Wednesday, December 31, 2025Daily Trivia Questions are below TODAY’S FOOD QUOTE“This is the last night of an Old Year, and I won't carry ill-blood and quarrellings and disturbances into a New One.....I wonder you an't ashamed of yourself, to carry such practices into a New Year.”
Charles Dickens, 'The Chimes'
FOOD HOLIDAYS - TODAY IS:• National Champagne Day (Champagne Quotes)
(Champagne Trivia -- Champagne Articles) • NEW YEAR’S EVE (New Year’s Quotes)
(Auld Lang Syne complete lyrics)
- In New York City's Times Square a large crystal ball descends to mark the end of the old and the beginning of the New Year. Various locations around the U.S. drop other objects, including giant Tangerines, Conch Shells, Peaches, Apples, Opossums, Sardines, Pickles, Acorns, Beavers, Cows, Pretzels, Frogs, Cigars, Bologna, Boats, Shoes, Goats, and various colored balls.
(see NEW YEARS EVE Celebrations around the U.S.) • [Kwanzaa] begins (Dec 26 to Jan 1) A celebration of African American family, community and culture.
TODAY IN FOOD HISTORY1600 The British East India Company was incorporated by royal charter. It was created to compete in the East Indian spice trade. 1833 Obed Hussy of Maryland received a patent for a horse drawn reaper. In competition with inventor Cyrus McCormick, Hussy was finally driven out of business and sold the rights to his reaper to McCormick in 1858. 1841 Alabama becomes the first state to issue dental licenses. (Alabama Food Trivia & Facts) 1853 A New Years Eve dinner party for 21 scientists was held inside a life size model of an Iguanodon dinosaur on the grounds of the Crystal palace in London. Sculpture Benjamin W. Hawkins had teamed up with paleontologist Richard Owen to create more than 2 dozen lifesize models of dinosaurs for a special exhibit. 1879 Thomas Alva Edison made the first public demonstration of his electric light bulb in Menlo Park, New Jersey. 1903 The New York Times builds the Times Tower at Long Acre Square, has the name changed to Times Square and celebrated the event with a New Year's Eve Fireworks show. The beginning of an American tradition at Times Square. 1907 The Times introduced the New Years Eve Ball on their building at Times Square in New York. Descending to mark the end of the old and the beginning of the New Year ever since. The iron and wood ball was 5 feet in diameter and weighed 700 pounds. 1917 Sugar rationing began in Britain as a result of WW I 1928 Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians played 'Auld Lang Syne' as their New Years Eve song for the first time (see also March 7, 1939). 1938 The Harger 'Drunkometer', the first alcohol breath testing device, was introduced in Indiana. 1975 U.S. first class postage rates were raised to 13 cents and post cards to 9 cents. 1977 'Bubbling Brown Sugar' closed at the ANTA Playhouse in NYC after 766 performances. 1987 The restored luxury Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida reopened. 2020 Strong winds piled Tumbleweeds as high as 20-30 feet and blocked state road 240, 20 miles west of Richland, Washington. Crews from the Washington state Department of Transportation worked through the night to clear the roadway, which was closed for about 10 hours. 2020 Most New Year's Eve celebrations around the world have been cancelled or drastically scaled back due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** Novvember 14, 2025 - January 17, 2026
Gingerbread House Competition & Display
Lahaska, Pennsylvania Nov 18, 2025-Jan 4, 2026 National Gingerbread House Competition & Display - Asheville, N. Carolina December 1-31, 2025 55th Annual Christmas in Newport - Newport, Rhode Island December 30-31, 2025 PeepsFest & Peeps Chick Drop - Bethlehem, Pennsylvania • December 31, 2025 - New Year’s Eve Events January 1-31, 2026 - Napa Valley Restaurant Month
Napa Valley, California January 2-4, 2026 - Sarasota Seafood & Music Festival - Sarasota, Florida (SEE ALL FOOD FESTIVALS and OTHER FOOD EVENTS)
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** FOOD TRIVIA QUIZ (new DAILY questions)1) All of the following events took place in the same year. What year is it?
· The first Tupperware Home Party was held.
· Richard and Maurice McDonald open a quick service drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino, California.
· The Supreme Court of Canada lifted a ban on margarine. 2) A pungent Eurasian herb of the mustard family, growing in freshwater ponds & streams; used in salads & as a garnish. 3) European and American varieties of this fish migrate and lay their eggs in the Saragasso Sea. 4) These tropical American plants have basal rosettes of fibrous sword-shaped leaves & flowers in tall spikes. They are mainly used in making alcoholic beverages. 5) This cross between a blackberry & raspberry was developed by and American lawyer in 1881 in Santa Cruz, California. Click Here for Today’s Quiz Answers
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** Read an article about Chef James and the FoodReference.com website published in the Winona Daily News, Minneapolis StarTribune, and numerous other newspapers: Click here for the Article
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** Dedication
This website is dedicated to:
· Gladys Ehler, my mother, who taught me patience and how to make Sauerbraten (it is still my favorite)
· Edward Ehler, my father, who taught me a love of books and history.
· Barbara Saba, my sister, who taught me how to dance.
· Cpl. Thomas E. Saba, my nephew. Died in action on Feb. 7, 2007 in Iraq. He was 30 yrs. young. Chef James
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