Didst thou know that the day of April the twenty-third doth herald Talk Like Shakespeare Day? Let us rejoice by jesting with thy companions. Cast forth thy scornful words and utter phrases like, “The tartness of your face sours ripe grapes.”* or “Your brain is as dry as the remainder biscuit after voyage.”** The noble Bard cared not for the chains of political propriety, as thou mayest perceive.
Ha-ha. It would be hard for ol’ Bill to be able express anything witty in this day and age, but I’m sure he would have found a way. Shakespeare was one of my favorite literature classes in school—if you break his plays down, his writing structure was phenomenal.
Anyway, this month had so many fun holidays in it, it was time to really expand our Zojirushi products. So in the order of when they come up on your calendar, here’s a few that we made to celebrate each one. Enjoy your April!
April 4 is Cordon Bleu Day. This dish isn’t as fancy as it sounds—you get a protein like chicken, pork or veal, pound it thin and wrap it around a slice of ham and cheese. Bread it and pan fry it. That’s it! Comes out pretty tasty and juicy if eaten right out of the pan.
April 6 is Carbonara Day. Italian Carbonara is a simple pasta dish that only contains eggs, a hard cheese, salt, black pepper and BACON. And of course, everything tastes good with bacon.
April 7 is Coffee Cake Day. And here’s an honest question—why do they call it coffee cake if it doesn’t have any coffee in it? I asked my wife this question and nearly got the baking pan thrown at me. How was I supposed to know it’s a cake meant to go good with coffee?
Turns out only us Americans use coffee cake this way. Everywhere else in the world, if you say “coffee cake” it means there’s coffee in it. Which way makes more sense to you, huh?
April 17 is Banana Day. We made a banana smoothie to take to a picnic on Picnic Day (4/23) and to celebrate nature on Earth Day (4/22). See what I did there? You can’t get anything past me, no way.
April 19 is Garlic Day. We made Texas Toast, which is a fun way to make garlic bread to eat with your pasta dish. You’re still using garlic butter, but the difference is the thi-i-i-ck bread that gives it the “everything is bigger in Texas” feels. Yee-haw! My breadmaker is the only way to do this right.
By the way, if you think I have a fancy bread slicing machine to cut it this thick, guess again. It’s all in the wrist, baby.
April 19 is Rice Ball Day. Is it ironic that something so American as Texas Toast falls on the same day as something so Japanese as a rice ball? Never mind…just enjoy both. If you’re wondering what the little green ones are in the front, they’re wrapped in pickled Japanese mustard greens known as takana.
April 30 is Oatmeal Cookie Day. Finally! My favorite kind of cookie. Oatmeal Raisin beats out chocolate chip any day of the week, if you ask me. Oops, I did it again! Raisin Day (4/30) also happens this day and wouldn’t ya know it…
Lo, there dost thou have it, a month’s span of merriment in April’s embrace. Cherish them with honor, and mark well to revel with kin and companions in joyous mirth!
*The Comedy of Errors (Act 5, Scene 4)
**As You Like It (Act 2, Scene7)
Products used in this post: IH Rice Cooker & Warmer NP-HCC10, Micom Toaster Oven ET-ZLC30, Gourmet d’Expert® Electric Skillet EP-RAC50, Gourmet d’Expert® Electric Skillet EP-PBC10, Stainless Tumbler SX-FSE45
Please note that these recipes were not tested by Zojirushi America.
All images by Bert Tanimoto ©2025
Leave a Reply