Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Father's Day



Origin of Father's Day... The campaign to celebrate the nation’s fathers did not meet with the same enthusiasm, perhaps because, as one florist explained, “fathers haven’t the same sentimental appeal that mothers have.”


On July 5, 1908, a West Virginia church sponsored the nation’s first event explicitly in honor of fathers, a Sunday sermon in memory of the 362 men who had died in the previous December’s explosions at the Fairmont Coal Company mines in Monongah, but it was a one-time commemoration and not an annual holiday. The next year, a Spokane, Washington woman named Sonora Smart Dodd, one of six children raised by a widower, tried to establish an official equivalent to Mother’s Day for male parents. She went to local churches, the YMCA, shopkeepers and government officials to drum up support for her idea, and she was successful: Washington State celebrated the nation’s first statewide Father’s Day on July 19, 1910.

Slowly, the holiday spread. In 1916, President Wilson honored the day by using telegraph signals to unfurl a flag in Spokane when he pressed a button in Washington, D.C. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge urged state governments to observe Father’s Day. However, many men continued to disdain the day. As one historian writes, they “scoffed at the holiday’s sentimental attempts to domesticate manliness with flowers and gift-giving, or they derided the proliferation of such holidays as a commercial gimmick to sell more products, often paid for by the father himself.”

Father’s Day gives us the opportunity to show dad how much we care. Cook for dad this Father's day. Here is a list of recipes that's easy, affordable and big on flavor.

Getting started... shrimp
This will satisfy the belly... roast and veggies
Refreshing... fruit drink
Finish the meal with... coconut honey bananas


2 comments:

  1. Ooooo, looks delicious, Christine! And this is coming from someone who just ate dinner :-P

    ReplyDelete

Why not leave a comment or a suggestion? Be the first to leave a comment.