My first taste of a poor boy (or po' boy as my father-in-law used to say in his Kentucky drawl) was in the second year of my marriage. As we sat down to celebrate my birthday, we made those wonderful sandwiches (or semmiches as dear old FIN used to say).

I had no idea that fried oysters could taste so good on a hoagie with mayo and lettuce.

I still eat them today after 42 years of marriage. Even though oysters are now a lot less affordable, at least once a year we manage to make some.

My dad (who owned a Melbourne, Australia city sandwich bar in the 1950s and '60s) told me that the Coca-Cola company would offer to paint your business name or specialty for free in return for wall or window space to also paint or stencil or adhere a metal Coke signage.

Which might explain the proliferation of Coke signs all over the world. A very clever marketing strategy where the cost of sign writing a shop's name was far outweighed by the free advertising for decades.

I still have an embossed metal Coke sign, with the DRINK in the typical iconic font, that was on Dad's shop door when he bought it. The shop - and probably sign - dating from the 1930s.

Why and when.

I'd be eating oysters everyday at those prices! The oysters are making a comeback here on the Chesapeake Bay. I'm not sure if it was due to disease or over-fishing ... maybe both but it wasn't too far in the past when you had a hard time finding a Chesapeake Bay oyster. Every year they have the Urbanna Oyster Festival and I remember once not too long ago when the oysters were brought in from Louisiana!

Oysters at 15 cents a dozen is totally unheard of in my lifetime. I was just charged $27.95 for a plate of fried oysters at a big chain seafood restaurant, and there were only 8 oysters on the plate, plus a pile of French fries that would choke a horse. When did oysters become so very expensive??