National Pickle Day

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By Diane Forrest

Last year on my father's birthday I gave him a mandolin food slicer.  This past summer he found a great use for it.  His neighbor planted a crop of cucumbers, and brought some to my dad, and he went about slicing them up and making my grandmother's famous bread and butter pickles.   I have never been much of a pickle eater, but when he brought those pickles out, I could have eaten the whole jar!  They are thinly sliced cucumbers, and thin rings of onions, in a sweet pickling sauce.

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Other pickles I love are included on the side of a sandwich plate.  When I order certain hamburgers, or po’boys, they will place a pickle spear on the side. I don’t' know where they get them, I have tried the ones in the grocery store, but they never taste as good as the ones beside my sandwich.   Another good pickle is the whole pickles I used to get at the movies.  I didn’t really like them, but they were so big and would last a long time, so I could much on them during the whole show.

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Today is National Pickle day.  Pickles have been around for years.  Back in 2030 B.C., cucumbers were imported from India to the Tigris Valley. There, they were first preserved and eaten as pickles.  According to punchbowl.com, in ancient Egypt, people consumed pickles for their nutritional value and because they were thought to enhance beauty. Cleopatra attributed her good looks to her full diet of pickles. Centuries later, Napoleon believed that pickles offered health benefits for his armies, so he offered a huge cash prize to anyone who was able to preserve them safely.

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So, today, whether you eat pickles for your health, beauty, or flavor, enjoy some sweet, dill, or any type of pickle.

National Cheeseburger Day

Are your hungry yet?
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By Diane Forrest

I spend alot of time on the Yahoo! news page trying to keep current on daily events.  As I was pursuing the site on Labor Day I found an article about the largest cheeseburger that was made in Minnesota at the Black Bear Casino in Carlton.  It was 10 feet in diameter and weighed a ton.  It even took a crane to flip it.  It took 4 hours to cook, and included 60 pounds of bacon, 50 pounds of lettuce, 50 pounds of sliced onions, 40 pounds of pickles and 40 pounds of cheese.  It was even quite tasty.  A picture of the massive burger is shown here.

That is Really Big!
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Another feature on Yahoo! is a program called Blue Ribbon Hunter.  These are small episodes of a reporter traveling around to find the best foods in the country.  I recently saw one from a hamburger festival in Akron, Ohio.  I remember all the burgers she tested, as she was one of the judges for the festival.  I think she said she ate 13 burgers, but the winner was a corned beef burger with sauerkraut and blue cheese.

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I wasn’t really sure about her choice, to me a cheeseburger must have ground beef , and the best ones I have found, other than grilling my own, are from out of the way burger joints, not the big chain restaurants.  There used to be a small burger joint in town called Kathy's Dairy Bar.  They would grill up the best burgers, on a jumbo toasted bun with mayonnaise lettuce tomatoes, purple onions, pickles and mustard the cheese would be placed on the burger while still on the grill so it was slightly melted.  They served it in a paper checked basket with a side of crisp crinkle fries and a mound of Ketchup.  I would get a thick chocolate shake to drink, and I couldn’t think of a better meal ever. Even after the place closed, and I met my future husband, he also had fond memories of the same restaurant, and would frequently reminisce about having lunch there with his father while they were in town working.  Another great place for a cheeseburger was our local bowling alley in the Delta.  Not a place you would typically go to for burgers, but after all this time I still remember how delicious it was. High School Football games are another place for a great burger.  I think they are so good because you are outside, the band is playing, the aroma of the cooking meat and the roar of the crowd make them taste even better.

Yeah, life it good!
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Today is National Cheeseburger Day.  According to punchbowl.com, there are several theories about the origins of the cheeseburger. One story claims that the cheeseburger was created between 1924 and 1926 by a chef named Lionel Sternberger. As the story goes, a homeless man dining at Sternberger's restaurant in Pasadena, California, suggested the addition of a slice of cheese to his hamburger order. Sternberger complied, eventually added it to his menu.

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So today, try to find an out of the way burger joint, bowling alley, high school football game or even cook your own.  Finding a place with a great cheeseburger is a wonderful experience, and will make some great memories too.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2012/09/03/2424907/minn-casino-cooks-up-record-1.html#storylink=cpy

National Pickle Day

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By Diane Forrest,

When I was younger, I remember going to the movie theater and seeing a big jar of pickles on the counter.  I was amazed when the clerk would reach into the jar and grab a huge pickle and wrap it in wax paper.  As I got older I worked behind a snack counter at a skating rink.  They too had a huge jar of pickles, only now it was my turn to fish them out and wrap them up.

When I got pregnant with my son I waited around for my pickles and ice cream cravings...but they never came.  In fact I never did really get a craving for those big pickles.  My husband however loved fried dill pickles, a southern specialty served at fish places here in town.  The only problem is they put so much on the plate that he couldn't eat them all and he didn't like to be wasteful so he only got them when he was really hungry.

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I bet you are wondering why I am babbling on about pickles.  Well, today is National Pickle Day.  Pickles have been a popular food for thousands of years. Their origin dates back to 2030 B.C., when cucumbers were first brought from India to the Tigris Valley where they began being pickled.  In ancient Egypt, pickles were consumed not only for their nutritional value but because they were considered an aid in beauty. Cleopatra attributed her good looks to her full diet of pickles.  Centuries later, Napoleon valued pickles as a health asset for his armies so he offered a huge cash prize to anyone who was able to preserve them safely.

My father's mother used to make bread and butter pickles, and recently my father, who loved her pickles, decided to make some of his own.  First of course he had to grow his own cucumbers.  Then, following her recipe, made his first batch of pickles.  I have to say they were really quite delicious.  Writing this brings back the memory of the wonderful taste, but I guess I will have to wait to next summer when pickle season is with us again.

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So today, don't hold the pickles or the lettuce...load your burger up with some pickles and celebrate National Pickle Day.