I would like to wish all of you a very Happy Memorial Day weekend.
While you're enjoying the long holiday, I hope you take a moment out to honor those who gave their lives in defense of our country. Tell your children or grandchildren that Memorial Day is not just a three day weekend, hot dogs, fun in the sun and a family outing, it is the day set aside to remember those who lost their lives defending our way of life.
Below is a video of John Wayne reciting the history of the song 'Taps'. At the end you will hear a chorus singing 'Taps', a song that many are unaware has words because most of the time we hear it it is being played on a trumpet:
Peace and Prayers to all those serving in the military - May you return home safely to your family and friends.
Every time I watched an episode of 'SEX and the CITY' on HBO I always came away laughing and shocked. Laughing because the show was funny and a slice of a single woman's life. Shocked because I grew up in an era where the language and sexual freedom of Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda would have almost had them wearing a scarlet "A" on their chests instead of a pair of scarlet souled Jimmy Choos!
It's amazing to me how the world has changed for women, not to mention their wardrobes, in my lifetime. I was born in 1951, spent my childhood in that very conservative, sexually repressed decade and came of age in the world changing sixties. Had I been born a decade or so earlier or later I don't even know who I would have become.
It's hard for me to imagine myself as a contented housewife wearing drab shirtwaist dresses and acceptable pearls like June Cleaver. But it's also hard to see myself in Samantha's wild and sexual, naked-toed Jimmy Choos. I think I'm a cross-dresser between Carrie's creatively independent Manolo Blahniks and Charlotte's naive and conservative Ferragamo pumps with a pinch of Miranda's dry, cynical Gucci tennis shoes tossed into the mix. The funny thing is I find Samantha to be my favorite character on 'SEX and the CITY" and her close to street-walker clothing to be somewhat appealing. There is something to be said for the total freedom Samantha represents.
But I am still a child of the fifties, a young woman who grew up fighting the establishment, fashion and authoritarian, to make my own place in the world. I carry a lot of Fendi baggage from the eras in which I spent my formative years and I'm not quite able to hurdle that last bastion of repression that was pounded into my fertile little female brain as a child.
But I am going to see "SEX and the CITY 2" today. Just like I saw every episode (twice at least by this time) and just like I saw the first movie - twice. Because, even though I'm not quite at the Samantha stiletto stage, I've eased nicely into a Carrie five-inch heel niche over the years. I'm going to go see "SEX and the CITY 2", bask in their friendship, laugh at their sexually suggestive "bon mots" and revel in their freedom to be who they are.
And I'm going to have a few Pink Flirtinis and some excellent New York City style nosh at a chic bistro after with a BFF - because that's just how those "SEX and the CITY" girls roll. -------------------
I hope you didn't forget it was Mother's Day - if you did pick up the phone right now and call her! For those of you, like me, who have lost their Mom take a few minutes today to remember her and tell her Happy Mother's Day in your heart!
For those of you who are mother's here's some fun Mother's Day nostalgia and fun for you!
M... is for the million things she gave me, O... means only that she's growing old, T... is for the tears she shed to save me, H... is for her heart of purest gold; E... is for her eyes, with love-light shining, R... means right, and right she'll always be. Put them all together, they spell "MOTHER," A word that means the world to me. --Howard Johnson (c. 1915)
Did/Does your Mom say these things to you too?
Always change your underwear; you never know when you'll have an accident.
Don't make that face or it'll freeze in that position.
Be careful or you'll put your eye out.
What if everyone jumped off a cliff? Would you do it, too?
You have enough dirt behind those ears to grow potatoes!
Close that door! Were you born in a barn?
If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.
Don't put that in your mouth; you don't know where it's been!
A Few Mother's Day Facts:
Mother's Day ranks as the third most popular holiday in the world, after Christmas and Easter.
Mother's Day is the third-largest card-sending holiday and it is the busiest day of the year for restaurants. Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia wanted to honor her deceased mother ans she created a letter-writing campaign to create a Mother's Day observance.
In1914, the US Congress passed legislation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.
A Few of the Things Our Mother's Taught Us:
My Mother taught me MEDICINE..."If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they're going to freeze that way."
My Mother taught me ESP..."Put your sweater on; don't you think that I know when you're cold?"
My Mother taught me TO MEET A CHALLENGE..."What were you thinking? Answer me when I talk to you...Don't talk back to me!"
My mother taught me about my ROOTS..."Do you think you were born in a barn?"
My mother taught me about the WISDOM of AGE..."When you get to be my age, you will understand."
And, my all-time favorite - JUSTICE..."One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like YOU -- then you'll see what it's like!"
