When it comes to eating with my hands, I’m all for it.  However, sometimes it can get very messy, especially with sauce-laden foods such as buffalo wings and ribs.  And to add to the mess, crumpled, used napkins end up all over the place.  Well, the inconvenience and mess of eating messy finger foods has met their match.  Trongs was invented from a case of need, and I think the inventors have something here.  I think the best part is that it really cuts down on paper waste and that they are re-usable.  $4.99 for six pairs.

Visit the Trong website here.

I wouldn’t recommend placing this Swiss Army Knife in your pocket, unless you like squishy things in your pants.  Although it might not save you in any emergency or get you out of a jam, you can count on it’s sweet and nutty flavor to hold you over until helps comes, or until that bear finishes mauling you.  Made of Swiss chocolate and hazelnut praline filling.

Swiss Knife Shop via Gizmodo

Here’s an interesting way to market a product.  The Food For Life Baking Company has two product lines named after scriptures from the Bible, Ezekiel 4:9 and Genesis 1:29.  Aside from providing a healthy dose of fiber and regularity, does it also forgive my sins after I eat a slice of Ezekiel 4:9 bread?

The Ezekiel 4:9 product line consists of bread, cereal, pasta, tortillas, and English muffins.  The scripture itself says: “Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself.”  Sticking to the scripture, products are made from the 6 ingredients in the aforementioned verse.

The second product line is marketed under Genesis 1:29.  It reads, “Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.”  Thus the products of bread and muffins are made up of exotic seeds and grains from all over the world.

Mmmm…Biblical bread…

via The Consumerist

Since when did crystal meth turn into a trick or treat item?  This story here is a good reason for parents to check the contents of their children’s trick or treat bags after a night of sugar stockpiling.  A couple in Ramsey, Minnesota discovered crystal meth and $85 of cash in their 7 year-old son’s candy bag after a night of trick or treating.

Here is what the father said:

“He said some bigger kid ran by him and asked if he wanted some candy,” Lars Brosdahl said. “He said ‘Sure,’ and the kid dropped it into his bag.”

The scary thing is that crystal meth looks like rock candy.  Not that I knew before hand, it was mentioned in the article.

Source

Out of the 35 largest food retailers in America, the top 10 were selected by a panel of experts. The criteria was based on produce freshness, taste of prepared foods, healthiness of packaged goods, and availability of supplemental nutritional information. The list comes from Health magazine.

1. Whole Foods
2. Safeway
3. Harris Teeter
4. Trader Joe’s
5. Hannaford
6. Albertsons
7. Food Lion
8. Publix Super Markets
9. Pathmark
10. SuperTarget

Today is National Men Make Make Dinner Day

That’s right, it’s November 6, 2008.  So push your wife/girlfriend/blowup doll aside and man up by providing your family with much needed sustenance.

Here are the rules as listed from Menmakedinnerday.com.

Rule #1: National men make dinner day is celebrated on the first Thursday of each November.

Rule #2: Man agrees to participate in national men make dinner day. Bonus points if he does so without seeking promise of night out with boys in return.

Rule #3: Man, completely un-aided, chooses a ‘published’ recipe from any source, or Internet. Getting the recipe from ‘her’ cookbooks is allowed, but man gets bonus points if the recipe isn’t already somewhere in the house.

Rule #4: Main meal must include minimum of 4 ingredients and require at least one cooking utensil other than a fork

Rule #5: Man goes shopping for ‘all’ necessary ingredients. Bonus points if he takes inventory of cupboards and fridge first, before shopping trip. So you don’t end up with two 64 ounce jars of pickled pimentos.

Rule #6: Man organizes all necessary ingredients in order of importance on kitchen counter. At this point, he may need to make a phone call or shout out the word ‘honey’! Followed by a question. This is not allowed.

Rule #7: Man may, if desired, turn on radio or his favourite CD. Man agrees not to be within 30 feet of TV remote during cooking process. At this point, spouse and any other family members should not be anywhere near kitchen. (unless smoke detector goes off!)

Rule #8: Following recipe carefully, man starts to cook dinner! Apron is optional, tool belt is not allowed. (bonus points if recipe includes one of the following : capers, saffron, or the word ’scallopini’).

Rule #9: Man must use the ‘clean as he goes along’ rule! Following each completed use of utensils, cookware, half-used jars of anything, spice bottles, etc., everything is rinsed, cleaned and put away

Rule #10: Man sets table, candles are lit, beverages are poured, no ketchup bottles, sour cream containers, or big boxes of salt on table.

Rule #11: Spouse and/or family members are served! This is an opportune time for a photo. Man is ‘allowed’ to gloat no more than three times during the meal. Family is encouraged to congratulate man on job well done. Family dog is not allowed to be secretly fed man’s cooking.

Rule #12: After meal, table is cleared by man, dishwasher is loaded. Man returns to table for stimulating after-dinner conversation. At this point, man is told how much his meal was appreciated. He, in turn, describes the joys and challenges of the experience. He is given a hug, and his TV remote is returned to him.

Well,  I just got back from casting my vote.  I didn’t anticipate there being a line to vote in my small town, especially at six in the morning.  If you’ve already registered, go vote.

Now onto some rather, unappetizing news.

Bruce Van Dyne, an IBM executive in North Carolina, dicovered a little something extra in his hot dog buns when he opened the package.  Let’s just say it had ears and a tail.

I wonder if this is an isolated incident, as Bruce said, “mice don’t travel in isolation. They travel with other mice and if one got in, others could’ve.”

Well, even if he did eat the mouse, it can’t be as bad as eating a hot dog…

~ Kin

Even though I don’t count calories when I eat, I unnderstand that there are others out there who are concerned with their daily caloric intake. When popular snack foods started to come out in 100 hundred calorie snack pack alternatives, I thought that it was a smart move. It sent the message that you don’t have to give up your snacks if you’re watching your weight, just eat in moderation.

Last week, I noticed my coworker had a small can of Coca-Cola in his hands. It was the 100 calorie can, which seemed like something I would find at Frodo Baggin’s house.  That alone was enough to spur my curiosity to do some quick web digging on 100 calorie snack packs.  It seems that Nabisco has a small empire of 100 calorie snack pack products.  There were so many snacks shown that I didn’t even bother to count.  With such a large selection of products, there must be a demand for them.  Now the ever-popular Twinkie has jumped on the bandwagon.  The new 100 calorie pack is marketed as Twinkie Bites.  I have yet to see the packaging, but from the article, the new product comes in the form of 3 miniature round versions per package.

Source

~ Kin

European researchers have found a way to increase the amount antioxidents in tomatoes. By splicing genes from the Snapdragon flower into the tomato, not only do the anthocyanin levels incease threefold, but also turn the tomato purple. The generically modified tomatoes are said to contain antioxident levels that are comporable to bluberries and blackberries.

Source

~ Kin