“NATIONAL CHILI DAY”

National Chili Day -Fourth Thursday in February

National Chili Day on the fourth Thursday in February honors one of America’s favorite winter dishes–chili. It’s also known as chili con carne (chili with meat).

 

In Spanish, chili refers to “chili pepper” and carne means “meat”.

Chili is most commonly made up of tomatoes, beans, chili peppers, meat, garlic, onions, and cumin.  However, cooks offer up so many variations to the basic chili recipe. And, with so many varieties, chili cook-off competitions love to feature chili as a favored entry.  

American frontier settlers used a “chili” recipe of dried beef, suet, dried chili peppers, and salt. All this was pounded together and formed into bricks and dried. They could then boil the bricks in pots on the trails. 

At the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, the San Antonio Chili Stand helped people from all over the United States appreciate the taste of chili. Because San Antonio was a significant tourist destination, it helped Texas-style chili con carne spread throughout the South and West.  In 1977, House Concurrent Resolution Number 18 of the 65th Texas Legislature designated chili con carne as the official dish of the U.S. state of Texas.

Before World War II, hundreds of small, family-run chili parlors (also known as chili joints) popped up throughout the state of Texas as well as other places in the United States. Each new chili parlor usually claimed some kind of secret recipe. 

Ways to enjoy chili

There are many ways that people enjoy the great taste of chili, some of which include:

  • Add chili to hot dogs to create chili dogs.
  • Top burgers with chili and enjoy a chili burger.
  • Combine chili and chili with fries and make chili cheese fries.
  • Make the ultimate baked potato by stuffing it with chili.
  • “Frito pie” is chili with spaghetti noodles.
  • Transform mac and cheese into chili mac.
  • Mix rice and chili for another flavor favorite.
  • Add croutons to your chili for added crunch.

 

HOW TO OBSERVE #NationalChiliDay

NATIONAL CHILI DAY HISTORY

Rich Kelly of Hard Times Cafe in Arlington, VA founded National Chili Day. The day has been celebrated with cook-offs, pot lucks, feeds and bottomless bowls since at least 2006. 

 

Chili FAQ

Q. Are all chilis spicy?
A. No. Chili is such a versatile dish it can be made with very little to no spicy heat.

Q. What’s a chili cook-off?
A. Chili cook-off is a competition. Many people claim they make the best chili and a cook-off is a way to determine who really does have the best chili. Competitors bring their finished dish and judges taste each entry. Sometimes a chili cook-off functions as a fundraiser for a charity.

Q. What kinds of toppings go on chili?
A. Some people prefer their chili without any additional toppings. However, there are many ways to top off your chili. Try these ideas:

  • Sour cream
  • Shredded cheese
  • Jalapenos
  • Tortilla chips
  • Cornbread
  • Cottage cheese
  • Green onions

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“NATIONAL BANANA BREAD DAY”

NATIONAL BANANA BREAD DAY – February 23

February 23rd annually recognizes a well-known food holiday, National Banana Bread Day.

Bakers know that to make sweet and delicious banana bread, they need to use fully ripe, mashed bananas. The resulting quick bread is moist and almost cake-like. And while some recipes call for yeast, most don’t. Either way, the finished product makes a tasty sliced snack. Toast it and add butter for an even more satisfying treat!

In the 1930s, baking soda and baking powder made banana bread and other quick breads standard features in American cookbooks. Pillsbury’s included banana bread recipes in its 1933 Balanced Recipes cookbook, too. The release of Chiquita Banana’s Recipe Book in 1950 further secured the banana bread’s acceptance. 

Surprisingly, bananas first made their appearance in the United States in 1870. For a long time, Americans saw the tropical fruit as merely that – a fruit, not an ingredient. It would take a few decades before they started seeing the banana’s potential. 

Early Banana Bread

One early recipe came from The Vienna Model Bakery. It advertised banana bread as something new in the April 21, 1893, edition of St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  A new restaurant/bakery chain owned by Gaff, Fleischmann & Company, The Viena Model Bakery was known for its baked goods and was likely one of the first to produce banana bread in the United States. The recipe was made with banana flour, made by drying strips of the fruit, then grinding it to a powder. This process had long been used in the West Indies.

