Good 40º strange cloudy morning.
Yesterday the weather was gloom. Lots of fog and clouds. We started at 40º and topped at 50º.
This morning....
Picture of the Day
Interesting .... Olympic Flame
The Olympic flame is a symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. Several months before the Olympic Games, the Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece.
This ceremony starts the Olympic torch relay, which formally ends with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. The flame then continues to burn in the cauldron for the duration of the Games, until it is extinguished during the Olympic closing ceremony.
The idea for the Olympic flame was derived from ancient Greece, where a sacred fire was kept burning throughout the celebration of the ancient Olympics on the altar of the sanctuary of Hestia. In Ancient Greek mythology, fire had divine connotations – it was thought to have been stolen from the gods by Prometheus. Sacred fires were present at many ancient Greek sanctuaries, including those at Olympia. Every four years, when Zeus was honored at the Olympic Games, additional fires were lit at his temple and that of his wife, Hera. The modern Olympic flame is ignited at the site where the temple of Hera used to stand.
Chicken Biscuit Skillet
1 T. butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 10.5 oz condensed chicken broth, undiluted
1/4 cup fat-free milk
1/8 t. pepper
2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
2 cups frozen peas and carrots (about 10oz) thawed
1 12oz tube refrigerated buttermilk biscuits, quartered
Preheat oven to 400º. Melt butter in 10" cast iron or other ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook and stir until tender, 2-3 minutes.
In small bowl mix flour, broth, milk, and pepper until smooth. Stir into pan. Bring to boil, stirring constantly, cook and stir until thickened... 1-2 minutes. Add chicken and peas and carrots; heat through. Arrange biscuits over stew. Bake until biscuits are golden brown, 15-20 minutes.
This is a satisfying use for leftover chicken. During the holiday season it's can easily be made with turkey.
Special birthday today, my neighbor Frank Mize is celebrating. HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANK!! Thanks for being a special neighbor and friend.
Historically this date....
1890 – The Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California, is first held.
1908 – For the first time, a ball is dropped in New York City's Times Square to signify the start of the New Year at midnight.
1954 – NBC makes the first coast-to-coast NTSC color broadcast when it telecast the Tournament of Roses Parade
1962 – United States Navy Seals established.
1971 – Cigarette advertisements are banned on American television.
And births on this first day of the year include....
1735 – Paul Revere, American patriot (d. 1818)
1895 – J. Edgar Hoover, American FBI director (d. 1972)
1930 – Ty Hardin, American film actor (d.2017)
Wow, 8 wives!! The last one he married in 2007!
"Love to eat them mousies. Mousies what I love to eat.
Bite they little heads off and nibble on they tiny feet."
1938 – Frank Langella, American actor
All I know. Nuff said. Have a Happy New Year! Ciao.
xo Sue Mom Bobo
Nearly the entire world recognizes New Year’s Day on January 1st. It’s also one of the most celebrated holidays of the year.
Celebrations will begin in the Pacific Ocean with Samoa celebrating the New Year before the rest of the world. The latest stroke of midnight will occur in the middle of the Pacific Ocean near Baker Island, which is halfway between Hawaii and Australia.
HOW TO OBSERVE
Traditions around the world:
- Kiss at midnight the one person you hope to keep kissing the rest of the year.
- Making noise, either in the form of fireworks, ringing bells, horns, blasting, or pistol shots are traditional around the world.
- In Holland, they toast to the new year with spiced wine, wassail in England, or champagne in the United States.
- Resolutions are not a modern tradition. The Babylonians made commitments to return borrowed objects and to pay old debts.
NEW YEAR’S DAY HISTORY
The new year has been celebrated for millennia. The earliest record of new year’s celebrations occurred during Babylonian times. However, January 1st wasn’t always the designated day. For example, the first new moon after the vernal equinox ushered in the new year at one time. These festivities occurred in Martius (March), the first month in the early Roman calendar, which only had ten months.
King Pompilius later added the months Januarius (named for Janus, the pagan god of gates, doors and beginnings) and Februarius bringing the calendar to 12 months. It was Julius Caesar who created the Julian calendar, which most closely resembles the Gregorian calendar a majority of the world follows today.
Romans celebrated January 1 in honor of Janus, offering sacrifices, giving gifts, and decorating with laurel branches. With his two faces, the god Janus was able to look toward the past and forward to the future. Celebrating the first day of the year in the appropriately named month of January, Romans made sacrifices to Janus, giving gifts and general revelry.
It's also............
On January 1st, National Hangover Day nurses the aching heads of all of us who over celebrated New Year’s Eve each year.
Symptoms of a Hangover
- Feeling tired: Alcohol is a toxin. Our bodies metabolize toxins (alcohol) at a certain pace. When the speed of consumption exceeds the pace the liver can process it, we become intoxicated. The risk of hangover becomes substantially higher, too. As the liver breaks down alcohol, it produces the toxic chemical acetaldehyde. One of the substances the body produces to counter these toxins is glutathione. The body can only make so much at a time, and a night of drinking quickly depletes it. Since glutathione is a stimulant, when it’s exhausted, we feel tired.
- Upset stomach: Alcohol promotes secretion of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. Excessive amounts of hydrochloric acid leads to a queasy stomach, diarrhea, or vomiting.
- Headache or muscle aches: Alcohol is a diuretic. Dehydration leads to aches and pains, as well as the upset stomach listed above.
Also, today is...
For all those who celebrated more than they should have, National Bloody Mary Day serves up one of the world’s most popular hangover cures on January 1st.
It would seem the Bloody Mary is the product of several hard day’s nights, lackluster cocktails, and seemingly tasteless liquor.
When the Russian Revolution pressed fleeing men into Paris and to Harry’s Bar at The Ritz Hotel, bartender Ferdinand “Pete” Petiot mixed up a cocktail that eventually made its way to post-prohibition America.
According to Food and Drink in American History: “Full Course” Encyclopediaby Andrew F. Smith, the Bloody Mary made its debut in Paris at The Ritz Hotel in 1921. Originally named the Bucket of Blood, it also went by the name Red Snapper. Petiot later left Paris and introduced the vodka, tomato juice, lemon juice, Worcestershire, cayenne, and salty cocktail to the New York King Cole Bar scene when prohibition ended.
Some attribute the name to notorious Queen Mary Tudor, who executed hundreds of Protestants in the name of Catholicism during her short five-year reign from 1553 to 1558. Others claim Petiot’s girlfriend of the same name receives the credit.
Today’s Bloody Mary’s include a variety of ingredients from pickles, olives, and celery to bacon, horseradish, tobacco, and peppers.
