Weather ~ Picture of the Day ~ Clams ~ Miracle Pasta ~ Rob and Laura Wilkinson ~ Deer ~ National Kitchen Klutzes of America Day

  

Good 55º morning. 

 

 

Yesterday we had a few puffy clouds and we topped at 97º. 

Picture of the Day

 

 

Interesting about clams..........

 

 

Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two shells of equal size connected by two adductor muscles and have a powerful burrowing foot. They live in both freshwater and marine environments; in salt water they prefer to burrow down into the mud and the turbidity of the water required varies with species and location; the greatest diversity of these is in North America.

 

Clams in the culinary sense do not live attached to a substrate (whereas oysters and mussels do) and do not live near the bottom (whereas scallops do). In culinary usage, clams are commonly eaten marine bivalves, as in clam digging and the resulting soup, clam chowder. Many edible clams such as palourde clams are ovoid or triangular; however, razor clams have an elongated parallel-sided shell, suggesting an old-fashioned straight razor.

 

Some clams have life cycles of only one year, while at least one has been aged to over 500 years old. All clams have two calcareous shells or valves joined near a hinge with a flexible ligament and all are filter feeders.

 

A clam's shell consists of two (usually equal) valves, which are connected by a hinge joint and a ligament that can be internal or external. The ligament provides tension to bring the valves apart, while one or two adductor muscles can contract to close the valves. Clams also have kidneys, a heart, a mouth, a stomach, and a nervous system. Many have a siphon.

 

Food source and ecology

Clams are shellfish that make up an important part of the web of life that keeps the seas functioning, both as filter feeders and as a food source for many different animals. Extant mammals that eat clams would include both the Pacific and Atlantic species of walrus, all known subspecies of harbor seals in both the Atlantic and Pacific, most species of sea lions, including the California sea lion, bearded seals and even species of river otters that will consume the freshwater species found in Asia and North America. Birds of all kinds will also eat clams if they can catch them in the littoral zone: roseate spoonbills of North and South America, the Eurasian oystercatcher, whooping crane and common crane, the American flamingo of Florida and the Caribbean Sea, and the common sandpiper are just a handful of the numerous birds that feast on clams all over the world. Most species of octopus have clams as a staple of their diet, up to and including the giants like the Giant Pacific octopus.

 

If you want to read more, go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clam

 

 

 

From Mr. Food

 

What makes this dish such a miracle? The fact that it couldn't be any easier to make, that's what! If you can boil water, then you can make Miracle Pasta, and that's no exaggeration! All you need is 20 minutes, and you've got a delicious dinner ready to go!

 

• 12 ounces linguine pasta, uncooked, broken in half
• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 4 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• Grated Parmesan cheese for sprinkling

 

1. In a soup pot, place linguine, tomatoes, onion, and garlic. Pour in chicken broth and sprinkle with oregano, crushed red pepper, and salt. Drizzle top with oil and cover.
2. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, reduce heat to low, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring every 2 to 3 minutes, or until liquid is almost gone. Stir in basil and serve garnished with Parmesan cheese.

 

Special Anniversary today, our former Temple City neighbor Rob and his bride Laura Wilkinson are celebrating their 42nd Wedding Anniversary. Happy Day kids!

 

Rob used to babysit my children. He is retired from LA.Co. Fire.

 

 

Historically this date

1893 – Grover Cleveland undergoes secret, successful surgery to remove a large, cancerous portion of his jaw; operation not revealed to US public until 1917, nine years after the president's death.

 

1934 – Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet in Venice, Italy; Mussolini later describes the German dictator as "a silly little monkey".

1966 – The United States Supreme Court rules in Miranda v. Arizona that the police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning them.

2005 – A jury in Santa Maria, California acquits pop singer Michael Jackson of molesting 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo at his Neverland Ranch.

 

 

And births this date include...

1918 – Ben Johnson, American actor (d. 1996)

1926 – Paul Lynde, American actor (d. 1982)

1953 – Tim Allen, American comedian and actor

 

 

 

 

1986 – Ashley Olsen, American actress, fashion designer, producer, and author

1986 – Mary-Kate Olsen, American actress, fashion designer, producer, and author

 

 

Yesterday afternoon this deer jumped the fence into my yard and nibbled on the grape leaves and roses....