James S. Merritt (founder of Merritt Foods) and D. S. "Doc" Abernathy (creator of Dole Frozen Dessert Bars and Mutant Ninja Turtles Ice Cream Treats) invented the Bomb Pop in 1955. When Merritt Foods closed in 1991, their partner, Morningstar Group, Inc., decided to stop producing and selling frozen confections. Wells Dairy bought the patent to the Bomb Pop and still produces it to this day.
Created at the height of the Cold War, the "atomic age" and the threat of the "Red Menace" the Bomb Pop was originally formed into a six finned rocket shape and layered in 3 flavors and colors: Blue - raspberry, Red - Cherry and White - Lime. Though the trademarked rocket shape has altered a bit over the years (thinner and longer), added new flavors and combinations, it is still one of the most popular ice pops (popsicles) being sold even today.
(Related Interesting Atomic Age Fact: Another iconic pop culture phenomenon was created during this same era of "nuclear threat" - The Bikini! Inspired by the A-Bomb and named after the Bikini Atoll where the original tests were conducted!)
It got me to wondering about how Popsicles came into being. They're such a simple concept but sometimes the simplest ideas are the ones with the most complicated histories. Not in the case of the Popsicle - it's beginnings were quite simple and humble for such an iconic part of our childhood.
Like many other things in existence, "Popsicles" were invented in 1906 by mistake. A young eleven year old boy named Frank Epperson left a glass of soda powder and water with a mixing stick in it outside overnight and the temperature dropped below freezing. When he awoke the next morning he discovered his soda had turned into a soda flavored icicle with a stick in it. He ran water over the glass to loosen it, tasted the frozen mixture and the Popsicle was born!
Originally he called his discovery the "Epsicle" but his kids just called it "Pop's Icle" as in "pop's icicle". Epperson patented his discovery as the "Popsicle®" and began selling them to the public in 1922. Epperson collaborated with the Joe Lowe Company to bring the treat to the public in movie houses and amusement parks and they formed the original Popsicle Company in 1923.
Epperson obtained a patent on the Popsicle® in 1924 and immediately sold it to a totally new Popsicle Corporation of the United States which set out marketing the frozen treat as "a drink on a stick"and turned it into the pop culture food icon it has become today.
Here in America the name "popsicle" has become identified with almost all frozen confections on a stick but if you live in Britain you might call them an "ice lolly" and in Australia an "ice pole". Popsicle has a much nicer ring, don't you think?
Some Fun Popsicle® Facts:
Cherry Popsicles® are the most popular (they're my favorite!)
The Popsicle® stick is made from birch.
The very first Popsicle® Ice Cream Truck was actually a horse drawn cart!
The "twin" Popsicle® was invented during The Great Depression so two kids could share one five cent treat.
"I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream for Ice Cream" (How perfect was that phrase in the 1950s?)
I was working away on some graphics on my computer recently when I heard a sound that I hadn't heard in decades - The Ice Cream Truck!
By the way - The Ice Cream Truck song is "Turkey in the Straw" for all you whipper snappers out there!
I swear I got as excited as I did when I was a kid, I ran to my purse, grabbed some money and ran outside just like an eight year old, lol. I was hoping the Ice Cream man had some of my favorites from the fifties - Bomb Pops, Creamsicles and my very favorite, the Banana Fudgesicle! I was happy to see they still had a version of the Bomb Pop and the Creamsicle is still a staple in the ice cream aisle as well as on the ice cream truck but, sadly, my wonderful Banana Fudgesicle had become a thing of the past.
As I giddily hugged my nostalgic frozen treats to my chest and raced back to the house to squirrel them away in my freezer I started thinking about some of the names given to treats for kids in the fifties and sixties. I realized we had a lot of candy and goodies with names that stemmed from our so called "atomic age". We had Milky Way Bars, Mars Bars, Moon Pies, Bomb Pops and Astro Pops. Though I never thought about it as a kid, as an adult I think it's kind of interesting that we were eating anything called a "bomb pop"!
During the fifties and sixties the Cold War was a constant issue. We had bomb drills in school (Duck and Cover!), television and newspapers were filled with stories about the "Red Menace" and people were building bomb shelters in their back yards. We were living in a nuclear age and even our childhood treats reflected the ever present threat of total annihilation! We grew up with the very real fear of having our lives, our families and our world blown to smithereens. Our poor little kid psyches were formed in an atmosphere of H-Bombs, radiation poisoning and the threat of "the end of the world".
