Record Breakers

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The King at the top where he belongs, Elvis in 1956! Harry Belafonte next. A wall of gold records. Queen’s signed gold plaque. Glenn Miller and his band. And look there! A very young Johnny Cash admiring Kowalski Heat Treating’s very first gold record for PIA (Pain In The @%$) Jobs!!!!!!! That’s his manager, Sam Philips, standing and mugging the camera.  :))))))))

With the Super Bowl this weekend, many of us with be cheering on either the Chiefs or Eagles along with our favorite players while consuming way too many pre-game snacks, like Aunt Edna’s three bean touchdown cheesy chip dip.  Unlike most fans, those of us in Cleveland won’t be  pondering why “our” team didn’t make it again while watching future hall of famers showcase their talent. Some will also debate the GOATs (greatest of all time) while watching the game.  Old timers will fight for their era quarterbacks, linebackers, and receivers, while the younger set will stare aimlessly trying to figure out who they are talking about (Johnny U, Leroy Kelly, Bart Star, Jerry Rice to name just a few). While it’s fun to debate the gridiron elites, another “greatest” milestone took place on this day back in 1942, when the first gold record was presented to Glenn Miller and His Orchestra (hey grandpa, what team did he play for…and what’s an orchestra?). In the early days, selecting a “gold” song required counting the total sales of the song in its prime. So, for my audiophiles out there, here’s a little history on the rankings and awards along with some links to just some of the GOATs. Thanks to Wikipedia and YouTube and all the artists for these hits.  Enjoy!

Some background music while you read

  • Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory.
  • The original gold and silver record awards were presented to artists by their own record companies to publicize their sales achievements. (interesting marketing trick).
  • The first gold disc was awarded by RCA Victor (under division imprint Bluebird Records) to Glenn Miller and His Orchestra in February 1942, celebrating the sale of 1.2 million copies of the single, “Chattanooga Choo Choo“. (great video!!!)
  • Other examples of a company award is the gold record awarded to Elvis Presley in 1956 for one million units sold of his single “Don’t Be Cruel”.
  • The first gold record for an LP was awarded by RCA Victor to Harry Belafonte in 1957 for the album Calypso (1956), the first album to sell over 1,000,000 copies in RCA’s reckoning.
  • The first silver disc was awarded by Regal Zonophone to George Formby in December 1937 for sales of 100,000 copies of “The Window Cleaner”.
  • At the industry level, in 1958 the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) introduced its gold record award program for records of any kind, albums or singles, which achieved one million dollars in retail sales. These sales were restricted to U.S.-based record companies and did not include exports to other countries.
  • (RIAA) was established for singles in 1958, and the RIAA also trademarked the term “gold record” in the United States. On 14 March 1958, the RIAA certified its first gold record, Perry Como’s hit single “Catch a Falling Star”. The Oklahoma! soundtrack was certified as the first gold album four months later.
  • For albums in 1968, this would mean shipping approximately 250,000 units; for singles the number would be higher due to their lower retail price.
  • The platinum certification was introduced in 1976 for the sale of one million units for albums and two million for singles, with the gold certification redefined to mean sales of 500,000 units for albums and one million for singles. The first was awarded to the Eagles compilation album Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) on 24 February 1976, and to Johnnie Taylor’s single “Disco Lady” on 22 April 1976.
  • In 1999, the diamond certification was introduced for sales of ten million units. In the late 1980s, the certification thresholds for singles were dropped to match that of albums.
  • In most countries, certifications no longer apply solely to physical media but now also include sales awards recognizing digital downloads (in the US and UK since 2004).
  • In June 2006, the RIAA also certified the ringtone downloads of songs. Streaming from on-demand services such as Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal and Napster has been included into existing digital certification in the US since 2013, and the UK and Germany since 2014.
  • In the US and Germany, video streaming services like YouTube, VEVO, and Yahoo! Music also began to be counted towards the certification, in both cases using the formula of 100 streams being equivalent to one download. Other countries, such as Denmark and Spain, maintain separate awards for digital download singles and streaming.
  • The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) was founded in 1996, and grants the IFPI Platinum Europe Award for album sales over one million within Europe and (as of October 2009) the Middle East. Multi-platinum Europe Awards are presented for sales in subsequent multiples of one million. Eligibility is unaffected by time (from date of release) and is not restricted to European-based artists.
  • The Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA) was founded in April 2000 to grow the independent music sector and promote independent music in the interests of artistic, entrepreneurial and cultural diversity. IMPALA launched sales awards in 2005 as the first sales awards recognizing that success on a pan-European basis begins well before sales reach one million. The award levels are Silver (20,000+), Double Silver (40,000+), Gold (75,000+), Double Gold (150,000+), Diamond (200,000+), Platinum (400,000+) and Double Platinum (800,000+).
  • The plaques themselves contain various items under the glass. Modern awards often use CDs instead of records. Most gold and platinum records are actually vinyl records which have been vacuum metallized and tinted, while trimmed and plated metal “masters”, “mothers”, or “stampers” (metal parts used for pressing records out of vinyl) were initially used. The music in the grooves on the record may not match the actual recording being awarded. 
  • Individual plaque-makers produced their awards according to available materials and techniques employed by their graphic arts departments. The plaques, depending on size and elaborateness of design, cost anywhere between US$135 and $275, most often ordered and purchased by the record label that issued the original recording.
  • Elvis is the record holder of the most gold records.  (dad – who’s Elvis?)
  • Fastest song to go gold – just under two weeks – K.O released his latest single“Sete” featuring Blxckie and Young Stunna, The lead single from the veteran rapper’s upcoming fourth album “SR3” (Skhanda Republic 3), has achieved gold certification status (over 1.2 million streams) in record time.
  • Like many awards and recognitions these days, the industry has sort of outgrown the honor and prestige of hitting a milestone such as gold. But that’s ok – we’ll let it go by the wayside of buying and playing our vinyl records.  Check out Billboards “GOAT”.

15 Million (or more) Hard Copies Sold

1942    Bing Crosby — “White Christmas”

1997    Elton John — “Something About the Way You Look Tonight”/”Candle in the Wind

1946    Tino Rossi —  “Petit Papa Noël”

1970    Mungo Jerry — “In the Summertime”

1954    Bill Haley & His Comets —  “Rock Around the Clock”

1992    Whitney Houston —  “I Will Always Love You”

1960    Elvis Presley —  “It’s Now or Never”

1985    USA for Africa —  “We Are the World”

1939     The Ink Spots — “If I Didn’t Care”

1977    Baccara —  “Yes Sir, I Can Boogie”

1997    Celine Dion — “My Heart Will Go On”

1994    Mariah Carey — “All I Want for Christmas Is You”

1991    Bryan Adams — “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You”

1978    John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John — “You’re the One That I Want”

 

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DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.
As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way
into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I.  Love.  My.  Logo.
One week there could be three logos.
The next week there could be 15 logos.
And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing.
But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me a
quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post.
On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers
and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!  
Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count.
Got it? Good.  :-))))
Have fun!!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Perfect Condiment

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Ok. Now I’m hungry. And I just had lunch!!!  :)))))

There are certain things that just go together.  Cookies and cream. Peanut butter and jelly. Chips and dip.  And for me, one of those things is French fries and ketchup. Now, I know some of you out there would insist on eating them plain, or for my northern friends, splashing a little vinegar on them too, but for me, French fries and ketchup just go together. Take a minute – close your eyes and think about McDonalds French fries, and one of those little ketchup packets – you leave the drive thru, open the bag, the aroma hits you and your find the fries, tear the corner of the tiny ketchup packet, squirt the yummy ketchup into the top of the fry holder, pick a few and … bam!  Now that’s good! I have always loved ketchup – in my humble opinion it is the perfect condiment!  As I finished my burger and fries for lunch the other day, it got me to thinking about ketchup – history, production, recipes, and more. For my foodies out there, here’s some fun info about ketchup (catsup?). Thanks to google, businessinsider.com, Wikipedia and allrecipes.com for the info, and YouTube for the video, and Mickey D’s for those yummy fries!  Enjoy!

