323/365: National Carbonated Beverage with Caffeine Day

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Midwest Mark

If you’ve got a bubbly personality, today’s food holiday was custom made for you. November 19 is National Carbonated Beverage with Caffeine Day!

It’s another one of those oddly specific holidays with a fun name that you just can’t help but chuckle over. Maybe it’s a clever way of getting around using the Coke name, but then again, we already have celebrated National Have a Coke Day, so I’m doubtful about that theory. Plenty of carbonated beverages other than Coca-Cola contain caffeine, so it’s not like our options are limited by this holiday.

National Carbonated Beverage with Caffeine Day

National Carbonated Beverage with Caffeine Day

I mentioned before, upon starting this challenge earlier in the year, that we found a few other bloggers who had attempted the feat in the past. Occasionally I would turn to them for inspiration or reference. I’ve mentioned John, whom I labeled our East Coast Food Correspondent, several times; he has given us lots of great advice based on his own participation in a similar challenge, and his wisdom has been invaluable. Another blog with a similar theme is National Food Days in New York City, whose twist on this challenge (completed last year) involved relying on New York City restaurants for the food/beverage holiday du jour. That’s got to be an expensive and time-consuming proposition, much more so than ours! I mention them because I like what they did with today’s challenge. They found a Manhattan Special – an espresso coffee soda made in Brooklyn. Best of all, their drink dates back to 1895. Suddenly, popping open a Coke sounds boring…

…but popping open a Coke is what we did. Because when it comes to carbonated beverages with caffeine, sometimes you’ve just got to stick with what’s best. Right, dear? Coke is It, wouldn’t you agree?

I’ll take your silence as an implicit YES.

(Can you tell we have an ongoing Coke v. Pepsi feud)?

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322/365: National Vichyssoise Day*

Posted on November 18, 2013 by Midwest Mark

If you subscribe to the theory that soup, like revenge, is a dish best served cold, then you won’t give today’s food holiday a chilly reception. November 18 is National Vichyssoise Day!

And also National Apple Cider Day. Which would have been delicious, refreshing, in season, and could have been served piping hot to take away the autumn chill. But yesterday, I had to go and open my mouth and declare that since our food challenge is winding down, we wanted to focus on some of the more unique foods that we might not otherwise encounter for a long time again (if ever), and I can’t say I’ve ever had vichyssoise. Hell, I can barely pronounce it! (Vi-shee-swa). So, let’s just dive right in to this soup that is made with pureed potatoes, leeks, and onions, and traditionally served cold!

The overriding question is, why is this soup served cold? Legend has it that King Louis XV of France (1710 –1774) was a big fan of potato soup, but was also paranoid that somebody might try to poison him. Thus, he demanded his servants taste his food before it made its way to him. Inevitably, by the time the potato soup reached the hungry king, it had grown cold. Rather than being irritated by this, the good king decided he happened to prefer his potato soup cold, after all. Nevertheless, vichyssoise fell out of favor for a couple of centuries, until one day in 1917 Ritz-Carlton chef Louis Diat, in an effort to cool off diners during the hot and sultry summer months, recreated a childhood favorite hot leek and potato soup his mother used to make. The family would cool it off by adding milk, and Diat did the same, calling it “creme vichyssoise.” Originally it was only served during the summer months, but demand became so great, it was added to the menu as a regular dish in 1923.

I made vichyssoise using this recipe from Allrecipes.com, scaling down the serving size since we only wanted to try it as an appetizer. I actually made it last night and let it sit in the fridge, stirring in the cream at the last minute before serving. The result? Tasty…but kind of pointless. I make a hot cream of potato soup that is so much better, especially this time of year. THIS had me craving THAT. Of course, that’s easy for me to say, seeing as how I don’t have anybody trying to poison me.

That I know of, anyway.

P.S. 5 minutes after posting this, I found myself unable to put the spoon down. This really IS pretty good. Once you get used to the fact that it’s cold, the flavor grows on you. I like it!

National Vichyssoise Day

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321/365: National Baklava Day*

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Midwest Mark

If you know when to hold ’em and know when to fold ’em, you’re halfway to enjoying today’s food holiday already. November 17 is National Baklava Day!

It’s also National Homemade Bread Day. A tempting holiday to celebrate, especially given the fact that Tara makes a really good beer bread from scratch that I can never seem to get enough of. But baklava is more exotic, and with our food challenge rapidly winding down – seriously, only 44 days left! – we want to take advantage of some of the more unique foods we might not otherwise eat again for a long time. Or ever. So, baklava it is.

