Celebrate Every Day

Welcome to September 7th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate learning how the sausage is made and a top down love for beer. The Latin word “salumen” means a mixture of salted meats. Salami is a generic term used to describe any encased meat product, but in Italy this typically means pork. In the same way that cheeses are named for the place in which they’re made, salami is more...

Welcome to September 6th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate a sweet breakfast buzz and taking a virtual trip. You’ve heard the phrase “when in Rome…” but if you can’t hop a plane to Italy just now, why not mix things up with a sweet twist on breakfast? Apparently it’s perfectly acceptable in Sicily to start the day with coffee flavored gelato tucked inside fresh brioche bread....

Welcome to September 5th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate perfectly simple pies and taking a break. Whoever said, “Love is all you need” forgot about cheese, and if we are talking about pizza then cheese is definitely all you need. Dating back to ancient Greece, the simple flatbread known as pita was topped with olive oil, herbs and cheese, and it’s here that our love affair...

Welcome to September 4th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate a famous paperboy and the call of the wild. When a young boy answered an ad in the New York Sun, looking for “steady men” to sell newspapers, little did he know that he would change history. On this day in 1933, 10 year old Barney Flaherty answered the call. His attitude was so sincere that the publisher hired him on t...

Welcome to September 3rd, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate poor man’s rabbit and a party on the go. We all know that nicknames have a way of sticking with us. Take the name “Welsh Rarebit” for example. This basic dish of toasted wheat bread with cheddar cheese sauce contains no actual rabbit and was originally called caws pobi in 16th Century Wales. The English dubbed the meal...

Welcome to September 2nd, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate topping things off and showing our true colors. The image of the bowler derby immediately calls to mind British gentlemen walking around the streets of London. But this chapeau was conceived for the countryside. Edward Cook, a British politician, wanted a hat that was well suited for hunting. The traditional hats at th...

Welcome to September 1st, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate new beginnings and burnt ends. During its heyday, Route 66 offered beautiful scenery and lots of fun places to stop along the way. Chicken Boy was one of the most famous of these roadside attractions. The fried chicken restaurant boasted a giant statue of a man with a chicken’s head that welcomed visitors to the city o...

Welcome to August 31st, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate cupid’s little helpers and snacks that go the distance. Before online dating sites, the art of matchmaking was devised by a few brave souls who were willing to fire cupid’s arrows. When Kat McClain got fed up with cupid’s algorithms, she turned to a professional matchmaking service to try things the old fashioned way. Th...

Welcome to August 30th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate finding our happy place and dessert on a stick. Someone once said, “Happiness is a day at the beach.” That pretty much sums it up! The beach can be the very best place to get away from it all, with the smell of the salty air, the sand crunching between your toes and the sound of waves crashing into the shore. Just thinki...

Welcome to August 29th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate odds and ends and counting the ways we love lemon. It is believed that the name chop suey means “assorted pieces” and this name fits the hodgepodge of myths surrounding its creation. Though the Chinese don’t claim the dish, they are usually at the heart of its stories, which go back as far as the 1860s. A Chinese chef in...

Welcome to August 28th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate cheesy shows and seeing red. If you’re a fan of Zordon or Rita Repulsa, then you know exactly what we’re celebrating today. Although this kid’s show was pieced together with old footage from a Japanese TV show, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers was a huge hit in 1993. Five teenagers transformed into...well Power Rangers, who...

Welcome to August 27th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate doing things “just because” and getting to the good stuff. When was the last time you did something “just because?” Have you ever stopped to think about what saying “yes” instead of “no” might do for your life? For Shonda Rhimes it all started at a family Thanksgiving dinner when her sister pointed out that she always sa...

Welcome to August 26th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate women’s rights and man’s best friend. On this day in 1920 the United States Congress passed the 19th Amendment to the Constitution granting women full and equal voting rights. While it may sound preposterous today, this amendment was 80 years in the making, if you take into account that the seeds of unrest were sown in t...

Welcome to August 25th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate the great outdoors and one clever apprentice. After serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, Ferdinand Hayden did geographical surveys of the Grand Canyon and what would become the Western United States. One particular region of Northwestern Wyoming caught his attention and he petitioned the government to explore...

Welcome to August 24th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate Summertime’s freshest pie and a tasty debate. Summertime means the freshest crops and the most delicious fruit. In Georgia that means peaches. Sure, California grows more of them than any other state, but in Georgia they have a reputation for being the best. Maybe that’s because to this day there are no major processing...

Welcome to August 23rd, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate challenging new heights in the kitchen and on the runway. One of the most difficult cakes for bakers to master is the sponge cake. And if you are intrigued by this challenge, here are a few tips to ensure your success. Start with sifting the cake flour which makes for a lighter batter. Cake flour is more finely milled an...

Welcome to August 22nd, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate food that takes a bow and magical dentistry. During the Three Kingdoms era of China, a general and his troops found their way home was blocked by a raging river. The river god told the general that passage would only be granted if he cut off 50 of his soldiers’ heads and threw them into the river. Instead, the general or...

Welcome to August 21st, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate stylish ice cream and late bloomers. No one does style quite like the Italians and as the popularity of gelato spread across Europe, ice cream makers had to find a way to ship it more efficiently. Chefs in Italy created Neapolitan ice cream, which was one big block with multiple flavors. And in the 1800s when Italian imm...

Welcome to August 20th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate amazing mashups in the kitchen and in the lab. Few things are as sweet as the Southern favorite pecan pie, but when someone decided to add chocolate, this candy-like dessert went over the top. Pecan trees are native to the American South, and this classic pie sprung up in the region around the late 1800s. Though sugar pi...

Welcome to August 19th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate playing with our food and more than a century in the wild blue yonder. For as long as anyone can remember, parents have told their children to not play with their food. But Mr. Potato Head changed that. In the late 1940s, Mr. Potato Head—or at least parts of him—were included in cereal boxes. Kids would collect the body...

Welcome to August 18th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate fussy grapes and a satisfying sizzle. Pinot noir grapes are notoriously hard to grow. Too much weather variation can ruin a crop very quickly. Plus, the grapes grow in tight, cone-like clusters, which can be a problem because the fruit is extremely thin-skinned. This growth pattern is what gives the grape—and the wine—it...

Welcome to August 17th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate cool cats and doing something good. Perspective is everything. Take, for example, the black cat. In Ancient Egypt, cats were considered a sign of good luck. This is because felines helped to keep rats and mice away from food in storage. But in Europe, the same animal was seen as unlucky. As you’ve no doubt heard, a black...

Welcome to August 16th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate the need for speed and the spirit of the islands. Roller coasters attract adrenaline junkies to amusement parks around the world. These rides are thrilling and sometimes scary. But oddly enough, they were invented to keep people away from drinking and gambling. LaMarcus Adna Thompson built the first roller coaster in Con...

Welcome to August 15th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate kicking up our feet and a cheerful pastry. The world seems to go a million miles an hour and we all need time to ourselves to decompress. For some, it’s meditation. For others, it’s getting a massage. And for a select few, it’s putting your feet in water and letting small fish chew away at dead skin. No really. That’s a...

Welcome to August 14th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate a frozen success and a code that changed the game. You may have heard that the Popsicle was invented by a kid. That kid was 11 year old Frank Epperson, who kept right on dreaming after the huge success of his first frozen treat. At an age when most of us are trying out a paper route, young Frank experimented with vanilla...