Weather ~ Picture of the Day ~ Animal Crackers History ~ Scandinavian Cabbage Soup ~ National Lineman Appreciation Day

  

Good 29º  cloudy Tuesday morning. 

 

 

Yesterday we started light with sunshine on and off...   and then the dark clouds moved in....

Then we had a lot of rain! The temperatures went up and then down from 35º to 50º and back down to 45º. 

 

 

Picture of the Day...you've got mail! Actually, a way to keep birds from nesting in your mailbox! 

 

 

 

Interesting about animal crackers...........

 

 

An animal cracker is a particular type of cracker, baked in the shape of an animal, usually an animal either at a zoo or a circus, such as a lion, a tiger, a bear, or an elephant. The most common variety is light-colored and slightly sweet, but darker chocolate-flavored and colorful frosted varieties are also sold. Although animal crackers tend to be sweet in flavor like cookies, they are made with a layered dough like crackers and are marketed as crackers and not as cookies.

 

History

In the late 19th century, animal-shaped crackers (or "biscuits" in British terminology) called "Animals" were imported from England to the United States. The demand for these crackers grew to the point that bakers began to produce them domestically. Stauffer's Biscuit Company produced their first batch of animal crackers in York, Pennsylvania, in 1871. Other domestic bakeries, including the Dozier-Weyl Cracker Company of St. Louis, and the Holmes and Coutts Company of New York City, were the predecessors of the National Biscuit Company, today's "Nabisco Brands".

 

Animal biscuit crackers were made and distributed under the National Biscuit Company banner. In 1902, animal crackers officially became known as "Barnum's Animals" and evoked the familiar circus theme of the Barnum and Bailey Circus. Later in 1902, the now-familiar box was designed for the Christmas season with the innovative idea of attaching a string to hang from the Christmas tree. Until that time, crackers were generally sold only in bulk (the proverbial "cracker barrel") or in large tins. These small cartons, which retailed for 5 cents at the time of their release, were a big hit and are still sold today.

 

The number and variety contained in each box has varied over the years. In total, 53 different animals have been represented by animal crackers since 1902. In its current incarnation, each package contains 22 cookies consisting of a variety of animals. The most recent addition, the koala, was added in September 2002 after being chosen by consumer votes, beating out the penguin, walrus and cobra.

 

In 1948, the company changed the product name to its current designation of "Barnum's Animals Crackers". In 1958, production methods changed to improve the cookies' visual details. Until then, animal shapes were stamped out of a dough sheet by a cutter. This produced outlines with little sophistication. By installing rotary dies, bakers can actually engrave details onto each cookie, creating a more intricate design. The rotary dies are still used today.

 

Barnum's Animals Crackers are all produced in the Fair Lawn, New Jersey, bakery by Nabisco Brands. More than 40 million packages of Barnum's Animals Crackers are sold each year, both in the United States and exported to 17 countries worldwide. The cookies are baked in a 300-foot-long traveling band oven. They are in the oven for about four minutes and are baked at the rate of 12,000 per minute. About 15,000 cartons and 330,000 cookies are produced in a single shift, using some 30 miles of string on the packages. This runs to nearly 8,000 miles of string a year. Those bright circus boxes are produced in three colors—red, blue, and yellow—with different variety of animals on each.

 

In August 2018, Mondelez International (the parent company of Nabisco) released a new design for its Barnum's Animal Crackers boxes in the United States, showing the animals freed from their traditional circus boxcar cages. This design change was made in consultation with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), one year after the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus ceased operations. The new design shows a zebra, lion, elephant, giraffe and gorilla together in an African landscape.

 

Manufacturers

Nabisco makes Barnum's Animal Crackers, with their distinctive package art of a circus wagon fitted out as a cage and animals within it. “Barnum” refers to the famous showman and circus entrepreneur P. T. Barnum, but Nabisco does not pay a licensing fee to Barnum and Bailey Circus. The product actually says “Barnum's Animals”, subtitled “Crackers”. Half of the wheels are printed on the large sides of the box but at one time the printed wheels continued to the bottom of the box, and were partially perforated along their outline, which allowed punching the wheels out and standing the wagon to stand on its wheels. Responding to requests from PETA, in August 2018 Nabisco released new package art displaying the animals roaming free.

