Iced Coffee

LONDON - The curtsy: A woman or girl lowers her body briefly, bending her knees and holding her skirt with both hands as the right foot is lifted and guided backward and to the left, ever so daintily. The head is bowed slightly in a sign of respect. Always, always she offers a smile. Sheila Bransfield, 58, from the Kent village of Acol, practiced the curtsy in her home this week, just as she was taught in school as a young girl - just in case, her teachers told her - and she ran into only one hitch.

After a monthlong takeover struggle for Quaker Oats Co., PepsiCo Inc. agreed yesterday to acquire the company for about $13.4 billion in stock, executives close to the deal said. The transaction, which gives Pepsi control of Quaker's much-coveted Gatorade sports drink brand, is expected to be announced today, the executives said. The agreement for Quaker, based in Chicago, has been approved by the boards of both companies. It comes after a corporate contest that included the rejection of a first offer from PepsiCo, a preliminary bid from the Coca-Cola Co. that was rescinded after Coke's board blocked the deal, and maneuvers by Danone of France that were eventually abandoned.

CHICAGO -- It's not unusual for Dee McKinsey to have three cans of Coke before she leaves the house each morning for her job as the regional director of boards and volunteerism at the American Cancer Society in Chicago. "There is nothing better than the feel of Coke on the back of your throat in the morning," said McKinsey, a morning soda drinker since the 1970s. These days, more people are enjoying that chilled morning jolt as they increasingly turn to soft drinks instead of coffee, flouting mom's no soda for breakfast rule many had in their youth.

The Ehrlich boys sure love their summer Slurpees. Even the 50-something Ehrlich kid is not averse to indulging on the way home from those hot summer football practices. (Mom does not share our male addiction but usually lets us slide in the interest of family unity.) That the Ehrlich Slurpee bonding experience takes place in Annapolis and not New York City is a good thing, as the Big Apple now deals with the latest assault on individual freedom from Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The successor to the wildly successful Rudy Giuliani is a billionaire Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent.

Editor's note: One family recounts its part in Baltimore's a-rab tradition. "Granddaddy," I say, "Tell me a story about long ago, when things weren't' like they are today." "I recall the summer of nineteen hundred and fifty-five," Granddaddy begins with a smile and twirls the ends of his mustache. "Wait just one minute!" I say, stopping him so I can run and get what we need for a good, long story. "Easy now," Granddaddy warns as I pull the blue leather photo album from the shelf and bring it to him. I slide the big book on his lap and watch as Granddaddy wipes the cover with his sleeve.

The pool water has turned tepid, the grass is brown and crunchy, you've run out of beach books before you've reached the beach. Along about the mid- dle of July in the Baltimore area, it is easy to forget that, way back in May, you couldn't wait for summer to begin. Here, then, are instructions for a cool quintet of treats to quell that mid-season droop and help you remember the low-tech pleasure of something simple, sweet and cold. LEMON ROSEMARY SORBET Makes 8 to 10 servings 1 1/2 cups sugar 1 1/2 cups water 1/2 cup fresh rosemary, finely chopped 1 1/3 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice 3 tablespoons vodka In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar and water.

CHICAGO -- For many of the 255 million Americans with cell phones, the gadgets are indispensable for everything from tracking appointments to taking photographs to telling time. Now, advertisers want their piece of the mobile phone. As consumers increasingly use their handsets to browse the Web, it is no wonder that advertisers see mobile screens as valuable turf. In the United States, cell phones have not yet proved to be the same kind of advertising bonanza as the Internet, mostly because of the wireless industry's more controlled nature and the slower adoption of text messaging and mobile Web services.

Having survived the recent string of 100-degree days, many of us are still reeling from the blast of advice dispensed this week about correct hot-weather behavior. Every day, it seemed, we were subjected to yet more tips from more experts on how to deal with heat, conserve energy and generally conduct ourselves as responsible, if sweltering, citizens. By yesterday, I was saying, "Enough already!" with the advice. It is difficult to forge all these pointers into one cool, coherent lifestyle plan.

Ripe from the Orchard This summer, Giant has introduced "Orchard Perfect" fruit at its 198 stores. The line of summer fruit, which is exclusive to the grocery chain, is vine-ripened and picked when ready to eat. The fruit is then placed by hand into single-layer cartons to prevent bruising and shipped immediately at the ideal temperature. The line includes peaches, nectarines, pluots and plums. You can try out some of those summer fruits with this frittata recipe from the California Tree Fruit Agreement: In a heavy, ovenproof 10-inch fry pan, saute 1 clove of minced garlic and 1 small, thinly sliced onion in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until wilted.

As thousands of Maryland book lovers descended on Mount Vernon Place yesterday, Dexter Durant settled on a shady bench with 6-year-old son Daniel for the main purpose of the Baltimore Book Festival -- reading.Opening a copy of "Bermuda's Sidney the Sailboat" purchased minutes earlier at a used-books tent, the father and son enjoyed a few minutes of their nightly at-home ritual. The elder Durant read while the younger one smiled and turned the pages."By the end of the weekend, we'll have read all of these books," the elder Durant said, showing off the three children's books he had just bought for $3.Similar scenes were repeated throughout the streets adjacent to Baltimore's Washington Monument yesterday as readers found empty patches of grass or sidewalk to sit down and explore their purchases.