What 1.8 Million bottles a day looks like

(the video above tests my plant logistics brain – tons of tomatoes/sauce, gallons of water, 1.8 million bottles, caps, 5 million labels, boxes, palettes, shrink wrap – wow – talk about a PIA (Pain in the @%$) Job! – and that’s DAILY!!!). WOW.

  1. The word “ketchup” comes from the Hokkien Chinese word, “kê-tsiap”, which is a sauce that calls for fermented fish; a far cry from the ketchup we know today. Ketchup has come a long way from its roots in China as far back as the third century BCE, when cooks fermented seafood to create a salty, amber-colored sauce that resembles modern fish sauce (an anchovy-based condiment that adds umami flavor to many Asian dishes). Absolutely not a fan of fish sauce.
  2. The ketchup we slather onto hot dogs, burgers, and fries today once had a different purpose: Doctors believed it was best consumed as a health tonic. I am always telling Jackie that it’s heart healthy!
  3. By around the 16th century, British sailors had taken word of ketchup back to their home country, and British cooks tried to replicate it with their own versions made from walnuts and mushrooms.
  4. The word “catsup” first showed up in poems composed at Market Hill by Jonathan Swift in 1730 when he wrote about “Botargo, catsup, and caviare.” For a while the word “catsup” was more commonly used in North America, and then “ketchup” took over due to large-scale manufacturers like Heinz and Hunt’s calling is ketchup.
  5.  It’s not clear exactly when tomatoes came on the scene, though the first known tomato ketchup recipe appeared around 1812, published by Philadelphia horticulturist James Mease.
  6. It wasn’t until the 1830s that some doctors began rebranding tomatoes as a 19th-century superfood. One physician, Dr. John Cook Bennett, especially promoted tomatoes as cures for indigestion and other stomach ailments, encouraging a craze for the fruit that eventually saw the introduction of ketchup pills and extracts (one memorable jingle went, “tomato pills will cure all your ills”).
  7. The fad would last through around the 1850s, but soon enough home cooks focused on creating their own ketchups instead of taking the vitamin equivalents. The sauce then became an easily obtainable American dinner table staple in large part thanks to the H. J. Heinz Company, which released its first tomato ketchup in 1876.
  8. HJ Heinz was the son of immigrant parents. When Heinz turned six, he began helping his mother with her garden (1850).  By age eight, Henry began selling goods to neighbors out of a basket he would carry around (1852).  When he was nine, Henry was grinding and making his own horseradish sauce — it was his mother’s recipe (1853)
  9. Demand was so strong Heinz began to use a horse and cart to deliver his goods by age 12 (1856).  At 16, Heinz began making three weekly deliveries to Pittsburgh, Penn (1860).  By the time he was 25, Heinz had formed his first company with a friend. It was named Heinz Noble & Company (1869) and they sold canned beans.
  10. In just a few years they went bankrupt and shut down. Heinz quickly formed a new business with his cousin, the F & J Heinz Co. (1875).  In 1876 they began selling ketchup and the company
  11. In 1888, Henry bought out his family members and launched a major factory along the Allegheny.
  12. In 1896 Heinz added the 57 to the bottle, after seeing a shoe store advertise 21 styles of shoes. Although he was selling more than 60 products at the time, Heinz thought 57 was lucky.

TRIVIA:

  • Number of individual ketchup packets made by Heinz each year (as of 2020) – 12 billion
  • Approximate number of known tomato species – 10,000
  • Year the ketchup packet was patented – 1955
  • Weight (in tons) of tomatoes processed into ketchup each year by Heinz – 2 million
  • Top five brands – Heinz, Hunts, Del Monte, French’s, Primal Kitchen
  • The World’s Largest Catsup Bottle® stands proudly next to Route 159, just south of downtown Collinsville, Illinois – formerly a water tower: https://www.catsupbottle.com

If you want to make your own, here you go: CLICK

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.
As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way
into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I.  Love.  My.  Logo.
One week there could be three logos.
The next week there could be 15 logos.
And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing.
But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me a
quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post.
On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers
and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!  
Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count.
Got it? Good.  :-))))
Have fun!!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Baffled

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We hear enough words every day to fill a small dictionary. But not all of them have a recorded history. Really????? Really. Here are some of them. 

Being a grandpa is a magical experience.  It hits me in so many fun ways – watching them grow, having an “adult-child” conversation, getting those amazing, unexpected hugs, rocking them to sleep, or just playing together.  My favorite is watching either of them say to Jackie,  “Grandma do you want to play?” then taking her by the hand on their next great adventure!  Sometimes I get hit with an occasional “hey Grandpa” question that’s not so easy to answer.  While reading a book together recently, we came across the word “dog”. I paused for a minute to see if it registered and then I jumped into an adult explanation of “you know, a fun loving four-legged creature, covered with hair that eats and drinks and plays and barks and runs and slurps”.  Now, being a man of science and intrigue, I of course jumped online later to be sure I was right – (don’t want to alter my grandkids development).  Ha!  Talk about trying to solve a PIA (Pain in the @%$) Job! – I stumbled across a confounding tale (tail 😊).  Seems many are not quite sure of the origin of the basic word dog.  Of course, I went digging a bit further and found a whole bunch of words we use every day that are not seated in any language from the past (etymology – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology ).  I picked some of my favorites to share with you, so you’ll be better prepared than I.  Enjoy!  And thanks to Berlitz.com, dictionary.com, mentalfloss.com, Wikipedia, and google and Wiktionary.com (a new one for me!).

FUN – longest English words

All words started somewhere. Through the careful work of historical linguists and lexicographers, we can usually trace a word, if not to its ultimate origin pretty far back in time. We know that the word water, for example, goes back to an old Germanic source by comparing it with words from other Germanic languages: Dutch water, German Wasser, Old Icelandic vatr. We know the word fruit came to English from French because we first have evidence of its use during the period when the French Normans ruled England.

Sometimes, after much searching and analyzing, no satisfying origin explanation can be found. This is not so surprising for slangy or risqué words—if they aren’t the type of words that would be written down, it will be hard to find early sources for them—but there are a few pretty basic, run-of-the-mill words that have defied the best efforts of etymologists. One of their bitter triumphs is the ability to say ‘origin unknown.’”

Here are basic English words that have remained etymological mysteries.

1. Dog

English has the word hound, which is clearly related to other Germanic words like Hund, and the word cur, which is related to other Germanic words for growling. But the most common term is dog, which looks nothing like any other language. It seems related to similar untraceable English words pig, hog, stag, and the wig of earwig. Were they originally childish nicknames or slang? Many theories have been explored, but the answer has not been settled.

The Polish etymologist Piotr Gąsiorowski put forth a new proposal just a few years ago, by interpreting Old English docga as a pet form of dox/dohx ‘of a certain dark hue’ (cf. English dusk), like frocga/frogga ‘frog’ beside frox/frosc/forsc ‘id.’. That is to say, the name would originally have referred to a darker type of dog.  We won’t even try to figure out “hotdog” (a food or a person showing off??)

2. Bad

What could more basic than bad and good? We know that good is cognate with many other languages, from Gothic to Old Saxon to Dutch, and evil is from a Germanic root, but bad is on its own. Its earliest uses referred to food that had gone bad.  Learn more HERE

3. Big

Big is a pretty basic concept, but it was not the word of choice in the Old English period (when the word was mickle or great) and only shows up from the 14th century. Was it borrowed from a Scandinavian word for a rich, powerful man? Did it come from someone’s name? The status remains “origin unknown.”  This adjective, c. 1300, at first found chiefly in writings from northern England and north Midlands, with a sense of “powerful, strong;” a word of obscure origin. It is possibly from a Scandinavian source (compare Norwegian dialectal bugge “great man”). Old English used micel (see much) in many of the same senses. Big came into general use c. 1400. The meaning “of great size” is from late 14c., as is that of “full-grown, grown up.” The sense of “important, influential, powerful” is from c. 1400. The meaning “haughty, inflated with pride” is from 1570s. The sense of “generous” is U.S. colloquial by 1913.

