What Would Jimmy Do?

Besides being the generally accepted date of George Washington’s real birthday, today is National Margarita Day. The February celebrations continue….

The margarita was originally created in Mexico in 1938. Various people have taken credit for “inventing” the margarita, so you can pick your favorite — but I choose Carlos “Danny” Herrera who claims that he developed the drink at his restaurant in Tijuana. 

The margarita’s popularity really took off in the late 1940s… Margarita Sames, a Dallas socialite, served the drink at one of her big parties, and one of her guests happened to be Tommy Hilton. Hilton liked it so much, he added the drink to the bar menu at his hotels. 

Of course the cocktail became more popular when singer Jimmy Buffet made the margarita popular with his mega-hit “Margaritaville.”

We’ll celebrate the day with our own margarita recipe at home or go to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants here in West Virginia. Of course to do it right, we should go to the famous restaurant, Margaritaville — but Nashville is a long drive, even if it is a special day.

I hope you’ll all do your duty and honor this sacred tequila, Triple Sec and lime drink by having a couple. Let’s keep this fabulous February holiday spirit alive.
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A couple of weeks ago we had guests for lunch. Claire served chili — I like chili and Claire makes really good chili. When I was growing up in Oklahoma, we ate “Texas chili” although we didn’t call it Texas chili — we just called it chili. Texas chili was made with beef… just beef, no beans! If anyone even mentioned putting beans into chili, they’d be run out of town. I also don’t remember there being a lot of peppers, onions, etc, either — if there were, they were chopped very fine. I guess chili pepper was added as to taste, but I don’t remember it ever being especially hot.

Just about every restaurant had chili on the menu, but if you tried to order it in say, July — people would look at you like you were an idiot, and of course even though it was on the menu, it wasn’t available. You only ate chili during cold weather. Restaurants usually had it available from about October to February. 

I mentioned that Claire makes really good chili — but she uses ground beef (like hamburger meat.) That would never have happened when I was living in Oklahoma. Chili was made from “chili meat.” Some purists made their chili using hand-cut cubed beef, but most everyone used “Chili grind.” Chili meat or chili grind is, basically, beef ground like hamburger, but a coarser grind.— maybe a size a little larger than green peas, but  the size could vary. 

My uncle was the butcher in my dad’s grocery store and he always had hamburger meat and chili meat available. They were both made with the same machine or grinder. He just put in a larger die to grind the chili meat. I’m not sure if I’ve seen “chili meat” in the local stores around here, but I’ve really never looked for it. Probably any butcher could make it for you, but I don’t know if it’s a “stock” item. Maybe I’ll do some extensive research on it one day — in the meantime I’ll just accept the fact that chili, like a lot of things, has changed and go with ground beef.
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We drove by a Bar/Restaurant yesterday that had a sign out front that said,
“Our Coronas are virus free!”
I thought it was clever — and funny….
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The festivities of February just go on and on — we have arrived at another of those great February Holidays. Today is National Drink Wine Day. I suppose as a public service, I should remind everyone to please drink responsibly. There. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about wine. No one seems to know who created this day, but whoever it was deserves an award of some kind and a place in history. 

Not that you necessarily need a special occasion to drink wine, but when one presents itself, its always good to take advantage of it. Wine is enjoyed on every continent — with the exception of Antarctica. Actually, I’m pretty sure it’s enjoyed there, too. Surely some of those scientists that live and work there, have a wine cellar — what better to do on a long winter night?I’ve read that wine’s popularity is at an all-time high. 

The Roman Empire adopted Catholicism in 380 A.D. During this period, wine became an important part of the Catholic sacrament, so it became necessary to spread the cultivation  of grapevines and the production of wine. As Catholicism spread across Europe, wine went along for the ride.

The French imported grapevines into the area that is now the State of Virginia in the early American colonies, but they weren’t popular for making wine because of the region’s Puritanical roots. Wine making did eventually spread along the Eastern Seaboard of what would become the United States. 

