“O Canada! Our home and native land
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise
The true north, strong and free
From far and wide, O Canada
We stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free
O Canada! We stand on guard for thee
O Canada! We stand on guard for thee.”

And there you have it, hockey fans – the words to Canada’s national anthem, which you’re always too preoccupied to REALLY listen to while waiting for the ref to drop the puck.

Today, July 1, is Canada Day, formerly known as Dominion Day – and a.k.a. Canada’s Birthday.

And I’ll bet you thought, all these years, that the U.S. was the only North American country with a July birthday, right?

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Is there anything quite as lovely as a simple corn muffin?

Its sunny interior perfectly reflects the color of the corn from which it springs.

You know the liquid-yellow hue of a just-shucked ear of corn? It’s not Crayola yellow, nor golden, nor even bright lemon.

No, fresh corn is a pale but rich yellow, the color you might expect an opal to be – if opals came in yellow.

The muffin pictured above isn’t exactly corn-colored; it’s a deeper tone, a combination shucked corn and mahogany. But its slightly less sunny color is the result of a secret ingredient…

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