Have no fear - The League of Sugar Rush Kid Treats is here! Good Humor Man and Candy Man to the rescue! With the sound of a catchy jingle playing from his truck and the help of liquid nitrogen this Good Humor Man would turn our fears into fun with a rocket shaped frozen confection of raspberry, cherry and lime and Candy Man would sooth our nerves with a binkie of pure sugar goodness!
BOMB POP
The Original Bomb Pop®, created by Blue Bunny was an ice cream treat that was a combination of cherry, "blue" raspberry and lime flavors and looked like a rocket ship.
Some people even called them rocket pops because Nestle had a similar frozen confection called Rockets or Triple Rockets®. Popsicle® had their version too called the Firecracker® or the Mega Missile® but the original Bomb Pop was created by "Doc" Abernethy and James S. Merritt in 1955 and is now marketed solely by Blue Bunny. There's even a National Bomb Pop Day celebrated on the last Thursday of June!
ASTRO POP Sadly, Astro Pops are no longer being manufactured. Spangler Candy of Bryan, Ohio (also the manufacturer of Dum Dums) introduced the candy in the late fifties/early sixties to cash in on our national obsession with astronauts and the space race with this rocket shaped confection.
Astro Pops were yellow, red and green, shaped like a rocket cone and the pointed end was the top with the wide end having the stick. I remember the flavor(s) being kind of a raspberry/cherry combination and I also remember that wax bottom! As kids we loved the darn things and used them as spears or lances, poking each other (and ourselves) with the very sticky pointed end.
In the late 1990s Spangler inverted the shape, putting the pointed end on the stick, reportedly this was a result of a lawsuit that claimed a child had been injured by the pointed candy - which actually comes as no surprise to me knowing what I used to do with them! Shortly after the sales dropped and the candy was discontinued.
I gobbled up my Bomb Pops and Creamsicles in a couple of days (I gave that ice cream man $20, lol!) but I will not be without the flavors of these nostalgic treats again - I have created several Ice Cream and Candy Martinisinspired by some of my all time childhood favorites! The flavor profiles are there but with a bit more sophistication and a little kick from some booze. So feel free todownload the Free Candy and Ice Cream Inspired Martini Recipe Cards and enjoy a little updated nostalgia yourself!
You may not know this but the term 420 is a reference to smoking marijuana - aka weed, grass, Mary Jane, reefer, pot, cannabis, toke, doobie, ganja, joints, hemp, sativa et al. 420 (pronounced like the time 4:20 and not four hundred twenty) has been kind of a widespread "secret code" for decades amongst stoners for getting high on grass.
There are a lot of myths and versions of where the term 420 actually originated, most of them are wrong. Nope, sorry, it is not the police code for a marijuana bust or for someone "under the influence", it is not the day April 20th, it's not the number of active chemicals in marijuana (that is around 300+/- depending on the genus of the actual plant), nor is it derived from National Pot Smoker's Day which was established as April 20th as a result of the term420.
According to Steven Hager, editor of High Times, the term 420 actually came about from a bunch of kids at San Rafael High in California who called themselves the Waldos. In 1971 the Waldos, a group consisting of Steve, Dave and Patrick (last names not revealed), coined the phrase when they made plans to meet up every day at the statue of Louis Pasteur on the campus and get high at 4:20 pm after school. It then evolved into a "Waldos" code for getting stoned, soon spreading through the school and then practically worldwide over the decades.
To quote one of the Waldos, "We did discover we could talk about getting high in front of our parents without them knowing by using the phrase 420."
Today, nearly 40 years later, 420 has evolved into a hidden symbol and code for cannabis and the counterculture that celebrated it's use. It's kind of like a modern day's counter culture Da Vinci Code - maybe in the year 4545 - if man is still alive - a futuristic android archaeologist will dig up an old stoner's t-shirt or some smoking paraphernalia and wonder just what that "420" means? Hopefully, they'll also find an archive of this blog post. . . .
I was having a conversation about men and relationships with my friend Debby the other day and in the course of our discussion I told her , "I'd much rather have some good chocolate than bad sex any day!"
Think about it - chocolate releases all sorts of interesting things into your body that stimulate the pleasure centers in your brain and just plain make you feel good:
Chocolate contains phenylethylamine which is a chemical that is released naturally in the body when you're in love.
Chocolate contains dopamine and serotonin, both of which alleviate pain and raise pleasure levels.
Chocolate contains theobromine (also known as xantheose), a chemical stimulant which is a mood elevator. Theobromine is the reason chocolate is toxic to dogs and horses, by the way.
Theobromine actually translates to "food of the gods." in Greek: theo ("God") and brosi ("food")
Chocolate does contain caffeine but only about half as much as compared to theobromine and caffeine is another stimulant.
