There was a time when my oldest son knew every last detail about the U.S. Presidents. He was 6 years old and knowing this trivia was his passion; their pets, their kids, their hobbies, the shortest in stature, the heaviest, the assassinated, the bachelor.
President’s Day
Number of Farmers: 7
Broccoli Hater: Bush
Left a Horticultural Legacy: Jefferson
Former President who is now a vegan: Clinton
George Washington’s birthday was widely celebrated even when he was in office. It wasn’t until 1885 that it became a federal holiday. His actual birthday is February 22nd however, in 1971, the U.S. Congress established the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. The Act moved several holidays celebrated throughout the year to Mondays creating 3-day weekends for many and calendar mayhem for all.
While Washington’s birthday was one of the days moved to Monday celebrations, it also started being referred to as President’s Day. Miss the apostrophe and what happens? The popular belief that the day was created in order to combine the Washington’s birth with that of President Lincoln – also born in February. While Lincoln’s birthday is recognized in some states, it has largely fallen off as a celebration.
The other compelling reason for this holiday shift is that the well-oiled marketing departments of national retailers rolled up their research sleeves and determined that President’s or Presidents Day actually begs more of us to market than does the memorialization of our First Farmer and President, George Washington. Go figure.
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan added yet another celebration to the calendar by signing Martin Luther King Jr. Day into effect. This day also fell under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act but is celebrated in January. While the King holiday is widely recognized, productivity consultants were not as keen as the 3-day weekend retailers. Most government workers can sleep in on both holidays but many companies have chosen to celebrate one or the other.
I didn’t have a holiday today but with a friend in town, decided to take the day off to enjoy good company and the most glorious of desert hikes. We began our day with breakfast using vast quantities of CSA goodness and honoring the great men who have led this nation.
Not Bush’s Favorite Broccoli Pie
Broccoli Egg Pie
Yields: One 9 or 10 inch pie
Adapted from Seasoned with the Sun
For those of you like me who might have dough “issues”, this simple quiche like dish creates it’s own crust.
Ingredients
- 1 Tbs olive oil (used a harissa flavored oil with success)
- 1 bunch of green onions, minced
- 1 bunch green garlic (2 or 3 stalks), minced
- 1 large bunch of broccoli florets, chopped small
- crushed red pepper
- salt and freshly ground pepper
- 5 eggs
- 4 Tbs flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 cup grated cheese (we used an asiago variation)
Preheat the oven to 450ºF. In a skillet, heat olive oil. Add onion and garlic and stir until softened. Add broccoli florets and continue to stir until bright green. Add crushed red pepper, salt and pepper. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
In a bowl, beat eggs well, adding flour gradually. Continue beating and gradually add milk, butter, and cheese. Stir in broccoli mixture. Turn into a buttered pie pan and bake for 30 minutes. The torte will swell and have a golden crusty top. Serve with fresh squeezed orange juice and sweet potato hash browns!
Honoring Washington – the Sweet Potato Farmer
Do you enjoy 3-day weekends or would you prefer to celebrate on the day the event actually occurred?
Agrigirl's Blog 
Sheree
/ February 18, 2013I suppose it hasn’t mattered much to me, professionally.
In all my years or working (several decades), none of my employers have ever offered days-off for anything other than Christmas Thanksgiving, Independence Day, Labor Day and Memorial Day. Of course, Labor Day and Memorial Day are the only two that are Monday-always holidays. I once had an employer that didn’t give Labor Day off.
As something of a traditionalist, given my druthers I rather have the actual day off, rather than a faked holiday cooked up for retailers to have a reason to lure in shoppers.
I think my reply makes me sound like a bit of a curmudgeon, which I’m not–just stating my reality.
The broccoli egg pie looks delish!
Tammy
/ February 18, 2013Now that I have kids, I just want the days off that they don’t go to school.
Myrna Greenfield
/ February 18, 2013Looks yummy – perhaps I’ll make it on “Patriot’s Day,” a peculiar Boston holiday that happens to concur with the running of the Boston marathon.
Tammy
/ February 18, 2013Ah! Patriot’s day! That’s good. I wonder if there are others unique to each state?
Ms. L-P
/ February 18, 2013Ohhhh, those sweet potato hash browns look delish – as does the pie! 🙂 Sometimes I wish we celebrated holidays on the actual days so that we understood their significance better (like MLK day). But I love a good three-day weekend too!