4. Girl

Maiden is from a Germanic root, and damsel is from a French one, but where does girl come from? Perhaps an old Germanic word for dress or a borrowing from another word for child. We don’t know, but it used to be used for boys too. In the 1300s and 1400s, gurles or gyrles were children of either sex, and if you wanted to specifically refer to a boy child you could say “knave girl.”  The English word girl first appeared during the Middle Ages between 1250 and 1300 CE and came from the Anglo-Saxon word gerle (also spelled girle or gurle). The Anglo-Saxon word gerela meaning dress or clothing item also seems to have been used as a metonym in some sense.

5. Boy

Knave goes back to Old English from a Germanic root, but boy only shows up in the Late Middle Ages and in its earliest uses was an insulting term for slave, rogue, or wretch. Did it come from an old French word for “person in chains”? A Dutch word meaning messenger? It’s unclear, but the OED says that for words like girl, boy, lass, and lad, “possibly most of them arose as jocular transferred uses of words that had originally a different meaning.”  It’s thought the word “boy” comes from Middle English boi, boye (“boy, servant”), related to other Germanic words for boy, namely East Frisian boi (“boy, young man”) and West Frisian boai (“boy”).

6. Bird

The more common word in Old English was fugel, which can be traced back to an old Germanic root for flying (and which gives us the current word fowl), but somehow bird won out. Bird was originally spelled brid, which gave the idea that perhaps it was related to brood, but what we know about historical sound change rules makes that unlikely.  From Middle English brid, from Old English bridd (“chick, baby bird”), of uncertain origin and relation; but its stock root is possibly onomatopoeic (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onomatopoeia ). Gradually replaced fowl as the most common term starting in the 14th century.

8. Log

There is an Old Germanic root laeg, related to lie, that became the word for a felled tree in Old Norse, but etymologists have ruled out this source because due to sound change rules, that would have ended up pronounced low in English. It may have been borrowed from a later stage of a Scandinavian language because of the timber trade, but it could also be from an attempt to imitate the sound of something large and heavy.

9. Toad

Toad goes all the way back to Old English, but it has no known cognates in any of the related languages.  With unknown origin it evolved from Middle English tode, toode, tadde, tade, from Old English *tāde, a shortened variant of Old English tādie, tādiġe (“toad”).

10. Kick

At first etymologists thought kick might come from Welsh cicio, but it turned out cicio came from English kick. The idea that it comes from an Old Norse word for “bend backwards, sink at the knees” is another possibility, but it hasn’t been generally accepted. For me, I get a “kick” out of writing these fund blog posts – hope you enjoy as well.

BONUS TRIVIA:  Why do cats purr and humans and animals yawn?  Send me you thoughts (skowalski@khtheat.com)

 

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.
As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way
into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I.  Love.  My.  Logo.
One week there could be three logos.
The next week there could be 15 logos.
And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing.
But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me a
quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post.
On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers
and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!  
Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count.
Got it? Good.  :-))))
Have fun!!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Mondegreens

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I found out some of my favorite song lyrics are not what I thought!  Whaaaaaaaat!!!!!!!

If you are like me, occasionally you find yourself singin’ in the car (you know from my past blogs, me singing in the house or in public is forbidden) – so when I’m alone, I get to crank up the tunes and sing as loud as I want.  My music is from all over the spectrum – (honestly, I enjoy singing Disney show tunes the best just ask my girls!). And if you’ve ever confused “Takin’ Care of Business” with “Makin’ Carrot Biscuits” or “Bennie and the Jets” with “Betty in a Dress,” you’ve been tricked by a mondegreen. This phenomenon occurs when a word or phrase “results from a mishearing of something said or sung.” We can thank American writer Sylvia Wright for the term, which she coined in a 1954 Harper’s essay. When Wright was a child, her mother read to her from the book Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. A favorite entry featured the line, “And laid him on the green,” which Wright misheard as “And Lady Mondegreen.”  And the name stuck. So, here’s a bit about Mondegreens, and also the “backstories” behind some of the most famous lyrics we’ve enjoyed over the years.  For a good laugh, be sure to click on the link below, and hear some mondegreen classics from comedian Peter Kay – he’s really funny!.  Thanks to You Tube, Wikipedia, interestingfacts.com and Good Housekeeping for the info. Enjoy!

Peter Kay…really funny guy.

A mondegreen occurs when there’s a communication hiccup between the syllables you hear and the meaning your brain assigns to them. Mondegreens are especially common when you hear music but cannot see the singer’s face, like when listening to the radio, especially if the singer has an accent.

Although mondegreens are perhaps most famously associated with song lyrics, they can also happen when everyday words and phrases are misheard. Occasionally, a misconstrued phrase is so common that it enters our lexicon. Such was the case with “spitting image,” which originated as “spit and image” (“spit” once meant “a perfect likeness”), and “nickname,” which began life as “an ekename” (“also-name”).

The creation of mondegreens may be driven in part by cognitive dissonance, as the listener finds it psychologically uncomfortable to listen to a song and not make out the words. Experts suggest that mondegreens are the result of the brain’s constant attempts to make sense of the world by making assumptions to fill in the gaps when it cannot clearly determine what it is hearing.

Some of my favorites: “there’s a bathroom on the right” (CCR) “and there’s a wino down the road” (Led Zeppelin), and “there’s nothing that a hundred men on Mars could ever do”.(Toto).

Lyrics
Ever wonder where some song lyrics come from?  I came across a fun article posted by interestingfacts.com about songs we’ve heard over and over, but never knew how the writers found the inspiration for the lyrics. These are fun, enjoy!

 

Aerosmith – Walk This Way – 1975
In late 1974, Aerosmith was messing around during the soundcheck at a show where they were opening for the Guess Who. They managed to land on the iconic guitar riff and drum beat that would eventually become “Walk This Way.” The lyrics, however, took a little longer. Steven Tyler would just scat nonsensical words — but then Mel Brooks came along. After seeing Brooks’ Young Frankenstein in early 1975, the band members were quoting lines from the movie at each other, including the part where Marty Feldman’s Igor tells Gene Wilder to “walk this way” and Wilder begins to imitate Igor’s hunched steps. Aerosmith’s producer heard the quote and suggested that it could make a great title for the song. Tyler worked his spontaneous scatting into lyrics, and a classic tune was born.

 

Elton John – Phildelphia Freedom – 1975
With lyrics like “From the day that I was born/I’ve waved the flag/Philadelphia freedom,” and because the song came out just a year before America’s bicentennial, it’s easy to assume that Elton John’s “Philadelphia Freedom” is about patriotism. In reality, it’s about tennis legend Billie Jean King. After becoming friends with King in the early ’70s, the British-born John told her that he wanted to write a song in her honor and came up with the idea to name it after her tennis team, The Philadelphia Freedoms. He debuted the rough cut of the song for King and her team during the 1974 playoffs; King immediately fell in love. “He said, during the part where he goes ‘Philadelphia’… ‘That’s you getting upset with an umpire.’ Walking up to the umpire … stomping: ‘PHIL. UH. DEL-phia.’ I was laughing so hard,” she said in an interview with eltonjohn.com.

 

Bonnie Tyler – Total Eclipse of the Heart – 1983
This epic ’80s ballad is certainly a heartbreaker, but the lyrics are just vague enough that it’s not entirely clear what the heartbreak is. In 2002, lyricist Jim Steinman — who was also responsible for Air Supply’s “Making Love Out of Nothing at All” (1983) and Meatloaf’s “I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)” — came clean about the song’s origins. “I actually wrote [“Total Eclipse of the Heart”] to be a vampire love song. Its original title was ‘Vampires in Love’ because I was working on a musical of ‘Nosferatu,’ the other great vampire story. If anyone listens to the lyrics, they’re really like vampire lines. It’s all about the darkness, the power of darkness and love’s place in [the] dark.”  Steinman revived the idea for a musical called Dance of the Vampires that opened on Broadway in December 2002, but despite starring the legendary Michael Crawford (of Phantom of the Opera fame), the brief, 56-performance show was a flop. Costing $600,000 per week to produce, and ultimately producing a loss of $12 million, the New York Times deemed Dance one of the most expensive Broadway flops of all time.