The melting point of chocolate is slightly below human body temperature so it melts in your mouth for an extremely sensual experience. It's sweet, makes you feel good and it never dates your cousin or your best friend! It's available in almost every retail outlet, you can cook with it, make cocktails with it and give it as a gift!
Throughout the history of chocolate people considered it to be an aphrodisiac:
The Aztecs considered all chocolate an aphrodisiac and all foods made with chocolate were forbidden to women! (Dear God, no wonder their civilization crumbled and disappeared - how stupid do you have to be to deny women chocolate?!?)
The infamous lover of history, Cassanova, called chocolate his "elixir of love".
Madame du Barry, famous French courtesan and mistress of King Louis XV, served a "cup of chocolat" to her paramours before adjourning to the boudoir.
FESS PARKER ( Fess Elisha Parker, Jr.) August 16, 1924 – March 18, 2010
Like many of you I grew up watching Fess Parker on television. First as Davy Crockett in the fifties then as Daniel Boone in the sixties. I wanted an "Authentic Davy Crockett Coonskin Cap" so bad I could taste it! I got a Barbie Doll - my brother got the coonskin cap because "little girls don't dress up like hooligans".
I'm sure my Mother did NOT think Davy Crockett or Fess Parker were hooligans - but in the fifties a little girl who dressed up like an animal skin wearing mountain man was not going to fit in with the sexual stereotypes we were subjected to. My hero worship was limited to watching the TV shows and singing the theme songs. I don't think I missed an episode of either show and I also saw several Davy Crockett/Daniel Boone movies!
Interestingly Davy Crockett was a mini-series! It ran only from 1954 to 1955 while Daniel Boone was on the air for six years from 1964 to 1970. There were 2 Davy Crockett movies: Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier (1955), Davy Crockett and the River Pirates (1956) and one Daniel Boone movie: Daniel Boone: Frontier Trail Rider (1966).
Fess Parker won the role as Davy Crockett when he showed up to audition for Walt Disney with a guitar and proceeded to sing for him. He won the role over both James Arness (Marshall Matt Dillon of Gunsmoke fame) and Buddy Ebsen (best known as Jed Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies). Later Buddy Ebsen was hired to play Crockett's sidekick, George Russell.
You may not know this but Fess Parker was nominated for an Emmy in 1954 for Most Outstanding New Personality but lost to George Gobel. He was offered the Ambassadorship to Australia by President Reagan but turned it down. Later, after retiring from show business, he became a vintner with the Fess Parker Family Winery and Vineyards in Los Olivos, California - some of the wine labels included a reference to his days as Davy Crockett:
Fess Parker was a huge figure in my childhood years, he brought to life two legends of the American West for the entire baby boom generation and he will be missed.
One last time, let's all sing it just for Fess: Born on a mountain top in Tennessee, Greenest state in the land of the free. Raised in the woods so's he knew every tree, Kilt him a b'ar when he was only three.
Next Wednesday is St. Patrick's Day and, being part Irish, I always celebrate my heritage! My father passed on the Irish gene to me and every year growing up I was reminded by him to wear my green so I wouldn't get pinched and I enjoyed a traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner that he prepared (Mom got the Czech holidays, lol.)
This year is no different - I'm posting St. Patrick's Day Martinis and St. Patrick's Day Appetizers and I designed the Kiss Me, I'm Irish image above and a fun Pop Art Shamrock for my stores. I've already purchased three lovely corned beef briskets - one for a traditional dinner, one for sandwiches and one already used to test out my appetizer recipes above - Dad would be proud (and he would have loved my Irish martinis & appetizers!)
I also dug up some fun facts on St. Patrick's Day, Shamrocks and leprechauns and decided to share them with you to help you get ready to enjoy your share of Irish luck!
Some Fun Irish Facts & Info:
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the highest number of leaves found on a clover is 14!
One estimate suggests that there are about 10 000 regular three-leaf clovers for every lucky four-leaf clover.
Legend says each leaf of the clover means something: the first for hope, the second for faith, the third for love & the fourth for luck.
The Irish saying, "Erin Go Braugh", means "Ireland Forever!"
Ireland is divided into two separate countries; The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The harp is the symbol of Ireland. The color green is also commonly associated with Ireland, also known as “the Emerald Isle.”
34 million Americans have Irish ancestry, according to the 2003 US Census. That’s almost nine times the population of Ireland!
