It's Morel Mushroom Day...yum! (DL's favorite recipe at the end of this article)
Today is Friday, May 15, 2020, the 135th day of the year, with 230 days remaining. 35 days till summer, and only 172 days until presidential elections (if civilization survives).
- Sunrise: 5:59am
- Sunset: 8:13pm ...giving us 14 hours and 13 minutes of daylight. 48% of the waning moon will be visible, rising at 2:53am.
Tides at the Golden Gate
- High: 6:42am/8:41pm
- Low: 1:29am/1:16pm
Special celebrations & commemorations today…
- Independence Day - Paraguay
- International Day of Families
- International Conscientious Objector Day
- International Day of Families
- International Virtual Assistants Day
- Mother's Day - Samoa
- Peace Officer Memorial Day - US
- Teacher's Day - South Korea
- Endangered Species Day
- Nylon Stockings Day
- National Tuberous Sclerosis Day
- Hyperemisis Gravidarum Awareness Day
- National Bike to Work Day (usually on the 3rd Friday of May, now moved to September 22 due to COVID-19)
- National Chocolate Chip Day
- National Pizza Party Day
- National Slider Day
- Morel Mushroom Day
On this day in…
1602 - Cape Cod was discovered by Bartholomew Gosnold.
1614 - An aristocratic uprising in France ended with the treaty of St.Menehould.
1618 - Johannes Kepler discovered his harmonics law.
1702 - The War of Spanish Succession began.
1768 - Under the Treaty of Versailles, France purchased Corsica from Genoa.
1795 - Napoleon entered the Lombardian capital of Milan.
1849 - Neapolitan troops entered Palermo, and were in possession of Sicily.
1862 - The U.S. Congress created the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
1911 - The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil Company, ruling it was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
1916 - U.S. Marines landed in Santo Domingo to quell civil disorder.
1918 - Regular airmail service between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, began under the direction of the Post Office Department, which later became the U.S. Postal Service.
1926 - Roald Amundsen and Lincoln Ellsworth were forced down in Alaska after a four-day flight over an icecap. Ice had begun to form on the dirigible Norge.
1926 - The New York Rangers were officially granted a franchise in the NHL. The NHL also announced that Chicago and Detroit would be joining the league in November.
1930 - Ellen Church became the first female flight attendant.
1940 - Nylon stockings went on sale for the first time in the U.S.
1941 - Joe DiMaggio began his historic major league baseball hitting streak of 56 games.
1942 - Gasoline rationing began in the U.S. The limit was 3 gallons a week for nonessential vehicles.
1948 - Israel was attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon only hours after declaring its independence.
1951 - AT&T became the first corporation to have one million stockholders.
1957 - Britain dropped its first hydrogen bomb on Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean.
1958 - Sputnik III, the first space laboratory, was launched in the Soviet Union.
1963 - The last Project Mercury space flight was launched.
1964 - The Smothers Brothers, Dick and Tom, gave their first concert in Carnegie Hall in New York City.
1970 - U.S. President Nixon appointed America's first two female generals.
1970 - Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green, two black students at Jackson State University in Mississippi, were killed when police opened fire during student protests.
1972 - Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace was shot by Arthur Bremer in Laurel, MD while campaigning for the U.S. presidency. Wallace was paralyzed by the shot.
1975 - The merchant ship U.S. Mayaguez was recaptured from Cambodia's Khmer Rouge.
1980 - The first transcontinental balloon crossing of the United States took place.
1983 - In Boston,MA, the Madison Hotel was destroyed by implosion.
1988 - The Soviet Union began their withdrawal of its 115,000 troops from Afghanistan. Soviet forces had been there for more than eight years.
1990 - Vincent Van Gogh's "Portrait of Doctor Gachet" was sold for $82.5 million. The sale set a new world record.
1997 - The Space shuttle Atlantis blasted off on a mission to deliver urgently needed repair equipment and a fresh American astronaut to Russia's orbiting Mir station.
1999 - The Russian parliament was unable a attain enough votes to impeach President Boris Yeltsin.
2014 - The National September 11 Memorial Museum was dedicated in New York City.
If today’s your birthday, you share it with…
- Claudio Monteverdi 1567 - Composer
- Lyman Frank Baum 1856 - Author
- Pierre Curie 1859 - Physicist
- Katherine Anne Porter 1890 - Journalist, essayist, short story writer
- Joseph Cotten (Joseph Cheshire Cotten) 1905 - Actor
- James Mason (James Neville Mason) 1909 - Actor
- Constance Cummings 1910 - Actress
- Max Frisch 1911 - Architect, playwright, novelist
- Eddy Arnold (Richard Edward Arnold) 1918 - Country singer
- Ellis Larkins 1923 - Musician
- Richard Avedon 1923 - Photographer
- Peter Shaffer 1926 - Playwright, novelist, screenwriter
- Jasper Johns 1930 - Artist
- Wavy Gravy (Hugh Nanton Romney) 1936 - Entertainer, peace activist
- Paul Zindel 1936 - Playwright, author
- Anna Maria Alberghetti 1936 - Opera singer, actress
- Madeleine Albright 1937 - First woman to become a U.S. Secretary of State
- Lainie Kazan 1940 - Actress, singer
- Graeham Goble (Graham Goble) 1947 - Musician (Little River Band)
- Brian Eno 1948 - Musician (Roxy Music)
- Chazz Palminteri (Calogero Lorenzo "Chazz" Palminteri) 1951 - Actor, writer
- Mike Oldfield (Michael Gordon "Mike" Oldfield) 1953 - Musician, composer
- Ahmet Rodan Zappa 1974 - Musician
- Ray Lewis 1975 - Football player
- Amy Chow 1978 - Comedienne
- Jamie-Lynn Sigler 1981 - Actress ("The Sopranos")
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MOREL MUSHROOMS with EGGS
1 generous handful of dried morel mushrooms
4-6 eggs
2 tsp fresh parsley (or 1 tsp dry)
1/2 cup flour
3-4 oz goat cheese
2 TB butter
salt/pepper
Reconstitute the dried morel mushrooms in a cup of hot water for 4-5 minutes, drain, saving 1 TBSP of the water (strain if necessary). Add some salt and pepper to the flour, along with half the parsley; toss to mix. Dredge the drained mushrooms in the flour mixture; set aside on a plate. Whisk the eggs in a bowl, add the 1 TBSP reserved mushroom water.
In a medium saucepan on medium heat, melt butter. Add dredged morels and saute on all sides, until slightly crispy and golden (some flour will still be visible). Add eggs and gently mix, using a rubber spatula. When eggs have begun to form, add small lumps of goat cheese, turn heat to low and cover. Cook for an additional few minutes until eggs are cooked to your liking. Salt and pepper to taste, and sprinkle remaining parsley over eggs. Enjoy!
(Adapted from my 94-year-old step mother Katie Latulippe, who used to forage morels in her native Michigan.)
