Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Cracker Jacks kind of look like Black Eyed Peas...

Not!!!

But I believe in having a few of my own traditions. Eating Cracker Jacks on New Year's Day seems like a fine one. And besides having a tasty treat,  there is a surprise in every box. The prize isn't anything like what I used to get as a kid, but it's still something to look forward to. Today, the prize was a Smart Mouth. MMMM? How did they know? And some jokes.


"Why do sharks only swim in salt water?"

Because pepper water makes them sneeze!!

and

"Why was the frog happy???"

Because he ate everything that bugged him!!!

Cracker Jacks go way back to the Chicago World's fair in 1893, when a mixture of molassas covered popcorn and peanuts were sold by the Rueckheim brothers, Fritz and Louis. Fritz  devised a way to keep the popcorn separated by adding a little oil and putting it all in a cement-mixer-like drum. Before he did that, the mixture was hard to handle and hard to sell.  The protective wax box was developed in 1899 by a guy named Eckstien and by 1902  Cracker Jacks was selling like hot cakes.

When I think of Cracker Jacks, I think of fun and happy times, so why not eat them for luck on New Year's Day. You never know what prize you may find inside.

Just think when you're singing during the seventh inning stretch, it's not "buy me some peanuts and black eyed peas", for gosh sakes.

I have nothing against black-eyed peas, I just like Cracker Jacks better.


Why Black Eyed Peas anyway. Here's what Wikipedia says about the whole thing.

In the Southern United States, eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day is thought to bring prosperity in the new year.
The "good luck" traditions of eating black-eyed peas at Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, are recorded in the Babylonian Talmud (compiled ~500 CE), Horayot 12A: "Abaye [d. 339 CE] said, now that you have established that good-luck symbols avail, you should make it a habit to see qara (bottle gourd), rubiya (black-eyed peas, Arabic lubiya), kartei (leeks), silka (either beets or spinach), and tamrei (dates) on your table on the New Year." However, the custom may have resulted from an early mistranslation of the Aramaic word rubiya (fenugreek).

Another suggested beginning of the tradition dates back to the Civil War, when Union troops, especially in areas targeted by General William Tecumseh Sherman, typically stripped the countryside of all stored food, crops, and livestock, and destroyed whatever they could not carry away. At that time, Northerners considered "field peas" and field corn suitable only for animal fodder, and did not steal or destroy these humble foods.[4]
In the Southern United States,[5] the peas are typically cooked with a pork product for flavoring (such as bacon, ham bones, fatback, or hog jowl), diced onion, and served with a hot chili sauce or a pepper-flavored vinegar.
The traditional meal also includes collard, turnip, or mustard greens, and ham. The peas, since they swell when cooked, symbolize prosperity; the greens symbolize money; the pork, because pigs root forward when foraging, represents positive motion.[6] Cornbread also often accompanies this meal.

Happy New Years!!!!!

Quote of the Day:
Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd;
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don't care if I never get back.
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don't win, it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,
At the old ball game.
Written by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer

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