Thomas Jefferson probably gets credit for popularizing wine making in America. Before he became a U.S. President, Tom was the first Minister to France and he became enchanted with French wines and decided to bring French grape cuttings to Virginia. His aim was to create an American wine that would equal the quality of French wines. I’m not sure he ever achieved that goal, but his efforts may have led to the establishment of the American wine industry. 

But all that aside, today is a great day to celebrate — go on a winery tour, a liquor store, grocery store, or just down to the wine cellar. Pour a glass of wine and let’s toast to National Drink Wine Day.
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Well here we are nearing the end of February and still eagerly celebrating all these wonderful February holidays. Tomorrow is another one. If you read the papers or look on calendars, it’s President’s Day, or depending where you are, it may be Presidents’ Day. 

I know — this isn’t something to get all worked up about, but this is really a confusing “holiday.” Both faithful readers have heard all this before, but I can’t let this un-justice go without at least mentioning it annually. Long ago we celebrated George Washington and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays during the month of February. Fine — they were both great Presidents and their birthdays deserved recognition. 

Then, in 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Bill. That legislation changed the observance of Washington’s Birthday from February 22 to the third Monday in February. The Bill originally was intended to rename the holiday “President’s Day” but that proposal failed in committees. The legislation passed, making the third Monday of February a federal holiday, but according to the legislation, it’s Washington’s Birthday. 

So — here we are….
Today is still officially called Washington’s Birthday by the federal government. 
Some spell it President’s Day. (refers to one President)
Some Spell it Presidents’ Day. (refers to more than one President)
The difference in spelling denotes that some celebrate George Washington alone on this day and others celebrate George and Abraham Lincoln… and, some may be celebrating all presidents. 
Even though it’s a federal holiday, each state is free to call it what they choose and how they celebrate.

To be fair, there were four presidents born in February — George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, William Harrison and Ronald Reagan. The only names you hear mentioned are Washington and Lincoln. What about Harrison and Lincoln?

Oh well, happy third Monday of February — no matter what you call it, or how you celebrate.
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Well, here it is another one of those big February celebrations — Valentine’s Day. I guess it’s generally considered to be one of, if not the, most romantic days of the year. It’s a long standing tradition that I talk about Valentine’s Day every year on this blog. If you’ve read the February 14 entries over the years, you know that while we celebrate a lot of holidays, we don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day — at least not on Valentine’s Day. We’ve always found restaurants or places that we’d like to go on Valentine’s Day just too crowded so we either celebrate the occasion before or after the fact.

Valentine’s Day, like most everything else, has changed over the years. When I was young, we always had a Valentine’s Day party at school. Today, I’m not sure that’s allowed at all schools, and even those that do allow it, operate with some constraints. If you remember last year, I told you that you could find all the romance you need at White Castle — the hamburger chain. I hope you took my advice and made reservations for this year. Probably when I was young(er) I never would have thought to take a date or spouse to White Castle on this, perhaps the most romantic day of the year. See? Things change… so maybe this is a good time to reminisce about earlier times — not to say they were better… just different.

Not sure if this is true, but history’s first valentine may have been written in a prison. In the 15th century, Charles, Duke of Orleans, at the age of 21, wrote a love poem to his second wife after he was captured at the Battle of Agincourt. He was a prisoner for more than 20 years and would never see his valentine’s reaction to his poetry.

Some say Valentine’s Day origin can be traced to a Christian effort to replace a pagan fertility festival that has been dated as far back as the 6th century B.C. During the festival of Lupercalia, Roman priests would sacrifice goats and dogs and use their blood-soaked hides to slap women on the streets, as a fertility blessing. According to legend, women would later put their names in an urn and be selected to be paired with a man for a year. Not sure why you’d want to replace such a fun festival, but apparently someone thought a Valentine’s Day celebration would be better….