Tammy
/ February 18, 2013They were very good and simple. I also did them with the Harissa flavored olive oil and it gave them a nice kick.
nrhatch
/ February 18, 2013Looks like a suitable celebrations, Tammy. I don’t care much about whether they float holidays to Monday or not . . . except for the 4th of July. It would be odd to celebrate that on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 5th. 😉
Tammy
/ February 19, 2013I guess that’s true about the 4th!
Paulette
/ February 18, 2013OMG Tammy, my son had this exact interest at that age too! I recall our plane trip to DC, he had his well loved book, and we would point to a picture of a pres, and he would identify him and give us a fact. The people around us were amazed! That summer when I redid his room, I came home from Pottery Barn with a quilt and some pillows with dogs, he politely told me he was hoping for a presidents room. He is long past that phase, but his presidential room is timeless! Thanks for evoking that memory!
Hope you enjoyed your day off – I snuck one in too!
Tammy
/ February 19, 2013I also did my son’s bedroom in red, white and blue back then. It looked inaugural!
Debbie
/ February 18, 2013So glad you got to be off today .. to celebrate with a hike and an friend and a great recipe! When I delivered mail, I remember how we all wished we could just work these kind of holidays, because we’d be really loaded down after the day off. Like you, with kids, I just hoped I always had off what they had off!
Thanks Tammy!
Tammy
/ February 19, 2013My grandmother’s sister was the first female postal carrier in the state of Illinois.
hotlyspiced
/ February 19, 2013I didn’t know that about President’s Day. It seems a shame to make every holiday a Monday holiday rather than celebrate on the actual day. xx
Tammy
/ February 19, 2013It works for getting out of town but doesn’t do much to retain the memory of the day.
shrinkingthecamel
/ February 19, 2013I have to work on both holidays. Although the upside is the light traffic! Glad you were able to take a day off anyway. My wife went with some friends into NYC to Chelsea market and came back with all sorts of goodies: olive oils, cheeses, fresh produce from the farmers market. A good day.
Tammy
/ February 19, 2013Maybe you can share them with your new neighbors. 🙂
cindyricksgers
/ February 19, 2013My day’s off rarely take holidays into account, but I happened to have Monday off anyway. What a great story about your son! Wonderful when they take an interest in something…their young minds are amazing. My Dad worked in the auto factory – so the Monday holiday was big news to him. I don’t care either way, I guess.
Tammy
/ February 19, 2013I love 3 day weekends but worry that we lose the meaning of the celebration.
Tandy
/ February 19, 2013We have a lot of public holidays and I would prefer them to be celebrated the Monday after as sometimes they disrupt the work week by falling in the middle 🙂
Tammy
/ February 19, 2013Me too.
Lisa H
/ February 19, 2013Although I would prefer to celebrate on the actual day, I like the convenience of a three day weekend. It seems a bit unproductive to go to work (or school) on a Monday and then, say, have Tuesday off for holiday.
What a sweet memory of your son….I do remember that phase! I also remember he taught me a few facts I never knew, too!
Tammy
/ February 19, 2013It was a bit of an obsession back then but gone now.
Tesney Ap
/ February 19, 2013I love the new look of your blog, Tammy 🙂
I’m glad you enjoy the celebration. I wish we had this kind of holiday in India, too.
Tammy
/ February 19, 2013Thank you Tes! I appreciate you reading and commenting.
kirsten@FarmFreshFeasts
/ February 19, 2013I was living in Virginia working across the street from the Capitol of the Confederacy when the state senate had to create Martin Luther King/Stonewall Jackson/Robert E. Lee day in order to get the holiday in January enough votes. Ahem. Now I wonder why everyone has to buy a mattress every year in February . . . shouldn’t mattresses last longer? Mine does.
Holidays didn’t pay much nevermind in my professional working life as an RN. Hospitals are open 24/7. Now it’s a chance to sleep in.
Tammy
/ February 19, 2013Wow. You really got the inside scoop on the day. The mattress thing cracks me up.
authorjaneward
/ February 19, 2013I chuckled reading the comment about Boston’s Patriot’s Day. Boston also has Evacuation Day in March, another peculiarity. Working at home, I never get a day off unless I decide to give myself one, but the commuter in my house loves a three-day weekend.
Thanks for another great recipe!
