New Year's Eve ~ Weather ~ Picture of the Day ~ Olympic Flame ~ Chicken Biscuit Skillet ~ Frank Mize ~ New Year's Day ~ National Hangover Day ~ Bloody Mary Day

 

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)

 

 

 

1752 – Betsy Ross, American seamstress (d. 1836)

 

 

 

 

 

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!

 

1935 – B. Kliban, American cartoonist (d. 1990)

 

 

 

 

   "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.

New Year's Eve Day ~ Rain ~ Picture of the Day ~ Leaning Tower of Pisa ~ Southwestern Chicken Packets ~ New Year's Eve ~ National Champagne Day

 

Good 40º cloudy foggy last day of 2020 morning.....

 

 

Yesterday rain was predicted and it started just after 1pm and it POURED the rest of the day!!!!  

 

We topped at 41º. 

 

Picture of the Day

 

 

 

 

Interesting

 

 

The Leaning Tower of Pisa  or simply the Tower of Pisa is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa, known worldwide for its nearly four-degree lean, the result of an unstable foundation. The tower is situated behind the Pisa Cathedral and is the third-oldest structure in the city's Cathedral Square (Piazza del Duomo), after the cathedral and the Pisa Baptistry.

The height of the tower is 183.27 feet from the ground on the low side and 185.93 feet on the high side. The width of the walls at the base is 8 ft 0.06 in. Its weight is estimated at 16,000 short tons. The tower has 296 or 294 steps; the seventh floor has two fewer steps on the north-facing staircase.

 

The tower began to lean during construction in the 12th century, due to soft ground which could not properly support the structure's weight, and it worsened through the completion of construction in the 14th century. By 1990, the tilt had reached 5​¹⁄₂ degrees. The structure was stabilized by remedial work between 1993 and 2001, which reduced the tilt to 3.97 degrees.

 

The tower was closed to the public on 7 January 1990, after more than two decades of stabilisation studies and spurred by the abrupt collapse of the Civic Tower of Pavia in 1989. The bells were removed to relieve some weight, and cables were cinched around the third level and anchored several hundred meters away. Apartments and houses in the path of a potential fall of the tower were vacated for safety. The selected method for preventing the collapse of the tower was to slightly reduce its tilt to a safer angle by soil removal 1,342 cubic feet from underneath the raised end. The tower's tilt was reduced by 17.7 inches, returning to its 1838 position. After a decade of corrective reconstruction and stabilization efforts, the tower was reopened to the public on 15 December 2001, and was declared stable for at least another 300 years. In total, 77 short tons of soil were removed.

After a phase (1990–2001) of structural strengthening, the tower has been undergoing gradual surface restoration to repair visible damage, mostly corrosion and blackening. These are particularly pronounced due to the tower's age and its exposure to wind and rain. In May 2008, engineers announced that the tower had been stabilized such that it had stopped moving for the first time in its history. They stated that it would be stable for at least 200 years.

 

 

From Mr. Food

 

If you're a fan of big taste, then you're gonna go wild over our Southwestern Chicken Packets! We cook our chicken inside tin foil to lock in the flavors of the spices and get that ooey-gooey cheese melted just right. Plus, it makes cleaning-up easy!

 

• 4 boneless, skinless, chicken breast halves (about 1-1/2 pounds)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced sun-dried tomatoes in oil, not drained
• 1/2 cup diced green chilies, drained
• 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend, divided

 

1. Preheat grill to medium-high. Cut 4 (12-inch) squares of aluminum foil.
2. Evenly sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and place each piece in center of a foil square. Evenly spoon sun-dried tomatoes, chilies, and corn over each chicken breast. Sprinkle cumin and chili powder evenly over vegetables. Wrap foil securely, leaving room for steam to circulate, and seal edges tightly.
3. Place packets on grill, close grill cover, and cook 8 to 10 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink in center.
4. Open packets carefully, as steam may be released. Sprinkle with cheese and continue to cook 1 to 2 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

 

 

***Make 'em in the oven! - Bake chicken packets at 350 º for 15 -20 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center. 

 

 

 

 

Historically this date....

1862 – American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union, thus dividing Virginia in two.

1879 – Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, NJ.

1907 – The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square (then known as Longacre Square) in New York City, New York.

1909 – Manhattan Bridge opens.

1960 – The farthing coin ceases to be legal tender in the United Kingdom.

................OMG, I first thought this said "farting" coin!

1983 – The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government.

1999 – Boris Yeltsin, the first president of Russia, resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime MinisterVladimir Putin as the acting President.

 

And births this date include...

