in Oakland, CA. 


1903 - The Wright brothers obtained an airplane patent. 


1909 - British Lt. Shackleton found the magnetic South Pole. 


1912 - The Dixie Cup was invented. 

1950 - "Beat the Clock" premiered on CBS-TV. 

1957 - The U.S. Army sold the last of its homing pigeons. 

1965 - America's first two-person space flight took off from Cape Kennedy with astronauts Virgil I. Grissom and John W. Young aboard. The craft was the Gemini 3. 


1972 - Evel Knievel broke 93 bones after successfully jumping 35 cars. 

1973 - The last airing of "Concentration" took place. The show had been on NBC for 15 years. 

1987 - The Soul Train Music Awards debuted. It was the first televised awards ceremony to pay exclusive homage to black producers, songwriters and recording artists in the music industry. 

1989 - Two electrochemists, Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischman, announced that they had created nuclear fusion in a test tube at room temperature.

1994 - Wayne Gretzky broke Gordie Howe's National Hockey League (NHL) career record with his 802nd goal. 


1998 - The movie "Titanic" won 11 Oscars at the Academy Awards. 

DAILY SQU-EEK

If You Were Born Today, March 23

Highly intelligent and perceptive, your mind doesn't seem to stop processing and analyzing. Others especially respect your opinions and ideas, which are progressive and unique. You are an effective communicator, although at times a little bossy! You are perhaps better at beginning projects than finishing them, and learning to finish one activity before starting a new one can be quite a challenge. You have little patience for dishonesty and vagueness. Famous people born today: 

1430 Margaret of Anjou, wife of King Henry VI of England, born in Pont-à-Mousson, Lorraine, France (d. 1482)

1905 Joan Crawford [Lucille Le Sueur], American actress (Mildred Pierce), born in San Antonio, Texas (d. 1977)

1910 Akira Kurosawa, Japanese director and screenwriter who was posthumously named "Asian of the Century" in the "Arts, Literature, and Culture" category (Rashomon, Drunken Angel, Seven Samurai, Ran), born in Tokyo Japan (d. 1998)

1912 Wernher von Braun, German rocket scientist(I Aim at the Stars), born in Wirsitz, Germany (now Wyrzysk, Poland) (d. 1977)

1929 Roger Bannister, English middle-distance athlete who was the 1st to run a 4 minute mile at Iffley Road Track, Oxford (1954), born in Harrow, England (d. 2018)

1978 Perez Hilton [Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr], American television personality and blogger, born in Miami, Florida

1992 Kyrie Irving, American basketball guard (6-time NBA All Star), born in Melbourne, Australia



READERS INFO

1.

1950 -

All the King's Men won three Academy Awards including: Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Broderick Crawford for the role of Willie Stark) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Mercedes McCambridge). The 1949 film was later selected to be preserved by the National Film Registry.

The film was based on the 1946 Robert Penn Warren book of the same name about fictional Deep South politician Willie Stark. Although many people claim that the book was based on the real-life Louisiana politician Huey Long (a former governor of Louisiana who was assassinated in 1935), Warren disputed it. In the book and the film, Willie Stark is an idealist who later loses his idealism and becomes a powerful governor. Warren won the Pulitzer Prize for his book in 1947.

All the King's Men was also remade in 2006 and starred Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Anthony Hopkins. Unfortunately, the film remake did not have the same success as the 1949 film.

2.

Macon International Cherry Blossom Festival 2019

Mar 23 - 31, 2019 | Macon, GA 

Central City Park|115 Willie Smokie Glover D

Natural beauty can be found in the heart of Georgia at the Macon International Cherry Blossom Festival. This lively southern town transforms into the Cherry Blossom Capital of the World thanks to more than 300,000 Yoshino cherry trees blooming in the spring. The pink, candy-like color will serve as the backdrop for a months’ worth of activities including outdoor music concerts, local food fairs and arts and crafts events.

further information: International Cherry Blossom Festival | Macon, GA

3.

Rodeo Austin 2019

Mar 16-30, 2019 | Austin, TX

Rodeo Austin|9100 Decker Lake Rd

Rodeo Austin: Where Weird Meets Western. Since 1938 when it started out as a stock show with 16 animals, Rodeo Austin has been preserving western heritage. It has since grown into one of Austin’s premier events, featuring a top 10 ProRodeo, daily concerts, a world-class livestock show, mutton bustin', bull riding, and more!

further information: Rodeo Austin Fairgrounds

Pictures of the day

Denver is the capital and most populous municipality of the U.S. state of Colorado. It is located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains, just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Founded in 1858, the city is named after James W. Denver, a governor of the Kansas Territory, and it is nicknamed the Mile High City because its official elevation is exactly one mile (5280 feet or 1609.3 meters) above sea level. Formerly part of Arapahoe County, Denver became a consolidated city-county in 1902. This picture shows a panorama of Denver in around 1898, viewed from the top of the Colorado State Capitol, facing northwest and looking down 16th St. The domed building on the left is the former Arapahoe County Courthouse, demolished in 1933, and the Brown Palace Hotel is visible on the righthand side.

