motd Friday Sept 30, 2011

[Guest guest]

THANK YOU, MR. BIRDSEYE!

Friday, 30 September 2011

Are you wondering what today's message is

going to be all about? Well, it's just what the

title implies. It's a big THANK

YOU to

Mr. Clarence Birdsye! What? Wait a minute. You

mean to tell me that you don't know who Clarence

Birdsye is?

Well let me fill you in on this amazing man.

Clarence was the chef in his family's

home. He just loved to cook. He also loved

vegetables very, very much.

Clarence was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was a

curious man, loved to tinker with things and he was

also the chef in his family's home. (Hey, he sounds

like my dad!) Oh, he just loved to cook. He also

loved vegetables very, very much.

Only thing was, during those cold New York City

winters, a lot of the vegetables he liked during the

spring and summer weren't available say, in the

middle of December. Clarence missed all of

those warmer weather vegetables and wished he

could serve them to his family year-round.

Well, to get make those year-round vegetables a

reality, Clarence came up with an idea. In 1923, he

spent $7.00, (I guess that was a lot of money back

then), and bought himself an electric fan and some

cakes of ice. And through a process of trial and

error, Clarence eventually came up with a way to

freeze those fresh vegetables under pressure.

(Pretty clever for 1923, dontcha think?) Well, his

process worked!

Now Clarence was able to freeze the vegetables he

and his family loved and could enjoy them 12 months

a year! How cool, uh, I mean...how COLD is

that?! (LOL.) In 1930, Clarence introduced a line

of mass-produced frozen veggies to the public and

they became an instant hit. And oh yeah, what did

he call his new company? (Boy, would this ever be

an easy question on Jeopardy!) BIRDSEYE,

of course.

Several months ago, we discussed canned

vegetables vs. frozen ones.

You may remember that several months ago in one of

my messages, we discussed canned vegetables vs.

frozen ones. Well, when it comes to taste, in my

book I'd say that frozen veggies win the competition

hands down. And by the way, because they've been

flash-frozen, those frozen vegetables retain the

same taste as when they were harvested from the

earth. And oh yeah, freezing them also allows the

vegetables to keep almost all of their vitamins and

nutrients. I

love it!

Okay, fall has arrived and that means winter will be

here before you know it. And thanks to Clarence

Birdseye, even though it might be 10 degrees

outside, you can still go to the store and buy the

vegetables you love from the frozen foods section.

Be creative in your kitchen with those

wondeful good-for-you frozen vegetables.

Right now, I have some individual serving

sizes of Birdseye vegetables in my freezer. All you

have to do is pop them into the microwave and in

just a minute or two, viola! They're

ready to enjoy. You can use your frozen veggies in

an egg beater omelette or they make a great addition

to a chicken stir fry dish. Be creative in your own

kitchen with those wondeful good-for-you frozen

vegetables. Have a little fun in your kitchen!

So one more time, thank

you, Clarence Birdseye. Whoever thought your

$7.00 investment in a fan and a few cakes of ice

would still be paying off us...nearly 100 years

later!

Love,