Today we celebrate the bean. Most of us consume some sort of bean during the day. Generally a bean is a seed, meaning if we replant it, with any luck, it should grow. It doesn’t always work that way so we boil them, roast them, grind them and put them in numerous dishes we can devour. They are healthy and meet the requirements of meat eaters as well as vegans. They can be green, brown, gray, red or nearly any color of the spectrum. They also help us digest our food, though sometimes they cause us to react in ways others do not welcome.
How to celebrate – Name as many beans as you can without looking. If you have beans, does that make you a Has-bean? Have beans with every meal today.
Need to get your day started with a charge! Have an Espresso! Similar to the Capuccino, the Latte and the Macchiato the Espresso became a very popular coffee drink after Luigi Bezzera invented the Espresso machine in Italy in 1901. It is a finer ground coffee, full of flavor with a foamed topping and in most cases sort of like starter fluid for the mind. Normally one is enough to get your day started and wake up your mind. Of course if one is not enough, you can always have a double espresso! Naturally you can have an espresso any time of the day, may not at night before going to bed, but otherwise… have at it!
How to celebrate – Have an espresso. Get an Espresso Machine. Learn how to grind your coffee correctly.
If your name is “Joe”, or “Jo”, then today is your day. Perhaps it is the most common American name of all time. The name has been associated with soldiers, G.I. Joe being both a toy and a name used to describe American troops by countries that do not speak English. It also refers to coffee, “having a cup of Joe”. That’s because Americans have always been known for drinking so much coffee making it as common a drink as the name Joe. There is something comforting about the name Joe. Throughout history when an American was called Joe there was a pretty good chance their name was actually Joe! It’s not all that common anymore as we have begun to name our children names no one can say or understand. Ah, back when things were easier… so maybe having a “Joe” day is remembering when life was easier.
How to celebrate – Try to remember all the Joe’s you have known. Have a cup of Joe. Look at the changes G.I. Joe has gone through.
I guess the most popular name in the entire world is “Joe”. Well, at least in the United States anyway. We named our soldiers Joe, G.I. Joe, because while they are not common by any means, the idea of the soldier is common. So a G.I. Joe stood for anybody who was in uniform. We even call our coffee having a cup of Joe, because it’s common. Why not Bob or Bill? Well, we gave other outside titles to Bob and Bill. For example to bob is to bounce or dodge out of the way. Bill on the other hand is something we pay at the end of a meal. So I assume Joe just wasn’t taken for anything else! Think of all the people you know named Joe. They are becoming less and less common with people inventing names like L’orange and Peacebewithyouandeveryoneyouknow. But there will always be a place for Joe’s in our lives because it actually means all of us.
How to celebrate – Make a list of all the Joe’s you know. List all the things you have heard of named Joe. Have a cup of Joe.
Here’s another sweet day for you, it’s National Maple Syrup Day! Just like yesterdays chocolate, maple syrup was first used by the Native Americans and became a part of their diet. I am not sure who, or why, somebody started licking a tree but I am glad they did… I love maple syrup!
Of course the process is a little more involved than just licking a tree but I wonder, did they lick a Elm tree, Oak tree or Ash tree before stopping at the maple tree and going, “This is the one. This is the tree to lick!”
Even more interesting, that we should celebrate this day in December when the typical harvesting of maple syrup comes in February and March. Guess we just couldn’t wait! I think that may be expressed even more in the fact that we can find nearly everything we eat of drink can be flavored with maple syrup.
What started out as pan cake syrup now flavors our bacon, coffee, ice tea and… well, nearly everything we eat. Since yesterday was National Chocolate Covered Anything Day I wonder if we can cover maple syrup in chocolate. Maybe that’s a bit over sweet!
And now we have maple flavored martinis. Wow, that ought to be tasty! Naturally we have made it less and less healthy over the years, adding sugar and who knows else to make it even sweeter than it is naturally. And we wonder why we are an over-weight society. Go figure.
How to celebrate – Have some maple syrup today! Try natural maple syrup over processed maple syrup. Try blending maple syrup into something new and different.
Probably the most common male name in all English speaking countries of the world is, Joe. Of course, it is normally short for Joseph, but most people named Joseph just want to be known by Joe. Others come close… John, Jim, Bill, Bob, Questanza… but none replace Joe.
We have named other common things Joe as well. Like a cup of coffee. Nothing like a hot cup of Joe. Maybe Joe made the coffee, brought the coffee or bought the coffee but lets hope it really wan’t made out of Joe.
Even popular books have been named after Joe, as well as a sandwich. I use to love Sloppy Joe’s! The sandwich, not the book. The sandwich was named so because it’s nearly impossible eat without making a mess. Though I have not read the book, from the cover I get the same general idea.