 

Stauffer Biscuit Company of York, Pennsylvania, also has a line of animal crackers, which are now distributed by several major discount retailers. Their use of the spices nutmeg and mace give the basic animal cracker a slightly different character from the Nabisco crackers. Former owner Rodney Stauffer now has his own company Rodney's Animal Crackers that also produces animal crackers.

 

Austin, a division of the Keebler Company, also makes a variety of animal crackers. The Austin variety has similar nutritional content and animal shapes. The Austin product is labeled under the name of the Kellogg Company, which acquired Keebler in 2001.

 

The Borden corporation also produced a brand of animal crackers, until the late 1970s. They came in a red box, which featured the famous Elsie the Cow logo.

 

Market Square Food Company Inc. in Illinois has also produced its own brand of animal crackers since 1982. Its animal crackers are distributed by several major retailers throughout the United States and internationally.

 

Sam's Club distributes animal crackers under its ‘’Member's Mark’’ house brand.

 

 

From Mr. Food

 

This cheesy version of cabbage soup is inspired by an Old World recipe. Scandinavian Cabbage Soup is chock-full of veggies and creamy richness, making it a hearty and flavorful main dish, and it only takes 30 minutes from start to finish!

 

 

• 1/2 stick butter
• 3 cups chopped cabbage
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup sliced celery
• 1 cup thin carrot slices
• 1 (14-1/2-ounce) can cream-style corn
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

 

1. In a soup pot over medium-high heat, melt butter; saute cabbage, onion, celery, and carrots 8 to 10 minutes or until tender.
    
2. Add corn, peas, milk, chicken broth, thyme, garlic powder, salt, and pepper; simmer about 15 minutes. Add cheese, stirring until melted; serve immediately.
    

*** To lighten up this soup a bit, start with olive oil instead of butter and use a reduced-fat cheddar cheese.

 

 

Historically this date.......

1881 – Billy the Kid escapes from the Lincoln County jail in Mesilla, New Mexico.

 

1906 – An earthquake and fire destroy much of San Francisco, California.

1923 – Yankee Stadium, "The House that Ruth Built", opens.

1983 – A suicide bomber destroys the United States embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 63 people.

1997 – The Red River flood begins and soon overwhelms the city of Grand Forks, North Dakota. Fire breaks out and spreads in downtown Grand Forks, but high water levels hamper efforts to reach the fire, leading to the destruction of 11 buildings.

 

 

And births this date include....

1922 – Barbara Hale, American actress (d.2017)

 

 

1946 – Hayley Mills, English actress

 

1947 – James Woods, American actor

1956 – Eric Roberts, American actor

.... brother to Julia and with a common doper arrest record!

Possession, resisting, wife beater! Nice. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1961 – Jane Leeves, British actress

 

 

 

All I know. Nuff said. Have a good Tuesday. Ciao.

xo Sue Mom Bobo

National Lineman Appreciation Day on April 18th honors the men and women who work around the clock to keep the power going.  If the power is on where you are reading this article, you likely have a lineman to thank.

From the power plant, the grid crisscrossing the country both above and underground and right up to the meters on our homes, these men and women build and maintain the system that keeps our nation running.

Regardless of the source, the electricity has to be transported by employing transformers and other equipment. Due to the dangerous conditions power poses, safety is of utmost importance for both the lineman and the consumer.

When mother nature destroys what our linemen have built up, they are on call to build it back up again as quickly as possible. These men and women work tirelessly to get emergency systems back in working order and urgently return service to remaining areas.

Even when there is no crisis, they work under dangerous conditions on a daily basis. Whether they are working in trenches, near water or on high towers, the risks are extreme.

 

NATIONAL LINEMAN APPRECIATION DAY HISTORY

On April 10, 2013, U.S. Senate Resolution 95 recognized linemen across the country by setting April 18th as National Lineman Appreciation Day.