In Hawaii during World War I, a surplus of bananas resulted from very few ships available to export the fruit.  To prevent waste, alternative uses for bananas were developed. For example, bakeries started incorporating the fruit into their bread.

This recipe was printed in The Maui News on April 12, 1918, for banana bread:

2/3 banana
1/3 flour
Yeast, coconut milk, or water

There was also rationing of staple food items such as flour. Banana flour was a suggested substitute. It was touted as a health food and recommended for a vegetarian diet.

This, of course, is not the quick bread we know today.  A recipe submitted by Mrs. Dean in the February 18, 1918, issue of The Garden Island paper for a banana muffin might more closely resemble the quick bread we think of today.

1 cup cornmeal
3-1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 sifted banana
3/4 cup rye flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 tablespoon Crisco

Mix dry ingredients, add banana, milk, and egg, and Crisco.

Quick Bread and Muffin

The difference between a quick bread and a muffin in baking has a lot to do with the type of fat and how it is mixed, creating a different crumb or texture to the bread.

In 1927, Unifruit (a wholesale produce company) offered a free cookbook called From the Tropics to Your Table. The book offered recipes full of bananas as ingredients, including banana muffins and breads. This little cookbook would have been handy during the Great Depression, which was just around the corner. At the time, families utilized every scrap of food, including overripe bananas. They cooked overripe bananas and other fruits and vegetables into breads, stews, and other dishes when flavor and texture were not as appealing raw.

HOW TO OBSERVE #NationalBananaBreadDay

NATIONAL BANANA BREAD DAY HISTORY

National Day Calendar continues researching the origins of this quick bread celebration. We suspect it was founded by someone who thinks it’s the best thing since sliced bread!

Banana Bread FAQ

Q. Can I bake banana bread muffins instead?
A. Yes! That would be a perfect treat for the day.

Q. Can banana bread be frozen?
A. Yes. Wrap it well and place it in a freezer-safe container. It should keep for at least three months.

Q. My bananas aren’t ripe enough for banana bread. What can I do?
A. Poke holes into the peel using a fork. Place in a 300°F oven for 15-20 minutes. The bananas should soften.

Q. My bananas are very ripe but I don’t have time to bake banana bread this week. What can I do?
A. Freeze them in their skins. When you’re ready to bake bread, let them come to room temperature and the bananas will slide right out of the skins and into your mixing bowl!


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Significance of 2/22/22 for US”

Astrologers explain ‘power shift’ significance of 2/22/22 for US

Tomorrow is an epic “Twos”day.

A little more than two hours after midnight, the deuces will be too wild to ignore: 2:22:22 on 2/22/22, a Tuesday.

We’ve had a few palindrome days recently, including 12/22/21. But when written in the British fashion, 22/20/2022 is both a palindrome — a phrase or number that’s the same backwards and forwards (“Madam, I’m Adam”) — and, at least on a calculator, an ambigram, which reads the same upside down as right-side up.

Feb. 22, 2022, is also known as "Twosday." Astrologers and numerologists say it's a significant day for new beginnings and transformation.
Feb. 22, 2022, is also known as “Twosday.” Astrologers and numerologists say it’s a significant day for new beginnings and transformation.
Getty Images/iStockphoto

A longtime Manhattan numerologist sees tomorrow as an opportunity for new beginnings.

CelticSeer, a native of Ireland who does readings online, said all those 2s must be added to divine their significance.

“In numerology, you reduce,” she said. “So 2/22/2022 adds up to 12. Then you add the 1 and 2 to get 3. And that number, 3, is consequential, after the 1 and 2. So it re-forms the sequence. It’s like a new beginning and also self-expression. That’s a very powerful tool.”

As for what tomorrow might bring, she said: “You’re expanding outward, bringing more elements into your sphere. It’s an opportunity for those who choose to do so. There’s always going to be pain and learning. But there’s light at the end of the tunnel.”

Typed out in the British fashion on a calculator, the date is both a palindrome and an ambigram — reading the same upside down as right side up.
Typed out in the British fashion on a calculator, the date is both a palindrome and an ambigram — reading the same upside down as right-side up.
NY Post photo composite

And if you don’t see that light, Ruby Tuesday’s is offering $2 mini-margaritas and beer. (Turns out it’s also National Margarita Day.)

