Errands ~ Picture of the Day ~ Kevlar ~ Peanut Butter Cup Cake ~ Lydia Plunk ~ Phil Santisteven ~ National Spaghetti Day

 

Good 28º dark foggy frozen morning. 

 

 

Yesterday was an "I don't want to do anything" day! A quick run to the market for some groceries, stop at Ace to pay my bill, a chat with Big Dan re his daughter's wedding this month and her leaving with hubby to Japan for a couple years as he is stationed in the Navy aboard the USS Ronald Reagan. Then home and cooked boneless skinless chicken thighs in organic chicken stock for Dude's breakfast meals. (spoiled? yes!) 

 

 

Picture of the Day .... they named him Dick. Wonder why?

 

 

Interesting......

 

Kevlar is a heat-resistant and strong synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, this high-strength material was first commercially used in the early 1970s as a replacement for steel in racing tires. Typically it is spun into ropes or fabric sheets that can be used as such or as an ingredient in composite material components.

Kevlar has many applications, ranging from bicycle tires and racing sails to bulletproof vests, because of its high tensile strength-to-weight ratio; by this measure it is 5 times stronger than steel. It is also used to make modern marching drumheads that withstand high impact. When used as a woven material, it is suitable for mooring lines and other underwater applications.

Poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide – branded Kevlar – was invented by Polish-American chemist Stephanie Kwolek while working for DuPont, in anticipation of a gasoline shortage. In 1964, her group began searching for a new lightweight strong fiber to use for light but strong tires. The polymers she had been working with at the time, poly-p-phenylene-terephthalate and polybenzamide, formed liquid crystal while in solution, something unique to those polymers at the time.

The solution was "cloudy, opalescent upon being stirred, and of low viscosity" and usually was thrown away. However, Kwolek persuaded the technician, Charles Smullen, who ran the spinneret, to test her solution, and was amazed to find that the fiber did not break, unlike nylon. Her supervisor and her laboratory director understood the significance of her accidental discovery and a new field of polymer chemistry quickly arose. By 1971, modern Kevlar was introduced. However, Kwolek was not very involved in developing the applications of Kevlar.

Personal protection

It is used for motorcycle safety clothing, especially in the areas featuring padding such as shoulders and elbows. In fencing it is used in the protective jackets, breeches, plastrons and the bib of the masks. It is increasingly being used in the peto, the padded covering which protects the picadors' horses in the bullring. Speedskaters also frequently wear an under-layer of Kevlar fabric to prevent potential wounds from skates in the event of a fall or collision.

Equipment

In kyudo, or Japanese archery, it may be used as an alternative to more expensive hemp for bow strings. It is one of the main materials used for paraglider suspension lines. It is used as an inner lining for some bicycle tires to prevent punctures. In table tennis, plies of Kevlar are added to custom ply blades, or paddles, in order to increase bounce and reduce weight. Tennis rackets are sometimes strung with Kevlar. It is used in sails for high performance racing boats.

 

I LOVE peanut butter cups.......... and this cake!

 

Peanut Butter Cup Cake

 

1 pkg devil's food cake mix

1 (4 serving) pkg instant chocolate pudding and pie filling

1 cup sour cream

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1/2 cup water

30 mini milk chocolate peanut butter cup candies, crushed

 

Preheat oven to 350º. Grease a 10" Bundt pan.

 

In a large bowl, with electric beater, combine all ingredients except the crushed candies. Mix well and then stir in the crushed candies.

 

Pour into prepared Bundt pan and bake 50-60 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

 

Cool cake about 15 minutes, Remove from pan and cool thoroughly on a wire cooking rack.

 

Top cake with peanut butter drizzle....

This incredibly easy-to-make, rich and creamy, Peanut Butter Drizzle is a glaze that's sure to add a bakery-fresh touch to any of your special home-baked goodies.

• 1 cup package peanut butter chips
• 6 large marshmallows
• 1/3 cup evaporated milk (1/2 of a 5-ounce can)

In a medium saucepan over low heat, combine ingredients; stir until sauce is melted and smooth. Use immediately.

 

 

 

 

Special birthdays today, pal Lydia Plunk is celebrating. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LYDIA! I hope your special day is a good one!!! xo

 

And also celebrating is Phil Santisteven (LASD ret.) HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHIL! Have a great day!!! xo

 

                        ^with his bride, Suzanne (LASD ret.)

 

 

 

Historically this date.........

1847 – Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government.

....Oh man, shootin' a Colt .45 is awesome!

1865 – The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street in New York, New York.

 

1896 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state.

 

1999 – Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is sworn in as governor of Minnesota.

 

 

 

 

And births this date include....