1920 – Rex Allen, American actor, singer, and songwriter (d. 1999)

1930 – Jaime Escalante, American teacher (d. 2010)

 

1943 – John Denver, American singer and songwriter (d. 1997)

 

1943 – Sir Ben Kingsley, English actor

 

 

1947 – Tim Matheson, American actor

1958 – Bebe Neuwirth, American actress

 

1959 – Val Kilmer, American actor

 

 

 

 

1965 – Nicholas Sparks, American author

1974 – Tony Kanaan, Brazilian racing driver

 

 

All I know. Nuff said. Have a good last day of the year. Ciao.

xo Sue Mom Bobo

Every year on December 31st, people around the world celebrate New Year’s Eve, the last day of the year. It’s a day to say “goodbye” to the old and “hello” to the new.

Also known as Old Year’s Day or Saint Sylvester’s Day, New Year’s Eve is one of the most exciting holidays of the year. In some countries, such as the Philippines and Latvia, New Year’s Eve is a public holiday. In Japan, it’s a government holiday. In other countries, many businesses let their employees off of work early so that they can partake in the many festivities.

There are many reasons this day is one of the biggest nights of the year. Not just because it’s a time of big parties and celebrations all around the world. New Year’s Eve can be a significant turning point in your life. It’s a time to reflect on the past year and all of the lessons you have learned. It can be a time you decide to start making better choices. If you have had a rough year, New Year’s Eve offers a feeling of relief. You can be thankful that the year is finally over

New Year’s is also a time to forgive past mistakes and form new habits. Many people make New Year’s resolutions. Although, only 8% of people actually accomplish them. Instead of making resolutions that you’re not going to keep anyway, it’s better to set three or four goals. Breaking down goals into actionable steps, and reviewing your progress daily helps to keep them. It’s also a good idea to find a friend or mentor that can hold you accountable.

HOW TO OBSERVE

As we count down the last hours and seconds of the old year, it is an excellent time to look back at the year and reminisce with friends and family.  

Many cities throughout the world go all-out to celebrate this exciting night. Fireworks, concerts, countdowns, and ball drops are usually among the many festivities. Some of the best cities to celebrate include New York City, Sydney, Bangkok, Dubai, Cape Town, London, and Las Vegas.

In Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries, it is a tradition to eat 12 grapes during the countdown to midnight, symbolizing hopes for the new year. Around the world, eating anything in the form of a circle or ring symbolizes coming full circle and is considered good luck.

As a Christian observance, it is traditional to hold an evening Mass the night before a Holy Day. New Year’s Day in the Roman Catholic Church honors the Virgin Mary. In some countries, St. Sylvester, Pope of the Catholic Church from 314 to 335, is celebrated on New Year’s Eve.

Other ways to participate:

• Host a party to ring in the New Year
• Set some achievable goals
• If you can’t be at a celebration, watch one live on television
• Have a game night with your family and see who lasts until midnight
• Go for a midnight run
• Attend a concert that goes past midnight
• Go ice-skating at a nearby park or indoor rink
• Kiss your spouse or significant other at midnight
• Enjoy a quiet evening at home journaling
• Think about what you can do to make next year the best one of your life

 

NEW YEAR’S EVE HISTORY

The first New Year’s celebrations were thought to be held in ancient Mesopotamia. Because of the calendar at the time, these celebrations took place in March. Ringing in the New Year consisted of an 11-day festival. When the calendar switched from the lunar year to the solar year, the New Year began in January. This occurred in 46. B.C., when an astronomer convinced Julius Caesar to follow the solar year. It seems that since way back then, the coming New Year has been cause for celebration. Through the years, many New Year’s traditions have formed. Some of which include fireworks, parties, and singing “Auld Lang Syne.”

 

Today is also...

 

National Champagne Day recognizes the wine that puts the pop in every New Year’s Eve celebration. 

Genuine champagne only comes from France’s Champagne region. French law protects where and how it is made. With some exceptions, only Champagne made according to set specifications and within the French region may label their wines using the term “Champagne.” Other foods and beverages fall under this type of protection in France and other parts of the world.

Champagne, France, is located northeast of Paris and provides ideal temperature and soil to produce the grapes required for Champagne. French law allows only eight varieties of grapes for the production of Champagne in the Champagne region. Primarily, the three grapes used to create Champagne are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. 

Unlike other wines, Champagne ferments in the bottle allowing the vintner to trap the CO2 in the bottle. The bubbles give Champagne its effervescence.  

While Champagne can be spendy, if you are looking for a little pop on New Year’s Eve, other varieties of sparkling wine are available from Italy, California, and even the South of France. They offer a sparkle that won’t put a fizzle in your pocketbook. Then again, some New Years mean an opportunity for splurging and celebrating no matter the expense.