1. In 610 AD An  Italian monk invented a twisted strip of dough to reward his children for learning their prayers.  He  folded the dough to resemble arms crossing the chest and called them ‘pretiola’ (“little rewards” in Italian)  Of course, there is no known historical evidence to verify this claim.

2. 12th Century – An illustration of a pretzel first appears in an medieval manuscript Hortus deliciarum compiled by Herrad of Landsberg at the Hohenburg Abbey in Alsace

3. Another source indicate that the pretzel was invented in a monastery in southern France.

4. Still another says it was invented in Germany, an invention of desperate bakers held hostage by local dignitaries. (not sure why in desperation they would twist up dough and bake it!)

5. And still another claim from a 1905 German encyclopedia indicates that the origin of pretzels rose from a ban of heathen baking traditions including the sun cross, at the Synod (a church council) of Estinnes (a municipality in Belgium) in the  year 743. The  pretzel may have emerged as a substitute.

Where ever it came from the soft pretzel is now a pretty ubiquitous snack food found in food establishments everywhere but there are a few chains that specialize in the Pretzel.  To help you find a pretzel shop near you we offer links to maps of five major pretzel shop chains across the country.  Happy Pretzel Day everyone!

Auntie Anne’s Pretzels – The largest of the pretzel shop chains Auntie Anne’s has 992 locations in the United States, primarily in shopping malls across the country.  The chain was started by Anne Beiler  and her husband, Jonas, in 1988. It began in a farmers market in Downingtown Pennsylvania. Anne Beiler was born in 1949 and is from an Amish family in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania  She dropped out of school in the 9th grade.

PretzelMaker/Pretzel Time – PretzelMaker, a west coast chain, was founded by Jeffrey Tripp in 1991 and was initially named Pretzelvania.  The chain was sold and merged with Pretzel Time, an east coast chain.  The now defunct Hot Sams was also merged into the chain as well. There are 219 locations nationwide.

Wetzel Pretzel – Ricky Wetzel fulfilled his destiny when he started the Wetzel Pretzel shops in 1994.  As a kid, his playmates would often exclaim “Hey Wetzel, you pretzel!”.   The franchise was founded by Rick Wetzel and Bill Phelps in Rodondo Beach, Californis. There are now 118 locations nationwide.

Philly Pretzel Factory – The first Philly Pretzel Factory opened its doors in Mayfair, Philadelphia, PA in 1998. They now have 161 location, primarily around the Philadelphia metro area.  They give out free pretzels on Natonal Pretzel Day!

We’re Rolling Pretzel Company – In October 1996 Kevin Krabill, opened the first We’re Rolling Pretzel Company in Alliance, Ohio with help from his family and friends.  There are now 32 locations primarily in Walmarts in Ohio.

Celebrate by purchasing an award winning glazed spiral ham from the “Honey Baked Ham Company” the originator of the spiraled ham and that has over 400 stores nationwide.  Here is a link to help you find a store near you.

http://find.mapmuse.com/brand/honey-baked-ham

Did you know the spiral ham was conceived and made popular nationwide  at  The Honey Baked Ham Company?  In 1957 , Harry J. Hoenselaar opened the first Honey Baked Ham Company  retail store in Michigan. Here is a history of the company in timeline form.

History  and Timeline of the “The Honey Baked Ham Company”

1908

Harry John Hoenselaar  is born on Mar. 24 in Cheboygan, Michigan.

1936

Harry is hired by William Hubernet, the owner of a meat company named  “The Honey Baked Ham Company.

One of Harry’s duties is to properly hand slice ham from the bone for customers.

Harry builds a prototype of a spiral  slicing machine using a tire jack, pie tins, a washing machine motor, and a knife and continues to refine it over the next eight years.

1939

Harry demonstrates an early version of his invention at the 1939 New York World’s Fair in New York City.

1944

Harry files for his first patent and then tried to sell his machines to other meat companies but no one  inteisrested.  (Patent US2470078 A,  Apparatus for slicing ham on the bone filed   Sept 7, 1944)

1957

After William Hubernet dies, his widow, calls Harry and offers to sell the company to Harry for $500.  Harry takes out a mortgage out on his home and purchases “The Honey Baked Ham Company”

In October, Harry opens the first retail store location of the “The Honey Baked Ham Company”.

1966

Jo Ann, one of Harry’s four daughters and  her husband  George Kurz open a second store in Parma, Ohio.

1977

Harry John Hoenselaar  dies on Jul. 7, 1974 in Broward County Florida and is buried at Resurrection Cemetery in Clinton Township, Michigan

1980’s

With  30 stores and with the expiration of the patent for the process to create the “spiraled ham”, the Kurtz’s  expand the company rapidly  in order to create a competitive advantage by establishing “The Honey Baked Ham Company” as a dominant brand.