Astrologers also say that the United States will experience its first Pluto Return — in this case, the first time the planet, which is associated with transformation and power, will come back to the position it was when the Declaration of Independence was signed and ratified on July 4, 1776.

As a result, they predict radical power shifts.

According to Horoscope.com writer Shereen Campbell, “Pluto Returns in France and Russia marked the deaths of Napoleon and Stalin. Spanish dictator Francisco Franco relinquished power during Spain’s last Pluto Return. Some even argue that the UK’s last Pluto Return coincides with their unofficial fall from world leader status.

“Historically, this time is marked with a lot of change and most believe that for the US that will be no different,” Campbell told StyleCaster.com.

For Jules Zia Passell, tomorrow is a date she has been eagerly anticipating since childhood.

Astrologers say that the United States will experience its first Pluto Return on or around 2/22/22, signifying a time of transition and power shifts.
Astrologers say the United States will experience its first Pluto Return on or around 2/22/22, signifying a time of transition and power shifts.
Getty Images/Science Photo Libra

Born in 2000, she will turn 22 on 2/22/22.

“It’s been the birthday I’ve waited for. I actually didn’t care about my 21st at all,” she told the Washington Post. “My whole life, I’ve been trying to find the meaning for it. I’m still searching.”

But one expert dampened expectations.

“Twosday carries absolutely no historical significance or any cosmic message,” posted Barry Markovsky, a sociology professor at the University of South Carolina, on MSN.com. “Yet it does speak volumes about our brains and cultures.”

Markovsky, who describes himself as a social psychologist who studies paranormal claims and pseudoscience, discounts popular interpretations about such things as a bunch of 2s piling up on the calendar.

“They’re nearly always absurd from a scientific perspective, but they’re great for illustrating how brains, people, groups and cultures work together to create shared meaning.”


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“Toot, Toot, Toot, Today is 2-22-2022′

 

Al Jolson performing the classic ‘Toot, Toot, Tootsie!’. 

Fantastic performer, fantastic voice – I wish I could whistle like that!

Taken from the 1927 film ‘The Jazz Singer’ credited as the first feature-length ‘Talkie’ film.

 

 

Toot, Toot, Tootsie Lyrics

Yesterday I heard a lover sigh
Goodbye, oh me oh my!
Seven times he got aboard his train
And seven times he hurried back to give his love again and tell her:Toot Toot Tootsie goodbye
Toot Toot Tootsie, don’t cry
That little choo-choo train
That takes me
Away from you, no words can tell how sad it makes me
Kiss me Tootsie and then
Oh baby, do it over again
Watch for the mail;
I’ll never fail
And if you don’t get a letter then you’ll know I’m in jail
Toot Toot Tootsie, don’t cry
Toot Toot Tootsie, goodbye!

When somebody says goodbye to me
Oh I’m sad as can be
Not so with this loving Romeo
He seems to take a lot of pleasure saying goodbye to his treasure
Toot Toot Tootsie, bye bye bye bye bye!
Toot Toot Tootsie, don’t cry
The little choo-choo, the little train
That takes, that takes me
Away from you, no words can tell how sad it makes me
Kiss me, kiss me Tootsie and then
Oh, do it over again
And though I yearn
You need to learn
I’ll keep playing Solitaire until I return
Don’t cry tootsie, don’t cry!
Toot Toot Tootsie, goodbye!

Toot, Toot, Tootsie!  It’s the RITZ BIRTHDAY BASH!

The event of the year is upon us! Our favorite and most historic theatre is turning 81 this year, and we’re celebrating the Ritz with a huge bash. Many of you attended last year’s fabulous PICADILLY party, so you know what to expect. Erik Hokkanen, the brilliant multi-instrumentalist and one of Austin’s greatest Jazzmen, is going to wow us with some traditional jazz performances on the stage. Alamo Chef Elijah Horgan has prepared a menu that’ll fill you to the brim with happiness and delight. And champagne to top the night off!

But it all means nothing without the film. We’re playing the greatest Al Jolson movie. We’re playing the greatest coming of age movie. We’re playing the greatest musical of the 1920s and the most influential motion picture in bringing talking people to movie screens ever. And that’s not four different films, that’s the monumental, the epic, the behemoth transgressive brilliance that is 1927s THE JAZZ SINGER. That’s right, the film that schools teach and old people fondly remember is going to play at the Ritz on 35mm, wonderfully preserved by the people at Warner Brothers and on our gigantic screen to bring back the glory days of 1929 at our most cherished movie house.

