Hey, My Plate Has Dart Holes in...

Hey, My Plate Has Dart Holes in It

At a party in pre-Columbian Mexico, an Aztec guest would accept a plate of food with the left hand, but a smoking pipe with the right hand.

This was because in the highly militarized Aztec society, the left hand was associated with holding a shield, while the right hand was for holding the darts with which the Aztecs fought.

Alas, a Lactic

The Japanese rarely drink milk, but they believe lactic acid, found in sour milk, is healthful. There are chalky-white Japanese soft drinks packed with the goodness of lactic acid.

D.C. Nuts

John (the Nutty Bavarian) Mautner was just an obscure Florida nut vendor until President Bill Clinton had him roast half a ton of glazed almonds for the inaugural; now Mautner is starting to sell his nuts in stadiums around the country. If you’re curious about the latest in Capitol snack fashions, here’s a home version of his patented recipe:

CINNAMON-GLAZED ALMONDS

1/3 cup butter

2 egg whites, room temperature

Salt

1 cup sugar

3 cups blanched almonds

4 teaspoons cinnamon

Place butter on 15x10 inch jellyroll pan and heat in 325-degree oven until butter melts, about 7 minutes. Meanwhile beat egg whites with dash of salt until frothy, then gradually add sugar, beating to stiff peaks. Gently fold in almonds and cinnamon. Pour almond mixture into jellyroll pan and stir, coating with butter. Bake, stirring every 10 minutes, until almonds are crisp, about 40 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 3 cups.

Make a Cool $1,000

Dreyer’s is holding an ice-cream-flavor-idea contest. Ideas will be judged on creativity and marketability; the inventors of the top 15 flavors will join flavor-maker John Harrison Oct. 8 at Dreyer’s ice cream plant to make a batch, and the winner will get $1,000 (and a year’s supply of ice cream) if the flavor makes it to the market. Write Fantasy Flavor Search, Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, 5929 College Ave., Oakland, Calif. 94618.

I Am Curiously Blue

If you like blue corn chips, Barbara’s Bakery of Petaluma, Calif., is counting on you to like True Blues, a chip made from a South American blue potato. They’re much bluer than blue corn, but the vivid blue-violet alternates with irregular splotches of standard potato-chip tan, giving an odd pattern Barbara’s describes as “eye-catching” and “batik-like.” They taste pretty much like any potato chips, anyway. Available at natural food stores.