Today is National English Muffin Day. an April 23 holiday. English muffins are believed to have been created in the 10th or 11th century in Wales, England. They were first called a “Toaster Crumpet”. Samuel Bath Thomas, a British immigrant to the United States, is credited with introducing the English muffin to the United Sates in 1894. Always toasted, English muffins were originally served in the finest restaurants and hotels. It didn’t take long for this tasty treat to make its way to the average American breakfast table. The versatile English muffin was first served as part of the breakfast meal, or as a quick morning bite to eat, before heading out for a busy day.

Its versatility became quickly apparent, and nowadays is consumed for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. For breakfast, toasted English muffins are slathered with butter, which soaks into all of the nooks and crannies. Then if you’re British, you likely put orange marmalade on it. We all have our own homemade version of the Egg McMuffin. Ours is called the “Egg McDaddy”. For lunch, you can load it up with your favorite meats, cheese and condiment. Kids love peanut butter and jelly on English muffins. For dinner time, it acts as the side bread, or you can pile almost anything on top of it. Try heaping some Mac and Cheese on an English muffin… yum! English muffins make great snacks, too. Use them as a base for mini pizzas.  

This is such an enjoyable and tasty holiday. It’s easy to participate, too. Just pop an English Muffin in the toaster or toaster oven. Then, top it off with whatever your prefer!

We hope you thoroughly enjoy National Toaster Crumpet Day, errr National English Muffin Day !!

Record Store Day is today. It celebrates the iconic record stores that peaked in the 1960s and 1970s but still exist today.  Their decline is due to evolving technology. Yet, they continue to exist in competition with easily downloaded music from the internet and other audio mediums. Like other brick-and-mortar stores, they have survived in part by adding online Estores.  

Music defines the culture of each generation. Like any technology, the record industry has seen a huge evolution and succession of record formats over the past 60 years. In today’s high-tech world, digital downloading of music has all but replaced physical records in any format. As downloading of music has grown in use, record stores have declined in numbers. Major chain music stores have disappeared, along with many independent stores. It is only fitting, that today we celebrate the hundreds of independently owned record stores that remain and the culture they represent, even as they dwindle in number.  

Eight Track Tape Day, an April 11 holiday, brings back fond memories of the sixties and seventies. During this era, eight-track tapes ruled the music world. America’s love of the automobile was a driving force in creating the demand for musical cassette formats. For those who grew up in this era, an eight-track tape player in your home and your car was an essential. It was eventually replaced by cassettes and other formats for storing music.

Eight Track Tape Day is a day to bring back fond memories of the sixties and seventies. If you still have tapes and a player, by all means, enjoy the day listening to some great music. If not, just spend a few minutes looking back in time to when you loved your eight-track tapes!

Those of us under 50 or 60 years old, this holiday likely means little to nothing to you. We suspect this holiday may eventually fade away as time passes.

What do you usually have for breakfast? When asked this question, scrambled or over-light eggs often come to mind. So does cereal, pancakes, and French toast. But, we venture to guess that Eggs Benedict is not among the list of common breakfast foods that you eat. It’s not that people don’t like them. Rather, it’s just that we never seem to think about them. Well, National Eggs Benedict Day is going to change your way of thinking. Today is a day to savor and enjoy. This April 16 holiday is celebrated with a mouthwatering combination of eggs with hollandaise sauce, and Canadian bacon on an English muffin.

A lot of people have never had this delicious breakfast item. If you’re upper crust, you most likely have enjoyed Eggs Benedict several times, and perhaps, regularly. However, many people (regular folk) have never tried Eggs Benedict. Go ahead and do a survey. See how many of your friends can even tell you how it’s made, or what’s in it. Or, ask them what hollandaise sauce is.

It’s East Meets West Day…. time for a few introductions. Will this gathering be the social event of the year? Maybe, maybe not. What we do know, is that this April 25 holiday is designed to encourage east and west meetings and competitions.  Sports teams can come together to compete against one another. Countries and political groups can hold meetings and conferences. Clubs and organizations from both sides of the country can hold a conference. 