1990

The company has 170 stores nationwide

2002

The Honey Baked Ham Company acquires Heavenly Ham,  the second largest specialty ham retailer, that has over 200 stores.

2016

The company currently employs over 250 people here year-round and operates over 400 stores that include both company owned stores and franchise

YUM!

http://find.mapmuse.com/interest/scrabble-clubs

If you know of a Scrabble club you wish to add to your map, here is a link to where you can add the club.

http://find.mapmuse.com/re1/userAdd0.php?brandID=SCRABBLE_CLUBS

In addition, to celebrate National Scrabble Day we have provided a brief history with milestones below.

A brief history and timeline of Scrabble

1938:

– Alfred Mosher Butts, an architect, creates a scrabble style game called Criss-Crosswords that was based on an earlier version he called Lexiko.

-Butts used the frequency of letters in the New York Times to determine letter values.

-Butts manufactured a few sets and tried to sell it to large game manufacturers but was unsuccessful

1948:

– James Brunot from Newton, CT, one of the few owners of the Criss-Crosswords game bought the rights from Butts and agreed to give Butts a royalty for every game sold

– Brunot made very slight changes to the game by changing a few letter values and simplifying the rules.

-Brunot changed the name to Scrabble which means to scratch frantically.

1949

– Brunot manufactures 2,400 game sets in a converted school house but lost money on the endeavor.

1952

– Legend has it that Jack Straus, the President of Macy’s, played Scrabble on vacation and placed a large order to be sold in Macy’s.

– Brunot, unable to meet demand, sold the rights to Selchow and Righter, a game manufacturer that previously rejected the game.

 1954

– Selchow and Righter sold nearly 4 million game sets.

1986

– Selchow and Righter was sold to Coleco

– Colco goes bankrupt and sells assets, including Scrabble and Parcheesi to Hasbro.

2004

– Scrabble was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame.

2009

– Words with Friends, a clear rip-off of Scrabble, is released.  For a myriad of legal reasons that is beyond the scope of this posting, Scrabble is not protected from Words with Friends copying the game.

Uno’s Pizzeria – started in 1943 in the River North neighborhood of Chicago. There are now 138 locations in several states across the nation.

Lou Malnati’s – started in 1971 in Lincolnwood Illinois by the son of Rudy Malnati, a pizza chef that worked at Uno’s and thought to be the creator of the deep dish pizza.  There are 36 location primarily in the Chicago area but with a few locations outside of the state of Illinois.   They sell their pizzas through mail order as well.

Nancy’s Pizza – started n 1974 in Harwood Heights, Illinois,  Nancy’s Pizza now has 32 locations all near Chicago except for one location in California and two in Atlanta.

Rosati’s – started in 1964 in Mt Prospect Illinois, Rosati’s now has 125 location through out Illinois, Wisconsin and in several other states.

Giordanos – founded in 1974 by brothers Efren and Joseph Boglio.  There are 36 locations also primarily in the Chicago are but with a few stray locations in Minnesota and Florida. The pizza recipe was supposedly based on a similar Italian recipe for scarciedda, a traditional calzone style dish served at Easter time.   Nancy’s Pizza also claimed that their pizza was based on a family recipe for scarciedda and the pies are very similar.  Giordanos offers mail order pizzas as well.

Gino’s East Pizza – started in 1966 by two taxi drivers, Sam Levine and Fred Bartoli, and a friend, George Loverde in downtown Chicago.  Gino’s has locations around Chicago and Texas.

The name Chicken Cordon Bleu is translated from French to Blue Ribbon Chicken.  In 1578 Henri III of France created the highest order of knighthood and they wore blue ribbons to signify their membership.  Therefore Chicken Cordon Bleu is a chicken prepared in the highest order.  It appeared in the United States in the New York Times cookbook in 1967 and probably originated in Switzerland as a form of a  schnitzel in the 1940s.

The easiest way to celebrate National Cordon Bleu day is to get a Chicken Cordon Blue Sandwich from your local Arby’s.   It consists of a crisply chicken fillet, pit smoked ham, Swiss cheese, mayo and a star cut bun and contains 650 calories.  Here is a map and a link to help you find an Arby’s near you.

Bon Appetite!

All Best Barbecue Restaurant Chains Combined  (Over 1,300)

Click on map to view locations near you.

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #25 – Dickey’s BBQ Pit (514 locations)

America’s larges barbecue chain….meats are smoked at each locations….rugrats eat free on Sundays.