 

Neil Diamond – Sweet Caroline – 1969
The story of “Sweet Caroline” seems to be ever-evolving. For decades after the song first charted in 1969, no one knew who the mysterious Caroline was. Diamond revealed that the woman of the hour was Caroline Kennedy -he saw a picture of her riding a horse in a magazine. The song itself was about his then-wife, Marsha. Because the two syllables in her name didn’t fit the scheme of the song, the singer racked his brain for a three-syllable substitute that would roll off the tongue. He recalled the famous photo of the young Caroline Kennedy riding a horse, and that’s when he realized that her name (“Sweet Car-o-line” was so good, so good, so good.  If you’ve ever been to an Ohio State football game, there’s nothing like 90,000 fans singing this classic at the top of their lungs.

 

The Beatles – Blackbird – 1968
The lyrics “Take these broken wings and learn to fly” have inspired many people from many different walks of life in the 50-plus years since Paul McCartney wrote “Blackbird.” But at a concert in 2016, he revealed that he had written the song with a very specific issue in mind: civil rights in the U.S. Although he has mentioned the connection several times over the decades, it was particularly poignant when he talked about his inspiration during a 2016 concert in Little Rock, Arkansas.   “Way back in the Sixties, there was a lot of trouble going on over civil rights, particularly in Little Rock,” McCartney said. “We would notice this on the news back in England, so it’s a really important place for us, because to me, this is where civil rights started,” he told the “We would see what was going on and sympathize with the people going through those troubles, and it made me want to write a song that, if it ever got back to the people going through those troubles, it might just help them a little bit.

IF THIS HAS PEAKED YOUR INTEREST, VISIT THIS SITE  and read about some more classics.

 

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DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.
As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way
into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I.  Love.  My.  Logo.
One week there could be three logos.
The next week there could be 15 logos.
And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing.
But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me a
quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post.
On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers
and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!  
Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count.
Got it? Good.  :-))))
Have fun!!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Not So Temporary

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What a face!!!  :))))))))))))) 

Growing up, I loved to read the comics. I’d wait for Dad to finish with “the paper” (yes, we actually got two delivered to the house a day … one in the morning and one later in the day .. and a big one on Sundays!!) –  I liked many of the characters, especially Spiderman and Funky Winkerbean.  Comics are always a simple escape from the day-to-day.  And many times, just put a smile on my face. Today marks a fun anniversary in the history of comics.  On this day in 1930, Walt Disney himself wrote the first Mickey Mouse comic strip.

Coming off the success of producing “shorts” for the film industry (I think everyone knows Steamboat Willie), Walt himself took on the task of creating a daily comic strip – talk about a PIA (pain in the @%$) Job! With the help of his drawing assistant Ub Iwerks and his inking assistant Win Smith, Mickey and Minnie came to life – and the strip lasted over 90 years!!  Here’s a little history on the series, the people behind the drawings and the themes, many based on the events of the day, that drove the success for so many years.  Enjoy, and thanks to disneydiary.com, Wikipedia and YouTube.  Enjoy!

short video history 

Walter Elias Disney was born in 1901 in Chicago to a family of modest means. In 1919, he met Ub Iwerks while working in commercial art studios in Kansas City. Three years later, the two started their own, ultimately unsuccessful, animation studio. Disney regrouped in California, forming the company we know today with his brother, Roy, as business manager and Iwerks as lead cartoonist.

Though it may seem like Mickey Mouse has always been with us, this most well-known of cartoon characters sprang to animated life on November 18, 1928. The high-spirited, mischievous mouse debuted in Steamboat Willie, a short film designed and animated by Ub Iwerks, the chief animator with the then-nascent Walt Disney Company, with direction from Walt Disney. They cast Mickey Mouse as a shipmate on a steamboat captained by a surly cat. Scheduled to be the opening for a feature-length film, Steamboat Willie was given an initial modest run at the Colony Theater in New York. But audiences and critics went wild for the impish, round-bellied mouse and for the premiere of the first cartoon with synchronized sound.

Two weeks later, Steamboat Willie was re-released at the Roxy, also in New York, and the largest theater in the world at the time. It made silent animation obsolete and launched the Disney empire, as Walt proclaimed…”sound is here to stay”.

After releasing Steamboat Willie, the struggling company began to thrive and to introduce other characters—like Donald Duck and Goofy—into popular culture. As the American economy crumbled during the Great Depression, the Walt Disney Company rose, a paradox explained by the delight, even relief, that its cartoons brought to Americans and audiences worldwide, hungry for a respite from harsh daily realities.

A Mickey Mouse comic strip was suggested by Joseph Connolly, the president of King Features Syndicate, in a July 24, 1929 letter to Disney animator Ub Iwerks: “I think your mouse animation is one of the funniest features I have ever seen in the movies. Please consider producing one in comic strip form for newspapers. If you can find time to do one, I shall be very interested in seeing some specimens.”

The comic strip launched on January 13, 1930 was written by Disney himself, with art by Ub Iwerks. The strip begins with young Mickey as an optimistic, imaginative young mouse living on a farm, and dreaming of becoming a great aviator like his hero, Charles Lindbergh. In a sequence based on the 1928 short Plane Crazy, Mickey puts together a homemade plane, and takes a flight with his girlfriend Minnie. She falls out of the plane, and Mickey travels through a storm to land on a deserted island, inhabited by fierce natives who want to cook him alive.

As these first strips were being released, Iwerks left the Disney studio, signing a contract with Disney competitor Pat Powers to leave Disney and start an animation studio under his own name. Win Smith, who had been inking the strips, took over the penciling as well with the February 10th strip. Smith left the studio in April after a fight with Disney, who wanted him to take over writing the strip.

As a “temporary replacement”, Disney asked a young inbetweener at the studio named Floyd Gottfredson to fill in. Gottfredson’s first strip was published on May 5, and he took over the scripting two weeks later. He would continue as the creative force of the strip for more than 45 years. (WOW!).

While the early months of the strip did have a loose plot, the pace and style were still the standard gag-a-day approach to comic strips. With adventure and daily continuity strips like The Gumps and Wash Tubbs becoming increasingly popular, King Features Syndicate asked Disney to make Mickey Mouse a more serious adventure strip.

This led to the first adventure storyline, “Mickey Mouse in Death Valley”, which ran from April 1 to September 20, 1930. The story—begun by Smith, and continued by Gottfredson—involves a crooked lawyer, Sylvester Shyster, and his thuggish associate Peg-Leg Pete, who kidnap Minnie in order to find a map to her Uncle Mortimer’s hidden gold mine in Death Valley. Mickey and Minnie race Shyster and Pete to the desert, to lay claim to the mine.

Over decades Gottfredson used extended main themes inspired from Disney’s animation department to support the storylines, such as “The Great Orphanage Robbery”, The Case of the Vanishing Coats”, “The Robin Hood Adventure”, “Mighty Whale Hunter” and “Lil Davey” based on Davey Crockett.

Years later, many of these themes became book titles, extending the series into children’s bedrooms.  I can remember reading some of the storybooks to the girls when they were little (For a full list, CLICK.) and now enjoy reading to the grandkids.

Thanks Walt and team!

