Celebrate Every Day

Welcome to February 16th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate shaking the tree and rescuing a grouch.

80% of the world’s almonds come from California. As of 2020, the state was harvesting 3.1 billion pounds of the nuts annually. Unlike other nuts, almonds aren’t picked. Instead, the trees are shaken so that the almond fruit falls to the ground. Yes, almond fruit. What we call an almond is technically the pit of a fruit. As for shaking, there are special machines for this called—well, shakers. They clamp onto each almond tree and begin to shake until all the fruit are off. After harvesting, the pits are removed, and viola! Almonds. On National Almond Day…celebrate with a handful of this healthy and delicious snack and be glad you don’t have to shake the tree yourself.

One of the world’s more loveable grouches is Oscar from Sesame Street. Everyone in the neighborhood does their best to bring Oscar around. And even though he stays in his stinky “trash can mood,” once in a while we see him have a heart. Jim Henson based this character on a grumpy waiter he encountered in a restaurant called Oscar’s Salt of The Sea. Caroll Spinney performed Oscar’s voice based on a cranky New York taxi driver. We all meet a grouch at some point in life and there’s one trick that works more often than not: doing something nice. On National Do A Grouch A Favor Day try this method with your favorite grouch. Just don’t let them know which day you are celebrating.

I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

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Welcome to February 15th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate getting serious about dairy and a smooth candy king.

Wisconsin is one of the biggest dairy producers in the United States, each year generating over 30 billion pounds of milk-related foods. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the state takes butter very seriously. In fact, Wisconsin outlawed the sale of margarine for decades. During World War II, sales of margarine were allowed because of milk rationing. But it wasn’t allowed to be yellow in order to avoid confusing it with real butter. It took until 1967 before the state allowed the sale of yellow margarine. Even today there are Wisconsin laws intended to make the difference clear. On National Wisconsin Day, we toast the Badger State and all its natural beauty. But make sure it’s butter on that toast, my friend. Or else.

If you’ve ever played the board game Candy Land you will know there is no gumdrop king in the Gumdrop Mountains. But there was one in real life. Percy Truesdell was posthumously named the Gumdrop King for his improvement of the candy. Percy worked in the chemistry labs of Ohio State State University and it was here that he made a discovery. By adding the perfect amount of starch to the recipe, the once solid glob of sugar became a smooth, chewy confection. The original flavors of clove, allspice, cinnamon and spearmint are not as popular today but they do go nicely on gingerbread houses. Most people still prefer cherry, grape, orange and lemon and thanks to the Gumdrop King we can celebrate National Gumdrop Day without breaking our teeth.

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Welcome to February 14th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate reaching new heights and what the birds teach us about love.

The past few decades have seen an odd trend taking place. Cities trying to outdo one another with giant Ferris wheels. On New Year’s Eve 1999, the London Eye was unveiled and stood at a height of 443 feet. A few years later, China built one that was 525 feet tall. Then Singapore outdid them. That was the tallest Ferris wheel in the world until The High Roller in Las Vegas opened for business. It looks over the Strip from 550 feet up in the sky. But last year, Dubai raised the bar to ridiculous heights with a Ferris Wheel that towers over the city at a height of 820 FEET. On National Ferris Wheel Day, celebrate your own corner of the sky.

Valentine’s Day has not always been about romance. For that we can thank the Medieval English author Geoffrey Chaucer. In his poem Parliament of Fowls, he tells the tale of a group of birds who come together each Valentine’s Day to find a mate. Three male eagles compete with one another to see which can claim a female’s love. This popularized the idea of the holiday being about love and romance. And the tradition lives on to this day. Spoiler alert, in the poem, none of the eagles gets the girl, so don’t feel bad if you haven’t found your true love just yet. Celebrate Valentine's Day with the one you love, even if it’s yourself. After all, this love thing can really be for the birds.

I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

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Welcome to February 13th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate our favorite snacks.

The 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago unveiled many amazing things to its visitors. Advancements in transportation, weaponry, and wonders from around the world. But one its most enduring legacies is the popularizing of snack food. Fairgoers were given a box of Cracker Jack upon entry. As much as people loved it, the molasses, popcorn, and peanut snack was too gooey for mass production. A few years later, the formula was perfected and Cracker Jack became a huge hit. Soon after came a host of other foods trying to capitalize on the trend of munching between meals. February is National Snack Food Month, so tear open a bag of chips or go old school with a box of Cracker Jack.

