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In June 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt embraced a classic American treat by serving hot dogs to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom during their historic visit to the United States. It was the first visit by a British monarch to the country and their first experience with this iconic American food.

After formal ceremonies at the White House, the royal couple traveled to the Roosevelts’ Hyde Park home in New York. There, President Roosevelt hosted an informal picnic at his hilltop retreat, Top Cottage. Much to the press’ delight, and to the horror of his mother, Sara Roosevelt, they served the king and queen hot dogs on the porch.

As the story goes, Queen Elizabeth asked President Roosevelt how one was supposed to eat a hot dog. With humor, he is said to have replied, “Very simple. Push it into your mouth and keep pushing it until it is all gone.”

The moment made headlines. Queen Elizabeth later wrote home: “We had hot dogs for lunch—just as you’d serve to any picnic—followed by a tour of the grounds. It was delightful and informal, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.”

While the menu raised eyebrows, the message was clear: even royalty could enjoy the simple pleasures of American life. That picnic helped humanize the royal family and build goodwill between the United States and Britain just months before the outbreak of World War II.

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From Eggland's Best

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Waffle House in 2001!

Since opening in 1955, it has served more than 900 million waffles.

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New research suggests that sipping coffee regularly might do more than perk you up—it could also support healthier aging in women. In a massive 30-year study involving over 47,000 U.S. women, researchers found that those who drank moderate amounts of caffeinated coffee in midlife were more likely to reach age 70 in good health, with fewer chronic illnesses and better physical and mental function.

The study, which drew from data in the long-running Nurses' Health Study, tracked participants from 1984 to 2016. Scientists looked at who managed to age healthily—defined as staying free from 11 major diseases, avoiding cognitive and mental health issues, and maintaining physical independence. Out of the participants, 3,706 qualified as healthy agers, and most of their daily caffeine came from about three cups of coffee.

Interestingly, only caffeinated coffee showed a positive link to healthy aging. Tea and decaf didn’t help, and cola had a negative effect—each cola drink per day lowered the chances of healthy aging by 20 to 26 percent. In contrast, each cup of coffee improved those odds by 2 to 5 percent, up to five cups a day.

Researchers emphasized that coffee isn’t a magic solution. Its benefits are modest and work best alongside other healthy habits like exercising, eating well, and not smoking.

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Sylvan Goldman, the Oklahoma grocer who in 1937 invented the shopping cart, had a business problem that was keeping him from increasing what we today would call in-store sales.

The women who came to Goldman's grocery stores (and in the thirties, they were mostly women) stopped shopping when their hand-carry baskets were full. I can just imagine Goldman sitting in his office after a long Saturday pondering the problem and thinking “how can I grow my business by making it easier for these women to shop?”

With a bigger basket, his customers could buy more things. Since the basket would be too heavy to lift, Goldman put it on wheels, using a folding chair for the frame. His “prototype” was kind of klunky, but Goldman figured it was good enough for a market test.

Like most entrepreneurs, Goldman discovered that his target market was hugely resistant to change. He studied his customers' objections. Women said the cart reminded them of pushing a baby carriage, and men resisted because pushing a cart didn't feel “manly enough.”

Confident that he was on to something, Goldman hired male and female “ringers” to shop for groceries, pushing carts. He also added a greeter to offer carts to shoppers as they came into the store. It worked. The carts caught on, Goldman patented his invention, and earned his way to becoming of Oklahoma's philanthropic multimillionaires.

Goldman also sought to grow his business by providing better service to his customers. And, like any outstanding entrepreneur, he had a solid exit strategy, ending up licensing his shopping cart patent to a company that improved the product to the telescoping baskets we use today.

Photo: Goldman with one of his carts in 1960

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you put an Apparently Reasonable Amount of dried pasta in boiling water and it turns into Much More Pasta than Anticipated

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From the FB pg Vintage Recipes

Sadly, my own grandparents passed on before I was born, but my grandmother figure was my great-aunt Helen. What I remember most was eating creamy vanilla ice cream with cling peaches on top in little crystal bowls with a star pattern on them, along with saltine crackers. We had this everytime we visited. :) And if Aunt Helen was out of any of those three ingedients she would go upstairs to her bedroom and get $2 or $3 (she kept her money under the bed...what a hoot! having survived the Great Depression I guess she no longer trusted banks.) and sent us down to the corner store. Do you remember a time that many neighborhoods had corner stores within residential areas? Aunt Helen lived in Philadelphia, and it was common for small grocery stores to be located on street corners at the end of a row of houses. When we returned Aunt Helen would scoop at the perfectly soft ice cream with an old bell shaped tin ice cream scoop.

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NO GOOGLING!

Can you guess the price of a box of Pop-tarts in 1965 and 2025?

The first Pop-Tarts came in four flavors: strawberry, blueberry, brown sugar cinnamon, and apple currant, which was soon renamed apple-berry. Originally unfrosted when first introduced in 1964, Kellogg's soon developed a frosting that could withstand the toaster, and the first frosted Pop-Tarts were released in 1967. Sprinkles were added to several flavors in 1968.

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