<> Tomorrow's food holidays(s):
* 'Bacon Day'.
- From Wikipedia Bacon:
'Bacon is a meat product prepared from pork and usually cured. It is first
cured using large quantities of salt, either in a brine or in a dry packing
the result is fresh bacon (also known as green bacon). Fresh bacon may then
be further dried for weeks or months in cold air, or it may be boiled or
smoked. Fresh and dried bacon is typically cooked before eating, often by
frying. Boiled bacon is ready to eat, as is some smoked bacon, but may be
cooked further before eating.
Bacon is prepared from several different cuts of meat. It can be made from
side and back cuts of pork or from pork belly. The side cut has less fat
than the belly. In the US bacon implies belly bacon, with leaner cuts known
as Canadian bacon In the UK loin bacon, with some belly attached, is known
as back bacon, and belly bacon is termed streaky Bacon may be prepared from
either of two distinct back cuts: fatback, which is almost pure fat, and
pork loin, which is very lean
Bacon may be eaten smoked, boiled, fried, baked, or grilled and eaten on
its own, as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts in North America) or
used as a minor ingredient to flavour dishes (e.g., the Club sandwich).
Bacon is also used for barding and larding roasts, especially game,
including venison and pheasant. The word is derived from the Old High
German bacho, meaning buttock, ham or side of bacon, and cognate with the
Old French bacon.
In contrast to the practice in the United States, in continental Europe
these cuts of the pig are usually not smoked, but are instead used
primarily in cubes (lardons) as a cooking ingredient, valued both as a
source of fat and for its flavour. In Italy, this product is called
pancetta and is usually cooked in small cubes or thinly sliced as part of
an antipasto.
Bacon is distinguished from salt pork and ham by differences in the brine
(or dry packing). Bacon brine has added curing ingredients, most notably
sodium nitrite, and occasionally potassium nitrate (saltpeter) sodium
ascorbate or erythorbate are added to accelerate curing and stabilise
colour. Flavourings such as brown sugar or maple are used for some
products. Sodium polyphosphates, such as sodium triphosphate, may be added
to make the produce easier to slice and to reduce spattering when the bacon
is pan-fried. Today, a brine for ham, but not bacon, includes a large
amount of sugar. Historically, ham and bacon referred to different cuts of
meat that were brined or packed identically, often together in the same
barrel'.
[The Hankster says] It's here, it's here. The day we have all been waiting for (except maybe Pizza day)., and a bacon pizza serves both basic needs.
<> Other holidays / celebrations
* 'National Bicarbonate of Soda Day'.
- From Wikipedia (Sodium bicarbonate): 'Sodium bicarbonate (IUPAC name: sodium hydrogen carbonate) is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. It is a salt composed of sodium ions and bicarbonate ions. Sodium bicarbonate is a white solid that is crystalline but often appears as a fine powder. It has a slightly salty, alkaline taste resembling that of washing soda (sodium carbonate). The natural mineral form is nahcolite. It is a component of the mineral natron and is found dissolved in many mineral spri
ngs. It is among the food additives encoded by the European Union, identified as E 500. Since it has long been known and is widely used, the salt has many related names such as baking soda, bread soda, cooking soda, and bicarbonate of soda. In colloquial usage, the names sodium bicarbonate and bicarbonate of soda are often truncated. Forms such as sodium bicarb, bicarb soda, bicarbonate, bicarb, or even bica are common. The word saleratus, from Latin sal æratus meaning "aerated salt", was widely used in the
19th century for both sodium bicarbonate and potassium bicarbonate.
The prefix "bi" in "bicarbonate" comes from an outdated naming system and is based on the observation that there is twice as much carbonate (CO3) per sodium in sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) as there is carbonate per sodium in sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) and other carbonates. The modern way of analyzing the situation based on the exact chemical composition (which was unknown when the name "sodium bicarbonate" was coined) says this the other way around: there is half as much sodium in NaHCO3 as in Na2CO3 (Na vers
us Na2).
In 1791, a French chemist, Nicolas Leblanc, produced sodium carbonate, also known as soda ash. In 1846, two New York bakers, John Dwight and Austin Church, established the first factory to develop baking soda from sodium carbonate and carbon dioxide.
This compound, referred to as saleratus, is mentioned in the novel Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling as being used extensively in the 1800s in commercial fishing to prevent freshly caught fish from spoiling.
