Corny Jokes on National Corn dog Day – March 21, 2015

Q. Why did the ghost ride the elevator?

A. To lift his spirits

 

Q. Why didn’t the melons get married?

A. Because they cantalope.

 

Q. Why did the scarecrow win an award?

A. Because he was out-standing in his field

 

Q. What do you call a fake noodle?

A. An im-pasta

 

Would you play cards with these two?

Q. Why can’t you play cards in the African Savanna?

A. Because there are a lot of cheetahs.

 

Q. What did the buffalo say to his son after he dropped him off at school?

A. Bison!

 

Learning by osmosis?

Q. Did you hear about the kidnapping at preschool?

A. He woke up.

 

Two antennas got married.

The ceremony wasn’t much, but the reception was excellent.

 

Q. Did you hear about the crab that went to the disco?

A. He pulled a mussel.

 

Q. What did the brother cell say to the sister cell after he bumped his toe?

My toe, sis? More like Mitosis.

A. Ow, mitosis!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Q. Did you hear about the fire at the circus?

A. It was intense.

 

Q. An old lady at the bank asked me if I could help her check her balance.

A. So I pushed her over.

 

 

Q: What did the hot dog bun say to the hot dog?

A: Stop touching my buns!

 

 

Q: What do you call a hot dog with nothing inside it?

A: A “hollow-weenie!”

 

A REAL hot dog!

Q: What do get when you cross a chili pepper, steam shovel, and a Chihuahua?

A: A hot, diggety dog.

 

Q: What did the Mama Hot Dog say to the little frankfurter?

A: Ketch-up!

 

Doctors Office:  A guy walks into the doctor’s office. A hot dog in one of his ears, a pretzel in the other ear, and a nacho chip in one nostril.

The man says, “Doc, this is terrible. What’s wrong with me?”

The doctor says, “Well, first of all, you need to eat more sensibly.”

 

 

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National Corn Dog Day – March 21, 2015

The Back Story

Click here for more information on National Corn Dog Day.

by Henry Otley, co-founder

The history of National Corndog Day dates back to 1992 to the sleepy college town of Corvallis, Oregon. Young Brady Sahnow and Henry Otley had just spent two solid days watching “the big men’s college basketball tournament” in the basement of Brady’s house. It was during the middle of the third day that Stan Sahnow (Brady’s father) realized that Brady and Henry had been living off of soda pop and potato chips for two days.

Figuring the boys needed some sort of sustenance to keep their attention and focus intact for that day’s tournament games, Stan rushed to the kitchen to see what he could make them. He passed by the muffins in the oven and the fruits in the basket. He opened the fridge and saw pastas, vegetables, sandwich fixings, juices, turkey, mashed potatoes, chicken soup, Chinese food, Mexican food, Greek food, even an entire ham, yet he knew that none of these foods would suffice for those two starving young men.

In desperation Stan opened the freezer door, and miracle of miracles what appeared in front of him was one box of 24 corndogs.

Knowing that there was little time before Henry and Brady might do something stupid like stop watching TV and go outside for awhile, Stan quickly prepared the corndogs. As he baked them ever so carefully, the corndogs turned golden brown, and as the corn batter began to crisp up Stan knew those dogs would ensure that Henry and Brady could continue to watch that days’ quadruple header from start to finish. Rushing down the stairs with a platter of corndogs in one hand and the ketchup, mustard, napkins, and perhaps some nacho cheese in the other hand, he placed the corndogs in front of the two avid basketball fans.

Brady, knowing exactly what to do with a batch of corndogs, began eating, taking caution to not over dip in any of the condiments. Meanwhile, Henry struggled with the whole idea of a hotdog on a stick wrapped in cornmeal, but with a little tutelage from Brady and some encouragement from his father, Henry too began to stuff his face with those very tasty wieners. Stan was triumphant. Henry and Brady would not leave the warm glow of the TV set the rest of the day. And so it was deemed that the first Saturday of “the big men’s college basketball tournament” from that day forward, be celebrated as National Corndog Day.