St. Patrick was born in 385 AD somewhere along the west coast of Britain, possibly in the Welsh town of Banwen. At age 16, he was captured and sold into slavery to a sheep farmer. He escaped when he was 22 and spent the next 12 years in a monastery. In his 30s he returned to Ireland as a Christian missionary. He died at Saul in 461 AD and is buried at Downpatrick.
St. Patrick’s Day is observed on March 17 because that is the feast day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.
St Patrick is patron of fishermen in the Loire, where a legend associates him with a blackthorn bush.
The first St Patrick’s Day parade took place in 1737 in Boston, followed in 1762 by New York.
According to legend, on the day of Judgement, while Christ judges all other nations, St Patrick will be the judge of the Irish.
Since 1962, tons of green dye are tipped into the Chicago river on St Patrick’s Day - amount reduced in recent years for environmental reasons.
The potato crop was traditionally planted in Ireland after March 17
And Here are some Irish Quotes, Sayings & Blessings:
May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow, and may trouble avoid you wherever you go ~ Irish Blessing
Never iron a four-leaf clover, because you don't want to press your luck. ~Author Unknown
If you're enough lucky to be Irish, you're lucky enough! ~Irish Saying
Morning is the time to pity the sober. The way they're feeling then is the best they're going to feel all day - old Irish Saying
God is good, but never dance in a small boat - Irish Saying
A best friend is like a four leaf clover: hard to find and lucky to have - Irish Saying
May the road rise to meet you, May the wind be always at your back, May the sun shine warm upon your face, The rains fall soft upon your fields, And until we meet again, May God hold you In the palm of his hand - Irish Blessing
May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night and a smooth road all the way to your door - Irish Blessing
An Irishman is never drunk as long as he can hold onto one blade of grass to keep from falling off the earth - Irish Saying
Men are like bagpipes: no sound comes from them until they're full - old Irish Saying
It is better to be a coward for a minute than dead the rest of your life - Irish Proverb
May the saddest day of your future be no worse than the happiest day of your past - Irish Blessing
Here's to eyes in your heads and none in your spuds - Irish Toast
God made time, but man made haste - Irish Saying
What butter and whiskey won't cure, there is no cure for - Irish Saying
May you live as long as you want and never want as long as you live - Irish Blessing
So, my dear friends, until next St. Patrick's Day, I leave you with my favorite of all the Gaelic blessings: Dance as if no one's watching, sing as if no one's listening, and live everyday as if it were your last!
Happy St. Patrick's Day! I'll leave you with this wonderful Dennis Morgan rendition of "When Irish Eyes are Smiling"
This Sunday is the 82nd Annual Academy Awards and, as usual, I am looking forward to the ceremonies. Every year I have a little Oscar Party with a few other fans, serve up my Oscar Martinis and my Oscar Snacks and sit down in front of the old Boob Tube to enjoy a night of vicarious glitz and glamour.
I've been watching the Oscars for decades and have seen some absolutely great television moments during the ceremonies. Some of these still come to mind as I get ready to prepare for this year's festivities and I'd like to share some of them with you - I'm sure many of you remember some of these great Oscar moments starting with my all time favorite:
The official name of the golden statue is the Academy Award of Merit. Bette Davis makes the claim that she named the statuette after her first husband, bandleader Harmon Oscar Nelson.
You cannot buy an Oscar. The winners or their heirs may not sell the statuettes without first offering to sell them back to the Academy for $1. If the winner does not agree to this stipulation the Academy keeps their statuette. Prior to 1950 this stipulation was not in place and Oscars fetched as high as six figures.
In 1981, the Academy Awards were delayed for one day, due to the shooting of President Ronald Reagan.
The first televised Academy Awards show was the 25th annual, held on March 19, 1953.
Thank you very much. That makes up for the strip-search. - Woody Allen
Oh, wow. This is the best drink of water after the longest drought of my life - Steven Spielberg
Most of all, I want to thank my father, up there, the man who when I said I wanted to be an actor, he said, 'Wonderful, just have a back-up profession like welding - Robin Williams
I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me! - Sally Field
I guess this proves there are as many nuts in the Academy as anywhere else - Jack Nicholson
This is one night I wish I smoked and drank - Grace Kelly
And, of course, the Classic Non-Acceptance Line of All Time:
"Marlon Brando very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award. And the reason for this being is the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry - Sacheen Littlefeather refusing the Best Actor Award for Marlon Brando in 1972
A live telecast is always an opportunity for classic lines, classic bloopers and some true pop culture in the making and I, for one, eagerly anticipate the possibilities again this year.
As for who's going to win? I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Sandra Bullock as Best Actress, Jeff Bridges for Best Actor and Avatar for Best Picture. Who are you hoping will win?