This classic Mediterranean dessert is made with layers of phyllo dough, nuts, butter, and sugar, and topped with syrup or honey. Assyrians have been baking similar sweet layered pastries since the 8th century B.C., though the exact origin of baklava itself is in dispute. Even the name itself is a mystery. It may come from the Mongolian root baγla meaning “to tie, wrap up, pile up” while baklağı and baklağu point to possible Turkish roots. Indeed, the oldest known recipe was found in a food and health manual printed in Turkey in 1330. Other claims include a Mesopotamian, Persian, or Byzantine background. This is just one of those foods that we’ll never really know for sure how or why it came about, but we can be thankful for because it’s so stinkin’ good regardless.

I searched for “baklava” and “Portland” on Yelp and got a bunch of good hits. After skimming through the reviews, we settled on a Greek deli called Ozzie’s. Grabbed some gyros for lunch on Saturday, and brought back baklava. It was wonderful – crispy, chewy, and sweet.

National Baklava Day

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320/365: National Fast Food Day

Posted on November 16, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Hurry up and enjoy today’s food holiday! November 16 is National Fast Food Day.

Dietitians may cringe, but fast food is wildly popular worldwide, especially in the U.S. It is estimated that 41% of Americans eats fast food at least once a week, according to Pew Research. Fast-food and drive-through restaurants are a direct result of he popularity of the American automobile in the years following World War I. Walter Anderson built the first fast-food restaurant, called White Castle, in Wichita, Kansas in 1916. A second location in 1921 made White Castle the first fast food chain of restaurants; they were known for their 5-cent slider hamburgers. White Castle was a success from the very beginning, and spawned many imitators. The earliest included A&W Root Beer, who revolutionized the concept of franchising in 1921; 7-Eleven in 1927; Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1930; McDonald’s in 1940; and In-N-Out in 1948. The term “fast food” first appeared in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary in 1951, and the concept became especially popular during that decade. Fast food is often vilified for being a highly processed nutritional nightmare, but it is this emphasis on speed, uniformity, and low cost that has made fast food popular with consumers. No big surprise: who doesn’t appreciate a tasty, cheap, quick meal?

As you might imagine, different variations of fast food are popular in other parts of the world. Japan’s got their sushi, the Middle East has kebab houses, Asia has noodle shops, and the U.K. is known for their fish ‘n chips. The Dutch serve French fries with mayonnaise (and other sauces) and meat, and in Portugal, local dishes such as piri-piri (marinated grilled chicken), espetada (turkey or pork on sticks), and bifanas (pork cutlets) are served with – once again – French fries. The common denominator.

I would personally love it if White Castle expanded to the West Coast. I’ve only ever been there once in my life, on a road trip to the midwest in 2011, and it was like the Holy Grail of my vacation. Alas, no such luck, but we do have Jack In The Box out here, which is hard to find back east. Kind of makes up for the White Castle slight. We were in Salem, the state capitol of Oregon, tonight to get our culture on and catch some dance. Afterwards, we swung by the aforementioned Jack In The Box. This photo was taken in the car at 10 PM, and isn’t nearly as impressive as it tasted. Trust me…my Sourdough Jack and french fries were delicious!

JITB

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319/365: National Raisin Bran Cereal Day*

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Midwest Mark

You may be raisin hell if you skip breakfast today. November 15 is National Raisin Bran Cereal Day!

It’s also National Bundt Day, but I’m not much of a baseball fan, and when I am I like to swing for the fences rather than gently tapping the pitched ball with my bat to make it more difficult to field. What’s that? Wrong kind of “bunt”? Doesn’t matter. We’re celebrating cereal today.

Raisin Bran cereal was first introduced in 1926 by U.S. Mills, under the brand name Skinner’s Raisin Bran. The name was originally trademarked, but in 1944 the District Court of Nebraska ruled the name couldn’t be used as a trademark because A name which is merely descriptive of the ingredients, qualities or characteristics of an article of trade cannot be appropriated as a trademark and the exclusive use of it afforded legal protection. The use of a similar name by another to truthfully describe his own product does not constitute a legal or moral wrong, even if its effect be to cause the public to mistake the origin or ownership of the product. In other words – minus the legalese – if your product contains raisins and bran, you don’t own the name Raisin Bran any more than if your product contained chocolate and milk and you trademarked the name Chocolate Milk™. Not gonna happen, folks. As a result, a number of companies sell their own versions of raisin bran cereal, including Kellogg’s, General Mills, and Post. The cereal is naturally high in fiber, but is sometimes criticized for containing too much sugar.

Raisin Bran was a favorite cereal of mine growing up, but I don’t eat it much anymore these days. It’s too sweet to me, and I agree with Tara that it gets too soggy in milk too quickly. Still, it made for a decent enough breakfast before work this morning!