Huayhuash

Photograph taken in Carhuacocha Camp, Cordiliera Hyauhuash, Peru. The long exposure (30 min approx.) time drew this abstract light show (alpinists wearing lamps and walking around the tents).

knit
thanks, Heide

Staghorn Fingerless Gloves

knit
thanks, Nancy

Left Right Left Scarf pattern by Alice Buerkle

knit

Side to Side Stripes Sweater Pattern

knit

Free Knitting Pattern for an Easy Yarn Ball Bookmark

knit

Planetary Shawl pattern by Premier Yarns Design Team

Crochet Pattern of the Day: Valerie, Canadian Correspondent

HEART SHAPED PILLOW

http://www.leeleeknits.com/heart-shaped-pillow-crochet-pattern/

crochet
thanks, June

Carolyn Jacket pattern by Melissa Leapman

crochet
thanks, Helen
Moss Stitch Pom Pom Scarf

https://justbcrafty.com/2019/03/moss-stitch-pom-pom-scarf-free-crochet-pattern-and-video-tutorial.html

crochet

Amigurumi Cat

crochet

Crochet Tutorial: Knee-High Socks

crochet

Hot water bottle cover

RECIPE
thanks, Joanne

Granola Recipe 1.0

Yield: About 7 cups

This recipe is just a starting point. Granola is one of the most adaptable foods you can make. Use up the oats you have, if you’re low on those stir in extra nuts, seeds, or other fiber flakes. If you’re low on honey or maple syrup, do as Michelle does when in a pinch and make use of the jam jars in your fridge. The important thing to keep in mind is to add enough oil so the dried ingredients crisp. I like olive oil (after all I’m part Portuguese) and Michelle, a more sensible cook, likes coconut oil. Tweak to your liking.

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats or equivalent measurement with oat bran, barley and flax seed mixed in
1 cups raw almonds or pecans, roughly chopped
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup coconut flakes
3/4 cup honey or maple syrup
3/4 to 1 cup olive oil or coconut oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup chopped dried cherries, currants, yellow raisins or a mix of all three

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the oats, nuts, pumpkin seeds, coconut flakes, maple syrup or honey, oil, salt and cinnamon together. Spread mixture on a rimmed baking sheet in an even layer and bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until golden brown and well toasted.

2. Transfer granola to a large bowl and add the dried fruit, tossing to combine.

CROCKPOT RECIPE
thanks, Shelley

Slow-Cooker Denver Omelet Breakfast Pie

SWEETS

thanks, Jane

Lisa's Blender Cheesecake

ADULT COLORING

CRAFTS

HOW TO MAKE TEMARI

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Temari/

CHILDREN'S CORNER ... crafts

thanks, Cindy

https://madincrafts.com/hands-on-kids-craft-felt-pinwheel-wreath/

PUZZLE

Sunset Biking Jigsaw Puzzle

http://www.jigzone.com/puzzles/daily-jigsaw



WORD SEARCH

accessory anniversary beach bees bloat brain

catch complement creep cuss dominant exceed flake gate highest

inspire invent lane manager message nabs natural

pest petal plant rasp retreat rile scene shame spontaneous

stone street structure tact threat thrust voice

SUDOKU ... medium

solution:

QUOTE

CLEVER

ODD AND INTERESTING NEW PRODUCTS

Anti-Pervert Hairy Stockings

Flask Tie

EYE OPENER

94-YEAR-OLD GRANDMOTHER MAKES BEAUTIFUL GEOMETRIC TEMARI

SHE REFUSES TO SELL THEM, BUT WILL GIVE THEM AWAY TO FRIENDS.

FLICKR user Nana Akua's 94 year old grandmother makes BEAUTIFULLY embroidered spheres known as Temari. 

Akua’s grandmother began the craft in her 60s. She received a diploma and is an officially sanctioned craftsman of this ancient art.

CC NanaAkua

HOW ARE THEY MADE?

Temari is a traditional folk art believed to have originated in the 7th Century. Directly translated from Japanese, it means “hand ball.”

Originally used as gifts for children, underneath the intricate embroidery and tightly hand-wound thread ball would be a small charm wishing good luck.

Alternatively, they could contain bells or rice to be used as festive noisemakers.

These temari are fashioned after Daruma dolls, which are said to bring good fortune / CC NanaAkua

FROM TOYS TO ART

Temari can range in size from just a few inches to bigger than a basketball!

A high-quality Temari will be wound so tightly so that it can bounce! It wasn’t until the introduction of rubber balls in Japan that Temari moved from being children’s toys to pieces of art.

A single Temari can take weeks to make, but the results are well valued.

NOT SELLING

Akua’s grandmother taught Temari making for a time but has since retired. While she no longer teaches the craft, she does still make them.

Many have asked to buy her Temari, but she refuses to sell. If someone becomes close with her, she says she may give them away as presents.

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