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DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.
As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way
into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I.  Love.  My.  Logo.
One week there could be three logos.
The next week there could be 15 logos.
And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing.
But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me a
quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post.
On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers
and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!  
Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count.
Got it? Good.  :-))))
Have fun!!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Slurp

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Out of a can or home-made, soups really are mmm-mmm-good!! :))))

 

Happy New Year to all my blog readers – I hope you had a safe, fun holiday with family and friends. My wish to you in the New Year is that you prosper in health and wealth, grounded in your faith and love of your families.  Over the holidays I was able to really enjoy some wonderful soups (and chili).  When the mercury dropped below zero, I was the first at the table with spoon in hand to lap up some of Jackie’s creations.  As a “foodie” (my definition is “eat everything”), soup and hearty sandwich on a blustery day is at the top of my list.  (who doesn’t dip your sandwich in the soup?) And when you are feeling down, there’s NOTHING like a bowl of steamy chicken noodle soup.  I know every family has “their” recipe and way of making it – as chicken soup is undeniable the dish that has souped its way into the hearts of people throughout the world and has become a staple ‘rainy day’/’sick day’ comfort meal. Here’s a little history, some recipes to try, and a great production video on how soup is made for my production buds out there.  If you have a “to die for” family recipe, please email it to me at skowalski@khtheat.com and I’ll ask Jackie to give it a try.  Thanks to Wikipedia, The Oxford Student, You Tube and the recipe folks for the info – ENJOY! (and don’t forget the crackers – saltines or oyster or wheat or Ritz or … perhaps another blog topic 😊.

Makin’ Soup

Chicken soup is a soup made from chicken, simmered in water, usually with various other ingredients. The classic chicken soup consists of a clear chicken broth, often with pieces of chicken or vegetables; common additions are pasta, noodles, dumplings, or grains such as rice and barley. Chicken soup has acquired the reputation of a folk remedy for colds and influenza, and in many countries is considered a comfort food.

Chicken soup has been with us for a long, long time, and there its fame has made its history so easy to find. People have obsessed over chicken soup since the domestication of fowl around 7,000 to 10,000 years ago in Southeast Asia. The Ancient Greeks also had their own version of chicken broth and believed the soup to have healing properties much like today.

Variations on the flavor are gained by adding root vegetables such as parsnip, potato, sweet potato and celery root; herbs such as bay leaves, parsley and dill; other vegetables such as zucchini, whole garlic cloves, lettuce, or tomatoes; and black pepper. Saffron or turmeric are sometimes added as a yellow colorant.

Chicken soup is the undoubtable symbol of Jewish cuisine. But the hot broth — made of scarce and expensive fresh meat — was not always readily available in every Eastern European community.  There was one day a year when every family, rich or poor, prepared the soup: Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement.  “At night, the people of the village [Cycow in Poland] would wave fluttering chickens above their heads for the atonement ceremony called kapparot, and right after the ceremony people marched in droves to the slaughterhouse,” recalled Shmil Holand in his book “Schmaltz.” A few hours later, the village was filled with the aroma of fresh chicken soup, which was then served before the Yom Kippur fast.

While every chef has their own approach, some terms to keep in mind when creating your base:

  • Chicken broth is the liquid part of chicken soup. Broth can be served as is, or used as stock, or served as soup with noodles. Chicken bouillon or bouillon de poulet is the French term for chicken broth.
  • Chicken consommé is a more refined chicken broth. It is usually strained to perfect clarity and reduced to concentrate it.
  • Chicken stock is a liquid in which chicken bones and vegetables have been simmered for the purpose of serving as an ingredient in more complex dishes.
  • Chicken stew is a more substantial dish with a higher ratio of solids to broth. The broth may also be thickened toward a gravy-like consistency with a roux or by adding flour-based dumplings

Some ingredient variations to try from around the world include: 

  • China ginger, scallions, black pepper, soy sauce, rice wine and sesame oil.
  • Colombia includes maize, three types of potatoes, avocado, capers, and a herb called guascas, and is served with a dollop of cream.
  • Denmark uses suppehøner (“soup-hens”) celeriac, carrots, onions and leek are usually added and typical flavourings are thyme, laurels and white pepper.
  • France serves chicken-based forms of bouillon and consommé with bay leaves, fresh thyme, dry white wine and garlic. Germany uses chicken broth, vegetables, such as carrots, spices and herbs and small noodles. For the broth, a large hen, called a Suppenhuhn (lit.: “soup hen”), may be boiled.
  • Ghana chicken soup, also known as Chicken Light soup is made by cooking the chicken in a blended mixture of tomatoes, onions, pepper and other spices and sometimes garden eggs and is served primarily with fufu or on its own.
  • Greece In Greece, chicken soup is most commonly made in the avgolemono (“egg-lemon”) fashion, wherein beaten eggs mixed with lemon are added to a broth slowly so that the mixture heats up without curdling, also adding rice or pasta like kritharáki (“little barley;” orzo), resulting in a thicker texture.
  • Hungary is a clear soup, a consommé, called Újházi chicken soup. A consommé with entire pieces of chicken, chicken liver and heart, with chunky vegetables and spices like whole black peppercorn, bay leaves, salt and ground black pepper.
  • Indonesia sayur sop, vegetable and chicken broth soup that contains chicken pieces, potato, green beans, carrot, celery, and fried shallot.
  • Italy often served with pasta, in such dishes as cappelletti in brodo, tortellini in brodo and passatelli. Even when served on its own, the meat and any vegetables used are usually removed from the broth and served as a second dish.
  • Japan torijiru starts with dashi, which is made from boiling konbu (kelp) and katsuobushi (dried skipjack tuna flakes), and not by boiling the chicken (whole chicken is not typically available in Japanese supermarkets). After the dashi is prepared, pieces of boneless chicken thigh meat are usually used and combined with vegetables.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazi) The Russian and Polish Jewish communities use a relatively high proportion of chicken stock for their soup, made mostly from the bones. The soup is prepared with herbs like parsley and fresh dill or thyme, and is often served with knaidlach (matzah balls), kreplach (dumplings), lokshen (flat egg noodles), or mandlen (Shkedei Marak in Israel) (soup “almonds”). A traditional garnish was eyerlekh (little eggs). These unlaid chicken eggs were taken from a hen and boiled in the soup.
  • Mexico Caldo de pollo, is a common Latin-American soup made with whole chicken pieces instead of chopped or shredded chicken, and large cuts of vegetables, such as half-slices of potatoes and whole leaves of cabbage.
  • Pakistan most famous one is Chicken Corn Soup served as a popular street food in the winter. White vinegar with green chilli slices, soy sauce, and red chilli sauce are condiments often served alongside chicken soup.
  • Polish (Yeah!) The Polish chicken soup is called rosół. It is commonly served with fine noodles, boiled carrots and parsley every Sunday. The broth is served separate from chicken meat. There are many types of rosół, as: Rosół Królewski (royal rosół), made of three meats: beef or veal, white poultry (hen, turkey or chicken) and dark poultry as duck, goose (crop only The cooking must take at least six hours of sensitive boiling over a small fire. At the end, softly burnt onion is added to the soup. Rosół myśliwski (The hunter’s rosół) is made of a variety of wild birds as well as pheasant, capercaillie, wood grouse, black grouse, or grey partridge, with a small addition of roe deer meat, a couple of wild mushrooms, and 2–3 juniper fruits.

If you are brave enough to veer from tradition, here are a few recipes to try:
>>THIS ONE
>>THIS ONE
>>AND THIS ONE

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DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.
As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way
into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I.  Love.  My.  Logo.
One week there could be three logos.
The next week there could be 15 logos.
And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing.
But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me a
quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post.
On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers
and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!  
Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count.
Got it? Good.  :-))))
Have fun!!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Gadgets

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Christmas is such a magical time of year for so many reasons. Giving something totally surprising is one of those magical things I like to do. Click on the images below for some of the coolest gadgets to give.  :))))))

When it comes to holiday gifts, there is just nothing like “gadgets”.  As a business who excels at solving PIA Jobs, we know what it’s like to look, examine, test, try, try again, try again solve and then consistently deliver on the many different parts our customers send us.  And when we “get it right” our gang feels the thrill of real problem solving.  Gadgets are a lot like that – inventors and manufacturers who see problems, try and tray again and come up with real solutions that helps peoples lives. I decided to search the internet for “24 cool gadgets” that solve different problems, (believe me there are many “cool” things to buy this year) and came up with a really fun list. Here’s some of my favorites – from lens cleaners, to drones, cup holders, dog balls, headlamps, to phone chargers – all are “fun” (I’ll be sure to share with Jackie and the kids).  Enjoy!  And if you find something in your shopping efforts, be sure to send me an email and share (skowalski@khtheat.com). And thanks to trendingdailygadget.com for the items.

