Yesterday we topped at 94º.
My friend Linda, down in Northern California said it was 108º there!!!
Picture of the Day ... perfect timing!
Interesting about the Chicago Bears football team....
One of the NFL’s most storied clubs; the team began as a company football team.
George Halas was an exceptional athlete at the University of Illinois where he excelled in baseball and football. He was named the Rose Bowl MVP. After a stint in World War I, he played minor league baseball and eventually landed on the New York Yankees. A hip injury would end his baseball career.
In 1919, he accepted a civil engineering job in the bridge department of the railroad. On weekends, he played for the Hammond Pros, an independent football team. A spectator at one game was a man by the name of Augustus Staley who owned a starch factory in Decatur, Illinois.
Staley had a company baseball and basketball team he used for mainly advertising purposes. He wanted to start a football team and offered Halas a position with the A. E. Staley Company. His duties would be to learn the starch business, become the athletic director of the company, and play on the company teams. Halas went back to the railroad and thought about whether he would be happy sitting behind a desk for 25 years. He then accepted Staley’s offer.
Halas played on each company sports team and started the football squad. The team colors chosen were those of his college team. It just so happened that a new league was being formed. Halas attended the meeting in Canton, Ohio and the "Decatur Staleys" were born right along with the NFL.
The Staleys were a good team right from the beginning. Halas was strict and had the advantage that most other teams didn’t have—job opportunities. The starch company could offer the better players a job while they played for the company team. In the first season, the Staleys finished in second place.
The following year, Augustus Staley began to downsize his athletic endeavors. He offered Halas $5,000 to continue for one more season with the stipulation that the Staleys nickname would continue for advertising purposes, but suggested relocation to a larger city in order to draw bigger crowds. Halas chose nearby Chicago.
The "Chicago Staleys" were able to lease Wrigley Field, home of the Cubs., and captured the 1921 NFL title. In 1922, after the affliation with Staley was completed, Halas renamed his team the "Chicago Cubs" in hopes that fans would support both sports. Upon consideration, he noted that football players were bigger than their baseball counterparts, so if baseball players were cubs, then football players must be "Bears."
The Bears have been one of the NFL’s most successful franchises over the decades. Halas signed Red Grange in 1925 and overflowing crowds waited wherever the Bears played. A game in New York was responsible for saving the Giants franchise from financial ruin.
So many great players have been a member of the Bears throughout the years such as Dick Butkus, Gale Sayers, Red Grange, Walter Payton and Bronko Nagurski.. Only in eight of their first 50 years did the Bears finish worse than third place. The Bears, along with the Cardinals, are the only two charter members still in existence.
This franchise has won nine NFL titles (second most), including one Super Bowl. The team is known as “The Team of the 1940s” due to their four NFL Championships and five division titles.
Halas served the Bears as an owner, player, coach, general manager, traveling secretary and in virtually every other capacity imaginable with the Bears. Halas passed away on October 31, 1983. He is known as the “Father of the NFL.”
Origin Facts:
Established: 1920
Original Owner: A. E. Staley
Original Colors: Black & white
First Stadium: Staley Field, seating: none
Retired Jerseys: No. 3 Bronko Nagurski, No. 5 George McAfee, No. 7 George Halas, No. 42 Sid Luckman, No. 66 Bulldog Turner, No. 28 Willie Galimore, No. 77 Red Grange, No. 56 Bill Hewitt End, No. 61 Bill George, No. 40 Gale Sayers, No. 51 Dick Butkus, No. 41 Brian Piccolo, No. 34 Walter Payton
Bears Soldier Field....
From Mr. Food
Ready to change up your sides? Our Vegetable Couscous recipe is a Moroccan-favorite and it's so versatile, it'll never get old! Not only can you switch it up with your favorite veggies, but you can eat it hot, or cold! Now that's definitely a side dish to put on the menu!
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
- 1 (15-ounce) package frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
- 1 cup chopped tomato
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill weed
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 (10-ounce) package couscous
- In a soup pot over medium-high heat, heat olive oil until hot. Add onion and cook 5 to 6 minutes or until golden. Stir in chicken broth, mixed vegetables, tomato, dill weed, garlic powder, and salt; bring to a boil. Boil 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, then stir in couscous.
- Cover and remove from heat; let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve.
- ***This can be served hot or cold? And to hearty it up, feel free to add some chunks of cooked chicken or shrimp. What an easy way to get dinner on the table in minutes.
Special birthday today... our former Temple City neighbor and Kristen's friend, Laura Vincent Virant is celebrating. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA!!
Historically this date.....
1910 – The first Father's Day is celebrated in Spokane, Washington.
1978 – Garfield, holder of the Guinness World Record for the world's most widely syndicated comic strip, makes its debut.
And births this date include...
1903 – Lou Gehrig, American baseball player (d. 1941)
Cute. Dimples~!
1921 – Louis Jourdan, French actor (d. 2015)
... this yummy man had been married to his one and only wife since 1946! until his death.
1969 – Lara Spencer, American TV personality
All I know. Nuff said. Have a good Saturday. Ciao.
xo Sue Mom Bobo
On June 19th, shake up some gin and vermouth with ice and add a lemon twist. It’s National Martini Day!
This adult beverage has grown to become one of the best-known mixed drinks. A traditional or perfect Martini is made with equal parts gin and vermouth. For anyone who has never had a Martini, we have a list of terms to help get you started.
Martini Lingo
- Dirty – This Martini includes olive brine or juice from the olive jar.
- Dry – The vermouth is decreased significantly in the Martini, and gin becomes the primary spirit. Extra dry tips the ratio even further.
- Gibson – Instead of an olive, bartenders garnish the Martini with a pickled onion.
- Shaken vs. Stirred – Most bartenders will tell you that the better Martini is stirred. Shaken Martinis tend to be inferior due to a couple of reasons – ice chips water down the drink, and shaking the Martini adds air to the cocktail. A stirred Martini results in a smoother, fuller experience.
- Straight Up – This Martini may be either shaken or stirred, but it is strained and served without ice – the opposite of a Martini on the rocks.
- Smoky or Burnt – Scotch whisky replaces the vermouth in this Martini. A twist of lemon garnishes the glass.
- Wet – Where the dry Martini has less vermouth, this one has more.
- With a Twist – The bartender adds a thin strip of citrus peel to the Martini as a garnish or in the drink.
Shaken, stirred, on the rocks, that’s what you need to know to order traditional Martinis.
James Bond, the fictional spy, sometimes asked for his vodka Martinis to be “shaken, not stirred.”
When the James Bond movies debuted in the late 1960s, the popularity of the Martini increased. In the later decades, clear spirits like vodka overtook aged spirits like bourbon in market share. However, in recent decades, a balancing act seems to be taking place.
Dirty martini – Martini with a splash of olive brine or olive juice and is typically garnished with an olive.
Over the years, the traditional Martini inspired a variety of other cocktails such as the Cosmopolitan, chocolatini, or appletini.
HOW TO OBSERVE
Order your favorite Martini or Martini-inspired cocktail. Martinis are an excellent cocktail to serve at a small gathering with hors d’oeuvres. Whether you serve a meat and cheese tray or go all out with shrimp, stuffed mushrooms and patè, make it a night to remember. (Remember always to drink responsibly and to designate a sober driver.)
** I like my martini dirty! I like Dirty Sue Martini Mix for that... either vodka or gin. YUMMMM-O !
