During the 1820s, Sylvester Graham
created the eponymous cracker as part of his diet plan thought to
increase physical wellness, sexual purity, and spiritual health. The
Presbyterian minister's mission was to rid the world of sexual
immorality. He believed a vegetarian diet, devoid of spices and
sugars, combined with avoiding foods made with overly processed
flours would do away with the greatest evils of his day, lustful
thought and masturbation. Of course, neither Graham crackers nor his
diet have ever been shown to cure sexual urges.
Graham flour is essentially a type of non-bleached, finely ground
whole wheat flour. Among other things made with this flour, Graham
made bland crackers. They were not the sweet treat we enjoy today.
Nabisco began making Graham crackers with bleached white flour and
oils. The germ is rarely used today so the crackers have a longer
shelf life.
Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his brother Will found the minister’s
ideas useful at their Sanitarium in Battle Creek Michigan. Dr.
Kellogg imposed the vegetarian diet on his patients with the belief
that it could cure some of their troubles.
The brothers made their own Graham crackers on the premises. Once,
Will left out some prepared wheat used to make Graham crackers. When
he came back to finish the cooking, the dough had become hard and
stale. Because he could not afford to waste a whole batch’s
ingredients, he used it in the baking process anyway. Rather than
get thin wafers after extruding the dough through rollers, he ended
up with hard crispy flakes, similar to the corn flakes we eat today.
Now you know how Graham crackers and Kellogg's corn flakes are
related.
Apr 13, 2013
Origin of Marshmallows
I would be remiss if I mentioned
Graham crackers and did not speak about marshmallows at the same
time. Marshmallows date back to as early as 2000 BC and Egyptians
made individual marshmallows by hand by extracting sap from a mallow
plant and mixing it with nuts and honey.
The official name of the mallow plant is Althea officials and it is a pink-flowered plant. Marshes are the native growing ground for the mallow plant; hence the name marshmallow. Mallow plants are native in Asia and Europe and are also grown in eastern United States.
During the 1800s, candy makers in France took the sap from marshmallow plants and combined it with egg whites and sugar. The mixture was whipped by hand and took the form of the marshmallow we know today.
Candy makers replaced the sap taken from the marshmallow plant with gelatin, which enabled the marshmallow mixture to maintain its form and reduced the labor intensive process of extracting sap from the mallow plant. The gelatin was combined with corn syrup, starch, sugar, and water to create the fluffy texture of the marshmallow. The gelatin ingredient is essential for extending the shelf life of marshmallows because of the moisture it infuses into the candy. Thus, by replacing the previous egg whites with gelatin, marshmallows maintain their elastic and spongy qualities much longer than they had previously.
The marshmallow made its way to the United States in the 1900s and grew in popularity in the 1950s when it was used in a variety of recipes. Even though Americans were a little behind when it came to the marshmallow, they are now the number one consumers of the fluffy candy, buying more than 90 million pounds per year.
In 1948, Alex Doumak created an extrusion process to make marshmallows. Through this process, the marshmallow substance was pressed through tubes, cut into equal pieces, cooled, and then packaged - just the perfect size for s'mores.
The official name of the mallow plant is Althea officials and it is a pink-flowered plant. Marshes are the native growing ground for the mallow plant; hence the name marshmallow. Mallow plants are native in Asia and Europe and are also grown in eastern United States.
During the 1800s, candy makers in France took the sap from marshmallow plants and combined it with egg whites and sugar. The mixture was whipped by hand and took the form of the marshmallow we know today.
Candy makers replaced the sap taken from the marshmallow plant with gelatin, which enabled the marshmallow mixture to maintain its form and reduced the labor intensive process of extracting sap from the mallow plant. The gelatin was combined with corn syrup, starch, sugar, and water to create the fluffy texture of the marshmallow. The gelatin ingredient is essential for extending the shelf life of marshmallows because of the moisture it infuses into the candy. Thus, by replacing the previous egg whites with gelatin, marshmallows maintain their elastic and spongy qualities much longer than they had previously.
The marshmallow made its way to the United States in the 1900s and grew in popularity in the 1950s when it was used in a variety of recipes. Even though Americans were a little behind when it came to the marshmallow, they are now the number one consumers of the fluffy candy, buying more than 90 million pounds per year.