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #24 – City Barbeque (25 locations)

Meats are smoked more than 18 hours…any and all BBQ styles served

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #23 – Moe’s Original Bar B Que (43 locations)

Started by three friends who met at the Univ. of Alabama who began catering slopeside in Colorado

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #22 – Billy Sims BBQ (44 locations)

Started by Football great Billy Sims, Heisman Trophy winner, All-American,

No. 1 NFL draft pick,  and Rookie of the Year in 1980

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #21 – Old Carolina BBQ Company (9 locations)

Meats are smoked for up to 14 hrs using hickory wood…modeled after roadside BBQ shacks found in the Carolinas

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #20 – Red Hot & Blue (22 locations)

Started by Republican political operative and RNC chair Lee Atwater who was from Atlanta

and missed authentic local BBQ

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #19 – Woody’s Bar-B-Q (23 locations)

Specialize in fall off the bone baby back ribs, smoked prime rib,  and Carolina pulled pork.

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #18 – Famous Dave’s (176 locations)

Started by David Anderson, a Ojibwe native American Indian and former Assistant

Secretary of Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior. Dave began his BBQ

career as a backyard BBQ Aficionado.

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #17 – Rib City (27 locations)

small and no-frills menu serving baby back and St. Louis style ribs that are basted with a

special sauce before being sent to the oak smoker.

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #16 – Dinosaur BBQ (10 locations)

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #15 – OakWood Smokehouse & Grill (5 locations)

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #14 – Calhoun’s (8 locations)

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #13 – Smokey Bones (85 locations)

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #12 – Full Moon BBQ (12 locations)

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #11 – Bodacious Bar-B-Q (21 locations)

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #10 – Bono’s Pit Bar-B-Q (20 locations)

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #9 – Rudy’s Country Store & Bar-B-Q (40 locations)

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #8 – Dreamland Bar-B-Que (8 locations)

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #7 – Shane’s Rib Shack (111 locations)

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #6 – Fiorella’s Jack Stack Barbecue (5 locations)

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #5 – Corky’s BBQ (8 locations)

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #4 – 4 Rivers Smokehouse (13 locations)

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #3 – Jim ‘N Nick’s BBQ (27 locations)

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #2 – Gates Bar B-Q (6 locations)

Best Barbecue Restaurant Chain #1 – Sonny’s BBQ (113 locations)

http://find.mapmuse.com/brand/ruby-tuesday

In addition here is a short profile about Ruby Tuesday

Where does the name Ruby Tuesday come from:   It’s named after the te Rolling Stones hit single of the same name.  The name was suggested to founder Sandy Beall by Bob Hope. According to Keith Richards in a 1971 Rolling Stone interview, he wrote the song Ruby Tuesday  in a Los Angeles hotel room in early 1966 about a groupie; Keith Richards also said that it was about Linda Keith, his girlfriend in the mid-1960s.

Year established: 1972

First Store Location: Next door to The University’s Knoxville campus; the building still stands but the restaurant has closed.

Number of Restaurants: 588 (January 2016)

Sales: $1.2 billion (FY ’15)

Creation Story: Founded in 1972 by Sandy Beall and 4  of his fraternity brothers from the University of Tennessee

Geographic Area Served:  Ruby Tuesday is predominately an east of the Mississippi river franchise. They do have restaurants in all 50 states except Alaska and Montana.

Entree with the Most Calories: Colossal Burger (1,697 calories)

Entree with the Least Calories: Plain Grilled Chicken (190 calories)

National Day Food to Order:  Blondie with Ice Cream (1,111 calories), National Blondie Brownie Day, January 22st

Notorious Activity at a Ruby Tuesday:

 Earl Ringo Jr., 40, killed delivery driver Dennis Poyser and manager trainee JoAnna Baysinger at a Ruby Tuesday restaurant in Columbia, Missouri on  July 4, 1998.  Poyser and Baysinger were killed by gunshots at point blank range. Earl Ringo was executed September 10th, 2014 at 12:22 a.m. by lethal injection and pronounced dead at 12:31 a.m.

A car crashed into the side of a Ruby Tuesday restaurant in Spotsylvania, Virginia  and hit several tables on January 13th 2016.  An elderly male customer was taken to the hospital. The cause of the accident was not reported.

http://find.mapmuse.com/interest/christmas-parades

Map of Santa Claus Parades Across America

I came across this article from the Wall Street Journal that interview’s the Dali Lama about the benefits of meditation.

“The Dalai Lama on How Meditation Can Change Your Life”
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/03/26/the-dalai-lama-on-how-meditation-can-change-your-life/

Mediation has become quite mainstream and there are many articles that highlight the scientifically proven benefits of meditation.

To help you on your spiritual journey here is a link to a map of Buddhist Temples and mediation retreat centers across the United States.

http://find.mapmuse.com/interest/buddhist-temples

Happy Birthday your holiness and Namaste.

Fourth of July Firework Displays
http://find.mapmuse.com/interest/fireworks

Fourth of July Parades
http://find.mapmuse.com/interest/fourth-of-july-parades

Where to buy Fireworks
http://find.mapmuse.com/interest/fireworks-for-sale

Happy Birthday America!