I like to think of January 1 as the first page in a new book. A book that I have 365 days to fill with facts, trivia, jokes, new experiences, and random thoughts. Here is some trivia to start your year. Harvard University Library has four books bound in human skin. Iceland tops the world […]

School is out, the temperatures are soaring, and the lines at the ice cream stand are out the door. It’s a summer rite of passage. In the first decades of the twentieth century, street ice cream was usually sold from pushcarts. The quality (both of raw ingredients and end product) left a lot to be […]

What does that jingle evoke in your mind? Chicken noodle soup and a tuna sandwich (my fave as a teenager)? Tomato soup and grilled cheese? Whatever your favorite, you have John T. Dorrance to thank. Dorrance, Pennsylvania-born and an MIT graduate, received his PhD from the University of Göttingen, having specialized in chemistry, mathematics and […]

Oysters Rockefeller was created in 1889 at the New Orleans restaurant Antoine's by Jules Alciatore, son of founder Antoine Alciatore. Jules developed the dish due to a shortage of French escargot (snails), substituting the locally plentiful Gulf Shore oysters. The dish was named Oysters Rockefeller after John D. Rockefeller, the then-wealthiest American, for its extreme […]

Many of the foods we love today (and some we hate) debuted or had their hay-day in the 20's. Marketed as innovative, thrifty, and time-saving, these foods promised to revolutionize family life. Gelatin dates back to the 17th century and was traditionally made by boiling the bones and hooves of large animals for long hours, […]