On a brisk evening, fifty years ago today, the skies around Cape Canaveral were lit up by a trail of fire coming from a Juno I lifting body (a modified Jupiter-C, which was a modified Redstone MRBM, which was, of course, a modified German V-2). The rocket was boosting aloft Explorer I, the first US satellite successfully launched into orbit. It wasn't much, but it did discover the Van Allen radiation belts and usher in the space age.
So what does this have to do with a food blog? About 16 hours earlier, in the obstetrics ward of Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY, Mrs. Eleanor Gordon Harris was ending a long labor and giving birth to a future cook: moi!
My family bought me many excellent presents, including a Ratatouille calender, a talking Remy, a stuffed Remy and a neat t-shirt. Now where did I leave my teeth . . . . .
