Friday, February 13th, in food.
Yesterday was Darwin day, a fantastic day for a fantastic man, commemorated in the UK by the printing of special stamps.
Tomorrow is Valentines day, and most people have been posting delicious things on their food blogs, including all varieties of cookies with pink frosting, truffles, and molten chocolate cake (a little bit cliché if you ask me).
I’d rather discuss today, Friday the 13th of February, and give it it’s own moment in the spotlight. I generally like this unlucky and mysterious day, and at one point as a child, I “reclaimed” it as my good luck day. To be fair though, I also claimed that I enjoyed getting shots, and really that was just a tactic to avoid the fact that I really hated them.
Friday the 13th, which occurs infrequently when the calendar aligns with the sun and the stars is filled with superstition, and a large amount of uncertainty as to its origin.
Some say it’s roots date back to a somewhat tragic Norse tale, where Frigga (Friday), a mythological goddess gets banished when the Norse convert to Christianity, and subsequently gathers with 11 other witches and the devil to plot her revenge. You almost feel bad for poor Frigga though, who as a fun lovin’ free spirited goddess was banished and replaced with a strict, reserved Scandinavian culture. At least they brought us cured salmon. The day is also associated with The Last Supper, which was attended by thirteen, and occurred right before Jesus was crucified on Good Friday. Now, sitting down at at a table of thirteen remains a dinner party faux-pas, although, really, it seems as if the real problem is that you have to somehow afford to pay for all of the food to feed this large number of people. I’d say that your budget would be the one that is unlucky.
Perhaps most importantly, today is National Tortellini Day. Isn’t it fantastic that Tortellini gets it’s own holiday? Maybe some superstitious folks will make their tortellini with squid ink and serve it to a party of thirteen.