In 1948, Alex Doumak created an extrusion process to make marshmallows. Through this process, the marshmallow substance was pressed through tubes, cut into equal pieces, cooled, and then packaged - just the perfect size for s'mores.
The Booth Brothers
On April 14, 1865, just days after the
end of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln attended a
play at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. and was shot. He died the
next day.
Before the assassination, John Wilkes Booth was well known as a stage actor. He was the son of a famous actor, Junius Brutus Booth, and two of his brothers, Edwin and Junius, Jr., were also actors. Edwin was more famous than John Wilkes, before the assassination.
Months before the assassination of Lincoln, Edwin Booth was on a train platform in New Jersey. A young man was waiting in line to buy a ticket. He was pushed up against the idle train car and as the train began to move, the lad fell into the gap between the platform and the train. Booth grabbed him by his coat collar and brought him safely back onto the platform.
The young man knew who Edwin Booth was, but it was a few months later that Edwin Booth learned that the young man, whose life he saved was Robert Lincoln, the oldest son of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln. History suggests that Edwin was comforted by his deed as he was a staunch supporter of the North.
Before the assassination, John Wilkes Booth was well known as a stage actor. He was the son of a famous actor, Junius Brutus Booth, and two of his brothers, Edwin and Junius, Jr., were also actors. Edwin was more famous than John Wilkes, before the assassination.
Months before the assassination of Lincoln, Edwin Booth was on a train platform in New Jersey. A young man was waiting in line to buy a ticket. He was pushed up against the idle train car and as the train began to move, the lad fell into the gap between the platform and the train. Booth grabbed him by his coat collar and brought him safely back onto the platform.
The young man knew who Edwin Booth was, but it was a few months later that Edwin Booth learned that the young man, whose life he saved was Robert Lincoln, the oldest son of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln. History suggests that Edwin was comforted by his deed as he was a staunch supporter of the North.
Apr 5, 2013
Happy Friday
"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”
My heart tells me that today is the best day to have a Happy Friday!
My heart tells me that today is the best day to have a Happy Friday!
Origin of Umbrellas
As the old song says, "Though April
showers may bring the rain. . ." It sent me looking for facts about
the lowly umbrella. Jonas Hanway appears to be the first person who
had the courage to hold an umbrella over his head while walking
along the streets of London during the mid-1700s.
Apparently people in Paris used umbrellas in hot weather to defend them from the sun and save them from the snow and the rain. Someone wrote that Jonas was in delicate health and used the umbrella to protect his face and wig. During that time only dainty beings, then called “Macaronis,” would carry an umbrella.
Bringing it forward a few years gets us to the song, Yankee Doodle. It began as a pre-Revolutionary War song originally sung by British military officers to mock the disheveled, disorganized colonial Yankees.
"Yankee Doodle went to town riding on a pony;
"He stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni."
The Macaroni wig was an extreme fashion in the mid-1700s and became contemporary slang. The Macaronis adopted feminine mannerisms, and the men were deemed effeminate. In the song, the British were insinuating that the colonists were not very masculine.
Macaroni and cheese has been around since the 15th century, but became widely popular in the late 1700s and does not seem to have any relation to the wig style or derision. In the United States, July 14 is "National Macaroni and Cheese Day.
One current variation on the recipe is the state fair staple, deep fried mac and cheese. Some folks now cover it with bacon. Isn't it amazing how we can get from umbrellas to bacon in a few short paragraphs!
Apparently people in Paris used umbrellas in hot weather to defend them from the sun and save them from the snow and the rain. Someone wrote that Jonas was in delicate health and used the umbrella to protect his face and wig. During that time only dainty beings, then called “Macaronis,” would carry an umbrella.
Bringing it forward a few years gets us to the song, Yankee Doodle. It began as a pre-Revolutionary War song originally sung by British military officers to mock the disheveled, disorganized colonial Yankees.
"Yankee Doodle went to town riding on a pony;
"He stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni."
The Macaroni wig was an extreme fashion in the mid-1700s and became contemporary slang. The Macaronis adopted feminine mannerisms, and the men were deemed effeminate. In the song, the British were insinuating that the colonists were not very masculine.
Macaroni and cheese has been around since the 15th century, but became widely popular in the late 1700s and does not seem to have any relation to the wig style or derision. In the United States, July 14 is "National Macaroni and Cheese Day.
