A Picnic With Eleanor Roosevelt

So it isn't really picnic-ad weather. Oh, I know it. But sandwiches know no season, as they say (no, they don't really). And it's Monday and, well, this is what I've got on the menu for you today. And if it's Miss America's favorite then it's good enough for all of us, right?

Actually her favorite is peanut butter and either jelly or - ugh, Miss America! - peanut butter and mayonnaise on white bread. As for Lou Boudreau, the baseball guy, you can just give him some old hamburger, he doesn't mind. Yeah, that's more like it. And Fibber McGee, the fictional radio star (real name Jim Jordan) - he likes ham but you have to frizzle it by cooking it up in a pan with butter and generally fussing over it. His wife Molly might not mind frizzling sandwich meats in pans but it's not something picnickers generally do. You know, because they don't generally pack frying pans in their baskets. Or little flags to stick in the bread.

But dear old Eleanor will be happy with a simple "hot dog" - as long as it has quotation marks around it, that is. Yes, it's those mysterious, subtext-making quotation marks again. I know I've written about them in ads. But I can't bear thinking about going through the 1000-plus posts here (yep, over 1000!) and finding some for you. Just take my word for it. And while I go puzzle out what Eleanor means by a "hot dog" I'm going to go have more coffee. I take mine without quotations marks, please.

*She and FDR served  hot dogs to the King and Queen of England, when they visited Hyde Park, apparently. FDR's mother was "horrified," apparently. Sounds like fun.

The big version of this 1949 ad is right over here, by the way.

A Soothing Prickly Pear

Prickly pears

The fruit of the Nopal cactus has been used for generations by various indigenous peoples as a healing substance; they are grown in Mexico, and in many places in the United States, from the northwest all the way to New England and up into southern Canada. They are also grown in southern Europe and the Middle East. They are sometimes known as paddle cactus or cactus figs.

The Opuntia ficus-indica, also known as Indian fig or prickly pear, is one of the best known of the Nopal species. The prickly pear has culinary as well as medicinal uses, and was realtively easily avaialble in the United States by the 19th century. In 1889, Hester Martha Hunt recommended them in her Fruits and How to Use Them; she advised the reader to eat them sliced and dusted with powdered sugar. And Thomas Jefferson Murrey's 1884 book on Murrey's Salads and Sauces featured a Prickly-Pear Salad similar to Hunt's recipe - but with added lashings of orange juice and "a wineglassful of brandy."

Prickly pear for sale in Mexico

The Nopal cactus is frequently used in Mexican cuisine in everything from egg dishes to candy, jelly and beverages. In Mexico, too, they are traditionally used for medicinal purposes, especially as an anti-inflammatory. You can enjoy both the delicious taste and health benefits of the Nopal cactus in a wellness drink called Nopalea, available from Trivita, a company that's been concerned with people's physical, emotional and spiritual health since 2000. Opuntia cactus (and Nopalea, of course) contain all kinds of antioxidants that have been proven to help relieve inflammation in the joints and muscles. Nopalea can be drunk daily to help neutralize toxins in the body, reduce inflammation, and help the body in general as a tonic. If you or someone you know suffers from inflammatory problems in joints and muscles, or digestive problems, you might want to give Nopalea a try; you can try it for free ($9.95 shipping) by calling Trivita at 1-800-203-7063.

[Images from Wikimedia Commons.]