Many kinds of sports teams hold annual East vs. West games. Most often, it’s held by high school sports teams. It does not have to be limited to sports teams. It could be any club or organization that holds competitions and can be geographically separated into east and west groups.

These special games usually serve several purposes, including:

• for charitable benefits
• Sports booster club
• to honor and/or showcase the best players of the season.

If your region is oriented north and south, you can use this day as a North Meets South Day.

Don’t Go to Work Unless it’s Fun Day might be your day to sleep in. Everyone wants the ideal job, one that’s fun and rewarding. The boss is great. Your coworkers are your family and friends. And, you can’t wait to get there each day. Unfortunately, many jobs are less than ideal in this respect. But, you need the paycheck. This holiday offers you the chance to make your place of employment more fun. If this April 5 holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday when you are normally off of work, it’s an easy day to participate in. Otherwise, make sure you get your boss’ approval before participating.  

Wouldn’t it be nice to wake up in the morning and decide whether you will go to work? If it is going to be fun at work today, by all means, get up and go. Otherwise, turn over and go back to sleep.

Employer Tip: To increase attendance today, we suggest you consider things that will make it fun to go to work. Like the promise of a paycheck, benefits,…………..

Warning: We strongly suggest that anyone thinking of not going to work, clears it with their boss first! Special and bizarre days are fun to participate in. But, not at the risk of losing your job.

Many major cities have a culinary specialty that they are known for. Chicago, Illinois is famous world-wide, for it’s Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza.  These pizzas are so great, that Chicago couldn’t keep the recipe a secret. Nowadays, you can get a deep dish pizza almost anywhere in the U.S., and in many parts of the world, too. Many people say Chicago makes the best pizzas in the world. So, it only stands to reason, that the best deep dish pizza is only made in Chicago. We concur.

 Today, people all over the world celebrate Deep Dish Pizza Day.  We have no doubt about what you will do today, to savor and enjoy this special holiday.

The deep dish pizza was created in 1943 in Chicago, Illinois. It was created by Ike Sewell, founder of Pizzeria Uno. The deep dish pizza recipe calls for a deep, buttery, and crunchy crust. If you follow the original recipe, and we hope you do, the cheese is on top of the dough, and the sauce is on top of the cheese. You can add any other toppings, as you prefer.

Did You Know? The first pizza was made in the country of Greece…. not Italy.

National Columnists Day recognizes the importance and value of newspaper columnists. Students can also use this April 18 holiday to explore a career in journalism.

The National Society of Newspaper Columnists, which was founded in 1977, sponsors and promotes this day in support of columnists and journalists around the world. This day is dedicated to increasing awareness of the importance and contributions made by columnists and journalists.  

Do you want to participate in this day? Read a newspaper column. Or, show some appreciation to these writers.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (UNESCO) recognizes six languages as official languages of the UN. They are six of the most spoken languages in the world.  Mandarin Chinese is one of these six languages. In recognition and celebration of these languages, each one was given a special holiday. Chinese Language Day is today, an April 20 holiday.

Chinese Language Day was created by UNESCO. The goal for this day is to celebrate multilingual and cultural diversity, and to recognize and celebrate Chinese as one of the six official languages of the United Nations. This special holiday also pays tribute to Cang Jie, a legendary figure who invented Chinese characters over 5,000 years ago.

Chinese Mandarin  or Putonghua, is the native language of over 1 billion people. There are over 200 dialects of Chinese, with many so diverse, that they could be considered their own language group. The most common of these is Mandarin, which is the official language (or dialect) of the People’s Republic of China. It is also widely spoken in Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore. After Mandarin, the most commonly spoken Chinese languages, or dialects, are Wu, Shanghainese, Hongkongese, and Cantonese.

International Children’s Book Day encourages reading and promotes the love of books for children. The best and fastest way to develop our young children into intelligent human beings is by teaching them to read. Instilling a love of reading promotes a lifetime of learning and enjoyment. Reading is a great hobby. It looks good on a resume, too. So, use this April 2 holiday to help a child to learn to read.

Libraries celebrate today with storytelling hours and other events for young children. You can celebrate today by giving a new book to each of your kids. If they are too young to read, spend time reading stories to them. It’s a great and memorable bonding time for you and your child.