June 7th
Today is National Chocolate Ice Cream Day
Best I ever had was the chocolate mousse ice cream created by Gerhard Brill as chef of Commander’s Palace in the 80s
It’s also National Donut Day
Celebrate both with a donut cut in half and filled with chocolate ice cream, maybe?
Food word today: Einkorn
An ancestor of modern wheat, little seen now because of the difficulty milling the huge, well-hulled grains. It is still cultivated in the Middle East, but humans have been eating it since prehistoric times, and making something like beer out of it. If you see it now it will likely be in the form of bulgur. It may have a future as a grain eaten by people with celiac disease.
Celebrity trivia
John Denver’s song “Thank God I’m A Country Boy” topped the charts today in 1975 With the line, “When the sun’s coming up I got cakes on the griddle."
Jessica Tandy, born today in 1909, once said about her husband actor Hume Cronyn, “If he’s late for dinner, I know he’s either having an affair or he’s lying dead in the street. Always hope for the street.”
Dean Martin’s birthday is today, born in 1917. He had a little-known hit called that “Little Old Wine Drinker,” whose title was derived from the Italian Swiss Colony commercials from the 70s, with the slogan, “That little old winemaker, me” Dean Martin’s whole persona revolved around drinking, and he once said, “I just shook hands with Pat Boone (well-known as a straight arrow) and my whole right side sobered up!”
Food namesakes
Theresa Brewer born today in 1931
Chuck Berry charged with tax evasion today in 1979
Goose Gonsulin made his first kick today in 1938
Jordan Fry born today in 1993
Delicious Place
Curry, New York is 112 miles north of Manhattan in the Catskills. Established in the 1890’s as a farming town, it then became part of Catskill Park. There was once a restaurant here called Brook’s Chestnut Wood, which is ironic since chestnuts in New York were wiped out over a century ago.
The Panama Canal opened today in 1914, and you can be sure a lot of food passes through there everyday. If you’re considering a cruise through this man-made wonder, do it. Not what you’d think, but unforgettable.
The Dinner For Three Emperors happened today in 1867 in Paris at Cafe Anglais. Adolphe Duglere, one of the most famous French chefs of all time (there’s a classic sauce named for him) was in the kitchen. The emperors were Czar Alexander II, his son and successor Alexander III, and King WIlliam I of Prussia. At Tour D’Argent in Paris, the china and silverware used for that dinner are kept in the ancient restaurant’s mini-museum. And a lot of restaurants populate King of Prussia Mall in Pennsylvania.