During World War 2, our soldiers were often called Joe… particularly by the Japanese. The G.I. stood for General Issue, the equipment and uniforms supplied to the the average soldier, named Joe. Later the toy, G.I. Joe came out to honor all the American soldiers over the years.
Joe’s a good name. It’s a strong name, simple and honest. Anyone named Joe should be proud of it and this is your day. Something that separates you from all the other Tom, Dick and Harry’s of the world.
How to celebrate – Call yourself Joe today, even if it’s not your name. Have a cup of Joe. Honor ever G.I. Joe the world has ever known.
Wouldn’t a Frappe taste good right now? There are three different types of frappes. The one most of us know is the blended coffee, or espresso, drink topped with Whipped Cream. One of a fruit type dessert than is frozen and serves with shaved ice. And the third just in general, a milkshake.
Though the word is actually French, the drink itself comes to us from Greece where it was accidentally invented by Dimitris Vakondious in 1957 in Thessaloniki. It is defined as something between a Slushes and a Iced Coffee.
Of course your local coffee shops have made this a part of your regular daily choice for a beverage. They have added many flavors, styles and shapes to an already enormous selection.
Here are a few recipes for you to try. Take note though, this is not a drink you want to down quickly. This is adrink you will want ot take your time with, savor and relax with.
How to celebrate – Either make yourself a frappe this morning or visit your ocal coffe shop and buy one. Wait until your work is done for the day and then sit and listen to some cool jazz, or your favorite, and sip your drink. Try your own combinations to make a totally original frappe that maybe someday will be named for you!
Created by Stephanie West Allen in 2003 Upsy Daisy Day is probably the way we all should look at beginning every day of our lives, not just June 8th. It’s all about waking up looking forward to the day instead of having our usual grumpy attitude.
If you think about it, you have a lot to be grateful for. The first thing is just waking up at all! If you are up early enough, look out at the beautiful sunrise and imagine it was created just for you. Or roll over and look at your mate laying next to you, you certainly have to be thankful for them (I hope). Or maybe it’s that yummy cup of coffee that you look forward to? Why not make every morning an “International”morning (as in the coffee). If you have to go to work, be thankful you have a job to go to when so many don’t.
The whole point is, find some reason to be happy about the morning. Maybe it’s a big thing like spending another day with the one you love, or a little thing like getting an unexpected hug from your cat. It really doesn’t matter what it is, if you start your day off on a good note the rest of your day will be better and so will everyone you come in contact with.
Sometimes it’s hard to do. I have to admit I am not a morning person but when I do get up early enough to see the sunrise I seem to always have a better day. In a world where we have so many things going wrong or turned upside down we need to fight back with the only weapon we have, our humor.
I work with children and make a practice of saying good morning to everyone I meet regardless of what time of the day it is. It doesn’t matter what time the clock says, it’s always nice to start your day off with a genuine “good morning”, even if you’ve been awake for 8 hours. It’s always morning somewhere in the world.
How to celebrate: Write down a list of things that make you happy so that you can review them in the morning and remind yourself what you have to be Upsy Daisy about. Buy someone else a cup of coffee in the morning just because. Remember that you set the tone for your day, set it right and the day will go well.
Liquorice or Licorice is actually a root. In it’s natural state it is slightly sweet but not as most of us know it to be from the candy. It comes from the Glycyrrhiza Glabra plant, found manly in Southern Europe, Asia and India.
It actually has many uses. It is used in food, medicine, beverages and even tobacco. Apparently it even works well as shampoo. It treats sore throats, bronchitis, coughing and infections, both viral and biological. It helps the digestive system, heartburn, colic and gastritis. It is used to treat prostate cancer as well as eczema. It also increases fertility.
In many Mid-Eastern countries, liquorice is served as a drink, like coffee. No one knows how first discovered liquorice but it is clear it has been around for centuries. I have alwys been curious who dug up a plant and decided to use the roots to make something, anything. In this case, they dug up a plant with roots that look like twigs. Someone had to say to themselves, I bet this tastes pretty good! At the same time, someone standing next to him, or her, said to themselves, I think I’ll try it as shampoo. Of course it is just a hop-skip and a jump to using it in medicine and tobacco. However it is nice to know that something that gives you cancer, like tobacco with liquorice in it, can be treated by the exact same product, liquorice as a cure.
Now before you think you can cure yourself by eating a hundred bags of Twizzlers I’m afraid it won’t work. Liquorice is semi-sweet as it comes out of the ground, but the real candy has Anisteed Oil added to it which tastes somewhat like liquorice but is much, much sweeter. Unfortunately, Anisteed Oil contains none of the cure as in liquorice root. April 12th is also my Father’s birthday, and he loves liquorice!