Tammy
/ February 19, 2013Evacuation Day? WWII?
nancy at good food matters
/ February 19, 2013hi Tammy, I can remember, growing up in New York, that we celebrated both Lincoln and Washington’s birthdays in February–and were given school holidays. So, when they changed in 1971, it felt like it was slighting the honors in favor of a 3 day weekend.
now, I can see the benefit of the change.
Tammy
/ February 19, 2013That’s the way I grew up also Nancy but I don’t think my kids had a clue yesterday. I need to work on that.
rickbraveheart
/ February 19, 2013That recipe looks fabulous Tammy and with guest coming into town tomorrow night, this looks like the perfect morning meal. Thanks so much.
yummychunklet
/ February 19, 2013I love broccoli, so this looks delicious to me.
Tammy
/ February 19, 2013It’s so easy too. You can do it with broccoli or whatever you fancy.
goodyearmamakat
/ February 19, 2013Can’t wait to try the recipe! I was the only one that worked yesterday but we had our annual president trivia challenge! My 6 year old didn’t do 1/2 bad!
Tammy
/ February 19, 2013It’s so easy!
Melissa
/ February 19, 2013Your recipe looks wonderful! Broccoli is one of my favorites.
I must admit, I like three day weekends. I think we can still focus on the meaning of the holiday if we care too. For many years, these Monday holidays were an opportunity to earn time-and-a-half, but I tend to take them off now. It seems I find more meaning in just about everything now that I have children.
Tammy
/ February 19, 2013Isn’t that the truth?!
Sally
/ February 20, 2013Bravo, Tammy! it is always entertaining and informative, to read your wonderful blog. Good to remember the reality instead of the marketing.
Yummy breakfast!
Tammy
/ February 23, 2013It’s amazing how much of what we do and celebrate is driven by marketing.
colonialist
/ February 20, 2013Calendar mayhem or not, I like the Monday Holiday idea. In South Africa we have to wait eagerly for the happy combination of holidays with Mondays (or Fridays) to come round and offer us a long weekend.
Tammy
/ February 23, 2013hmmm, I guess that’s pretty random – actually, it’s not. It’s perfectly orderly, isn’t it?
colonialist
/ February 23, 2013An example of when orderly is far less fun!
kateshrewsday
/ February 20, 2013I am in favour of any day off, no matter how tenuous the reason 🙂
Your opening reminded me of another post I have visited recently: a collection of toy presidents owned by my blogger friend Steven. It made me chuckle: http://bramanswanderings.wordpress.com/2013/02/18/presidents-presidents-or-presidents/
Tammy
/ February 23, 2013I loved that link Kate! Thanks you.
Sophie33
/ February 20, 2013What an awesomely looking tasty recipe: so unusual for me too! 🙂 Yum!
Tammy
/ February 23, 2013We like eggs and have many vegetables to use this time of year so it’s a must.
Natalia at Hot, Cheap & Easy
/ February 20, 2013I think all weekends should be three days long…one day to get yourself and your house together, one day to cart the kids around to activities, and one day to actually rest. Love the recipe!!! (And had no idea Clinton became a vegan…)
Tammy
/ February 23, 2013I am with you on the three-day phenomena.
Inger Wilkerson
/ February 21, 2013Poor Bush got quite a bit of flack for not liking broccoli if I recall. Given how I don’t like kale, I guess I’m happy I have no presidential aspirations, though that might be less politically incorrect. Sweet potato hash browns though–what a great idea!
Tammy
/ February 23, 2013They are good and I used our entire bag of them in this dish!
Island Traveler
/ February 25, 2013An inspiring tribute to this special event. You have a very intelligent son whose passionate heart already shines beautifully at a very young age. Very admirable. As for the dish, indeed fit for the presidents. Delicious!
Tammy
/ February 26, 2013I think it’s important to remember the original intent of the day.
croquecamille
/ February 28, 2013Love the crustless quiche! And now that you’ve got me thinking about quiche, and the excess of CSA potatoes I have, I want to make a potato-crust quiche. Maybe for dinner tonight. Thanks!
Tammy
/ March 1, 2013I am also really fond of the crustless quiche. I learned this in college and am still making it.
Crystal
/ March 13, 2013I prefer a 3 day weekend myself. Just as long as one thinks about the real reason, the date is not so important – to me at any rate.
Tammy
/ March 14, 2013You’re right Crystal. We just need to remember to honor the purpose.