 

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

xo Sue Mom Bobo

June 13th honors those who would like to cook and be in the kitchen, but it just doesn’t seem to work well for them. After all, it is National Kitchen Klutzes of America Day.

Klutz:  most commonly referred to as a clumsy person.

Kitchen Klutzes are the people who set out with the intentions of being like Gordon Ramsey or Julia Child as they open up the cookbook. As they place the mixing bowl and ingredients on the counter, they imagine knife cuts as swift as Wolfgang Puck or Bobby Flay. However, reality quickly dissolves all those dreams as smoke billows from the oven, and they mistake salt for sugar. Those knife cuts turn bloody, and cookies and fingers are burnt. The Kitchen Klutz has struck, and visions of spilled milk are pitifully cried over.

It may be necessary to keep a first aid kit and fire extinguisher handy when Kitchen Klutzes are around. Be ready to call 911 and have your favorite take out ready as backup if you’re still hungry.

HOW TO OBSERVE

There several ways to celebrate this humorous holiday.

• Laugh at yourself. Share your mortifying stories of kitchen failure over take out Thai or pizza. 
• Give your favorite Kitchen Klutz the gift of cooking classes. 
• Watch your favorite cooking flops show.

Weather ~ Picture of the Day ~ Pennsylvania Facts ~ Busy Day Bubble Up Bake ~ National Peanut Butter Cookie Day

  

Good 74º late morning. 

Until now my computer wasn't working. 

 

 

Yesterday we topped at 95º.

 

 

Picture of the Day.....good timing

 

 

Interesting about Pennsylvania.......

 

Pennsylvania; Pennsylvania German: Pennsilfaani), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. Pennsylvania borders Delaware to its southeast, Maryland to its south, West Virginia to its southwest, Ohio to its west, Lake Erie and the Canadian province of Ontario to its northwest, New York state to its north, and the Delaware River and New Jersey to its east.

 

Pennsylvania is the fifth-most populous state in the nation with over 13 million residents as of 2020, its highest decennial count ever. The state is the 33rd-largest by area and ranks ninth among all states in population density. The southeastern Delaware Valley metropolitan area comprises and surrounds Philadelphia, the state's largest and nation's sixth-most populous city. Another 2.37 million reside in Greater Pittsburgh in the southwest, centered in and around Pittsburgh, the state's second-largest and Western Pennsylvania's largest city. The state's subsequent five most populous cities are: Allentown, Reading, Erie, Scranton, and Bethlehem. The state capital is Harrisburg.

 

Indigenous settlement

Pennsylvania's history of human habitation extends to thousands of years before the foundation of the colonial Province of Pennsylvania in 1681. Archaeologists believe the first settlement of the Americas occurred at least 15,000 years ago during the last glacial period, though it is unclear when humans first entered the area now known as Pennsylvania. There also is open debate in the archaeological community regarding when ancestors of Native Americans expanded across the two continents down to the tip of South America; possibilities range between 30,000 and 10,500 years ago. Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Jefferson Township includes the earliest known signs of human activity in Pennsylvania and perhaps all of North America, including the remains of a civilization that existed over 10,000 years ago and possibly pre-dated the Clovis culture. By 1000 CE, in contrast to their nomadic hunter-gatherer ancestors, the native population of Pennsylvania had developed agricultural techniques and a mixed food economy.

