Today is Sunday, October 8 and there are only 58 days until National Sachertorte Day, so drag out your favorite recipes and get ready to celebrate.  Today we remember the birthdays of Eddie Rickenbacker, Spark Matsunaga and Sigourney Weaver.  On this day in 1604 the supernova called “Kepler’s nova” was first sighted, in 1822 the first Hawaiian constitution was proclaimed and in 1933 Coit Tower was dedicated in San Francisco, a monument to firefighters.  In Western Samoa today is White Sunday and in the US it is National Fluffernutter Day and National Pierogi Day.  Tomorrow is Columbus Day.

Let me take a few minutes to discuss Sachertorte.  It is a specific type of chocolate cake, or torte, invented by Austrian Franz Sacher in 1832.  It is one of the most famous Viennese culinary specialties.  In that year, Prince Wenzel von Metternich charged his personal chef with creating a special dessert for several important guests.  The head chef, having taken ill, let the task fall to his sixteen-year-old apprentice, Franz Sacher, then in his second year of training in Metternich's kitchen.  The Prince is reported to have declared, "Let there be no shame on me tonight!"  While the torte created by Sacher on this occasion is said to have delighted Metternich's guests, the dessert received no immediate further attention.  Sacher completed his training as a chef and afterward spent time in Bratislava and Budapest, ultimately settling in his hometown of Vienna, where he opened a specialty delicatessen and wine shop.

Sacher's eldest son Eduard carried on his father's culinary legacy, completing his own training in Vienna with the Royal and Imperial Pastry Chef at the Demel bakery during which time he perfected his father's recipe and developed the torte into its current form.  The cake was first served at the Demel and later at the Hotel Sacher, established by Eduard in 1876. Since then, the cake remains among the most famous of Vienna's culinary specialties.  Okay, enough of that.

Now let’s move on to the holiday we will celebrate tomorrow – Columbus Day.  First here is a man who took off for the East Indies, looking to bring back spices and riches.  He did not ask for directions and simply assumed he knew where he was going.  He ended up not landing in Japan, but on an island in the Bahamas archipelago that he named San Salvador.  Now imagine modern man going out to do something, saying he knew what he was doing and where he was going.  A couple hours later he comes home with a new set of wrenches, a hose and several 10 foot lengths of decorative molding.  His wife (the modern equivalent of Queen Isabella) says, “That’s nice, but where is the milk and cold cuts that I sent you out for?”

What makes this even better is that Columbus made two more trips to the New World and did not really bring back anything worthwhile.  As a result, after the third expedition, he was thrown into jail.  The modern man would not be thrown in jail, but would probably wish he was rather than have to listen to his wife after failing two more times.  Columbus is the European explorer credited with establishing and documenting routes to the Americas, though he was preceded by the Viking Expedition led by Leif Erickson in the 11^th century.  So one has to wonder why he is given credit for discovering America.  I think it would be interesting if the parades they hold in his honor ended up at a different location than the reviewing stands set up for the occasion.

I think I have gone into this holiday enough times in the past that we can give it a rest for now.  Just remember, guys, if you keep going out, getting lost and then not bringing home what you went out for, you will not get a holiday named for you.  You will just get into more trouble.

Moving on, I want to say that I am tired of summer.  It is October!  We should not be having days in the 80’s.  I am glad to have the chance to still go down the shore and sit on the beach, but I am ready to have some cooler weather.  Because the weather was still good, we recently went down to enjoy the waves from the hurricane that was passing by and had the opportunity to see an interesting thing.  It started with a couple who carried a turtle down to the water and kept trying to get it back into the ocean.  They placed it on the beach and watched a wave come in and push it up on the sand.  The turtle did not go into the water, so they tried again, this time taking it out and putting it in the water.  A wave came along and the turtle once again ended up on the beach.

After several more attempts it finally occurred to them that perhaps the turtle was dead, since it did not move or make any attempt to get into the water.  Realizing this, they left it on the beach and walked away.  As the afternoon went on, people walking the beach would come along, see the turtle lying there and stop to observe it.  After several minutes of looking at an inert turtle they figured out that it was either dead or sleeping.  Once or twice I saw someone try to get it to move by poking it with a stick.  There were a number of disappointed people that afternoon, all because a turtle would not move.

One more quick observation.  I have been looking at myself critically lately and realize I need to take better care of myself.  With that in mind, I thought it might be good to try growing some of my own food.  The plan has hit a snag because I cannot find bacon seeds.  Oh well, at least I tried.

This week our fact tells us that when we eat too much, our hearing becomes less sharp.  So I am not getting old, I am just getting full.