1905 – Sterling Holloway, American Character Actor (d. 1992)

 

1927 – Barbara Rush, American actress

 

1937 – Dyan Cannon, American actress

 Boy, with Grant she looks 12.

 

 

1941 – Maureen Reagan, American political activist (d. 2001)

 

 

1965 – Julia Ormond, English actress

 

Later it was chair, wine, cat napping on my lap, and TV. I saw a show that I hadn't seen in a few years.... The Good Wife. I think it ended in 2016 but I hadn't seen it since about 2010. A few episodes are now being played again. 

 

 

All I know. Nuff said. Happy TGIF. Ciao.

xo Sue Mom Bobo 

Pick your sauce!  National Spaghetti Day on January 4 recognizes that long, thin cylindrical pasta of Italian and Sicilian origin.  Usually made from semolina flour, this pasta has been a worldwide favorite for ages and loved by millions.

There are a variety of different pasta dishes that are based on spaghetti from spaghetti ala Carbonara or garlic and oil to spaghetti with tomato sauce, meat sauce, bolognese, Alfredo sauce, clam sauce or other sauces.  Spaghetti dishes are traditionally served topped with grated hard cheeses such as Pecorino Romano, Parmesan and Grana Padano.

The word spaghetti is plural for the Italian word spaghetto, which is a diminutive of spago, meaning “thin  string” or “twine.”

American restaurants offered Spaghetti around the end of the 19th century as Spaghetti Italienne (which is believed to have consisted of noodles cooked past al dente and a mild tomato sauce flavored with easily found spices and vegetables such as cloves, bay leaves and garlic). Decades later, oregano and basil were added to many recipes.

There is significant debate on the origin of spaghetti. However, we do know that pasta has been consumed for many, many years.  There are records in the Jerusalem Talmud of itrium, a kind of boiled dough, commonly available in Palestine from the 3rd to 5th centuries AD.  A 9th-century Arab dictionary describes itriyyaas as string-like shapes made of semolina and dried before cooking. In an 1154 writing for the Norman King of Sicily, itriyya is mentioned being manufactured and exported from Norman Sicily.  Dried pasta became popular in the 14th and 15th centuries due to its easy storage.  People were able to store the dried pasta in ships when exploring the New World.  A century later, pasta was present around the globe during the voyages of discovery. (Wikipedia)

In March of 2009, the world record for the largest bowl of spaghetti was set and then reset in March of 2010 when a Garden Grove California Buca di Beppo restaurant successfully filled a swimming pool with more than 13,780 pounds of pasta.

Sung to the tune of “On Top of Old Smoky,” the fun children’s song, “On Top of Spaghetti” was written and originally sung by folk singer Tom Glazer with the Do-Re-Mi Children’s Chorus in 1963.

“On top of spaghetti,
All covered with cheese,
I lost my poor meatball,
When somebody sneezed.

It rolled off the table,
And on to the floor,
And then my poor meatball,
Rolled out of the door.”

Frozen ~ Sun ~ 2 Years Ago Snow ~ Throw Back Thursday ~ Picture of the Day ~ Jayne Mansfield ~ Unforgettable Chicken Casserole ~ TV Fame ~ National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day

Good 29º everything is frozen again morning!

Yesterday that 23º first thing in the morning had me frozen! Then a little after 9am the sun came over the mountain and with the clear sky it was AWESOME!

We started warming up.......... By noon we were having a 45º heat wave! And by 2pm we hit 53º! 

Then the clouds moved in and there went the sun and we started cooling off again.   ☹

Two years ago today we were COVERED in snow!

Dude's "dad" UPS Dave came by yesterday. I gave him some hand warmers. He was a happy camper!

Throw Back Thursday...... Jack and his drumming...

If yesterday had been 1934, the date would have read 1-2-34, and if it was 1945, 2-3-45, and 1967 4-5-67, and 1978 5-6-78....

Picture of the Day.... child being taught.... LOL

Interesting about Jayne Mansfield.... whodda thought!

Jayne Mansfield IQ score was 149, which is considered as a genius person and in top 0.1% of the population in the world.

Mansfield was a B student in high school and she advertised her I.Q. as 149, she spoke five languages and was a classically trained pianist and violinist, but such intellectual abilities were inconsequential to her career.

Jayne Mansfield was born on April 19, 1933, she died on June 29, 1967. She was an American film, theater, and television actress. Jayne was also a nightclub entertainer, a singer, and one of the early Playboy Playmates. She was a major Hollywood sex symbol during the 1950s and early 1960s, and one of 20th Century Fox's main sex-symbol actresses. She was also known for her well-publicized personal life and publicity stunts, such as wardrobe malfunctions.

