Thread:61Storm/@comment-29709319-20190401001525/@comment-29709319-20190605010152

National Themes For June 5: National Gingerbread Day, National Moonshine Day, National Veggie Burger Day, and National Running Day.

🍞National Gingerbread Day is a day that was created to bring attention to gingerbread. The term “gingerbread” originally referred to preserved ginger, later referring to a confection made up of honey and spices. Gingerbread is a sweet food that typically uses honey or molasses rather than just sugar and is flavored with ginger. Gingerbread foods range from a soft, moist loaf cake to something closer to a ginger biscuit. ✨It is believed that gingerbread was first brought to Europe in 992 by an Armenian monk. He lived there for seven years teaching gingerbread cooking to the French priests and Christians until his death in 999.✨Sources indicate that in 1444, Swedish nuns were baking gingerbread to ease indigestion. ✨In the 17th century, gingerbread biscuits were sold in monasteries, pharmacies and town square farmers markets. ✨During the 18th century, gingerbread became widely available.

🍺National Moonshine Day! This beverage has a notorious record of blurring the lines of history and the law, turning ordinary men (and women) into criminals and common criminals into legends. Moonshine traditionally is an illegally distilled spirit. Mostly made from a corn mash, moonshine is a distilled whiskey that is typically produced by an individual illegally without a permit. Also known as white lightning, mountain dew, homebrew, hillbilly pop, rotgut and too many more to list. ✨Prohibition: Distilling skills first came to the United States during the 1830s with the Scotch-Irish as they settled in Virginia. Temperance laws and prohibition legislation were passed in several states before the Civil War, but it wasn’t until the turn of the century that the temperance movement picked up steam. By the time the 18th Amendment was ratified early in 1919, over half the country was dry. Prohibition lasted 13 years. It created a demand for moonshine unlike any that may have existed before. Moonshine became big business overnight. ✨Modern Moonshine: These days, moonshine in the legal sense has a following. Small-batch distilleries are producing legal moonshine giving moonshiners a new name. Bringing moonshine out of the woods and going up against other whiskeys for a place on the shelf. Many are packaging their homebrews in canning jars embracing their rich history while at the same time experimenting with flavor and branching out with food pairing similar to that of wine and beer. ✨Trivia: Shepherd was Uncle Jesse’s CB handle on the Dukes of Hazzard. Sweet Tillie was the name of his Ford LTD/Galaxie in the first episode – his moonshine runner. The X’s on the moonshine jugs symbol represents the number of times a batch was run through the still. If marked XXX, the moonshine is pure alcohol. What do Esther Clark, Edna Giard, Stella Beloumant, Mary Wazeniak all have in common? They were all bootleggers. Bootlegging was an equal opportunity profession. Lavinia Gilman was a bootlegger, too. At 80 years old she ran a 300 gallon still in Montana. The judge suspected her son was the true culprit, though. ✨During prohibition, there were many ways to transport bootlegged moonshine. Faking a funeral was a convenient ruse to move the product. Out of respect for the dead, of course, those with the badge were reluctant to stop a funeral procession.

🍔National Veggie Burger Day! Packed with flavor, protein and nutrients, veggie burgers show up at backyard barbecues, tailgate parties and on the menus of high-class restaurants. Grill them, fry them or bake them. Layer all your favorite toppings like onion, tomato, lettuce, cheese, ketchup and mustard between crusty roll or bun and take a big juicy bite. That’s one way to celebrate National Veggie Burger Day. Amy’s Kitchen founded National Veggie Burger Day to encourage everyone to eat a veggie burger and celebrate the positive impact plant-based veggie burgers have on us and the planet.

🏃‍♀️🏃National Running Day was designated as a day for runners to reaffirm their passion for running. It is also a good day for beginners to begin a life-changing commitment to running. For some, running is a daily routine. The moment the runner awakes, their mission is to complete a set distance. They may have a partner, or they go it alone. Others fit in a run when time allows or at the end of their workday. The marathoner will train on a schedule, and the dedicated runner knows they have to take care of their feet, knees and eat right to maintain their bodies for the road. Running organizations have partnered together since 2009 to promote National Running Day.

I take a slice of gingerbread and pass on the rest.

I love chicken quesadillas!

Tomorrow is a state day. Then I'm off to MD's favorite state. Looking forward to see why she loves it.

Warm hugs!💕🐶🐶🌞 May be the last dry ones for awhile. Weatherperson is calling for rain the rest of the week and into the weekend.