Cheese lovers might not care that their favorite snack is actually named for the place that it’s made but today we give thanks to the village of Cheddar in Somerset, England. In the U.K. cheddar cheese accounts for more than half of the multi billion dollar cheese market. And here in the United States, cheddar is just behind mozzarella in popularity. So how did this “cheddar love” migrate across the pond? Enter Peter McIntosh, who brought his talent for cheese making to Tillamook County, Oregon in 1894. His superior skills earned him the title of the Cheese King of the Coast, and today there are more cows than people in Tillamook County. On National Cheddar Day savor the flavor that’s treasured on both sides of the pond.

I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

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Welcome to February 12th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate how far movies have come and a Presidential birthday treat.

Before there were movie theaters, there were Kinetoscopes. These cabinet-like devices looked a little like arcade games. For a quarter—which was a pretty steep price in 1894—people could watch a movie. By themselves, anyway. Kinetoscopes showed short films via a peephole and only one person could watch at a time. The films were very basic—usually nothing more than people dancing or a horse running. But to a world that had never seen a moving image before, the Kinetoscope was nothing short of magical. Over a century later, we can celebrate Global Movie Day from the couch as we stream our favorite films—with or without someone else.

Everyone knows that the birthday boy or girl gets to choose their favorite dessert on their special day. Most of us like cakes or pies for the occasion, but one American president loved plum pudding. While this dessert hails from England, Abraham Lincoln liked it so much that the recipe can still be found in White House Historical cookbooks. The steamed pudding does not call for plums, however, but is made instead from apples, dates, raisins, nutmeg and cinnamon. Thanks to Charles Dickens, most people think of it as a Christmas dessert. Back in the day people dimmed the lights to serve plum pudding and children played a game called snap dragon as they tried to snatch raisins from the flaming dessert. On National Plum Pudding Day we honor the birthday boy’s choice and give a nod to Mr. Lincoln.

I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

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Welcome to February 11th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate unusual pairs and the ways they change the world.

What do you get when you combine a West Coast rapper and one of the most famous homemakers in the world? One of the oddest celebrity friendships ever—that’s what. When Martha Stewart had Snoop Dogg as a guest on her show back in 2008, the two immediately hit it off over a bowl of mashed potatoes. Ever since, the pair have been great friends. They frequently appear on TV together and make one another laugh. As Snoop put it, their friendship is "a natural combination of love, peace, and harmony.” It’s National Make a Friend Day, so why not take a chance and talk with someone new today. You might end up with a new friend. Stranger things have happened.

With inventions ranging from the radio to remote control, Nicola Tesla is one of the most important minds of the modern era. When testing his creations, he sometimes got a hand from Mark Twain. Tesla had long been a fan, and when the two met, they immediately became friends. Twain would often stop by Tesla’s laboratory to see what his friend was working on. During his visits, he helped with electrical testing, had X-rays shot at his head, and stood on something dubbed the earthquake machine to find its effects on the human body. Twain was so fond of the inventor that he based the main character in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court on him. On National Inventors’ Day, we celebrate the men and women who bring new ideas to life and those who cheer them on.

I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

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Welcome to February 10th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate shaddocks and bumbershoots.

Have you ever eaten a shaddock fruit? Or had shaddock juice with breakfast? If you have no idea what we’re talking about, grapefruits used to be known as shaddock fruits. Hundreds of years ago, the British sea captain Philip Shaddock is said to have planted the first grapefruit seeds in Barbados. Actually, they were pomelo seeds, which is a fruit very similar to the grapefruit. The citrus fruit we know today came from a hybrid of the pomelo and a native orange tree. February is National Grapefruit Month, and you can celebrate with a nice cold glass of healthy shaddock, uh…grapefruit…juice.