One current variation on the recipe is the state fair staple, deep fried mac and cheese. Some folks now cover it with bacon. Isn't it amazing how we can get from umbrellas to bacon in a few short paragraphs!
Hurricanes and Storms
Umbrellas do not provide protection
from hurricanes and storms. During the rainy season we also have
many types of storms. The word “hurricane” is thought to have come
from the Mayan name for the god of storms “Hurukan”.
When a storm has wind speeds of 38 mph it is called a tropical depression. It is called a tropical storm if it has wind speeds between 39-73 mph. Above 74 mph it is called a hurricane. Anything above 111 mph is known as a major hurricane.
Hurricanes are classified differently depending on what country you live in. In the United States, typically the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale is used, classifying the hurricanes from Category 1 through Category 5, based on their sustained wind speeds. This scale was developed by Herbert Saffir and Bob Simpson, in 1971.
Saffir developed the scale trying to estimate the amount of property damage a specific hurricane would do, primarily looking at damage the wind would do to structures. Simpson added flood damage. What they came up with is the following table:
Category 1: 74-95 mph
Category 2: 96-110 mph
Category 3: 111-129 mph
Category 4: 130-156 mph
Category 5: 157 mph and up
When a storm has wind speeds of 38 mph it is called a tropical depression. It is called a tropical storm if it has wind speeds between 39-73 mph. Above 74 mph it is called a hurricane. Anything above 111 mph is known as a major hurricane.
Hurricanes are classified differently depending on what country you live in. In the United States, typically the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale is used, classifying the hurricanes from Category 1 through Category 5, based on their sustained wind speeds. This scale was developed by Herbert Saffir and Bob Simpson, in 1971.
Saffir developed the scale trying to estimate the amount of property damage a specific hurricane would do, primarily looking at damage the wind would do to structures. Simpson added flood damage. What they came up with is the following table:
Category 1: 74-95 mph
Category 2: 96-110 mph
Category 3: 111-129 mph
Category 4: 130-156 mph
Category 5: 157 mph and up
Bruce Lee's Speed
If you think a hurricane wind has speed,
one man was possibly faster. Bruce Lee was challenged by a man who
had a grudge against him and Lee agreed to fight the man who
practiced karate and had a black belt in judo.
The fight was to be three two-minute rounds and held at the YMCA handball court. Jesse Glover was the referee and Ed Hart was the time keeper.
The fight started and Lee deflected an initial kick with his right forearm and simultaneously punched the man in the face with his left hand. He deflected a couple more punches and landed several of his own until he had the man pinned against the wall.
The man tried to grab Lee’s arm, but instead he received a double fist punch to the chest and face by Lee and then a kick to the nose. The man’s nose started bleeding, he was knocked out by the kick, and Glover stopped the fight.
Ed Hart said the fight lasted exactly 11 seconds and Lee landed 15 punches and a kick. A well known fact is that they had to slow down the speed for some movie scenes because Lee's actions were too quick.
The fight was to be three two-minute rounds and held at the YMCA handball court. Jesse Glover was the referee and Ed Hart was the time keeper.
The fight started and Lee deflected an initial kick with his right forearm and simultaneously punched the man in the face with his left hand. He deflected a couple more punches and landed several of his own until he had the man pinned against the wall.
The man tried to grab Lee’s arm, but instead he received a double fist punch to the chest and face by Lee and then a kick to the nose. The man’s nose started bleeding, he was knocked out by the kick, and Glover stopped the fight.
Ed Hart said the fight lasted exactly 11 seconds and Lee landed 15 punches and a kick. A well known fact is that they had to slow down the speed for some movie scenes because Lee's actions were too quick.
Not so Sandy Deserts
Believe it or not, most of the Earth’s
deserts are not composed entirely of sand. Much, about 85% of them,
are rocks and gravel. The largest, the Sahara, fills about 1/3 of
Africa and still growing, which would nearly fill the continental
United States.
Apr 3, 2013
Calories and calories
Deserts do not have Calories, but
desserts do. Of course, getting your just deserts means getting what
you deserve. So getting your deserts and getting your desserts might
be the same thing. No wonder there is such confusion about the
words.
Calories share the same type of confusion. A calorie is a unit of measure required to increase the temperature of one kilogram of water one degree Celsius. A food Calorie is actually 1,000 calories compared to calories in chemistry. Usually calories are spelled with a small "c" and food Calories spelled with capital "C".
