April Fools ~ Rain ~ Heat Wave ~ Picture of the Day ~ Worst Traffic Cities in US ~ Macaroni & Cheese Pie ~ National Sourdough Bread Day

 

Sorry, no blog today.

 

APRIL FOOLS!!!!

April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day (sometimes called All Fools' Day) is an annual celebration commemorated on April 1 by playing practical jokes and spreading hoaxes. The jokes and their victims are called April fools. People playing April Fool jokes often expose their prank by shouting "April fool(s)" at the unfortunate victim(s). Some newspapers, magazines and other published media report fake stories, which are usually explained the next day or below the news section in smaller letters. Although popular since the 19th century, the day is not a public holiday in every country. Little is known about the origins of this tradition.

Aside from April Fools' Day, the custom of setting aside a day for the playing of harmless pranks upon one's neighbor has historically been relatively common in the world.

 

Here are a number of April Fools pranks with photos...

https://www.boredpanda.com/funny-april-fools-pranks/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

 

 

 

 

April 1
Waning Crescent
Illumination: 13% 

Ok, so Good 48º raining morning. Topped at 76º yesterday!!! Summer? 

 

 

 

Picture of the Day.....

 

 Look close. What do you see??

 

 

Interesting...

While Americans think traffic in the U.S. is bad,  here are the 3 worst cities.....

The average American loses 97 hours a year to traffic congestion. But this is not much compared with drivers in some cities in Europe and South America. And, contrary to what most Americans may think, Los Angeles is not among the worst 25.

Yes, LA’s roads are very busy throughout the day, but the city’s peak traffic severity is not as bad as it is in the three U.S. cities that made the list. In those cities, however, low traffic times are much less congested than LA’s frequently busy roadways

 

Chicago, Illinois

Congested roads, streets, and highways trap Chicago commuters for about 138 hours out of the year in their barely moving cars. A 2016 study by the American Highway Users Alliance found a stretch of the Kennedy Expressway to be the worst bottleneck in the U.S.

 

Washington, District of Columbia

The United States’ capital is the city with the second worst traffic in the country. Drivers in D.C. lose 155 hours, the total equivalent of about a week, dealing with slow-moving traffic. Local drivers lose up to $2,161 per year due to congestion, according to the Department of Transportation.

Boston, Massachusetts

Boston is the worst-ranked American city when it comes to traffic congestion. Its geography, age, and density have created a road network that just about breaks down when traffic gets bad. The waiting time, while sitting in traffic, is 15 hours more than the next-worst cities in the U.S. in terms of traffic, Chicago and Seattle.

 

If  your family loves baked macaroni and cheese, then they're going to be so excited when you serve 'em a slice of this Macaroni and Cheese Pie. And, since you don't have to pre-cook the macaroni, you better believe this baked mac n cheese recipe is extra easy!

• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
• 1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
• 4 eggs
• 1/8 teaspoon dry mustard
• 2 1/4 cups milk
• 1/2 cup biscuit baking mix
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

 

1. Preheat oven to 400º. Grease a 9-inch deep dish pie plate.
    
2. In a medium-sized bowl, combine 1-1/2 cups cheese and macaroni; sprinkle into pie plate.
    
3. Place remaining ingredients, except remaining 1/4 cup cheese, in a blender jar and blend until smooth about 15 seconds on high speed (or 1 minute in a large bowl with a hand mixer). Pour into pie plate.
    
4. Bake about 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheese. Bake an additional 1 to 2 minutes, until cheese is melted.
    
5. Cool 10 minutes then cut into wedges.

 

 

 

Historically this date.......

1891 – The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago, Illinois.

 

1893 – The rank of Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy is established.

 

 

1924 – Adolf Hitler is sentenced to five years in jail for his participation in the "Beer Hall Putsch". However, he spends only nine months in jail, during which he writes Mein Kampf.

 

1954 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.

 

1976 – Apple Inc. is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

 

 

 

And births this date include...