Sodium bicarbonate mixed with water can be used as an antacid to treat acid indigestion and heartburn.
Intravenous sodium bicarbonate is an aqueous solution that is sometimes used for cases of acidosis, or when insufficient sodium or bicarbonate ions are in the blood. In cases of respiratory acidosis, the infused bicarbonate ion drives the carbonic acid/bicarbonate buffer of plasma to the left and, thus, raises the pH. It is for this reason that sodium bicarbonate is used in medically supervised cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Infusion of bicarbonate is indicated only when the blood pH is markedly
( less than 7.1–7.0)
low.
It is used for treatment of hyperkalemia, as it will drive K+ back into cells during periods of acidosis. Since sodium bicarbonate can cause alkalosis, it is sometimes used to treat aspirin overdoses. Aspirin requires an acidic environment for proper absorption, and the basic environment diminishes aspirin absorption in the case of an overdose. Sodium bicarbonate has also been used in the treatment of tricyclic antidepressant overdose. It can also be applied topically as a paste, with three parts baking sod
a to one part water, to relieve some kinds of insect bites and stings (as well as accompanying swelling).
Sodium bicarbonate has been found to have no effect on the blood pressure of several types of rat models susceptible to salt-sensitive hypertension, in contrast with sodium chloride. This was ascribed to the high concentration of chloride, rather than the sodium content in dietary salts.
Sodium bicarbonate can be used to treat an allergic reaction to plants such as poison ivy, poison oak, or poison sumac to relieve some of the associated itching.
Bicarbonate of soda can also be useful in removing splinters from the skin.
Some alternative practitioners, such as Tullio Simoncini, have promoted baking soda as a cancer cure, which the American Cancer Society has warned against due to both its unproven effectiveness and potential danger in use.
Sodium bicarbonate can be added to local anaesthetics, to speed up the onset of their effects and make their injection less painful. It is also a component of Moffett's solution, used in nasal surgery'.
[The Hankster says] Oh, what a relief it is (apologies to S.A.
* 'Festival Of Enormous Changes At The Last Minute'.
Only two days to get those New Year's Resolutions done, before the end of
the year..
<> Awareness / Observances:
<> Historical events on December 30
* 'In 1853, In the Gadsden Purchase, the U.S. buys land from Mexico for
$10M for a railroad in the Southwest.
- From Wikipedia: 'The Gadsden Purchase (known in Mexico as Spanish: Venta
de La Mesilla, Sale of La Mesilla) is a 29,670-square-mile (76,800 km2)
region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that the
United States purchased via a treaty signed on December 30, 1853 by James
Gadsden, American ambassador to Mexico at that time. The U.S. Senate voted
in favor of ratifying it with amendments on April 25, 1854, and then
transmitted it to 14th President Franklin Pierce. Mexico's government and
its General Congress or Congress of the Union took final approval action on
June 8, 1854. The purchase was the last territorial acquisition in the
contiguous United States to add a large area to the country.
The purchase included lands south of the Gila River and west of the Rio
Grande which the U.S. acquired so that it could construct a
transcontinental railroad along a deep southern route, which the Southern
Pacific Railroad later completed in 1881/1883. The purchase also aimed to
reconcile outstanding border issues between the U.S. and Mexico following
the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the earlier Mexican–American
War of 1846–48.
As the railroad age evolved, business-oriented Southerners saw that a
railroad linking the South with the Pacific Coast would expand trade
opportunities. They thought the topography of the southern portion of the
original boundary line to the Mexican Cession (future states of California,
Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, western Colorado) of 1848 was too
mountainous to allow a direct route. Projected southern railroad routes
tended to veer to the North at their eastern termini, which would favor
connections with northern railroads and ultimately favor northern seaports.
Southerners saw that to avoid the mountains, a route with a southeastern
terminus might need to swing south into what was still Mexican territory.
The administration of President Franklin Pierce, strongly influenced by
Secretary of War Jefferson Davis (later President of the southern seceding
Confederate States), saw an opportunity to acquire land for the railroad,
as well as to acquire significant other territory from northern Mexico. In
the end, territory for the railroad was purchased for $10 million ($260
million today), but Mexico balked at any large-scale sale of territory. In
the United States, the debate over the treaty became involved in the
sectional dispute over slavery, ending progress before the American Civil
War'.