National Raisin Bran Cereal Day

National Raisin Bran Cereal Day

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318/365: National Guacamole Day*

Posted on November 14, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Holy moley! You’ll be green with envy if you don’t get to participate in today’s food holiday. November 14 is National Guacamole Day!

It’s also National Pickle Day (so the “green with envy” joke works either way). I love pickles, but we already celebrated them with the oddly-named National Snack A Pickle Time back on September 13, so today we’re giving guacamole its due. (Interestingly, according to some sources, there was also another guacamole holiday right around the same time – September 16 – but we celebrated Cinnamon Raisin bread that day).

Guacamole was invented by the Aztecs back in the 15th century when some klutz stepped on a ripe avocado. That story may not appear in history books, but c’mon, how else could it possibly have happened?! The Aztecs called their avocado sauce, which they mixed with onions and tomatoes, ahuaca-mulli (“avocado mixture”). You’re going to have a ball with this, because it gets better: the word “avocado” is derived from the ancient Nahuatl word for “testicles.” Yummy. Spaniards were enamored with the dish and brought avocados back to Spain, but they didn’t grow very well in Europe, so they remained a treat for people traveling to the Americas. The English made an avocado paste they called “Midshipman’s butter” and spread on their hardtack to give it flavor (only this being the English, it’s flavour). The majority of American avocados are grown in California, and an estimated 30 million pounds of guacamole is consumed on two particular days: Super Bowl Sunday and Cinco de Mayo. Guacamole comes in many forms: it can be thick and chunky, or smooth and almost soupy. Typical ingredients include onions, serrano and/or jalapeno peppers, cilantro, lime, and tomatoes.

I am particularly proud of my homemade guacamole. It’s simple to make and delicious! I adapted the recipe from that found in a local Mexican restaurant, only mine tends to be smoother. I take two avocadoes, one tomato, half an onion, 1 serrano pepper, a handful of cilantro, a tablespoon of jalapeno juice, lime juice, and kosher salt to taste. Mash/mix/stir them all together, and let the flavors blend for 1/2 an hour in the fridge. That’s exactly what we did tonight! So, so good.

National Guacamole Day

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317/365: National Indian Pudding Day

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Midwest Mark

If today’s food holiday doesn’t sound at all native to you Americans, don’t be hasty: it’s actually a Colonial classic that dates back to the 17th century. November 13 is National Indian Pudding Day!

This holiday popped up earlier in the year, but it shared the date with National Orange Blossom Day, and this cocktail made with gin, vermouth, and orange juice sounded more appealing (and considerably easier to make), so we opted for that at the time. The drink actually didn’t impress us all that much, and then John – our East Coast Food Correspondent, as I dubbed him early on in our challenge, left the following comment.

Maybe after this year…. or even next year. And you can just eat what you want again, and not everyday is an elaborate food adventure, you should really try making Indian Pudding. It’s really good! Worth it down the road.

Needless to say, that intrigued us. I did not realize, at the time, that there would be another National Indian Pudding Day, so I’m kinda glad we had a second shot at this holiday – even if making it is an arduous process.

Indian pudding is a variation on British hasty pudding, a pudding or porridge of grains cooked in boiling milk or water; instead of wheat, it is made with cornmeal, which was indigenous to Native Americans (and its name, Indian meal, gave rise to the name Indian pudding). Colonialists added a sweetener such as molasses or maple syrup, spices (typically cinnamon and ginger), and other ingredients like butter, eggs, raisins, and nuts for flavor and texture. It was then baked in an oven for several hours, until the consistency was more custardy than porridge-like. It became a popular dessert during the cold New England winters, and was traditionally associated with Thanksgiving meals during the late 19th century. When commercial puddings hit the market in the 1900s, few home cooks bothered anymore with the laborious process of creating Indian pudding from scratch, and the dish basically disappeared from dinner tables.

There was no escaping the fact that this would be a time-consuming dessert to prepare, but we were ready for the challenge, and followed this recipe. The end result? Pretty interesting. The texture of the custard was grainy, but the flavors were delicious, and matched well with a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top. We both liked it, but agreed that we probably wouldn’t go to the trouble of making one again. No doubt, if it weren’t for the food challenge, this is one dish we would never have tried!

National Indian Pudding Day

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316/365: National Chicken Soup For The Soul Day*

Posted on November 12, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Why did the chicken cross the road? To avoid fowl play and escape the stewpot, of course. No such luck today. November 12 is National Chicken Soup for the Soul Day!

