Bring Me Another Shirley, Barkeep--It’s an Anniversary

This year is the 60th anniversary of Shirley Temple (who’s still incredibly popular--witness Fox’s colorized reissue of her films on video) as America’s most beloved movie moppet. She made patent leather tap shoes de rigueur for little girls in the ‘30s, and the Shirley Temple Cocktail, a non-alcoholic drink created in her name, was the Virgin Bloody Mary of its day.

THE SHIRLEY TEMPLE COCKTAIL 8 ounces club soda or 7-Up 1 ounce grenadine syrup 1 slice orange 1 red maraschino cherry

Mix soda and grenadine syrup. Serve in tall glass with straw, garnished with orange and maraschino (and, unless your heart is made of stone, a little paper parasol as well).

Liqueured Up

New, gracefully named cocktails which reconfirm one’s troubled faith in the college generation: Nazis from Hell (based on two liqueurs, herbal Jaegermeister and mint-flavored Rumple Minze); Liquid Cocaine (ditto plus 151-proof rum).

Warning: Contains Book

“The Road to Wellville,” T. Coraghessan Boyle’s hilarious novel about 19th Century health-food fanatics, is now available in paperback. You can’t miss it--the book comes in a box just like a cereal package, down to the nutritional information panel: “Serving size: 10 oz (283.50 g; about 1 novel). Servings per book: 1.” Listed ingredients include dried wit, partially amalgamated Faulkner, sex (“a flavoring ingredient”) and certified historical nuts.

Lactosecream

Slurpy news for the lactose-intolerant: Edy’s Grand Ice Cream has just introduced five flavors of ice cream containing less than 1 gram of lactose per serving. The reduced-lactose flavors are vanilla, almond praline, rocky road and two “‘n” flavors (cookies ‘n cream and strawberries ‘n cream). Available at Safeway markets.

The Psyllium Season

LiFiber is a drinkable dietary supplement with eight times the soluble fiber of oat bran by weight (derived from psyllium, the same source as laxatives such as Metamucil) plus a chicory root derivative called fructo oligo saccharide, used as food by the beneficial bacteria in the colon. You can order by calling (800) 748-8288. (Incidentally, before its fibrous qualities were discovered and people started calling it by its relatively dignified present name, psyllium was known as fleawort.)

We’re Number Three!

In terms of total pasta consumed, the U.S is now the No. 1 pasta-eating nation on earth. However, each of us only eats an average of 20 pounds a year, so on a per capita basis we’re only No. 3. And we’ve got a long way to go before we catch up with Italy, where people eat about 60 pounds a year, or even Venezuela’s 28-pound level.