Celebrate Every Day

Welcome to December 6, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate shortwave miracles and the spirit of old St. Nick. In 1945, Percy Spencer, a self taught engineer from Howland, Maine was working on an active radar set when he noticed something strange. A chocolate bar in his pocket had started to melt. The idea for dielectric cooking with a shortwave transmitter had already been demons...

Welcome to December 5, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate hidden warriors and the rebel spirit. Anna: Whenever we see a ninja… Marlo: Um…you don’t actually see ninjas unless they want to be seen. That’s kinda the point. Anna: Okay. Well, when we envision what a ninja looks like, it’s typically a person dressed all in black, carrying a sword and throwing stars. But that’s not tru...

Welcome to December 4, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate rolling out the fun in cookie dough and games of chance. Cookies first appeared in Persia in the 7th century and made their way to Europe through Spain in the 14th century. They later traveled to the United States with Dutch settlers. In the Netherlands they were called koekies or little cakes. Apparently, cookies made go...

Welcome to December 3, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate tie trivia and rolling out the holiday spirit. Croatian soldiers who served in the French army during the reign of Louis XIV wore scarves called Cravats. The name is derived from the French word for “Croatian” and soon came to refer to any kind of a neckerchief worn by a man. After the Battle of Steenkerque in 1692, this...

Welcome to December 2, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate loveable mixes and deep fried comfort. In the world of dogs, some come with pedigrees and champion bloodlines that win dog shows time and again, and others are...well, mutts. Unlike their purebred cousins, mutts are what Bob Ross would call “happy little accidents.” I have to give a shout out today to my adorable Cheezer....

Welcome to December 1, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate a civil rights gamechanger and giving to our furry friends. While some states honor the birthday of this civil right hero, others celebrate the day of her arrest. On December 1, 1955, after a long day of work, Rosa Parks boarded a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She sat in the “colored section” but as the bus began to fill, t...

Welcome to November 30, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate amazing flights and the spirit of giving. Mississippi is best known as the birthplace of Elvis Presley and The Blues. But it’s also known as the setting for one of the world’s greatest feats of aviation. In 1935, two brothers from Meridian, Mississippi—Al and Fred Key—took off in a single-engine plane from the local airp...

Welcome to November 29, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate convenient ways to stay connected and shopping with ease. When Neil Papworth sent the first ever text to his boss in 1992, he had no idea the impact it would have. The text was pretty simple—it said Merry Christmas—but this message changed the world. Texting has become a part of everyday life. In fact, it’s the most popu...

Welcome to November 28, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate the Festival of Lights and reclaiming lost bread. This evening kicks off Chanukah, the Jewish festival of lights. During the time of Alexander the Great, Jewish culture began to blend with Greek culture in a mostly peaceful relationship. That is until Antiochus IV desecrated the Jewish Holy Temple. When the Israelites re...

Welcome to November 27, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate protein on the go and supporting the small guys. The preservation of meat by smoking or drying has been around for a very long time. Evidence of meat jerky is even found in the tombs of ancient Egypt. And this makes sense when you realize that refrigeration has only been around a relatively short while. But today we cele...

Welcome to November 26, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate expensive cakes and being in the black Yesterday on Thanksgiving, pie got its time in the spotlight. But most people prefer cake. Like the man from the United Arab Emirates who purchased a custom-made cake for his daughter’s birthday. And it was expensive. Very expensive. The cake cost—you may want to sit down for this o...

Welcome to November 25, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate a perfect dessert and a meal that brings us together. Parfait literally means “perfect” in French. The dessert has a lot to live up to with a name like that. But it does. And then some. Layers of ice cream, fruit, syrups, and whipped cream? It sounds like a fancy version of a sundae, but really…What’s not to like? It’s d...

Welcome to November 24, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate new found hobbies and rocking around the clock. As a teen, Samuel Langhorne Clemens worked as a river pilot on the Mississippi River. All the while, he was writing. When the American Civil War brought trade to a halt, he went after his passion. You probably know Mr. Clemens better as Mark Twain, which is actually a nauti...

Welcome to November 23, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate toxic nuts and intoxicating drinks. When it comes to nuts, cashews are in a class of their own. You’ll find them in any can of mixed nuts, but they’re not exactly like the others. Their unique half moon shape makes them stand out from peanuts, walnuts, and almonds. And unlike pistachios, you’ll never see cashews in a she...

Welcome to November 22, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate spicing things up and a sauce with pucker power. When you think of peppers, you probably think of spicy foods. And while that’s true, there are many varieties of pepper. Like the bell pepper, a mild version. These colorful fruits—yes, peppers are fruits—have more vitamin C than oranges and they’re chock full of vitamin A...

Welcome to November 21, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate the one that almost got away and being a good neighbor. Cookies are delicious, but they’re usually pretty standard when it comes to shape. Most are round. Some are square. But there’s only one that almost exclusively comes in human form—the gingerbread man. So how did this cute little cookie come to be? Surprisingly, we...

Welcome to November 20, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate kids and the games for kids at heart. While not everyone becomes a parent, most of us have some effect on the children around us and today we focus on some important things to remember about early childhood development. From the time they are born babies spend 60 percent of their energy on brain development. In fact the...

Welcome to November 19, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate catching a bubbly buzz and some friendly competition. Here in North America more than 90 percent of us enjoy caffeine every single day. But not all of us enjoy tea or coffee. The rest of us can thank a German Chemist who first isolated caffeine from coffee beans in 1819. Man-made carbonation was first discovered by Josep...

Welcome to November 18, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we remember a celebrity host and a mighty mouse. Just over a year ago we lost one of our most beloved game show hosts: Alex Trebek. While he is best known for his 30 plus years hosting Jeopardy, this was not his first show. Canadian born Trebek began his American career with a show called the Wizard of Odds. Sadly, the odds were not...

Not many foods can be both light and rich at the same time, but baklava holds that distinction. For those of you who’ve never tried baklava, you’re missing out—It’s sheets of phyllo dough layered with honey, sugar, cinnamon, and pistachios. Oh, and butter. Lots of butter. This heavenly dessert got its start way back in the Assyrian Empire around 8th Century BC, when it was made with unleavened bre...

Welcome to November 16, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate the Hoosier State and food served lickity split. Indiana is famous for many things: basketball, the Indy 500, and being the birthplace of the Jackson 5. But its lesser known claim to fame is an enormous supply of limestone. In fact Indiana is known as the limestone capital of the world. The Empire State Building was cons...

Welcome to November 15, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate traditional cakes and a legacy of generosity. The inventor H. David Dalquist was the first to cast the aluminum pan known as the bundt. In 1950 he created the pan in his Minnesota based Nordic Ware company for a local women’s group who wanted to bake a traditional kugelhopf or ring-shaped cake. Naming the pan for the Ger...

Welcome to November 14, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate all things sour and a day in your PJs. One of the oldest methods of preserving food is pickling. This process involves placing vegetables or fruits in a sealed container with brine or vinegar. The fermentation that takes place changes the flavor and texture of the food, creating pickles, though technically only pickled c...

Welcome to November 13, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate changing the world with empathy and compassion. The World Kindness Movement began in 1997 in Tokyo, Japan and today includes over 28 countries around the globe. Projects include photo contests that capture moments of goodwill and generosity along with those that mirror the sustainable development goals outlined by the Un...

Welcome to November 12, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate the kitchen sink of pizzas and a good old American throw down. Sharks, halibut, yellowtail. They’re not like us. But not for the obvious reason. These creatures actually like anchovies. In fact, anchovies are an important part of the diet for most fish. But putting them on a pizza…well, that’s a different thing altogethe...