Good evening How are you this evening? I wanted to share our series sharing Food Holidays: April 25th, 2021 with you this evening because we have a lunch date in the morning.
Before we leave I wanted to get the front room cleaned up and the dished washed Along with the floors swept and mopped encase one of Charlie’s friends wants to come over.
The Brown Bag has been around for a long, long time. It seems like just yesterday, everyone was “brown bagging it”, or taking their lunch to work or school in a brown paper bag. My how times have changed. Nowadays, very few people brown bag it.
I don’t know about you but I miss making Brown Bagging it and preparing lunches and sticking notes to remind Charlie and David I was thinking of the.
If you extend this line of thought to include the definition of “brown baggers”, or people who carry their lunch in a lunch bucket or a lunch pail back in the day, that would include most people.
Somewhere along the way, Brown Bagging your lunch grew out of style. Busy, working moms didn’t have the time in the morning to pack a good lunch.
School lunch programs were initiated or expanded, to the point where most kids bought their lunch at school. After all, bringing your lunch is not considered “cool”.
Today is the perfect day to go “retro” if only for a day. Brown bag your lunch. Nostalgia aside, there are good reasons to brown bag your lunch. First of all, brown bagging can save a lot of money, over buying lunch on a daily basis.
Second, home made or foods packed from home always taste better. In addition Mom or Dad can pack a lunch that is more healthy and nutritious. This is a lot of good reasons to brown bag it. Can you help me convince people that bagging is being the “cool” thing to do.
This day is an ode to the unsung hero in our lives that gives us so many benefits. Brown bags have been popularly used in grocery stores and to pack and carry lunches to school or work.
They’re great as they not only help us save some money that we would have otherwise spent on buying lunch but also encourage us to pack home-cooked meals and stay healthy. Brown Baggers truly deserve a day dedicated to them.
History of National Brown-Bag It Day
National Brown-Bag It Day is a fairly recent celebration and has been observed for less than a decade. Before you ask we don’t know who established this day.
Brown paper bags have been part of our daily lives for many years. Knowingly or unknowingly, we use brown paper bags for packing lunches, carrying groceries, or even making Halloween Masks.
However, they did have to be invented at some point for brown paper bags to have made an entry and improvement on our lives. The invention of the brown paper bag has been attributed to many innovators such as Francis Wolle, Margaret Knight, and Walter Deubener.
These people endeavored to make it the best version of itself, be it through adapting the design, functionality, or pricing. Thanks to their efforts, we now have a timeless product that is widely used across the country and world.
People have been brown-bagging their lunches to school or work for a while now. However, the trend seems to have slowed down with people’s ever-increasing hectic schedules.
In fact, between 2012 and 2013, Americans spent a whopping $1,000 on lunch each year. Imagine if you’d just brown-bagged your lunch. This would save you quite a lot of money and even help you eat healthy as you can control the portions of the food you pack.
National Brown-Bag It Day is the perfect occasion to bring brown bags back in style. Encourage people to start using brown bags more often. You definitely won’t regret this lifestyle change.
National Wine Day
Not to be confused with the holiday National Drink Wine Day – is a holiday celebrated annually in the United States on May 25th. The purpose of this day is very simple. It’s a day to buy Wine, appreciate Wine and enjoy the history of Wine. After all, this alcoholic beverage has been a part of human civilization for at least 8,000 years.
History of National Wine Day
The history of National Wine Day seems to be obscured by the fog of time, Scientists do have a pretty good idea when Wine started being produced and consumed.
They found a Winery that produced wine in 4300 BC. This Winery was in the Areni cave in Vayouts Dzor in Armenia. Archaeologists call it a Winery because they discovered not only cups and jars for holding wine, but other equipment such as Wine presses and fermentation vats that were used in the production of wine.
If that’s enough evidence for you to call it a Winery, then you might want to know there was also the seeds and vines of Vitis vinifera located on site. Before this site was discovered, the oldest known Wine making could only be traced back to about 3100 BC. Or about 900 years later than this find – in an Egyptian tomb.
After discovering this site, Archaeologists believed Wine making probably went back even further than 6,000. In fact, they believe that since the early Armenians had such a grasp of the technology of Wine making, then it must go back at least a few hundred more years.
What was later discovered though was that Wine making actually goes back 8,000 years. This was confirmed when an 8,000-year-old Wine was found in the Caucasus region of Eurasia – now the country of Georgia.
Fun Facts About Wine
- The smell of an older Wine is called a bouquet; the smell of a younger Wine is the aroma
- Wine only has 1/10th the antioxidants of Soy Sauce
- The states of California, Florida, and New York lead the U.S in Wine consumption
- Wine has been produced in southwestern France since Roman times
- The Romans mixed lead with Wine to help preserve Wine giving it a sweeter taste
- Ice Wine (known as Eiswein), made by frozen Grapes, was invented by the Germans
- Not all Wines improve with age
- More Wine Grapes are planted than any other crop in the world
- Grapes for dark red Wines grow in warmer climates, while White Wine Grapes grow in cooler ones
- Global warming may change where Wine can be grown in the future
National Wine Day Customs & Traditions
One way to learn about National Wine Day is to learn all about the History of Wine making which you can research on the Internet. Or you can visit your local library or head down to your local museum.
However, the best ways to celebrate National Wine Day with a hands-on approach – by going to where Wine is made in the first place. I would go to California. How about you?
The U.S has truly great Wineries, so why not head out to visit one of them on National Wine Day? Some of the best Wineries in the country include St. James Winery in St. James, Missouri; St. Francois Winery in Park Hills, Missouri; Robert Sinskey Vineyards in Napa, California; Domaine Drouhin Oregon in Dayton, Oregon; Smith-Madrone Vineyards and Winery in St. Helena, California; Au Bon Climat Winery in Santa Barbara, California and Ridge Vineyards in Cupertino, California.
Other ways to enjoy National Wine Day is to drink Wine, make Wine Ice-Cream, make Wine Slushies, cook with wine or post wine-related memes. Promote this Holiday by using the hashtag #nationalwineday.
Sangria Popsicle
- 1 cup chopped fruit (oranges, apples, grapes and blackberries work well)
- 3/4 cup red wine (Tempranillo, Malbec, and Garnacha are good bets)
- 3/4 cup orange juice
- 1/4 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1) Begin by gathering your ingredients.
2) Fill a small bowl with chopped fruit. Pour wine over fruit and let soak for 15 minutes.
3) Meanwhile, heat a small saucepan on the stovetop over medium heat. Add orange juice, lemon juice and sugar and stir until sugar is dissolved, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
4) Pour fruit-wine mixture over a strainer into a large spouted measuring cup (for easier pouring) and reserve the fruit. Pour the orange-lemon simple syrup over the strainer into the measuring cup, as well.
5) Divide reserved fruit among 6 3-ounce popsicle molds. Pour liquid evenly into molds, leaving about 1/4-inch of space at the top of each mold.
6) Place handles (or popsicle sticks) in top center of each mold. Freeze popsicles for at least 8 hours before serving.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