* 'In 1939, The movie 'Of Mice and Men', starring Burgess Meredith as
George Lon Chaney Jr. as Lennie, is released.
- From Wikipedia: 'Of Mice and Men is a 1939 drama film based on the 1937
play based on the novel of the same title by American author John
Steinbeck.' 'The film tells the story of two men, George and his mentally
challenged partner Lennie, trying to survive during the dustbowl of the
1930s and pursuing a dream of owning their own ranch, instead of always
working for others'. .
* 'In 1948, The Cole Porter Broadway musical, 'Kiss Me, Kate', opens at the
New Century Theatre and becomes the first show to win the Best Musical Tony
Award. It runs for 1,077 performances.
- From Wikipedia: 'Kiss Me, Kate is a musical written by Samuel and Bella
Spewack with music and lyrics by Cole Porter.
The story involves the production of a musical version of William
Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and the conflict on and off-stage
between Fred Graham, the show's director, producer, and star, and his
leading lady, his ex-wife Lilli Vanessi. A secondary romance concerns Lois
Lane, the actress playing Bianca, and her gambler boyfriend, Bill, who runs
afoul of some gangsters. The original production starred Alfred Drake,
Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang and won the Tony Award.
Kiss Me, Kate was Porter's response to Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!
and other integrated musicals it was the first show he wrote in which the
music and lyrics were firmly connected to the script, and it proved to be
his biggest hit and the only one of his shows to run for more than 1,000
performances on Broadway. In 1949, it won the first Tony Award presented
for Best Musical.
On March 25, 2015, it was announced that the 1949 original cast recording
will be inducted into the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry
for the album's cultural, artistic and/or historical significance to
American society and the nation’s audio legacy'.
* 'In 1963, The TV games show 'Let's Make A Deal,' debuts on NBC.
- From Wikipedia: 'The format of Let's Make a Deal involves selected
members of the studio audience, referred to as 'traders', making deals with
the host. In most cases, a trader will be offered something of value and
given a choice of whether to keep it or exchange it for a different item.
The program's defining game mechanism is that the other item is hidden from
the trader until that choice is made. The trader thus does not know if he
is getting something of greater value or a prize that is referred to as a
'zonk', an item purposely chosen to be of little or no value to the
trader.' .
* 'In 1966, The movie cult classic 'One Million Years B.C.', starring
Raquel Welch, is released.
- From Wikipedia: 'One Million Years B.C. is a 1966 British
adventure/fantasy film starring Raquel Welch and John Richardson, set in a
fictional age of cavemen and dinosaurs. The film was made by Hammer Film
Productions and Seven Arts, and is a remake of the Hollywood film One
Million B.C. (1940) '. .
* 'In 1967, The Beatles, Hello Goodbye, single goes #1 and stays #1 for 3
weeks.
- From Wikipedia: 'Hello, Goodbye is a song by the English rock band the
Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. Backed
by John Lennon's 'I Am the Walrus', it was issued as a non-album single in
November 1967, the group's first release since the death of their manager,
Brian Epstein'. .
No. 1 song
Top movie
Monthly holiday / awareness days in December
Food
Buckwheat Month
Worldwide Food Service Safety Month
Health
Aids Awareness Month
National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month
National Impaired Driving Prevention Month
Safe Toys and Gifts Month
Animal and Pet
Operation Santa Paws
Other
National Tie Month
National Write A Business Plan Month
Universal Human Rights Month
Youngsters on The Air Month
December is:
December origin (from Wikipedia): '
December gets its name from the Latin word decem (meaning ten) because it was originally the tenth month of the year in the Roman calendar, which began in March. The winter days following December were not included as part of any month. Later, the months of January and February were created out of the monthless period and added to the beginning of the calendar, but December retained its name.
'
'
December is the first month of meteorological winter in the Northern
Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, December is the seasonal equivalent
to June in the Northern hemisphere, which is the first month of summer. D
ecember is the month with the shortest daylight hours of the year in the
Northern Hemisphere and the longest daylight hours of the year in the
Southern Hemisphere.
'
December at Wikipedia: More
If you couldn't afford 90 cents for a movie ticket, 50 years ago,
or your 45 RPM record player was broke, you might watch one of these shows on TV.
From this Wikipedia article: More
Best selling books of 1966 More
Sites for downloading or reading free Public Domain eBooks. Available in various formats. More