1929 – Jane Powell, American dancer, actress, and singer

 

 

 

1932 – Debbie Reynolds, American actress (d.2016)

 

 

 

939 – Ali MacGraw, American actress

 

 

 

1961 – Susan Boyle, Scottish singer and Britain's Got Talent contestant

 

 

 

 

All I know. Nuff said. Happy April Fools Day Monday. Ciao.

xo Sue Mom Bobo

One of the world’s oldest leavened breads, sourdough is produced through the process of long fermentation of the dough using lactobacilli and yeasts.  The use of naturally occurring yeasts and friendly bacteria versus cultivated yeast causes the bread to have a slightly sour, but pleasant taste. 

Most likely the first form of leavening available to bakers, it is believed sourdough originated in Ancient Egyptian times around 1500 BC.  It did remain the usual form of leavening into the European Middle Ages. During the California Gold Rush, sourdough was the principal bread made in Northern California and is still a part of the culture of San Francisco today.

The bread was so common at that time the word “sourdough” became a nickname for the gold prospectors. In The Yukon and Alaska, a “sourdough” is also a nickname given to someone who has spent an entire winter north of the Arctic Circle, and it refers to their tradition of protecting their sourdough during the coldest months by keeping it close to their body. The sourdough tradition was also carried into Alaska and western Canadian territories during the Klondike Gold Rush.

San Francisco sourdough is the most famous sourdough bread made in the United States today.  In contrast to sourdough production in other areas of the country, the San Francisco variety has remained in continuous production since 1849, with some bakeries able to trace their starters back to California’s Gold Rush period. Many restaurant chains keep it as a menu staple. Sourdough bread is a great side to your soup or stew or toasted with your morning cereal.

HOW TO OBSERVE

Enjoy this delicious recipe: San Francisco Sourdough Bread recipe.

Weather ~ Picture of the Day ~ Vin Scully ~ Jeans ~ Hawaiian Macaroni Salad ~ Boudin's Sourdough Bread and Clam Chowder ~ National Tater Day

 

Good 33º wispy cloud morning. 

 

Wow, a few more hours and March is over! Again, too fast!!

 

 

Yesterday stayed foggy and gloomy until about 11am....

Then a bit of blue sky and fluffy clouds....

Then.......... it cleared up totally and we warmed to 72º!

Dude was a happy camper............

 

Picture of the Day.............

This at a Dodger's game.... Vin Scully said, "I can't believe I actually get to say this, but .... ladies and gentlemen, Hu is on first."

More on Vin...

https://thegloryofbaseball.blogspot.com/2007/10/scully-gets-his-whos-on-first.html

 

 

 

Interesting about jeans.......

 

 

Jeans are probably the most popular clothes in the world. We wear jeans everywhere and every day, enjoying the convenience of this wonderful fabric. But what do we know about its history?

Jeans are named after the city of Genoa, Italy (in French, "Gênes"), a place where cotton corduroy, called either jean or jeane, was manufactured. The name “denim” comes from the name of a sturdy fabric called “Serge de Nîmes”, originally made in Nîmes, France, hence “de Nîmes” - “denim”. Weavers of Nîmes tried to reproduce the Genoa cotton corduroy. After several tries, failures and errors, they finally developed another twill fabric that became extremely popular and known as denim.

Whether they’re boot-legged, low-rise, or skinny, most Americans have at least one pair that they can’t live without. Blue jeans are as American as apple pie, right?

Well, kind of. The word “jean” comes from the French jean fustian. Fustian is a type of twilled cotton cloth originally from Genoa, Italy. But the plural form of the word was first used in the United States, in 1843. Levi Strauss designed a pair of durable work trousers for laborers, complete with copper rivets that reinforced wear-and-tear seams. Eventually, average Joes and Janes adopted jeans, and they became the preferred casual pants for many Americans.

A lot of jeans are made of denim, “a heavy, Z-twist, twill cotton for jeans, overalls, and other work and leisure garments,” which derives from the French serge de Nîmes. Serge is another another twill fabric, “from Nimes,” a town in Southern France!

