“Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly.”
― Sir Francis Bacon
July is Mango and Melon Month, Eggplant and Lettuce Month, and Nectarine and Garlic Month. Be sure to eat lots of fruits and veggies. Summer is the perfect time to enjoy the foods that we can grow in our gardens.
In honor of the produce observances in July, today’s deal is on Melissa’s Everyday Cooking with Organic Produce: A Guide to Easy-to-Make Dishes with Fresh Organic Fruits and Vegetables by Cathy Thomas. This is a fairly large hardcover book at 336 pages, measuring 8.2 x 1 x 9.1 inches. Amazon gives the following description:
Must-have information and amazing recipes for cooking with the freshest, tastiest organic produce
With hundreds of farmer’s markets and an increased interest in organic fruits and vegetables, today’s home cooks need an accessible reference for shopping and cooking organic. Melissa’s World Variety Produce is the nation’s leading distributor of specialty fruits and vegetables and the professional chef’s go-to source for new and unusual produce. Their products have been certified organic for over 10 years. In Melissa’s Everyday Cooking with Organic Produce, the team from Melissa’s compiles vital information on fresh, seasonal organic produce with the best recipes for getting the most out of your organic finds.
This inspiring, mouth-watering resource is packed with delicious recipes and gorgeous full-color photos, making it a must-have for anyone who wants to incorporate organic produce into flavorful everyday meals. Inside, you’ll find more than 400 recipes, including quick-prep recipes and deliciously easy variations, as well as a special section of meatless options for vegetarians.
Covers 56 of the most commonly available fruits and vegetables, arranged alphabetically for quick reference
Includes overviews of each food, what to look for when shopping, tips on buying and storing produce, produce varieties, serving suggestions, and complete nutritional information in the standard USDA format
Offers “Cook’s Notes” and tips, suggested variations, meatless options, and complete nutrition profiles for each recipe
For home cooks who want the latest and most comprehensive information on shopping and cooking with the best organic produce, this book is an invaluable guide.
Today is Day of Kindness, as part of Creative Maladjustment week. You can find suggestion on how to celebrate by visiting www.cmweek.org.
Today is Clerihew Day. The Clerihew is a four-line verse where the end of the first line, or more often the full first line, is the subject’s name. Clerihews have an AABB rhyme scheme and meter is of secondary (or no) importance. Edmund Clerihew Bentley was a journalist and author best known for his invention of a popular humorous verse form, the clerihew. Bentley was born in London, England, on July 10, 1865. According to Steven Gale’s Encyclopedia of British Humorists, Clerihew composed the first such poem as a 16 year-old student in science class, in honor of a British chemist:
Sir Humphry Davy
Was not fond of gravy.
He lived in the odium
Of having discovered sodium.
Don’t Step On A Bee Day, today, is an important reminder that the fate of the common bee lies in the balance – with bee numbers in some countries having halved in the last decade with no apparent cause, it’s vital that we take care to maintain bee populations, pollination and honey production.
Do you like piña coladas? Or would you rather be caught in the rain? Celebrate National Piña Colada Day, put the pineapple and rum in the coconut, and drink it all up. The pineapple, coconut and rum concoction is wildly popular in Puerto Rico and wherever there’s hot sun, cold ice, and a Caribbean breeze. Tracking down who invented a particular cocktail can be tricky, since everyone involved was drinking at the time. Depending on who you ask, the piña colada was invented in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1963 by Ramón Portas Mingot, in 1954 by Ramón Marrero or Ricardo Gracia, or in Cuba in 1950. Variations on the recipe abound as well, but generally if you blend cream of coconut, light rum and pineapple juice together with ice, you’ve got a piña colada. Ironically, “piña colada” means “strained pineapple [juice]”, with no mention of the coconut component, and most piña coladas are blended rather than shaken and strained these days.
It’s Teddy Bear Picnic Day. Spend the lunch hour on a blanket under a shade tree with your Teddy Bear. Stuffed Teddy Bears are a kids favorite. Children receive Teddy Bears early in their childhood. Children cling to them throughout their teenage years. Many bears are kept, even as you become an adult. As you read this article, many of you adults know exactly where your Teddy Bear is. In November 1902, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, was presented with a bear that was tied to a tree. The individuals that presented Roosevelt with the bear expected him to shoot it because of a failed bear hunt earlier that day. However, Roosevelt refused to kill the bear, prompting cartoonist Clifford Berryman to recreate the scene in the “Washington Post.” Soon after Berryman’s cartoon was published, Rose and Morris Michtom, shopkeepers in Brooklyn, New York, created a plush bear nicknamed “Teddy’s Bear,” which became an overnight hit once the bear was placed in the shop’s window. The Michtoms sold the rights to “Teddy’s Bear” to the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company, who, in turn, began producing the bears. Germany followed suit in 1903 with its own creation of the teddy bear. Margarete Steiff, a seamstress from Giengen, Germany, created teddy bears for the world famous Steiff catalogue. Upon completion, 3,000 teddy bears were sold to the United States. Today, millions of Steiff Teddy Bears have been sold worldwide.
According to the Tesla Society, July 10th is officially Nikola Tesla day, and super geeks across the globe are celebrating the day by sharing Tesla’s accomplishments, most of which are completely unknown to the public, yet highly regarded by the geek community. Tesla was born in the wrong era. There is no person on the globe that has, or maybe ever will, match the genius that is Tesla, and so many years later, he is finally gaining traction and becoming known, whereas in his era, he died alone in a hotel room in love with a pigeon. Tesla died celibate, claiming that womanizing would hurt his intellectual process, and like many eccentric intellectuals today, he was misunderstood and stolen from by those who had better sales skills, but would it have been different had he been born in a different century? Perhaps.
On July 10, 1821, the United States took possession of its newly bought territory of Florida from Spain.
Wyoming was admitted as the 44th U.S. state on this day in 1890.
Meher Baba began his silence of 44 years on July 10, 1925. His followers observe Silence Day on this date in commemoration.
Telstar, the world’s first communications satellite, was launched into orbit on July 10, 1962.
On July 10, 1997, scientists in London reported the findings of the DNA analysis of a Neanderthal skeleton which supports the “out of Africa theory” of human evolution placing an “African Eve” at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.
Some of the writers born July 10th include:
Pierre d’Hozier (1592), Robert Chambers (1802), Marcel Proust (1871), John Wyndham (1903), Mildred Benson (1905), Salvador Espriu (1913), David Brinkley (1920), Jean Kerr (1922), Earl Hamner, Jr. (1923), G. A. Kulkarni (1923), Julian May (1931), Alice Munro (1931), Ahmet Taner Kışlalı (1939), David G. Hartwell (1941), Ian Whitcomb (1941), Greg Kihn (1949), and Vicky Morales (1969).
Disclaimer:
Much of the information in this blog is taken directly from Wikipedia, Amazon, and other sources such as holidayinsights.com, which are directly linked to within the text. Images have been taken from various sources found via Facebook, Goodsearch.com and Google.
Village Book Shop and the blogger claim no credit for the information above.
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