G 51 - BINGO!

Bingo Birthday Month

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By Diane Forrest

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 I was trying to catch up a little on my writing, so I could sneak in a few days for holiday things such as shopping, decorating and wrapping gifts.  So while I was doing a little work on Saturday, I saw my next article said Bing's Birthday month.  Well the boss was out of pocket, so I was thinking Bing, and the first thing that came to mind was Bing Crosby.  Then I thought, he passed away some time ago, and I couldn’t imagine celebrating his birth all month long, so my next thought was Bing Cherries.  I love cherries, and this month is certainly the month for Chocolate covered ones, but then I thought, how does a cherry have a birthday.

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My next thought was BING, the search engine for the web, so I looked up the information on that, and discovered that it was launched in June, so we wouldn't be celebrating that now, so I was at a loss, I decided to check another site that listed holidays, and discovered it is BINGO's birthday month.  So...I guess it doesn’t pay to try to get ahead on some things.

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This month is the "birth" of the game Bingo.  It is a fun game played by Children, and also grownups who take chances of winning prizes.  I remember the first time I ever won anything; I was playing bingo at the Elks Lodge.  They had all types of different games, but the game I won was the black out.  Each number had to be covered.  I won along with another contestant, so we split the prize and each got 15.00!

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To celebrate bingo month, why not go to a local nursing home and assist with calling the numbers, or even play at a local church.  It’s a fun way to spend a few hours, and who knows, you may win 15 bucks too!

Cherries Jubilee Day

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By Chef Diane

This year marks the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth.  Celebrating her 75 years of ruling with events planned in several countries.  You may have read about the photo scandal involving Kate, Williams wife.  They were in another country celebrating the Queen's jubilee when she was photographed at a private home while she was sunbathing topless.  These pictures were published, but a lawsuit was filed and Kate was victorious.  Even though she won, the pictures are still out in the public.

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In Queen Victoria's day I imagine there were not that kind of scandals. In fact during her Jubilee celebration a new dessert was created.  Having seen pictures of Queen Victoria, one can only imagine that she preferred desserts over sunbathing topless.

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Cherries Jubilee is made with cherries and liqueur, it is flambéed, then served over ice cream.  According to Wikipedia, the recipe is generally credited to Auguste Escoffier.  There have been many variations on the idea of flambéed fruit since Escoffier's time, the most famous being Bananas Foster. Other variations include Mangos Diablo (mangos flambéed in tequila) and Pêches Louis (peaches flamed in whiskey).

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Today is Cherries Jubilee Day.  You can act like a queen today when you have this majestic desert.  Below is a recipe from the website allrecipes.com.  Give it a try and enjoy!

Cherries Jubilee

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1 pound Bing or other dark, sweet cherries, rinsed and pitted (or use frozen pitted cherries)
• 1/2 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
• 1/4 teaspoon cherry extract
• 1/4 cup brandy
• 3 cups vanilla ice cream

Directions

1. Whisk together the sugar and cornstarch in a wide saucepan. Stir in the water and orange juice; bring to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking until thickened. Stir in the cherries and orange zest, return to a boil, then reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. While the cherries are cooking, spoon the ice cream into serving bowls.
2. Remove the cherries from the heat, and stir in the cherry extract. Pour in the brandy, and ignite with a long lighter. Gently shake the pan until the blue flame has extinguished itself. Spoon the cherries over the bowls of ice cream.

I'm off to the kitchen...
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Chocolate Covered Cherry

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By Diane Forrest,

If you haven't been down the Christmas candy section at your favorite store, you have missed the tons of boxes of chocolate covered cherries.    This time of year they are everywhere!  My mother used to buy them for her aunts at Christmas, they loved them.  I love cherries, and I love chocolate, but for some reason I don’t like the packaged candy.  I think it must be the liquid that surrounds them.  I’m sure I would love a fresh cherry dipped in chocolate, but I have never tried that.  But have been thinking more and more about it since starting this article!

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Today is National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day, so in researching how this day got started, or even some kind of history, I couldn't find anything.  But I did find a cute made up story about them from what the heck holidays.com, and thought I would share it with you.

Once upon a time, there was an ancient king of England who was king so long ago that no one can even remember his name. He had this mother-in-law that he really hated, but he didn't want to just upset his beautiful queen wife by killing her. So on her birthday, he gave his mother-in-law a GIANT chocolate-covered cherry, and she choked on it and died. To celebrate this day (he told his wife it was a day to mourn for their kingdom's loss though, because he didn't want to hurt her feelings) he declared National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day. Somehow the holiday came over to the USA (probably from immigrants a long time ago) and we all eat giant chocolate covered cherries and hope we don't die tragically.

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So since the holidays are over, and the cherries have been marked down, why not grab a box today.  I’m pretty sure it counts as a fruit, so it won't mess up your diet plans...wink wink!

Below is a recipe if you want to make your own fresh cherries:

Chocolate Covered Cherries

• 2 cups powdered sugar (you may want to use more to thicken it up, some people have used another cup full)
• 1/4 cup margarine
• 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 pinch salt
• maraschino cherry,   drained
• milk dipping chocolate (I use giridelli's)

Directions:

1. Combine the first 5 ingredients until well blended and smooth and place in fridge until firm
2. Meanwhile spread out the drained cherries on a cookie sheet and freeze for at least 1 hours.
3. Scoop out about 1-2 teaspoon of filling and form into a ball around a cherry.
4. Place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet and freeze for 1 hr after you have formed them all.
5. Melt dipping chocolate and using your hands dip each cherry placing it on a wax paper lined cookie sheet and chill in fridge until chocolate is solid.
6. Remove cherries carefully as not to break them open and loose the center.
7. Place in an airtight plastic container and keep in a cool dry place for up to 1 month.