Cupid has bee associated with Valentine’s Day for centuries. But — before he was renamed Cupid, he was known to the Greeks as Eros, the god of love. Eros was the son of Greek goddess Aphrodite and would use two sets of arrows — one for love and another for hate to play with the emotions of those he shot. We can credit the Romans for changing his image into the childlike appearance that we recognize today. 

You know those chalky heart-shaped candies that always show up around Valentines Day? Guess what — they started out as lozenges. The machine to create the lozenges was invented by a pharmacist, Oliver Chase. He figured out that the machine could also be used to create candy — these candies later became known as Necco Wafers. Chase’s brother came up with the idea to print messages on the candy and a number of years later the candy was made in heart shapes — that appealed to people, especially around Valentine’s Day.

So I guess the point here is that love is where — and when — you find it. Maybe a hamburger is another man’s rose….
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Today is Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States and is generally considered by most people to be one of the best. Our current President often compares himself to Lincoln and even he acknowledges that old Abe is the only President that even comes close to his greatness. I won’t argue that point, but Abraham Lincoln had a lot of qualities, and quirks, that makes him stand out among the leaders of our country.

In the past I’ve taken the occasion of his birthday to try to learn a little more about him. I may have mentioned this before, but Lincoln is the only president to have been issued a patent. In 1849, Lincoln obtained Patent No. 6,469 on a device that was designed to keep boats afloat when they passed over a sandbar or entered shallow water. 

Illinois may be know as the Land of Lincoln, but he was born in a log cabin in Kentucky in 1809, and moved with his family to southern Indiana in 1816. Lincoln didn’t migrate to Illinois until 1830. 

Before gun control became a hot topic, Lincoln — a hands-on commander-in-chief, was very interested in the artillery used by the Union troops during the Civil War. He often met with inventors demonstrating military prototypes at the White House. Although there was a standing order against firing weapons in the District of Columbia, Lincoln personally test-fired muskets and repeating rifles on the lawns around the White House — now known as the Ellipse and the National Mall. 

Lincoln is enshrined in the Wrestling Hall of Fame. As a young man, he was an accomplished wrestler, being defeated only once in approximately 300 matches. 

On April 14, 1865, Lincoln signed legislation creating the U.S. Secret Service. That evening, he was shot at Ford’s Theatre. This may sound like bad timing, but the original mission of the Secret Service was to combat widespread currency counterfeiting. It wasn’t until 1901, after two other presidents had been killed, that the Secret Service was formally assigned to protect the President.

In 1876 a gang of Chicago counterfeiters attempted to steal Lincoln’s body from his tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. The plan was to hold the corpse for a ransom of $200,000 and obtain the release of the gang’s best counterfeiter from prison. Secret Service agents infiltrated the gang and disrupted the operation. 

When he occupied the White House, Lincoln used the current Lincoln Bedroom as his personal office, to meet with Cabinet members and sign documents — including the Emancipation Proclamation. So Lincoln never slept in the Lincoln Bedroom — at least not in a bed. Today, the room still contains a few pieces of office furniture along with a handwritten copy of the Gettysburg Address.

Lincoln was the first president to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda… and just to wrap this up, Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks, was a distant relative of Tom Hanks, making the president and the actor fourth cousins, four times removed.

We’re almost half-way through February — still celebrating all these great February events.
Happy Birthday Abe.
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When I was growing up in Oklahoma, we used words and phrases that were unique to that area. Some of the words we used hadn’t ever been heard in other parts of the country. That’s true with any region of the country — they use terminology that just isn’t used anywhere else. 
I’ve lived in countries where neighboring communities didn’t even speak the same language, and if they did speak the “same” language, their terminology was so different they couldn’t communicate. 

A few days ago, someone mentioned cells. I immediately thought they were talking about their phones. Actually the conversation was about the coronavirus outbreak. That got me to thinking about how words have changed… it seems like you could use exactly the same words and the conversation using those words in 1970 would have a completely different meaning than a conversation using those words in 2020. 

