December 23: National Pferrernusse Day.
Guys, what the flipping flip is a pferrernuuse? I think it’s Dutch for “nasty cookie”.
They looked innocent enough. Cute even!
But lurking below the powdered sugar was a demon. A licorice demon. And we know how I feel about licorice. NO THANK YOU, MA’AM!
Tomorrow: National Egg Nog Day
December 22: National Date Nut Bread Day!
I love Date Nut Bread. It’ might be one of my favorite things, but I rarely eat it. Why do I rarely eat it if I love it? It’s just that I’ve never made it… I rely on my mom making it, and now that I live in CA, I don’t see my mom as much, and thus, my date nut bread consumption has gone down.
My mom makes date nut bread in cans, because my grandma made it in cans. I didn’t understand this, and my mom couldn’t explain why she does it (other than that’s how my grandma makes it), so I turned to my old pal, Google, and found this link. Apparently this recipe ran in the Chicago Tribune in 1953. I’m not sure if that’s where our recipe came from, but it’s plausible.
Anyway, I texted my mom asking her to make some date nut bread in advance of my arrival so I’d be able to have some to celebrate with. She already had some made! Hooray! I think I need to start collecting my own cans to use as date nut bread cans so I can have it more often.
Tomorrow: National Pfeffernusse Day
December 21: Kiwi Fruit Day (California)
I’m not entirely sure why it’s only Kiwi Fruit Day in California, and National Hamburger Day elsewhere in the country, but I’m gonna go with it. Even though I was in Illinois on December 21, I decided to celebrate Kiwi Fruit Day since I’m now a California resident.
I don’t particularly like kiwis. That’s all I have to say on the matter.
Tomorrow: National Date Nut Bread
December 20: National Sangria Day
National Sangria Day needed a little bit of planning. It’s obviously not hard to find sangria, but it can be difficult to find sangria in an airport, which is where I was on December 20. I researched the airport restaurants, and it seems highly unlikely that any of them would have sangria on the menu.
So, I left work a little early, walked to a local brewery (Gordon Biersch) with sangria on the menu (yes, I got sangria at a brewery), ordered sangria at 2 in the afternoon, drank it, paid, left, walked back to work, and got driven to the airport by my coworker. A great start to my Christmas break (even though the sangria was subpar).
Tomorrow: Kiwi Fruit Day (California).
December 19: National Hard Candy Day
Hi, I’m Anna, and I’m trapped in an 80 year old lady’s body.
Tomorrow: National Sangria Day. Holler!
December 18: National Roast Suckling Pig Day– or not.
So. When I started on this JOURNEY, I skimmed the list for things that would cause me trouble. For the most part, this means shellfish, raw meat, and things that looks like they were once alive. I know this is unfair. I am hardly a vegetarian, so I have no place shunning animal products. But, as a general rule, I hate meat that like, looks like meat. Meat with bones in it? No. Tendons? Stop it. Fish with heads on? Help. Ribs? Terrifying.
A MINIATURE PIG WITH A FACE?
No. Way. Jose.
Seriously, I would cry. I feel like a hypocrite because it’s not like I shun all pork products. (I will say, however, that unlike the majority of the world, apparently, I could easily give up bacon.) But eating a sausage smothered in spicy mustard feels a little different than staring into the eyeball cavities of a baby pig as you chew it slowly.
I’m a hypocrite.
Hypocrite or not, this wasn’t happening. But I didn’t want to QUIT by quest for glory. So I decided to look into what the MONTH of December as a whole celebrated. Lucky for me, December is ALSO National Egg Nog Month. So I headed to McDonald’s to try one of their egg nog milkshakes. Except their shake machine was broken. Neat. So I left and headed for Jack in the Box. Their shake machine was chugging along and they happily provided me with an egg nog shake.
Guys, this thing is obviously INSANELY bad for you, but it’s RIDICULOUSLY delicious. Probably more delicious than Babe: Pig in the City.
Tomorrow: National Hard Candy Day
December 17: National Maple Syrup Day
I had every intention of making BREAKFAST FOR DINNER because everyone knows that BREAKFAST FOR DINNER is awesome. But turns out, making BREAKFAST FOR DINNER is difficult when you don’t have any milk. And when you’re going out of town for eleven days, buying new milk isn’t advised. So BREAKFAST FOR DINNER was scrapped. And I took a spoonful of maple syrup like it was Robitussin instead.
Tomorrow: National Suckling Pig Day (whut.)
December 16: National Chocolate Covered Anything Day!
This day pretty much fell into my lap. My coworker, Dylan, had a Snickers bar he didn’t want (WHAT!?) and he gave it to me. Guess what’s covered in chocolate? Snickers. Guess what’s an anything? Snickers.
Boom.
Tomorrow: National Maple Syrup Day
December 15: National Cupcake Day
I’m happy to announce that this is the last cupcake day! Who knew cupcakes were so popular?
Actually, everyone knows that cupcakes are popular. For no reason. Sigh.
This time around, I made my own cupcake instead of giving another silly cupcake bakery five bones. I felt like Kristin Wiig’s character in Bridesmaids, making a singular cupcake.
Except instead of a beautiful creation with a flower made of sugar on it, my cupcake was small (bad baking soda, I think) and pretty sad looking. Oh well.
Tomorrow: National Chocolate Covered Anything Day