Since that day in March of 1992, National Corndog day has been celebrated on a regular basis. To this day Stan Sahnow does not know how that box of corndogs made it to his freezer. He is sure that he never put them there and swears that never had a corndog been in his house until that day. Perhaps something magical and divine placed those corndogs in that freezer, something watching out for Henry and Brady, or maybe it was Brady’s step mom. At any rate that first box of corndogs, that immaculate box of corndogs, is still sacred to the many people that have since celebrated National Corndog Day and to the many more that will continue to celebrate it in the future.

PBR Batter Corn Dogs

Prepare for National Corn Dog Day on March 21 with this recipe.

Dog-gone Good!

Recipe posted on National CornDog Day website
Submitted by firebus
Reposted from lee13thstar’s comment

Dry Ingredients:  

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
• 2 tablespoons dry, unhopped malt extract
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Liquid Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup Pabst Blue Ribbon beer
  

  These dogs are celebrating National Corn Dog day as shown in this vintage Pabst Blue Ribbon ad.

• 1 large egg

And The Rest:

• 8-pack of hot dogs
• Wooden skewers
• 2 cups of more of cooking oil

Directions: 

1. Mix the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
2. In a separate dish, beat together the egg, beer, and buttermilk until frothy.
3. Add egg mixture to dry ingredients and blend until batter thickens. Wait 5 more minutes for the batter to set up, if necessary.
4. Skewer hot dogs.
5. Heat oil to 350F.
6. Pour batter mix into a tall glass. Dunk one dog at a time into batter mix, swirl, lift and let excess batter drip off back into the glass.
7. Lay the battered dogs (just a few at a time) down into the oil and turn until they are golden brown. Remove and drain on paper towels.

Freaky Friday! Extremely Rare: Super Moon Solar Eclipse on Spring Equinox

View this video to learn more about Friday’s event.

Skywatchers Rejoice!

It’s a Bird? A Plane? No… it’s a Super Moon!

Three rare celestial events will occur this Friday, March 20, 2015. The people of Earth will experience a solar eclipse and a Supermoon during the Spring Equinox. For more, read the following article by Andrew Griffin of The Independent(UK): “As the eclipse plunges the UK and other places into darkness this Friday, two other rare if less spectacular celestial events will be taking place, too: a Supermoon and the Spring equinox. A Supermoon, or perigee moon, happens when the full or new moon does its closest fly-by of the Earth, making it look bigger than it normally does. And the spring equinox refers to the time of the year when the day and night are of equal duration, mid-way between the longest and shortest days. The solar eclipse refers to a phenomenon where the sun and moon line up, so that the latter obscures the former. And while it won’t be affected by the two other events, it is rare that the three events happen even individually.

Supermoon

In images from NASA in 2014, this supermoon is seen over the The Peace Monument on the grounds of the United States Capitol in Washington, DC. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images)

Most of the time, there are between three and six Supermoons a year. There is set to be six in 2015, two of which have already happened. The next will take place on March 20, the day of the eclipse, and the others will come in August, September and October. Eclipses can only happen at new moon, when the moon appears is entirely in shadow. And the spectacular Supermoon images that are often spotted can only happen when the moon is full, since it can only be seen then. As a result, only the last three Supermoons of this year will be visible — because the moon is new rather than full on March 20, it won’t be seen. But it will be gliding past us closer than ever, and its shadow will be visible as it blocks out the sun on Friday morning.

Spring equinox

The equinox will also happen on March 20. While it won’t have any discernable, direct impact on how the solar eclipse looks, it will contribute to a rare collision of three unusual celestial events. On March 20, the Earth’s axis will be perpindecular to the sun’s rays — which only happens twice a year, at the two equinoxes. After that, it will start tipping over, making the days longer in the northern hemisphere. As such, the equinox has long been celebrated as a time of beginning and renewal, by a number of historic cultures, and is linked to Easter and Passover. The equinox will happen at the same time as a solar eclipse in 2053 and 2072, though it doesn’t always appear as close together as that.”

