It's Not About the Hole: Bagel News

Every person who has ever thought about the word DIET knows that a bagel and a smear are not particularly non-fattening, especially if the smear is more like a few tablespoons of Philly cream cheese.

Over the years, I've seen several smart souls cut out the middle, bready, part of their bagels in order to cut out some of the bulk and cut down on the calories. I have other friends who insist on reduced calorie cream cheese, for an extra edge.

Imagine my surprise when last week's trip to the supermarket revealed a new product called Bagel Thins by none other than Thomas', the same people we rely on for English muffins. And therein lies the rub-- although a line extension can be a brilliant idea, Thomas's is not the firm you'd expect to make a yummy bagel, let alone a yummy 110 calorie bagel.

Indeed, the extra skinny bagel comes in two parts, one of which is even thinner than the other. They taste somewhat like cardboard and aren't made that much better with a healthy (or non-healthy as the case may be) dollop of cream cheese.

There are assorted flavors available; I tested the 'everything' bagel; six in a bag, $4.49. There are coupons online for discounts.

Card Me

I discovered this product in the heart of the California Wine Country...it combines the ingenuity of a doorknob hanger (such as DO NOT DISTURB) with a gift card for a wine bottle and therefore fits over the neck of the bottle.

Bottlenecks, a registered trade name, come with or without pre-printed messages. The one I bought says ' congratulations!' on the front and opens to the slogan 'may this bottle of wine add to your celebration'. You can choose from a variety of pre-printed messages or buy a blank tag to write your own.

www.bottleneckwinecards.com

If you have the time, energy and skills, you can probably make your own version of such a tag. This would work on the small scale for a few bottles, but in the long run, you'll go insane for the intricate cutting and clipping and will be happy to buy these cards by the dozen.

Shopping Detective Runs Wild

I'm not sure if it's because my leg injury has me in bed and looking for work on the computer, or because I am researching crazy Japanese inventions for our Born to Shop Asia trip -- whatever the reason, I've suddenly realized that I have been stock-piling a small arsenal of great (read: weird) products, many of which are perfect for summer.

I will do each as a separate listing so I can input the fotos-- even though the format of this blog will reverse this explanatory paragraph to the end of the parade.

If you don't know I'm 'laid-up' due to a boo-boo, I will explain what happened and lead into how I could have prevented the problem with a new product. I am healing a broken metatarsal, pinched nerve and strained muscle all upset when i took a tumble on hardwood floors. I was wearing felt slippers, moved from carpet to floor and went kabam.

The most interesting thing about the fall is that one of my two doggies ran into the bed and hid under the covers; the other sat down alongside me and sat guard while I was down. So much for dog sociology. None of this would have happened if I had been wearing Slipper Genie, microfiber cleaning slippers.

I found a pair of these slippers in my local grocery store in the cleaning supplies department. (Could I make this up?) They cost $5.99, are labeled in three languages (English, French & Spanish) and come in one size, a range for women's size 6-9. I wont even go into the chauvinism of the fact that the product is specifically marked for women's feet.

The idea of the product is simple, while you're running around the house, you might as well be cleaning the floors with these hot green, wormy, microfiber treads on the soles of the slippers. It's silly...but brilliant. Oh yes, in the small print on the back it says 'exercise care'... maybe I couldnt have prevented my fall after all.

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