 

Click an image for the cool details…

 

 

 

 

 

 

For a full list, click HERE

 

 

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DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.
As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way
into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I.  Love.  My.  Logo.
One week there could be three logos.
The next week there could be 15 logos.
And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing.
But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me a
quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post.
On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers
and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!  
Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count.
Got it? Good.  :-))))
Have fun!!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

A Blessing

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PLEASE. Watch this show with your family and friends. A Charlie Brown Christmas is a wonderful show that’s such a great part of this wonderful season. I can hear the music now. Enjoy.

Now that we’ve turned the corner on November, it’s time of course to start thinking about the Christmas holiday time.  One of the classics “everyone” knows is A Charlie Brown Christmas, (who doesn’t love Snoopy’s doghouse with the lights??) written by Charles Schultz, the inventor of the Peanuts comic strip, about a depressed child who gets ridiculed by his friends but finds the magic of Christmas in the end.  The comic special has aired every December for over 50 years — longer than any other holiday program besides Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Lee Mendelson, who produced A Charlie Brown Christmas, thinks its message is particularly relevant this year, with at least half the population feeling like someone “pulled their football away.“ What most people don’t realize is that the holiday classic barely made it into production — and was almost buried forever. No networks had wanted it, but after Charlie Brown and the gang were featured on the cover of Time magazine, Coca-Cola’s ad agency, McCann Erickson, got the idea for a holiday special and approached Mendelson. Desperate after his documentary imploded, he told the agent that, in fact, he and Schulz had discussed such a project. He called Schulz and told him they’d sold A Charlie Brown Christmas. “Schulz said, ‘What’s that?’” Mendelson said, “It’s something you’re going to write starting tomorrow.” (Talk about a PIA (Pain in the @%$) Job!!  Here’s some of the history behind the show, and a few tidbits you likely never knew.  Thanks to Wikipedia for the info and YouTube for the music – (you gotta click the music link while reading to get the full effect!).  Enjoy.

Soundtrack

By the early 1960s, Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip Peanuts had gained enormous popularity.  Television producer Lee Mendelson acknowledged the strip’s cultural impression and had an idea for a documentary on its success, phoning Schulz to propose the idea. Schulz, an avid baseball fan, recognized Mendelson from his documentary on ballplayer Willie Mays, A Man Named Mays, and invited him to his home in Sebastopol, California, to discuss the project.

Their meeting was cordial, with the plan to produce a half-hour documentary set. Mendelson wanted to feature roughly “one or two” minutes of animation, and Schulz suggested animator Bill Melendez, with whom he collaborated some years before on a commercial for the Ford Motor Company. Mendelson later stated that he was drawn to doing an animated Charlie Brown after working on A Man Named Mays, noting that Mays was arguably the best baseball player of all time, while Charlie Brown, in a running gag in the strips, was one of the worst, making him a natural follow-up subject to his previous work.

Mendelson rang animator Bill Melendez, who had helped animate a two-minute segment in the never-aired documentary. The three met in Schulz’s office in Sebastopol, California. Schulz wanted the show to focus on the childhood stress of putting on a Christmas play. Mendelson had just read The Fir-Tree by Hans Christian Andersen and suggested the story include a tree that is as sad and misunderstood as Charlie Brown. They cranked out an outline and put it in a Western Union shipment to Atlanta. Several days later, the agency told them they had a short six months to deliver the animated special.

Halfway through production, when the team was still working with black-and-white illustrations, a McCann executive (Mendelson is almost certain it was Neil Reagan, the older brother of President Ronald Reagan) showed up in Sebastopol to check in on the progress. He was put off by the slow pacing of the story. Mendelson, Melendez, and Schulz assured him it would be better once there was music and color. The executive said he wouldn’t tell the agency what he thought — because if he did, he was sure they would cancel the show.

For the music, the team had courted up-and-coming jazz musician Vince Guaraldi, whose “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” seemed to strike the same balance of somber enlightenment and childlike buoyancy that Schulz achieved in his comic. But when they played the introduction song as the children skated on the frozen pond, Mendelson realized it was way too slow and solemn. It was missing something. He sat down at his kitchen table and wrote out the words to “Christmas Time Is Here” on an envelope. Guaraldi enlisted the children’s choir of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in San Rafael, California, to sing the lyrics.

Lyrics or not, the CBS executives didn’t think jazz belonged in a cartoon. They also challenged Schulz’s decision to use untrained children instead of professional adult voice actors. They especially couldn’t understand why children would use such big words. Schulz even got pushback from his own team. Mendelson suggested a laugh track would save the show and Schulz responded by standing up and walking out of the room. When Schulz, a Sunday school teacher, said Linus should recite from the Gospel of Luke, Mendelson and Melendez protested. “We looked at each other and said, ‘Well, there goes our careers right down the drain,’” Mendelson recalls. Of course, now Mendelson realizes that Linus’s segment probably made the entire project work. “That 10-year-old kid who recited that speech from the Bible was as good as any scene from Hamlet,” he says.

When CBS finally saw the finished product, they were sure it was doomed. It was still too slow, there was no action, the kids weren’t polished, the jazz didn’t belong. But Coca-Cola had already bankrolled the program, and it was listed in TV Guides nationwide. CBS had to air the show, but the execs were certain it would flop, never to run again.

When A Charlie Brown Christmas aired at 7:30 p.m. ET on December 9, 1965, half of American TV viewers tuned in. The reviews were outstanding. Washington Post TV critic Lawrence Laurent wrote, “Good old Charlie Brown, a natural born loser … finally turned up a winner.”

The only person involved who wasn’t surprised was Schulz. The cartoonist was plagued by depression and self-doubt his entire life, but he always had confidence in his characters and their stories. He believed everyone knew what it felt like to fail despite doing everything right. “We hear about authors who write best about what they know. Steinbeck wrote about the West. Hemingway wrote about, well, everywhere,” says Mendelson. “Schulz jumped ahead in school, so he was always the youngest, and he endured a lot of bullying. He felt a lot of loneliness, and I think that was the bedrock of his whole philosophy.”

Schulz’s message of perseverance in the face of dejection always resonated with American audiences, a reminder that we should keep kicking no matter how many times they pull the ball away.

In a classic scene, at the tree lot, Charlie Brown picks the only real tree there, a small sapling. Linus questions his choice, but Charlie Brown believes that once decorated, it will be perfect. When they return, however, Lucy and the others scorn him and the tree and walk away laughing. Crestfallen, Charlie Brown loudly asks if anyone knows what Christmas is all about; Linus says he does, walks to center stage, asks for a spotlight, recites the annunciation to the shepherds, returns and says, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

Let us all remember the true meaning of Christmas.

If interested here’s the detailed link to Wikipedia 

 

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.
As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way
into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I.  Love.  My.  Logo.
One week there could be three logos.
The next week there could be 15 logos.
And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing.
But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me a
quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post.
On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers
and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!  
Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count.
Got it? Good.  :-))))
Have fun!!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Ahhh, lasagna

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Guess what I had for lunch today.  :)))))))))) 

Now that the daylight savings flip is behind us, it’s time to start cooking indoors – yummy fall soups, fresh breads, sweet deserts and of course Italian sauces and foods. And that includes lasagna. If you’re like me, you can eat lasagna pretty much all the time! A warm, cheesy, gooey lasagna dish is an ideal go-to meal for chilly nights, romantic weekdays, family gatherings and dinners with friends. When topped with grated fresh parmesan cheese and a nice glass of cab or pinot noir, a regular lasagna dish on a Friday night is elevated to a gourmet meal fit for a king and queen. Now, before I go any further, a tip to my readers. Be extremely cautious when discussing the tastes and origins of your favorite lasagna dish. Avoid the words, “honey, I like your lasagna recipe, but it’s not even close to my _______ (insert: mom’s, gramdma’s, first wife, Aunt Betty’s, at Antonio’s, Uncle Carmen’s, etc.) recipe.”  This is sure to create havoc, and you’ll soon find a ladle dent on your forehead.  Picking “the best” is truly a PIA (Pain In The @%$) Job!  I’m lucky, as I LOVE both my Mom’s recipe and wife Jackie’s recipe – totally different and totally delicious. Everyone has a little twist to their recipe (homemade sauce, fresh ground sausage, variety of vegetables, special spices, long hours of simmering sauce), and more. At a work event we held recently, one of my supervisors surprised us with his significant other’s recipe – OOOHHH MMMYYY GGGOOOSSSHHHH – simply amazing.  So good, I included it below.  Be sure to share your favorite recipe – and send a photo too! (skowalski@khtheat.com). Special thanks to history.com, ciaoitalia.com, and inside therustickitchen.com and YouTube.com for the insights and music. Divertiti!

