Food Drive Helps Feed The Mission

Do you have a little something extra in the cupboard or fridge for someone who could really use it?

Through November, the Union Gospel Mission for men and Anna Ogden Hall for women and children are conducting their annual Harvest Festival food drive.

Canned goods, fresh produce, meat, game, coffee, condiments, spices, cleaning supplies and paper products all are accepted. Items should be delivered to the mission at 1224 E. Trent. For information, call 535-8510.

Asian affair

Next up on the community ethnic food festival front, Highland Park United Methodist Church, 611 S. Garfield, offers its 46th Annual Chicken Teriyaki Dinner on Saturday from noon to 7 p.m.

Japanese-Americans make up the bulk of the church congregation. Along with the dinner, which also includes rice, salad and fortune cookies, there will be a sushi bar and bake sale.

Tickets are $7; reservations are required. Call 747-8109 or 535-2687.

Piglet outlet

Everybody knows that Twinkies are celebrating their 65th birthday this year, while Spaghetti-Os have hit the big 3-0.

But Aplets & Cotlets, the fruit-and-nut candies from Cashmere, Wash., have them both beat. It’s been 75 years since Armen Tertsagian and Mark Balaban founded Liberty Orchards and began producing the chewy confections that reminded them of the childhood treats back in their native Armenia.

Aplets and Cotlets are available in many stores, or by mail order by calling 1-800-888-5696. And if you’re ever in Cashmere, feel free to stop by the kitchen for tours.

Bottoms up

Have you ever wondered why toast always seems to land butter-side down when it falls off your plate?

Me neither, but the European Journal of Physics considered the issue important enough to devote an entire article to in a recent issue.

According to the author, what happens to the toast “boils down to the size of a ratio, and that ratio is the ratio of the size of the toast to the height of the table.”

For the toast to land butter-side up, the article explains, the typical table would have to be 10 feet tall. And people will never grow large enough for that to happen, because they’d keep falling over and bashing in their heads. A tip: If your toast starts to slide, give it a swipe with your hand to increase its horizontal speed and it may glide to the floor without flipping over. (As if you’re really going to eat it after that anyway.)

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