Food Calories are counted, according to the National Data Lab, based on an indirect calorie estimation made using the Atwater system. The total caloric value is calculated by adding up the calories provided by the energy-containing nutrients: protein, carbohydrate, fat and alcohol. Because carbohydrates contain some fiber that is not digested and utilized by the body, the fiber component is usually subtracted from the total carbohydrate before calculating calories. The label on a food item that contains 10 g of protein, 20 g of carbohydrate and 9 g of fat would read 201 kcals or Calories.
Calories share the same type of confusion. A calorie is a unit of measure required to increase the temperature of one kilogram of water one degree Celsius. A food Calorie is actually 1,000 calories compared to calories in chemistry. Usually calories are spelled with a small "c" and food Calories spelled with capital "C".
Food Calories are counted, according to the National Data Lab, based on an indirect calorie estimation made using the Atwater system. The total caloric value is calculated by adding up the calories provided by the energy-containing nutrients: protein, carbohydrate, fat and alcohol. Because carbohydrates contain some fiber that is not digested and utilized by the body, the fiber component is usually subtracted from the total carbohydrate before calculating calories. The label on a food item that contains 10 g of protein, 20 g of carbohydrate and 9 g of fat would read 201 kcals or Calories.
Wordology, Pilcrow
The pilcrow was used in the Middle Ages to
mark a new train of thought, before the
convention of physically discrete paragraphs was commonplace.
It is now used in word processing software and page layout programs to mark the presence of a typewriter style carriage return control character at the end of a paragraph. Most programs allow the user to turn on or off the symbol to visualize page layout.
The
pilcrow originated as a letter C, for capitulum, or chapter in
Latin. This C was the symbol that replaced in the function of
marking off paragraphs the Greek-style paragraphos, and other
symbols including the section sign.
It is now used in word processing software and page layout programs to mark the presence of a typewriter style carriage return control character at the end of a paragraph. Most programs allow the user to turn on or off the symbol to visualize page layout.
Twenty Texas Facts
The great state of Texas is interesting
and its people have always liked to brag. Here are some interesting
facts about the great state.
- Beaumont to El Paso: 742 miles - Beaumont to Chicago: 770 miles
- El Paso is closer to California than to Dallas.
- World's first rodeo was in Pecos, July 4, 1883.
- The Flagship Hotel in Galveston is the only hotel in North America that was built over water.
- The Heisman Trophy is named after John William Heisman who was the first full-time coach for Rice University in Houston.
- Brazoria County has more species of birds than any other area in North America.
- Aransas Wildlife Refuge is the winter home of North America 's only remaining flock of whooping cranes.
- Jalapeno jelly originated in Lake Jackson in 1978.
- The first word spoken from the Moon, July 20, 1969, was "Houston."
- King Ranch in South Texas is larger than the state of Rhode Island.
- Tropical Storm Claudette brought a US rainfall record of 43 inches in 24 hours in and around Alvin in July, 1979.
- Texas is the only state to enter the US by treaty, known as Constitution of 1845 by Republic of Texas to enter the union, instead of by annexation. This allows the Texas flag to fly at the same height as the US flag, and allowed to divide into 4 States.
- A Texas Live Oak tree near Fulton is estimated to be 1,500 years old.
- Caddo Lake, a 25,400 acres lake and wetland located on the border between Texas and Louisiana, in northern Harrison County and southern Marion County in Texas and western Caddo Parish in Louisiana is the only natural lake in the State.
- Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. (There is no period after the Dr in Dr Pepper)
- Texas has had six capital cities: Washington-on-the-Brazos, Harrisburg, Galveston, Velasco, West Columbia, Austin.
- The Capitol Dome in Austin is the only dome in the U.S. that is taller than the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. (by 7 feet).
- The name Texas comes from the Hasini Indian word "tejas" meaning friends. Tejas is not Spanish for Texas.
- The State animal is the Armadillo. Armadillos always have four babies. They have one egg, which splits into four, and they either have four males or four females.
- The first domed stadium in the U.S. was the Astrodome in Houston.
Atlas Obscura Day
Sorry I missed a few Atlas Obscura Day
celebrations this year, but here is a site where you can catch up on
the latest happenings. LINK
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