Great music to enjoy while reading and cooking

  • The origins of the word lasagne or lasagna can be traced back to Ancient Greece. What we know as lasagne or lasagna is derived from the word “laganon”, which was the first form of pasta. Laganon was a reference to flat sheets of pasta dough cut into thin strips, looking very different from what we know to be a typical lasagna dish today. It consisted of layers of pasta and sauce without traditional Italian ingredients. Ancient Rome was known to have a similar dish called “lasanum”, which is Latin for container or pot. Italians used this word to refer to the pot that the dish was served in. Eventually, the dish evolved and took on the same name.
  • The Greeks are believed to have first settled in the area of Naples in 2BC and it is currently the third-largest city of Italy. Naples is also the capital city of Campania, one of the most populous areas in Italy. It eventually became the epicenter of culture for the Roman empire and played a key role as the capital of the Duchy of Naples and the Kingdom of Naples. Eventually, it became the center of the baroque period and an artistic renaissance sparked by the famed Italian painter Caravaggio.
  • Lasagne is the plural word for one sheet of lasagna and is used regionally throughout Italy. Referencing lasagne or lasagna depends on whether you’re in the northern or southern regions of Italy. The plural form is mostly used in British English, while American English is known to use the singular version.
  • The Italian favorite of lasagne or lasagna that we all know and love originated in Italy in the city of Naples during the Middle Ages. One of the first references to modern-day lasagne can be found in a 14th-century English cookbook that highlighted a dish with layers of pasta without the tomatoes. Later, another reference was made to lasagne in an Italian cookbook in the 1880s that featured tomato sauce.
  • The dish eventually evolved into the traditional lasagna of Naples called “Lasagna di Carnevale” made with local sausage, fried meatballs, veal, pork, hard-boiled eggs, ricotta or mozzarella, and Neapolitan Ragu. One of the most popular variations of this lasagna dish is called “Lasagna al Forno”  This variation originates from the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna and is made with ricotta or mozzarella, thick Ragu, bechamel sauce, wine, onion, oregano, and green sheets of pasta made with spinach and baked.
  • Lasagne’s history wouldn’t be complete without variety throughout the regions of Italy. Different areas may use different dough or sauces. The beautiful Italian region of Piedmont specializes in lasagna al Sangue, which translates to “bloody lasagne” due to the addition of blood from a slaughtered pig (eeeuuuww).
  • The person who invented lasagna could never have imagined how it would impact the world today and what nutritional value it contains. When discussing lasagna history, carbohydrates never tasted so good and this dish is packed full of them. Carbohydrates bring energy to your blood cells and help drive essential day to day bodily functions. Most of this energy comes directly from the noodles, with a small amount of coming from the sauce and any vegetables you add.
  • Your favorite lasagna dish is also packed with B vitamins. These nutrients are responsible for driving your body’s metabolism. The beef in the recipe gives your body the iron it needs to promote healthy blood circulation. You can easily add vitamins A and C by including zucchini and red pepper. Adding vegetables will increase your vitamin intake and make for a delicious lasagna dish.
  • Lasagna is also an excellent source for dietary protein and fat. Proteins are broken down by your body into amino acids that are used to create and maintain healthy tissues. Each ounce of meat and cheese adds between 6 and 7 grams of protein. These components are a major source of saturated fat so you’ll want to be cautious when adding them.
  • We know that lasagna is far from being considered a health food, but you can make healthy substitutions when making it at home. For example, instead of using white noodles, you can substitute whole wheat noodles that will help to stabilize your blood sugar levels. When making a lasagna dish with meat, try to substitute with 95% lean ground beef, turkey, or chicken and make sure to thoroughly drain off any excess fat. While we all love cheese, try to limit the use of mozzarella cheese to only a few sprinkles on the top or choose a low-fat cheese. To add the nutritional value, load your lasagna with plenty of vegetables to boost fiber, vitamins, and mineral intake. Before adding them to the dish, try pureeing them to improve the texture and adding them directly to your tomato sauce. This way, you’ll be able to reap the nutritional benefits of adding vegetables while not compromising taste or texture.
  • While packing your lasagna with vegetables and lean meats adds nutritional value, using no-boil noodles will improve the taste. They are typically thinner than the dry noodles and absorb the tomato sauce well. Also, you won’t have to wait for the noodles to cook. Using pork sausage instead of ground beef for your tomato sauce will bring your pasta dish to a different level of satisfaction. You can choose to mix sweet and spicy sausage to enhance the flavor of the sauce. Instead of using grated mozzarella, add fresh mozzarella instead. You’ll notice that the rich diary flavor is tasty and the texture is smooth.
  • If you’ve never thought about using eggs in a lasagna dish, now is a great time to try. When coupled with parmesan cheese and herbs, eggs round out the flavor and create a creamy texture filling that is mouth-watering. Lastly, when you’re adding vegetables, you’ll want to add the right ones that don’t turn soggy while baking. While this can be fixed by pureeing your vegetables before they are added to the sauce, you can also use spinach. Adding spinach is a great alternative to including vegetables and adding flavor.
  • However you make it – experiment and enjoy – and if you hit a winner, send me the recipe!!

Amazing recipe from one of our team here at KHT Heat.

From The Kitchen of Danielle Lorence
Recipe: Lasagna –  Double Batch (Recipe is estimations – _I don’t measure)
Baking Dish –  Layers work best in 16 9/10” _long 10 1/5” _– _4 1/4” _depth
(Le Creuset has a Lasagna Deep Baker)
Line Oven Racks with Foil –  Cheese will melt over

Ingredients: (Can Be Found at Giant Eagle Market Districts)

  • 4-5 lbs. Ground Beef 80/20, Ground Pork and Ground Veal
  • 2 lbs. Spicy Bob Evans Sausage
  • 5-6 (32 oz.) Jars Mids Garlic and Onion Spaghetti Sauce
  • 2 cans Contadina Petite Diced Tomatoes
  • 4 (30 oz.) Micelili’s Whole Milk Traditional Ricotta Cheese (Must Be Micelili’s)
  • 1 (30 oz) Breakstone’s Cottage Cheese
  • 2-3 Micelili’s Mozerella Pears (Balls)
  • 3 pks. Bel Gioioso Sharp Provolone Cheese
  • 3 pks. Bel Gioioso Regular Provolone Cheese
  • 3 pks. Bel Gioioso Fontina Cheese
  • 3 pks Bel Gioioso Asiago Cheese
  • 1 container Parmesano Reggiano
  • 1 container of Pecorino Romano
  • 1 pint Whole Whipping Cream
  • 4 Eggs
  • 2 sticks Salted Butter
  • 3 boxes Barilla Lasagna Noodles
  • 4 Shallots
  • 8 Cloves Garlic
  • 3 large Yellow Onions
  • 1 bunch Fresh Parsley
  • 2 tbsp. Marjoram
  • 1 tbsp. Italian Seasonings
  • 4 tbsp. Garlic Powder
  • 2 tbsp. Onion Powder
  • Salt and Pepper (to taste when browning meat)
  • ½ cup Sugar

Instructions: 