And of course, “pants” is short for pantaloons, a type of tights that were popular centuries ago. But what you might not know is that pantaloons were associated with “Pantaloun“, a silly old man character in Italian comedy who wore tight trousers over his skinny legs. The character was originally San Panteleone, a Christian martyr and a popular saint in Venice.

So, whether you prefer jeans or some other kind of trousers, here’s one last bit of trivia for the next time someone tells you to do something by the seat of your pants (which means “by human instinct”). Supposedly, the expression was originally used to refer to pilots who were able to sense the condition of the plane by the engine vibrations they felt through the seat of their pants. But we have to wonder—what was the best fabric for their flying attire?

 

 

 

 

From Mr. Food..

 

 

You're gonna want to dive into this macaroni salad! Our Hawaiian Macaroni salad is bursting with tropical flavor, thanks to the addition of pineapple and carrot. And, since this macaroni salad recipe features chunks of ham, it's filling enough to eat on its own!

 

 

• 8 ounces elbow macaroni, prepared according to package directions and rinsed in cold water
• 1 (20-ounce) can pineapple chunks, drained, with 1/4 cup liquid reserved
• 2 cups cubed cooked ham
• 1/2 cup shredded carrot
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

 

 

1. In a large bowl, combine macaroni, pineapple chunks, ham, carrots, and scallions; set aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk reserved liquid, the mayonnaise, sour cream, vinegar, sugar, and salt. Pour over pasta mixture and mix until evenly coated. Serve or chill until ready to serve.

 

 

 

 

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

1889 – The Eiffel Tower is officially opened.

1918 – Daylight saving time goes into effect in the United States for the first time.

1930 – The Motion Pictures Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in film, in the U.S., for the next thirty eight years.

1951 – Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau.

1992 – The USS Missouri, the last active United States Navy battleship, is decommissioned in Long Beach, California.

 

And births this date include....

1929 – Liz Claiborne, Belgian-American fashion designer (d. 2007)

 

1934 – Richard Chamberlain, American actor

 

1934 – Shirley Jones, American singer and actress (The Partridge Family)

 

1935 – Herb Alpert, American trumpeter and band leader

 

1943 – Christopher Walken, American actor

             ............ewwwww...............

 

1945 – Gabe Kaplan, American actor and comedian

 

1948 – David Eisenhower, American author and professor

.....David and Julie Nixon Eisenhower...

 

1948 – Rhea Perlman, American actress

 

 

Dinner last night was a treat, brought to me by Brian. On their trip they went through San Francisco airport and he brought me a loaf of Boudin's Sourdough. OMG, it's the BEST!! And he brought me a can of Boudin's Clam Chowder. AWESOME!!!

 

 

Here is Boudin's web page. Their headquarters is San Francisco at The Wharf. A favorite place of Jerry's and mine!

https://boudinbakery.com/

 

 

 

 

 

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

xo Sue Mom Bobo

 

National Tater Day is observed annually on March 31.  This day is set aside to celebrate the potato that is loved by almost everyone and provides us with essential vitamins, minerals and fiber.

There are numerous ways to fix and enjoy the potato:  

Baked – Boiled – Steamed – Roasted – Mashed – Fried – Grilled – Scalloped – French Fries – Cottage Fries – Hash Browns – In Stew – In Soup – Potato Salad – Potato Dumplings – Potato Pancakes – Anyway You Like Them!!

This day may have originally had a different meaning.  At the beginning of April, there is a celebration of the sweet potato (Tater Day) in parts of Kentucky.  Sweet potatoes are one of the main cash crops in that area.  Tater Day started way back in the early 1840s with the trading and selling of sweet potatoes.  It is the oldest continuous trade day in the United States.

Worldwide, there are more than four thousand potato varieties. 

Since the time potatoes were shipped from Europe to the colonies in the early 17th century, their consumption has been a major part of the North American diet. In the United States, there are over 100 varieties of potatoes.