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Planning Ahead: National Food Days in September

September is my favorite month.

It’s the start of football season, sweater weather, and the midwest is absolutely gorgeous as the leaves start to change. What we can also look forward to is another full month of National Food Days.

We did the same in July and August and today happens to be #NationalBurgerDay. So plan accordingly.

Au Cheval

(Maybe stop by Au Cheval in Chicago, now that you’ve seen this photo.)

Usually people are caught off guard or feel like they may have   missed out because they didn’t know about the social media driven holidays. Here’s your chance to get ahead of the curve and get the calendar ready for some awesome food and drink experiences.

Without further ado… 

September 1st

National Gyros Day

Gyros Day

Whether you pronounce it “yee-roh” or go full on Bridgeport and say “Jye-roh”, I take my gyros very seriously. It’s one of my favorite combos of rotisserie meat and sauce and goes perfectly on pita.

Recommendation: You could take a fun trip to Greektown, but here’s a nice list of other Chicago favorites. If you can get it homemade though…*Homer Simpson drooling noises*

September 7th

National Beer Lovers Day

Beer Flights

Why yes, yes that is Labor Day. So you really don’t have an excuse to find a nice patio or crack a few on your back porch, and enjoy your favorite brews.

Recommendation: Find a nearby brewpub/brewery (like Revolution) or bar that specializes in beer options (like The Beer Market), and order an excellent beer flight to your liking. 

September 10th

National Hot Dog Day

Chicago Dog

Before you ask, there was already a #NationalHotDogDay back in July…but who’s complaining about having to eat hot dogs again? Personally, I’m a polish sausage guy but that IS my birthday. So I’m down.

Recommendation: Go to Gene and Jude’s, trust me. And bring your own ketchup to apply in the car…because you’ll be shunned if you ask about it. 

September 12th

National Chocolate Milkshake Day

Hard to find a good milkshake for less than $5 today, amirite…?

Recommendation: Oberweis. Go inside too and get one of those big fish bowl sized glasses too with a cookie straw. 

September 23rd

National Pancake Day

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The thinner the pancake, the better…in my world. I’m Swedish, so you can’t blame me.

Recommendation: Walker Bros Original Pancake House. If you also like thin pancakes, get the 49er flapjacks. The Apple Pancake is like the “deep dish pizza” of pancakes. 

Foodimentary.com has the full September schedule. Have some more recommendations for those wishing to partake in these holidays? Let me know on Facebook or Twitter. 

1 Comment Posted on history, sports

President Obama’s Birthday and All His Sportiness

The 44th President of the United States LOVES his sports. He is an unapologetic Chicago White Sox fan. He fills out March Madness brackets for both Men and Women’s tournaments on SportsCenter each year. He also has no problem mixing it up on the White House basketball court.

Air Obama

So on his 54th birthday, lets put the partisan blah blah blah on the back-burner and appreciate something we all enjoy…Sports.

March Madness

Presidential Bracket

I look forward to the President’s annual segment on ESPN where he joins the rest of the nation in the Madness. Since he was elected, President Obama is interviewed by college basketball reporter Andy Katz from the White House to talk out each of his picks. Last year he took regular season undefeated favorite Kentucky to win it all (like many of you did) over Nova, and was obviously incorrect as Duke beat Wisconsin in the National Championship.

President Obama finished in ESPN’s 72.9 percentile in 2014 and was most successful in 2011 with a bracket in the 87.4%. Both years, UConn won the National Championship and he didn’t pick them. The President did choose a National Champion for his first year in office, North Carolina in 2009.

ESPN isn’t the only network who gets to share air-time with the Commander in Chief as one of CBS’s best color analysts, Clark Kellogg, took him on in a game of HORSE…err POTUS.

I don’t even want to know what would’ve happen if the President got skunked.

He Loves His Chicago Teams

President Chicago Teams

Despite referring to his White Sox’s home stadium as “Kaminskey Field” early in his first term, the President has never wavered as a Chicago die hard. When the Bulls re-signed All-Star Jimmy Butler to a longterm deal, he was on it…

(Props to my old teammate Matt Rodewald for getting that tweet picked up)

Before the Blackhawks hit the ice for Game 6, President Obama was leading the chants from Twitter…

And wore his lucky hockey sweater while doing so.

While touring Cooperstown a year ago, the President asked to try on the White Sox World Series ring.

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…and then donated the Sox jacket he wore to throw out the first pitch at the 2009 All-Star Game to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The President even hosted a White House visit for the Super Bowl winning 1985 Bears team, because they never got the chance to do so before. 

President and Ditka

(Ironic that it was Mike Ditka handing the President his jersey since he also wanted to run against him for a Senate seat in 2004)

The ’85 Bears and the Blackhawks may be the only Chicago teams that the President has hosted at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but he always seems to get a quick shoutout in for his favorite squads when he hosts other teams.

White House Host with the Most

We all remember the drama surrounding Red Sox DH David Ortiz’s selfie with the President and the handful of athletes who make a thing out of not going to visit the White House, despite it being a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (looking at you, Tim Thomas)…

But damn, do those photo ops turn out great.

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