Snake of Sunlight

“The snake of sunlight” at Chichen Itza, Mexico.
©iStockphoto.com/CostinT

According to the website Time and Date.com, one of the most famous ancient Spring equinox celebrations was the Mayan sacrificial ritual by the main pyramid at Chichen Itza, Mexico. The main pyramid – also known as El Castillo – has four staircases running from the top to the bottom of the pyramid’s faces, notorious for the bloody human sacrifices that used to take place here. The staircases are built at a carefully calculated angle which makes it look like an enormous snake of sunlight slithers down the stairs on the day of the equinox. The Mayan calendar was very precise in this respect, but today the Mayan calendar is most famous for ending exactly at 11:11 UTC on the 2012 December Solstice. Knowledge of the equinoxes and solstices is also crucial in developing dependable calendars, another thing the Mayans clearly had got the hang of.

Celebrate Pi Day with a Scrumptious Apple Pie from Betty Crocker!

Servings: 8

Ingredients: 

Find more recipes at Betty Crocker.com

Pastry:

• 2 cups Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons shortening
• 4 to 6 tablespoons cold water

Filling:

• 1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 8 cups thinly sliced peeled tart apples (8 medium)
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine

Directions:

1. In medium bowl, mix 2 cups flour and 1 teaspoon salt. Cut in shortening, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until particles are size of small peas. Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost cleans side of bowl (1 to 2 teaspoons more water can be added if necessary).
2. Gather pastry into a ball. Divide in half; shape into 2 flattened rounds on lightly floured surface. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate about 45 minutes or until dough is firm and cold, yet pliable. This allows the shortening to become slightly firm, which helps make the baked pastry more flaky. If refrigerated longer, let pastry soften slightly before rolling.
3. Heat oven to 425°F. With floured rolling pin, roll one pastry round into round 2 inches larger than upside-down 9-inch glass pie plate. Fold pastry into fourths; place in pie plate. Unfold and ease into plate, pressing firmly against bottom and side.
4. In large bowl, mix sugar, 1/4 cup flour, the cinnamon, nutmeg and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Stir in apples until well mixed. Spoon into pastry-lined pie plate. Cut butter into small pieces; sprinkle over filling. Trim overhanging edge of pastry 1/2 inch from rim of plate.
5. Roll other round of pastry into 10-inch round. Fold into fourths and cut slits so steam can escape. Unfold top pastry over filling; trim overhanging edge 1 inch from rim of plate. Fold and roll top edge under lower edge, pressing on rim to seal; flute as desired. Cover edge with 2-to 3-inch strip of foil to prevent excessive browning.
6. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust, removing foil for last 15 minutes of baking. Serve warm if desired.

Expert Tips

• For a pretty glazed top crust, brush this—and any other double crust pie—with milk or cream and sprinkle with sugar before baking.
• Jump-start your pie baking by using Betty Crocker® pie crust mix. Just add water and stir; the dough is ready in 5 minutes.
• Start with three 20-ounce cans of sliced apples, drained, instead of using fresh apples, and you’ll shave about half of the prep time off this recipe.

Nutrition Information:

Serving Size: 1 Serving Calories480 ( Calories from Fat260 ), Total Fat29 g (Saturated Fat6 g, ), Cholesterol0mg Sodium330 mg Total Carbohydrate51 g (Dietary Fiber3 g ), Protein4 g ; % Daily Value*: Vitamin A4%; Vitamin C6%; Calcium0%; Iron10%; Exchanges: *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Spanakopita – Greek Spinach Pie

Photo by All Recipes.com

Original recipe makes 1 – 9×9 inch pan

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 pounds spinach, rinsed and chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 8 sheets phyllo dough
• 1/4 cup olive oil

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly oil a 9×9 inch square baking pan.
2. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onion, green onions and garlic, until soft and lightly browned. Stir in spinach and parsley, and continue to saute until spinach is limp, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together eggs, ricotta, and feta. Stir in spinach mixture. Lay 1 sheet of phyllo dough in prepared baking pan, and brush lightly with olive oil. Lay another sheet of phyllo dough on top, brush with olive oil, and repeat process with two more sheets of phyllo. The sheets will overlap the pan. Spread spinach and cheese mixture into pan and fold overhanging dough over filling. Brush with oil, then layer remaining 4 sheets of phyllo dough, brushing each with oil. Tuck overhanging dough into pan to seal filling.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until golden brown. Cut into squares and serve while hot.

Celebrate Pi Day – March 14th!

Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. Pi is the 16th letter of the Greek Alphabet.

Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159. It is a transcendental number, meaning it will repeat infinitely without ever appearing exactly the same. Pi has been calculated to over 51 billion decimal places with the use of computers. However Pi is usually calculated to 3 digits, 3.14. Therefore, March 14 is Pi day.

Pi has been calculated to over one trillion digits beyond its decimal point. As an irrational and transcendental number, it will continue infinitely without repetition or pattern. While only a handful of digits are needed for typical calculations, Pi’s infinite nature makes it a fun challenge to memorize, and to computationally calculate more and more digits.

 

History of Pi

By measuring circular objects, it has always turned out that a circle is a little more than 3 times its width around. In the Old Testament of the Bible (1 Kings 7:23), a circular pool is referred to as being 30 cubits around, and 10 cubits across. The mathematician Archimedes used polygons with many sides to approximate circles and determined that Pi was approximately 22/7. The symbol (Greek letter “π”) was first used in 1706 by William Jones. A ‘p’ was chosen for ‘perimeter’ of circles, and the use of π became popular after it was adopted by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler in 1737. In recent years, Pi has been calculated to over one trillion digits past its decimal. Only 39 digits past the decimal are needed to accurately calculate the spherical volume of our entire universe, but because of Pi’s infinite & patternless nature, it’s a fun challenge to memorize, and to computationally calculate more and more digits.

 

GEOMETRY

The number pi is extremely useful when solving geometry problems involving circles. Here are some examples:

The area of a circle.

A = πr2

Where ‘r’ is the radius (distance from the center to the edge of the circle). Also, this formula is the origin of the joke “Pies aren’t square, they’re round!”

 

The volume of a cylinder.

V = πr2h

To find the volume of a rectangular prism, you calculate length × width × height. In that case, length × width is the area of one side (the base), which is then multiplied by the height of the prism. Similarly, to find the volume of a cylinder, you calculate the area of the base (the area of the circle), then multiply that by the height (h) of the cylinder.

Happy Birthday, Al!

National Meatball Day – March 9th

On March 9th, we celebrate one of the American food holidays. It is National Meatball Day.

It is not clear how this day got started, but who could resist the idea of celebrating National Meatball Day? There are many different ways to celebrate meatballs: Spaghetti and meatballs – Swedish Meatballs – Meatball Sub. – Meatball Pizza – Turkey Meatballs – Lamb Meatballs – Porcupine Meatballs (made with rice) – and the list goes on and on.

There is a restaurant in New York that has 54 different kinds of meatballs.

To celebrate, some restaurants are give a free side order of meatballs, while others are donating money to homeless shelters from the meatball orders. Cook yourself up your favorite meatballs (recipe found below for a new favorite) or go out and order some from a menu near you!

Betty Crocker’s Hot and Saucy Cocktail Meatballs

Betty Crocker’s website offers this and many more recipes.

Yield: 6 Servings

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1 cup Progresso™ dry bread crumbs (any flavor)
• 2/3 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 2 eggs
• 2 bottles (12 ounces each) chili sauce
• 2 jars (10 ounces each) grape jelly

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400°F. Stir together all ingredients except chili sauce and jelly. Shape into 1-inch meatballs. Place in ungreased retangular pan, 13x9x2 inches, or on rack in broiler pan.
2. Bake uncovered about 20 minutes or until no longer pink in center and juice is clear.
3. Heat chili sauce and jelly in Dutch oven over medium heat, stirring constantly, until jelly is melted. Stir in meatballs until coated. Simmer uncovered 30 minutes. Serve hot with toothpicks.

Expert Tips:
Handle meatballs as little as possible when forming them to keep them moist and tender.

This mouthwatering sauce is just as scrumptious when used with prepared frozen meatballs or smoked cocktail sausages.

Nutrition Information: Serving Size: 1 Meatball Calories65 ( Calories from Fat20 ), Total Fat2 g (Saturated Fat1 g, ), Cholesterol15 mg Sodium200 mg Total Carbohydrate9 g (Dietary Fiber0g ), Protein3 g ; % Daily Value*: Vitamin A2%; Vitamin C2%; Calcium0%; Iron2%; Exchanges:1/2 Starch; 1/2 Fat; *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.