It’s also National Pizza With Everything (Except Anchovies) Day. Two cleverly named food holidays, both of them promising tasty dinners. We had us a real dilemma deciding which one to celebrate. Seeing that it’s a weekday our initial thought was ordering a pizza with everything except anchovies, but we’ve already gone the pizza route twice, while few soups have popped up on the menu. There was split pea soup a few days ago, of course. But other than that, just turkey neck soup, way back in March. Chowders and bisques don’t count. Considering that nothing satisfies on a cool, crisp autumn evening like a bowl of piping hot soup, this turned out to be a pretty easy decision, after all.

Chicken Soup For The Soul is the name of a series of popular inspirational books first published in 1993. The name was chosen because chicken soup is a popular home remedy for the sick, and is therefore good for the body – while the inspirational stories within are meant to be good for the soul. This is one of the few food holidays with corporate sponsorship; Chicken Soup For The Soul Enterprises, Inc. pushed for the holiday as a means to celebrate eating chicken soup as well as “who you are, where you’ve been, where you’re going and who you will be thankful to when you get there.” Which almost makes me want to roll my eyes, but I am thankful for chicken soup, so I’ll check my cynicism at the door.

Chicken soup has been enjoyed by many cultures for hundreds of years. In Colonial America, chickens were mainly raised for their eggs; when hens grew old, their meat was stringy, and they were considered too tough for roasting, so they were used in soup instead. Chicken noodle soup is a popular variation in the U.S., but almost never came to be: Campbell’s was preparing to discontinue its “chicken with noodles soup” due to poor sales when an announcer slipped up during a live commercial airing during The Amos and Andy Show and referred to it as “chicken noodle soup.” This simple mistake generated a ton of interest, and people wrote letters to Campbell’s asking about the new flavor. It has been one of their top-sellers ever since. Chicken soup has long been associated as a cure for the common cold, and a 2000 study by the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha actually found anti-inflammatory properties in chicken soup, which means eating it while sick could hypothetically lead to a reduction in symptoms, lending credence to what many had considered an old wive’s tale.

To celebrate, Tara made chicken noodle soup. From scratch. Including the noodles. How impressive is that? This is a creamy version that was a childhood favorite; she hadn’t had it in roughly 2o years. Until this past Saturday night, when her mom Tracy made it for us. It was so delicious, we decided to take advantage of the holiday and have it again today. Absolutely yummy!

National Chicken Soup For The Soul Day

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315/365: National Sundae Day

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Sundae, bloody sundae. Again. I know you’re supposed to scream for ice cream, but when you’re on your third go-round celebrating the same food holiday, you’re more likely to want to scream in frustration instead. November 11 is National Sundae Day…

It’s not that I don’t enjoy a good ice cream sundae. Of course I do. But I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: there are so many other deserving foods that don’t have their own holiday yet, it seems unfair to simply regurgitate different variations of the same thing. Actually, I think I’m more irritated over the fact that I have nothing new to say, but feel like I’ve got a certain amount of white space to fill before I can hit “publish.” I watch that word count carefully, believe me! And since we’ve already done hot fudge sundaes and strawberry sundaes, well…

…same old dilemma.

Not to mention the fact that sundaes are much more enjoyable in the summer months. Not November. It’s like drinking hot chocolate in July. Who’d want to do that?

But I really shouldn’t complain. We’re entering the home stretch now. And really, I’m bellyaching because we have to eat an ice cream sundae?! Oh, woe is me. First world problems indeed. 🙂

So of course, we made sundaes. And we licked our spoons when we were finished.

National Sundae Day

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314/365: National Vanilla Cupcake Day

Posted on November 10, 2013 by Midwest Mark

If today’s a little frosty, well, that’s no real surprise. After all, it’s November 10. And National Vanilla Cupcake Day, to boot!

Cupcakes again, eh? It seems we’ve celebrated these a dozen times this year, but in reality, there has only really been one other day specifically devoted to cupcakes: October 18 (National Chocolate Cupcake Day). But there have been several cake holidays where we opted to make or buy cupcakes instead, just to save us the trouble (and calories) associated with leftovers. Click on the link for a history of what the British refer to as “fairy cakes.” By the way, one alternate explanation for the name cupcakes has to do with the fact that the ingredients are typically measured out in cups: one cup of butter, two cups of sugar, three cups of flour, one cup of milk. And four eggs and one spoonful of baking soda. Commit that ratio to memory, and you’ll be able to whip up homemade cupcakes wherever you go!

To celebrate, we stopped by Freddy’s on the way home and picked up some miniature vanilla cupcakes. Same kind we had on our chocolate cupcake day. These little bite-sized treats lent the perfect sweet finish to our dinner!

National Vanilla Cupcake Day

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