If you keep up with the blog, you know I’m devoted to Duke’s mayonnaise (although Carole H. suggested I try Sauers, made by the same company, and it’ll do in a pinch). But my friend Michael sent along this trivia about Hellmann’s I thought you might like to read: 

Most people don’t know that back in 1912, Hellmann’s mayonnaise was manufactured in England. In fact, the Titanic was carrying 12,000 jars of the condiment scheduled for delivery in Vera Cruz, Mexico, which was to be the next port of call for the great ship after its stop in New York. This would have been the largest single shipment of mayonnaise ever delivered to Mexico. But as we know, the great ship did not make it to New York. The ship hit an iceberg and sank, and the cargo was forever lost.
The people of Mexico, who were crazy about mayonnaise, and were eagerly awaiting its delivery, were disconsolate at the loss. Their anguish was so great, that they declared a National Day of Mourning, which they still observe to this day.
The National Day of Mourning occurs each year on May 5th and is known, of course, as Sinko de Mayo.

Ha! Did I getcha? Happy Cinco de Mayo, and if you see my friend and coworker James Dowd today, tell him happy birthday.

Now, I’m crazy about Anthony Bourdain–love, love him–but I had to laugh out loud when I read what he had to say about Rachael Ray in this article this on MSNBC:

“She’s got a magazine, a TV empire, all these best-selling books–I’m guessing she’s not hurting for money,” Anthony ranted re Rachael in a portion of the interview republished in the New York Post’s Page Six. “She’s hugely influential, particularly with children. And she’s endorsing Dunkin’ Donuts. It’s like endorsing crack for kids.”

The crotchety cook made it clear he’s not coming from some moral high ground. “I’m not a very ethical guy,” Anthony said. “I don’t have a lot of principles. But somehow that seems to me over the line. Juvenile diabetes has exploded. Half of Americans don’t have necks. And (Rachael’s) up there saying, ‘Eat some [bleeping] Dunkin’ Donuts. You look great in that swimsuit — eat another doughnut!’ That’s evil.”

The reason I laughed is because I’ve read his books. Here’s a Wikipedia excerpt:

Bourdain is an unrepentant smoker and drinker, and a former user of cocaine, heroin, and LSD. In Kitchen Confidential he writes: “We were high all the time, sneaking off to the walk-in [refrigerator] at every opportunity to ‘conceptualize.’ Hardly a decision was made without drugs. Pot, quaaludes, cocaine, LSD, psilocybin mushrooms soaked in honey and used to sweeten tea, Seconal, Tuinal, speed, codeine and, increasingly, heroin, which we’d send a Spanish-speaking busboy over to Alphabet City to get.”

And finding this picture just made my day…

I love my animals–and Fredric’s got a bigger collection than we do, by the way, so we’re both animal lovers here. Like all pet owners, I was concerned when the news broke a few months ago about contaminated wheat gluten. Both the dog food and cat food we buy were OK, but I noticed that the dogs’ favorite treat contained wheat gluten. It wasn’t on the recalled list, but I threw them out anyway. Since then I’ve tried to bake a few treats and haven’t come up with anything they like very much. I’m mainly using peanut butter because I want the treats to be shelf-stable, not something I have to keep in the fridge. (They prefer food at room temperature. And the cat will NOT eat his food cold, so, uh, yeah, I have been known to take the chill off by popping it in the microwave.)

Any ideas, anyone? Something easy.