Although Mansfield's film career was short-lived, she had several box-office successes and won a Theater World Award and a Golden Globe. She enjoyed success in the role of fictional actress Rita Marlowe, both in the 1955–1956 Broadway version and the 1957 Hollywood film version of "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" Her other major movie performances were in "The Girl Can't Help It" (1956), "The Wayward Bus" (1957), and "Too Hot to Handle" (1960). In the sexploitation film "Promises! Promises!" (1963), she became the first major American actress to have a nude starring role in a Hollywood motion picture.

The Famous Nipple-Slip Incident
With her career now beginning to heat up, Jayne Mansfield would hire an aggressive new agent who stopped at nothing to get the actress in front of the press. At one particular event, Jayne's ample bosom would become the featured attraction when Jayne, seated next to Sophia Loren and wearing a low cut dress, would be photographed with Loren's eyes enviously affixed to the blonde star's cleavage where one of her nipples had accidentally taken a peek. Despite the photograph becoming an international sensation, the world media was quick to condemn Jayne's stunts as cheap publicity-seeking of the highest order. Nothing seemed too outrageous as Jayne began to find more and more ways of exposing her assets. In fact, eventually Jayne would pose as the 1955 Playboy Playmate of the Month, which garnered her more of the attention she so craved, but was looked upon negatively by those in charge of her career direction. When dropped from her studio contract, Jayne would move on to garner the lead in a Broadway sex comedy called Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter. As long as she was showing her breasts, the star seemed unstoppable.

Here is the story about her death in a car crash...

http://reelreviews.com/shorttakes/jaynemansfield.htm

Simple and satisfying, Mr. Food's Unforgettable Chicken Casserole has that cozy-comfort taste and texture that will make for a memorable meal. Using readily available ingredients, in just 30 minutes oven time, you'll have a chicken casserole recipe that'll stick in everyone's mind!

 

• 3 cups chopped cooked chicken (use a rotisserie cooked chicken from the market! My idea!) 
• 2 cups finely chopped celery
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 (4-ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
• 1 (10-3/4-ounce) can cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1 (6-ounce) can French-fried onion rings

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Coat a 9- x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
    
2. In a large bowl, stir together chicken, celery, cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, water chestnuts, soup, and almonds. Spoon into prepared baking dish.
    
3. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Sprinkle onion rings evenly over top and bake 5 more minutes, or until bubbly around edges. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

 Serve it with corn on the cob or some steamed broccoli, or your favorite vegetables!

Historically this date.....

 

1938 – The March of Dimes is established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

1959 – Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. State.

1961 – The United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba.

1962 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.

1990 – Former leader of Panama Manuel Noriega surrenders to American forces.

And births this date include....

1894 – ZaSu Pitts, American actress (d. 1963)

1921 – John Russell, American actor (d. 1991)

Former US Marine, battlefield commission, wounded, and decorated.

Here is a great site:

http://palletmastersworkshop.com/flipside.html

where you will find those famous-among-us who have served in our military or supported troops by entertaining them. I LOVE this site!

1930 – Robert Loggia, American actor (d.12-15)

1932 – Dabney Coleman, American actor

1950 – Victoria Principal, American actress

So pretty then the plastic doc changed it all.

1956 – Mel Gibson, American-Australian actor and director

I kept busy yesterday, filling the bird feeders, making hummingbird syrup, cleaning the kitchen, taking pictures, researching for my blog, doing dishes, planning dinner.... over the top excitement here!

On the 6 o'clock news last night Jack Church, meteorologist for our local KOBI 5TV, put my picture of the pink contrails I posted on my blog yesterday! 

All I know. Nuff said. Happy TBT. Ciao.

xo Sue Mom Bobo

Recognized by the National Confectioners Association and celebrated by millions of people across the country, January 3rd is National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day.

It is almost impossible to eat just one of these chocolate covered cherry candies that have combined two favorite flavors into one delicious treat. The candy often is made with a sweet liquid center and in some cases has a liquor filling center.

Known to many as a mid-winter pick-me-up, chocolate covered cherries, also called chocolate cordials, can be either store-bought or homemade. There are also many recipes that mimic the flavor of the long known and well-loved candy.

In the 1700s in England, cherries were enclosed in chocolate with a little kirsch (cordial) liqueur. After finding their way to the United States, Americans received them quite well, delighting in the little bit of alcoholic cordial surrounding the fruit dipped in chocolate.  Although originally made with the liqueur, cordials/chocolate covered cherries are more commonly made with a sugar syrup flavored with cherries.  The pitted cherries have been cooked in sugar syrup and jarred.

HOW TO OBSERVE

Enjoy your day sharing some chocolate covered cherries with your friends and try one of the following recipes:

Chocolate Covered CherriesChocolate Covered Cherry CakeChocolate Covered Cherry FudgeChocolate Covered Cherry Cookies