Why are we playing THE JAZZ SINGER? The Ritz, before it became an Alamo (and even before it was a punk club), was a classic Hollywood theatre in the 1930s. It opened in 1929, at a time when the movies were in a great transitional period from silent cinema of the 1910s and 1920s to the “talkies” of every preceding decade. The people in charge made the right choice by having the Ritz be “wired for sound,” meaning that the theatre would be one of the first destinations in Texas’ state capital to play talking pictures. That was a good idea. And to celebrate this innovation in movie technology, we play the film that moved the sound pictures forward, the highest grossing and most popular early talkie. THE JAZZ SINGER played first-, second-, and sub-runs for years after its initial release, and its run at the Ritz in 1929 brought talking pictures to more Austinites than anything before it.

The other, very major reason we’re showing THE JAZZ SINGER? Al Jolson is the man. Before Elvis, before Frank Sinatra, there was Jolson, the greatest entertainer of all time and a very cool cat. Check him out right here and tell me you don’t get hot:

Once in a Life Time… It is … 2-22-2022
All of those “2’s” and they equal “12”… and today the weather is changing so  drastically…. all of this, when put together… makes for some real…  “Food For Thought?”

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“NATIONAL COOK A SWEET POTATO DAY”

National Cook A Sweet Potato Day - February 22nd

Across the United States, National Cook A Sweet Potato Day on February 22nd celebrates a root vegetable packed with flavor and a bit of history, too. The sweet potato is eaten and loved, each day, by millions of people across the nation.

Either Central America or South America is thought to be the center of origin and domestication of sweet potatoes. In Central America, sweet potatoes were domesticated at least 5,000 years ago. Peruvian sweet potato remnants dating as far back as 8,000 BC have been found in South America. 

 

The sweet potato is an excellent source of vitamin A, which supports good vision, the immune system, and bone growth. Sweet potatoes are a good source of vitamin B-6, magnesium, and vitamin C.  It’s also great for the complexion.

While many Americans confuse the sweet potato with a yam, the two are different. A yam is a starchy tuber while the sweet potato is truly a sweet root vegetable. The sweet potato also comes in a variety of sizes and colors, including pale to bright orange, white, and purple. High in fiber and low in fat and calories, this root vegetable is a healthful alternative to snack foods when prepared without added butter, sugar, or salt.

Unlike other potatoes, sweet potatoes like long, hot growing seasons. This might explain why it is the state vegetable of North Carolina.  

When storing your sweet potatoes, keep them in a cool, dry place. However, don’t refrigerate them unless they’re cooked. Refrigeration will give them a bitter taste, ruining their sweet flavor. Cooks find numerous ways to experiment with sweet potatoes, too! 

 

HOW TO OBSERVE #CookASweetPotatoDay

NATIONAL COOK A SWEET POTATO DAY HISTORY

National Day Calendar continues to research the origins of this sweet potato cooking challenge. 

Sweet Potato FAQ

Q. How do I cook a sweet potato?
A. There are several ways to cook a sweet potato. In most cases, you can treat the root vegetable just like a white potato. For example:

  • Bake it. Top it with butter, brown sugar or drizzle a little honey on it.
  • Cut it into bite-sized pieces, season it and roast it in the oven.
  • Make potato fries. You can bake, air fry or deep fry them.
  • Mash it with a little butter.

Q. What goes well with sweet potatoes?
A. If you can think of a dish, sweet potatoes probably go well with them. This vegetable is quite versatile.


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“Name: Chocolate Banana Bread”

Recipe of the Day

Name: Chocolate Banana Bread
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 1 hour
Total Prep: 1 hour, 5 minutes
Servings: 2 loaves

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
2 cups mashed banana (about 3 bananas)
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Prepare two loaf pans with a thin coat of butter and lightly dusting with flour.

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs one at a time. 

Add sugar, oil, flour, soda, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon.

Mix well.

Add banana and chocolate chips.

Transfer mixture to loaf pans.

Bake for 1 hour, 5 mins.

Loaves are done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.


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