“The age of your children is a key factor in how quickly you are served in a restaurant. We once had a waiter in Canada who said, 'Could I get you your check?' and we answered, 'How about the menu first?'”
Erma Bombeck (1927-1996)
Today is:
National Banana Bread Day (yum!)
International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day
1603 Andrea Cesalpino died. An Italian philosopher and botanist, he helped establish botany as a separate science. He concentrated on fruits and seeds, and he classified them by logical principles, instead of their supposed medical properties.
1850 Cesar Ritz was born in Niederwald, Switzerland. He managed the Grand Hotel in Monte Carlo and the Grand Hotel in Lucerne, Switzerland. He also worked with Escoffier at the Savoy and Carlton in London. In 1898 he opened the first hotel with his name, The Ritz Hotel in Paris. His name and his hotels became synonymous with the luxury.
1879 Agnes Arber was born. She was a British botanist, who wrote 'Herbals: Their Origin and Evolution' (1912) and 'The Gramineae: A Study of Cereal, Bamboo and Grass.'
1884 Casimir Funk was born. Funk was a Polish-American biochemist who came up with the word 'vitamine' later changed to 'vitamin.'
1896 Leo Hirshfield introduced the Tootsie Roll at his small store in New York City. It was supposedly named after his 5 year old daughter, whose nickname was 'Tootsie.'
1931 Helen Porter Mitchel died. You may not recognize that name, but you may recognize her stage name, Nellie Melba. A world famous operatic soprano born in Australia, Melba Toast and Peach Melba were named for her. Escoffier is thought to have been involved with the creation and/or naming of both dishes.
1944 Leo Hendrik Baekeland was born. He was a chemist who invented Bakelite, the first plastic that did not soften when heated. Those black plastic knobs on stoves were made of bakelite.
1997 Scientists in Scotland announced the first successful cloning of an adult mammal, Dolly, a sheep.
DID YOU KNOW?
CAMPBELL’S SOUP TRIVIA
Campbell Soup Company started out as a canning company in New Jersey in 1869. It was founded by an icebox maker (Abram Anderson) and a fruit merchant (Joseph Campbell). Later, Arthur Dorrance replaced Anderson, and it was a nephew of Dorrance, chemist John, who invented condensed soup in 1897. This gave the company a decided advantage over competitors because shipping costs were much reduced, which enabled it to become one of the first food companies to have national distribution. The soups won a gold medal at the Paris Exposition in 1900, and the medal has been on the label since then.
The label on one of Campbell's original products, canned tomatoes, showed a giant tomato being hauled by two men.
Campbell Soup Company sells more than 100 million cans of pork and beans a year.
The colors of Campbell's Soup labels, red and white, come from the colors of the Cornell University football team.