The umbrella is something that people don’t typically think about until they need one. Then it’s suddenly the most important thing in the world. And in 19th Century British fashion, it was. No self respecting gentleman would dare to venture out without an umbrella. But it wasn’t enough to have this accessory, EVERYONE had one. The way to stand out in the crowd was by customizing the handle. Some were made of ivory or gold. Others had flashlights, watches, or compartments for tobacco and cigars. And, of course, the occasional sword. This made the umbrellas very coveted items and some came equipped with locks or alarms. That makes sense given that they were a veritable Swiss Army knife in their day. Today we celebrate National Umbrella Day by being prepared with a tool that is still best at keeping us dry.

I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

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Welcome to February 9th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate Italian royal taste and kosher fun for everyone.

You may not recognize the name Raffaele Esposito, but he holds a special place in history as the father of the modern pizza. Esposito had already earned a reputation as a pizza maker in Naples, Italy, when King Umberto and Queen Margarita made their visit in 1889, and the Queen wanted only the best. Enter Raffaele Esposito. He brought her several choices, but her favorite was topped with mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil. It was not only delicious, it reminded her of the Italian flag. From then on, that style of pizza was known as the Margherita. On National Pizza Day, celebrate with your favorite toppings and make your own royal pie.

Some things are just meant to go together, peanut butter and jelly, shoes and socks and today’s celebration: bagels and lox. While lox have been around for thousands of years, bagels were not invented until the 1700s. So how did they come to be a pair? Turns out that it all started in America in the 1930s with the demand for eggs benedict. Because this dish could not be considered kosher, the Jewish community in New York came up with the perfect alternative: a toasted bagel topped with lox and a schmear. This pairing became so closely linked, that when bagel workers went on strike in the 1950s the sales of lox dropped by fifty percent! Today it’s easy to have your shmear and eat it too on National Bagel And Lox Day.

I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

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Welcome to February 8th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate the Hawkeye State and the ripple effect of an English Boy Scout.

If you’re into competitive cycling, the Tour de France is your brass ring. However, if you love cycling but aren’t really the competitive sort, the RAGBRAI might be for you. RAGBRAI or Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, isn’t so much a race as it is a festival on wheels. Founded in 1973, this celebration is an eight-day journey across Iowa. People come from around the world to bike together with friends and to make new ones along the way. The RAGRAI is the oldest and longest bicycle touring event in the world and if you find yourself in Iowa in late July, find a bike and get rolling. On National Iowa Day, celebrate the Hawkeye State and all it has to offer.

On a foggy day in London William Dickson Boyce, an American newspaperman became lost. He was assisted by a Boy Scout who brought him safely to his destination. When Mr. Boyce offered payment to the scout, the boy refused it saying that a good deed needs no reward. But Boyce did indeed pay it forward by organizing similar youth groups into one organization. He founded the Boy Scouts of America program on this day in 1910. Since then the Scouting Program has produced many United States Presidents, 181 astronauts and millions of merit badges that echo that London boy’s good deed. On National Boy Scouts Day, celebrate the ripple effect of those who help others at all times.

I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

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Welcome to February 7th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate strange elements and pasta love letters.

Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe. Here on Earth, it appears almost everywhere in some form or another. You can find it in the air, water, and in the Earth’s crust. But what is the rarest element? That would be Astatine. It’s a highly radioactive element with a half-life of only 8 hours. Only trace amounts of Astatine have ever been found naturally. Most of the time, it’s only been observed in labs, as a by-product of nuclear experimentation. But as radioactive as the element is, it disappears so quickly that it poses very little threat to humans. On National Periodic Table Day, discover some of the strange and mysterious elements that form the world around us. And no Marlo, aspartame is not an element.

In 1908, Alfredo Di Lelio’s wife was pregnant with their first child and was having trouble eating. He made her pasta with butter and fresh parmesan cheese. She loved it so much that she added it to the menu of their small restaurant. In 1927, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, two of the hottest stars in Hollywood, were on their honeymoon in Rome. They went to dinner at Alfredo’s restaurant and fell in love with this simple pasta dish. When they returned to America, they spread the word to their friends and the recipe became famous worldwide. As a thank you for introducing them to this marvelous food, the Hollywood stars sent Alfredo a solid gold fork and spoon engraved with the words: “To Alfredo the King of the noodles”. On National Fettuccine Alfredo Day, you don’t need to be famous or eat with expensive flatware to enjoy this delicious Italian meal.

I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

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