 

 

^{By the time European colonization of the Americas began, at least two major Native American tribes inhabited Pennsylvania. The first, the Lenape, spoke an Algonquian language and inhabited the eastern region of the state, then known as Lenapehoking. It included most of New Jersey and most of the Lehigh Valley and Delaware Valley regions of eastern and southeastern Pennsylvania. The Lenape's territory ended somewhere between the Delaware River in the east and the Susquehanna River in central Pennsylvania. The Susquehannock, who spoke an Iroquoian language, were based in more western regions of Pennsylvania from New York in the north to West Virginia in the southwest that included the Susquehanna River all the way to the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers near present day Pittsburgh. European disease and constant warfare with several neighbors and groups of Europeans weakened these tribes, and they were grossly outpaced financially as the Hurons and Iroquois blocked them from proceeding west into Ohio during the Beaver Wars. As they lost numbers and land, they abandoned much of their western territory and moved closer to the Susquehanna River and the Iroquois and Mohawk tribes located more to the north. Northwest of the Allegheny River was the Iroquoian Petun, known mostly for their vast tobacco plantations, although this is believed to be complete fabrication. They were fragmented into three groups during the Beaver Wars: the Petun of New York, the Wyandot of Ohio, and the Tiontatecaga of the Kanawha River in southern West Virginia. South of the Allegheny River was a nation known as Calicua. They may have been the same as the Monongahela culture and little is known about them except that they were probably a Siouan culture. Archaeological sites from this time in this region are scarce.}

 

 

^{^Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution were adopted in 1776 and 1787-88, respectively}

 

^{If you want to read lots more, go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania}

 

 

 

 

From Mr. Food

 

We all get busy from time to time, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy something delicious for dinner! With our recipe for Busy Day "Bubble Up" Bake, you can make a family-pleasing casserole in just 30 minutes.

 

 

• 1 (10-3/4-ounce) can cream of chicken soup
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 cups cooked chopped chicken (get a cooked rotisserie chicken from the market)
• 2 cups chopped frozen broccoli, thawed  (or whatever is your favorite vegetable!)
• 1/4 cup cooked crumbled bacon
• 1 (16.3-ounce) can refrigerated biscuits, each biscuit cut into thirds

1. Preheat oven to 375º. Coat a 9- x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, combine soup, sour cream, 1-1/2 cups cheese, the salt, and pepper; mix well. Stir in chicken, broccoli, and bacon. Add biscuits and toss until evenly coated. Spoon mixture into baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until biscuits are golden brown.

 

 

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

1942 – Holocaust: Anne Frank receives a diary for her thirteenth birthday.

1994 – Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman are murdered outside her home in Los Angeles, California. O.J. Simpson is later acquitted of the killings, but is held liable in wrongful death civil suit.

And births this date include....

1924 – George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the United States (d.2018)

 

 

1928 – Vic Damone, American singer (d.2018)

Lots of wives!

 

 

1929 – Anne Frank, German-born Dutch Jewish diarist and Holocaust victim (d. 1945)

 

1930 – Jim Nabors, American actor (d.2017)

Personal life interesting. Closeted for YEARS!!!

 

 

 

 

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

xo Sue Mom Bobo

Baking up some goodness on June 12th each year, National Peanut Butter Cookie Day celebrates the only cookie holiday in June. The day allows cookie lovers and peanut butter lovers to step away from the pies and cakes to indulge in a little peanut butter and cookie therapy.

Alabama’s American agricultural extension educator, George Washington Carver, promoted the peanut extensively. Well-known for his promotions, Carver compiled 105 peanut recipes from various cookbooks, agricultural bulletins, and other sources. In 1916, he created a Research Bulletin called How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it for Human Consumption. The bulletin included three recipes calling for crushed or chopped peanuts as one of its ingredients. However, peanut butter cookies were not one of them.

It was in the early 1920s began to be listed as an ingredient in cookies.

That may be because the peanut butter we know and love today didn’t become commercially available until the 1920s. In 1922, Joseph Rosefieldkept the peanut oil from separating from the solids through this process. He patented the process of homogenization and sold it to a company that began making a peanut butter called Peter Pan.

No one knows why we press crisscrossed fork marks into our peanut butter cookies before baking. However, homemade peanut butter cookies would just not be the same without the bit of decoration.

HOW TO OBSERVE 

The best way to celebrate this cookie holiday is with some homemade peanut butter cookies, a glass of milk, and a friend. We even have a recipe for you to try. You can also visit your favorite baker and give them a shout out. Let them know how much you appreciate their mad cookie baking skills!

Chunky Peanut Butter Cookie