Here's What's Happening ~ Feb. 9

National Bagels and Lox Day
Always celebrated on February 9th. Bagels and Lox are a sandwich consisting of a bagel, cream cheese, and lox (cured salmon fillets). Many people also add capers, red onion, tomato, and cucumber.

Bagels are a soft, chewy, doughnut shaped bread which is first boiled in water and then baked. Bagels originally came from Poland, created in the early 17th century as a lean wheat bread to be eaten during Lent. Bagels were eventually brought to America by immigrant Polish-Jews in the early 20th century, although they were found exclusively  in New York until the 1950's when they began to be mass produced and distributed to most of North America.

Lox are thinly sliced Salmon fillets which have been cured in a brine solution of water or oil, salt, sugar, and spices. Lox was introduced to America by Scandinavian immigrants, although it was popularized by the Jewish community as it was a ready to eat food which, when combined with a bagel and cream cheese, was an easy to prepare meal for the Sabbath and went along with Jewish kosher dietary rules.

Here's a guy trying bagels and lox for the first time - Link

Pizza Pie Day
Celebrated every February 9th. Pizza originated centuries ago in Egypt and Greece where they made a round flat bread with oil, herbs, spices, and dates, but the pizza we know today was created and popularized in Italy.

In the 19th century, pizza was sold on the streets of Italy as a peasant food. It was basically made the same way that the Greeks made it, with no tomato sauce and no elaborate toppings, in fact tomatoes were thought of at the time as a decorative, but poisonous fruit. In 1889, Queen Margherita and her husband, Umberto, went on an inspection tour of their Italian kingdom. At that time, Queen Margherita was intrigued by the flat bread that she saw being eaten by people throughout the villages. She tried it and loved it. Upon returning home, Queen Margherita summoned Chef Rafaelle Esposito, a local pizzeria owner, and asked him to create a selection of pizzas for her.

Chef Esposito, who was honored to cook for the well-loved queen, created a special pizza for her consisting  of flat bread, topped with tomatoes (which had, by that time, been discovered to be safe), Mozarella cheese, and fresh basil, the creation of which represented the red, white, and green colors of the Italian flag. Queen Margherita loved Chef Esposito's pizza creation and it became her favorite food, which endeared her to the hearts of the people even more because she was a queen who would eat (and love) peasant food.

Pizza eventually made it's way to America and is one of America's favorite foods. According to About.com, "Americans eat approximately 350 slices of pizza per second, and 36 percent of those pizza slices are pepperoni slices, making pepperoni the number one choice among pizza toppings in the United States."

Read in the Bathtub Day
Celebrated every February 9th. Put all the kids to bed. Turn on a basketball game for the hubster. Lock the bathroom door and fill up the tub with warm, bubbly water. Light a few scented candles. Lay back in the tub with a towel propped behind your head and immerse yourself, not only in the soothing warm water and calming atmosphere, but in a delightful book that will take you away to another place and time. Sounds glorious, doesn't it? Then do it! Just be careful not to fall asleep and give your book a bath as well. :0)

Toothache Day - No thanks, I'll pass.