6th January : Sigificance

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hiya

@coolhi1988

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Posted: 8 years ago

#11

History of Bean Day

The day commemorates the death of the geneticist Gregor Mendel, whose experiments with breeding pea plants formed the basis of modern genetics. From what we could find, it would appear that Paula Bowen is the creator of Bean Day. Her main reasons were that there aren't many holidays to celebrate around the time that Bean Day has typically been celebrated. Plus she thought that the world needed a day to honor Mr. Bean. Her father was a pinto bean farmer, so she's pretty familiar with beans in general and no doubt was raised on them. Beans are also healthy and common in many cuisines throughout the world, so we're not at all surprised that there's a day dedicated to their celebration.

Electronic greeting card websites seem to have a lot of references to Bean Day, but we're not sure if it actually means that e-card companies actually invented Bean Day or if they've just been the most effective at capitalizing on it. Small matter though if you hate beans and don't want to have anything to do with them on Bean Day, you can still send greeting cards to your friends to mark the occasion. Some people think that it's actually called National Bean Day', but there's no congressional record nor any presidential proclamation for such a day. So it's safe to assume that it's not an officially recognized occasion.

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hiya

@coolhi1988

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+ 3

Posted: 8 years ago

#12

How to Celebrate Bean Day

Beans are one of the most versatile food items. The best day to celebrate Bean Day would be to involve beans in all of your meals for the day, particularly in places where you wouldn't necessarily expect them. Start the day with a traditional full English breakfast, which includes baked beans and toast among all of the other things, then have an ordinary lunch followed by red bean ice cream or red bean mochi, and for dinner prepare some meal which involves beans chili, black beans and rice, white bean soup, North Indian rajma, or any other bean specialty.

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hiya

@coolhi1988

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+ 3

Posted: 8 years ago

#13

Since we want to encourage you to celebrate Bean Day,, we're including a bean recipe to help stir your creativity. Olan is a traditional mildly-spiced vegetarian curry that comes from the south Indian state of Kerala and it includes not just beans but also coconut milk and pumpkin. You could have it on its own with rice or even rotis, but it's equally delicious as part of a larger meal. So here's the recipe, it's actually really simple to make:

1/2 cup dried red cowpeas (or any other red beans there's no reason why you couldn't use kidney beans), soaked overnight in water
3 cups thin coconut milk
1/2 cup thick coconut milk
2 green chilies, slit
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups pumpkin, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 teaspoon oil
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
6 sliced shallots
6 curry leaves (you can find them in an Indian grocer, or if you can't just leave them out if you have to)

Cook the beans in the thin coconut milk with green chillies, cumin, and salt in a medium saucepan for 25-30 minutes (until they're soft). Add the pumpkin and cook for another five minutes, then stir in the thick coconut milk, remove from heat, and keep aside. Heat the oil in a small skillet and add the mustard seeds. When they start to pop, sputter, and fly all over your kitchen, add the shallots and curry leaves. Fry until they're light brown. Stir in the seasoned oil with the pumpkin-bean curry and it's ready to eat. Happy Bean Day!

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hiya

@coolhi1988

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Posted: 8 years ago

#14

There are very few foods that suggest Scotland quite so strongly as shortbread. The only other close contender would be haggis and those tend to evoke rather mixed sentiments when mentioned to anyone outside of Scotland. Yeah, there are Scotch eggs too, but we'd like to remind you that while they are decidedly British in invention, it's harder to pin them particularly on Scotland. Scotch whiskey is a beverage after all, so it doesn't really count. While no Robert Burns Night observance would be complete without some shortbread, we feel that having a day dedicated to making and eating shortbread can't really be a bad thing. After all, who doesn't like shortbread? So now you have two days where you can enjoy shortbread, even though we knew that shortbread is good year round and no one really needs an excuse to make and enjoy shortbread.

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hiya

@coolhi1988

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Posted: 8 years ago

#15

History of Shortbread Day

If you're wondering about the history of shortbread itself, well, it has medieval origins and supposedly Mary, Queen of Scotland, invented modern shortbread in the 16th century by adding sugar to the existing recipe. We can't verify whether or not that story is true. It sounds like one of those popular myths like George Washington's cherry tree, but for all we know it could actually be based in fact. Scotland has been inseparable from shortbread since the 18th century. After all, the first printed recipe for shortbread was published by one Mrs. McLintock back in 1736 and the association has stuck ever since. While the mid-18th century was a critical period in Scottish history, even something mundane as a recipe became a marker of national identity. Therefore, we will say that shortbread is delicious and is worthy of such an honor.

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hiya

@coolhi1988

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+ 3

Posted: 8 years ago

#16

How to Celebrate Shortbread Day

We think that the best way to celebrate International Shortbread Day would have to involve shortbread in some way. Yeah, you get those cute little boxes of imported Scottish shortbread in some specialty shops, but why not make your own or host a shortbread party? It's not really all that difficult to make shortbread, with most recipes basically involving one part sugar, two parts butter, and three parts flour. You can of course add various things to it as well. Anything from dry fruits to chocolate chips to lavender, but the basic recipe remains the same. Given the fact that it's simple and easy to experiment with, we don't think there's really any excuse for you to not make some delicious shortbread for International Shortbread Day.

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hiya

@coolhi1988

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+ 3

Posted: 8 years ago

#17

Huh? Did we hear you say "but I don't have a recipe for shortbread, how can I make it? Well, we're including a shortbread recipe just so that excuse won't impede you from actually making and enjoying shortbread.

So here it is:
2 1/4 cups (12oz) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (4oz) sugar
1 cup (8oz) butter

Preheat your oven to 375F/190C and mix all of the ingredients together until they form a stiff dough. You should add any additional ingredients like chocolate chips or lavender at this stage; it doesn't make much difference whether you mix by hand or using a mixer.. Roll out the dough and form round shapes, which should then be scored into triangles, and prick with a fork so that you don't get air bubbles. You could also use a shortbread mold as well. Bake it for 25-30 minutes and sprinkle it with sugar immediately upon removing it from the oven. Congratulations, you now have freshly-baked shortbread to enjoy for International Shortbread Day and all-year round.