  • Brown all meat in a large pot, as meat browns season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder. Do not drain grease, let meat cook down and allow grease to caramelize. Stir frequently and be careful not to scorch.
  • In a large skillet add diced onions and shallots, minced garlic – _sauté in 2 sticks of butter until soft. 1/3 approximately will be added to ricotta cheese mixture and rest will go into browned meat mixture.
  • After meat caramelizes, add 2/3 of sauteed onions, shallots and garlic and petite diced tomatoes. Simmer for a few minutes and add Mid’s sauce, add 4 tbsp. garlic powder, 2 tbsp. onion powder, 1 cup of parmesano reggiano and ½ cup pecorino romano. Let sauce simmer at least one hour.
  • Grate all cheeses and combine all in an extra-large bowl mix thoroughly with hands.
  • In an extra-large bowl add ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, eggs, parsley, marjoram, Italian seasonings, sprinkle layer with garlic powder, onion powder, ½ sugar, ¾ cup whipping cream, 4 handfuls shredded cheeses, add 1 cup meat mixture and mix thoroughly with clean hands.
  • Coat 2 lasagna baking dishes with non-stick spray. Put a layer of sauce on bottom of baking dish. Layer lasagna noodles, then add approximately one inch of ricotta mixture, lasagna noodle layer, sauce layer, generous layer of shredded cheese and grated parmesano reggiano and pecorino romano. Layer lasagna noodles, one inch of ricotta mixture and repeat other layers.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, possibly 1 hour – _15 min. – _Let lasagna set 20-30 minutes before serving.

 

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DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.
As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way
into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I.  Love.  My.  Logo.
One week there could be three logos.
The next week there could be 15 logos.
And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing.
But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me a
quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post.
On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers
and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!  
Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count.
Got it? Good.  :-))))
Have fun!!

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GGGGGOOOOOAAAAALLLLL!!!!!

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The World Cup is probably the biggest tournament in the world!!! Have fun watching and GO USA!!!!!

Next Monday marks the kickoff of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and it’s going to be something special. The World Cup is the biggest international soccer tournament in the world, and the most watched sporting event in the world. Thirty-two teams compete to be crowned World Cup winners every four years.  It will be played in Qatar, marking the first time it’s being hosted in the Middle East. Qatar beat out the United States, South Korea, Japan and Australia to win the bid in 2010, under controversy on how the actual voting took place.  Here are a whole bunch of fun facts to help you get ready for the action.

Here is soundtrack for the games:  Hayya Hayya (Better Together)

  • This is the first World Cup to be played during our winter months to beat the heat of June and July that Qatar experiences and avoid the potential health risks of playing in such extreme heat. (The average high in July is 106 degrees Fahrenheit, while the average in November is 84 degrees Fahrenheit and 75 degrees Fahrenheit in December.)
  • To combat the heat, though it figures to be fairly comfortable during the tournament, the stadiums at the 2022 FIFA World Cup will also have air conditioning.
  • For Americans, traveling on a U.S. tourist passport, the government of Qatar does not require prior visa arrangements. Travelers will obtain a free visa waiver upon arrival, according to the State Department.
  • How small is Qatar compared to past hosts? – Qatar is ranked 164th in area and 148th in population when it comes to the world’s sovereign states. The United States is about 849 times bigger than Qatar. The U.S. state of Connecticut is the closest comparison to the size of Qatar, and even then Connecticut is 8% larger than the host nation and with a higher population (1.1 million more people live in Connecticut).

  • Drinking alcohol in public, as well as being drunk in public, is illegal in Qatar. You can face a six-month prison sentence or be fined as much as $850. Stadiums will not be selling alcohol during the matches, however, fan zones will be set up around the country allowing fans to have a drink in a designated area. Qatar will also have “recovery areas” for those who may overindudge.
  • There have been 21 men’s World Cups, with Qatar being the 22nd World Cup. FIFA has been organizing World Cups since 1930, when Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and beat Argentina in the final, 4-2. The United States finished third that year.  It’s taken place every four years since 1930 aside from 1942 and 1946, which were canceled due to World War II.
  • Teams place stars around their country’s logo when they win a world cup – you can count the stars on their crest.  If you look closely, you’ll see Brazil has five stars/titles (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002). Italy and Germany are right behind with four each.
  • The United States men’s national team has never won the competition. The United States women’s national team has won four World Cups. The men made the semifinals in 1930 and the quarterfinals in 2002.
  • There are eight different venues for the tournament in five different host cities. They are as follows: Qatar 2022 will show some brand-new portable and removable stadium to enhance sustainability 

1 Khalifa International Stadium 
2 Al Bayt Stadium 
3 Al Janoub Stadium
4 Ahmad bin Ali Stadium 
5 Education City Stadium 
6 Al Thumama Stadium 
7 Ras Abu Aboud Stadium
8 Lusail Iconic Stadium 

  • Teams qualify from different regions around the world. Four years after hosting, the Russians became ineligible following the invasion of Ukraine. They are barred from FIFA competitions, while clubs of the country were also booted from UEFA tournaments.
  • Most of us are used to a different kind of football on Thanksgiving. While there will be NFL on Thanksgiving ( Bills / Detroit Lions at 12:30 p.m. ET live on CBS) and Paramount+, there will also be four World Cup matches that day for the very first time.
  • The ball that will be used at the 2022 World Cup is from adidas, and it’s called Al Rihla Pro. The mascot for the 2022 World Cup is La’eeb https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/articles/laeeb-is-revealed-as-qatars-fifa-world-cup-tm-mascot  The official song of the 2022 World Cup is “Hayya Hayya,” which means “Better Together,” performed by Trinidad Cardona, Davido and Aisha https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyDjFVZgJoo.
  • Video Assistant Referee will be used at the 2022 World Cup after being used in 2018. Among the incidents it will be used for are dangerous challenges, penalty kick decisions and offsides.  Stephanie Frappart from France, Rwandan Salima Mukansanga and Yoshimi Yamashita from Japan became the first female referees to be appointed to a men’s World Cup.
  • A Semi-auto offside system will also be used – A new support tool for video match officials and on-field officials will be used at the World Cup. The system helps them make faster, more accurate decisions when it comes to offside. The new system uses 12 dedicated tracking cameras underneath the roof of the stadium to track the ball and up to 29 data points for players to calculate their exact position. The ball will also have a sensor for measurement.
  • France are the reigning champs – Les Bleus won the 2018 tournament in Russia, defeating Croatia in the final. It was their second ever World Cup title, and they are once again reloaded and viewed as contenders to take home the crown. If they manage to win again, they will be the first back-to-back champs since Brazil in 1962.
  • The opening match is a doozy – Qatar opens the tournament on Nov. 20 versus Ecuador, and what a match that will be. Both teams know that in a group with Senegal and the Netherlands, this one is so crucial in the battle of head to head. Expect an open game between two teams with technique and speed.
  • USMNT schedule – The United States men’s national team’s schedule at the tournament is as follows: Wales – Nov. 21 at 2 p.m. ET, England – Nov. 25 at 2 p.m. ET, Iran – Nov. 29 at 2 p.m. ET
  • The Group of Death is the often referred to as the hardest group, one that could very well see a giant slayed before the knockout stage even begins. While Group E with Spain, Costa Rica, Germany and Japan is great, Group H does have Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, South Korea and a whole bunch of stars. Also, in Group A you have host Qatar, and they are formidable, but you also have underrated Ecuador, mighty Netherlands and Africa’s best team, Senegal. Every single one of those games are intriguing in the Group, and something tells me it’s going to deliver some shockers.
  • Squad regulations have changed – FIFA approved a 26-man squad, up from the normal 23.  Coaches will now be allowed to make five substitutions at the 2022 World Cup. These five subs can be made in three different windows during the game. In the event a knockout stage match goes to extra time, teams will have an additional sub and another opportunity to make that change.
  • If you want to skip all the fuss, the final will be played on Dec. 18 at Lusail Iconic Stadium at 10 a.m. ET.

 

 

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.
As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way
into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I.  Love.  My.  Logo.
One week there could be three logos.
The next week there could be 15 logos.
And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing.
But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me a
quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post.
On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers
and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!  
Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count.
Got it? Good.  :-))))
Have fun!!

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