Cell is a good example — when I was growing up, cell meant a tiny little part of your body, or in Oklahoma, it was a common term for a jail. But when I heard the word a few days ago, my brain said, cell… oh, that’s what you call your phone. 

Cloud is another one of those words — when I was a kid, we use to lay on the ground and imagine pictures in the sky by looking at the clouds. Clouds were those things in the sky made up of particles of condensed vapor suspended in the atmosphere. Today, cloud immediately brings to mind something associated with the Internet. It somehow allows online processing and storage of data when its not on your computer… I’m not sure anyone knows what and where it really is….

When I lived in Marysville, we lived on the corner and my friend lived down the block. A block was (usually) a square piece of land with houses on it and streets ran in front and back and down the sides of the block. Today we don’t live on a block. We used to find people by saying they lived in the 1200 block of such and such street, or something like that. That term isn’t used much anymore. I had building blocks when I was a kid… today, block most likely means preventing someone from contacting you on a social network, like Twitter or Facebook. Same thing with “friend.” Friend used to be someone you really liked, now it’s more likely to mean adding another name to a list of contacts on some social network.

We used to “hook up” a new stove or some other appliance when it was installed… today, “hook up” usually means to meet someone….

Anyhow, you get the point — you have to forgive us older people for being slow or a little out of touch sometimes… we not only had to learn the language, we keep having to re-learn it every few years.
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The U.S. Capitol has been in the news a lot lately — or, maybe it was the U.S. Capital that’s been in the news. Which is it — with an “o” or an “a?” Actually, in this case, both.

I’m certainly not a grammar expert, but I think I know when to use capital or capitol… these words are a set of homophones — words that sound the same when spoken but have different meanings and different spellings. 

Capital (with an “a”) has many meanings. It is the seat of government for a state or country. Upper case letters are referred to as capitals. Capital means wealth or money, especially in the context of business. Capital can mean particular or significant, or it can mean “fabulous.” And then there are capital crimes and capital punishment. 

Capitol (with an “o”) refers to buildings — only buildings, like a state capitol building or the U.S. Capitol building. Only buildings — that’s it’s only use. I suppose that’s why it’s always been easy for me to remember. 

Seems pretty simple, but start taking notice of how the two words are used in the news and social media — sometimes it just seems like a random choice. Your grammar lesson for today — and, you’re welcome.
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Today is National Chopstick Day. Another great day to celebrate in February. So today may not be a big deal for ¼ of the world’s population who use chopsticks as the eating utensils of choice for every meal, but for the rest of us, we should put away the forks and spoons for today and use chopsticks for all our meals. 

The improper use of chopsticks, just like any eating utensil is in poor taste and could possibly even be considered impolite or insulting. One should never insert chopsticks upright into your food — it’s an insult. It’s okay to stab a piece of food with a chopstick, but don’t point at people with them. And don’t suck or chew on the ends of your chopsticks. Also, it goes without saying, chopsticks are not drumsticks — don’t drum with them.

A Chinese word for chopsticks is kuaizi — which, roughly translated, means quick little bamboo fellow. The English word “chopstick” was apparently derived from the Chinese Pidgin English words “chop chop” — which means fast. Chopsticks are called hashi in Japan.

Chopsticks are traditionally held in the right hand, even by left-handed people, but today it’s acceptable to use either hand — even though traditionalists still consider left-handed chopstick use “improper.” If everyone uses chopstick in their right hand, it prevents a left-handed chopstick user from accidentally elbowing a right-handed user seated nearby. Of course, the same argument can be made when using a fork.

So happy National Chopstick Day!! However, I do wonder about the “national” part of the title. In this case, is the “national” referring to the U.S.? Seems like China and/or other Asian countries might be more appropriate…. but what the heck, it’s still an occasion to celebrate in February, and I’m going to take advantage of it.
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