Happy Birthday J.R.R.! 5 fun Hobbity tidbits

Today is John Ronald Reuel Tolkien's bday. Born in South Africa in 1892, he wrote the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Silmarillion.
This being his birthday, a lot of people will be doing a toast to him at 9 p.m. with a declaration of "The Professor".
I may as well. However, I did also want to share some quite interesting and hilarious things I found on the internet while researching this toast (I was inspired by the attached New Year image which was posted to my Facebook page this a.m.).
1. Did you know that the elvish translation of "cheers" is Almien (literally "to good fortune")?
2. J.R.R. never described what Sauron looked like. Yet he spent paragraphs talking about Hobbit feet. He did do a watercolor sketch of the baddie, and made many references to his eye.

Eye of Sauron, Wikipedia, Peter Jackson LOTR films

3. Denny's had a Hobbit-inspired menu. Hopefully Buzzfeed doesn't take down this awesome article any time soon, which includes reviews of the Build your own Hobbit slam ("would a Hobbit shred potatoes instead of dicing them? Hopefully the movie will answer this pressing question.") and, I kid you not, Radagast’s Red Velvet Pancake Puppies.
4. Again, hoping the owner of this page doesn't take this post down; what if the dwarves never went to get Bilbo? You would get The Hobbit Improved - "It is my belief that The Hobbit, while excellent, would have been vastly improved had the bit with the dwarves been edited out and Tolkien had stuck to 200 pages of Bilbo making cozy-ass meals and going to bed early." And includes:

Chapter Seven: Is It Raining?
Was it raining? It might have been. There was a gentle thud against the roof, but Bilbo couldn’t be sure. He turned over in bed.
5. If Denny's didn't satisfy your taste buds, mayhaps the Middle Earth Foodie will. Find a running recipe list for your Ring's marathon here.