It’s a little bit country…it’s a little bit rock n roll. Okay, not really. It’s a little bit 1970s beachside motel redecorated to look like the 1950s inside, its a little art deco diner.  The Homer Laughlin China Company has announced the latest Fiesta Ware color, which will make its debut at retailers and on the web this summer.

In the last few years, Fiesta is famous for making colors that harken back to some of the originals but are just a teeny tiny shade off (Note: Yellow), or even such a small variation on a recently discontinued color that one ponders why they went in the same direction.  When I first saw the announcement, I wondered how close it would be to Rose. It remains to be seen once I can hold and touch it in a store, but the color appears to have a different undertone – just enough to probably “fight” if you have a cupboard full of Rose but maybe to contrast better with the the earthy tones? On my monitor, the color looks less like a lawn flamingo and a slight shade different and more coral from the 50s pink that starred in the pink and aqua color combo.

As soon as I get my hands on it, I’ll return with a full report.

Inside the adorable 1920s part of the kitchen, the only way to go is to have little caddys and wire shelves and spice racks with the little rubber feet on them. That is so shabby chic/art deco/midcentury-like with just the right hint of Rubbermaid, but what is not accounted for is the gap in the side of the cupboard. Bombs away.

Oh, and forget a wall spice rack, which would be Concussion 101. My kitchen is devoid of wall space with the dormer ceiling. Then there are the drawers – not deep enough to label all the spices on top, but I can lean them. There is a chrome spice rack I saw recently, which I loved. But yikes a 5 lb shipping weight. That sounds more like a car part to me.

I’ll let you know what I decide. For now, its the survival of the fittest – the spices that are in heavy rotation such that they are stationed next to the stove win. Anything that is in the back of the dark cupboard and are starting to clump are voted off the island. Maybe after all of this, I won’t need a spice rack, but just a small little drink coaster to display “THE ONE.”

This post brought to you by FRESCHETTA®. All opinions are 100% mine.

One of my readers has a chance to win a free Freschetta Simply…Inspired Pizza, plus a snifty (snazzy-nifty) new bamboo cutting board with the accessories to lay out a great appetizer display. Read on for details on how to win!

When I was in grade school, my parents moved to a two cow and one horse town (the horse actually got loose and ran around on the playground once) where the highlight of the week was eating a frozen pizza from the one grocery store and then going out for an ice cream. No, there wasn’t a pizza place, so the ice cream shop constituted a big spending night out. The pie was inevitably backed in cardboard and shrink wrapped with a cactus on the label. (What did pepperoni pizza have to do with some abandoned Old West ghost town? After all, it wasn’t as if they had baked beans and rattlesnake or bison as toppings.)

“Mom, let me open it.” Yes, the pie was so close, but yet so far under the clear shrink plastic.

“Here’s the kitchen scissors.”

“I can get my finger nail under the edge. What’s wrong with this?”

Two seconds later, a vacuum-pack pressure seal burst and mozzarella showered the floor.

I haven’t had a pizza from the grocery store in a few moons, mostly because of the deep-seated trauma, and I was quite surprised by the advances Humankind has made.

This past week, I tried a new FRESCHETTA® Simply…Inspired™ Pizza thanks to Freschetta. (Look them up on Twitter @FreschettaSI or “like” them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FreschettaSimplyInspired) Six standard-issue flavors and three limited edition combinations are stocked at your local grocer. The varieties are more akin to those at a gourmet pie factory rather than the standard fare at take out pizza counters. If you are a fan of Bertucci’s on the East Coast, Crust, or California Pizza Kitchen (the restaurant, not the frozen pizza), this will be slightly more to your liking than a $5 Hot and Ready at Caesar’s. The Classic Bruschetta, which appeared at the Snack Hound test kitchen, features a garlic pesto base rather than a tomato sauce—a boon for acid-reflux suffers. A smattering of chopped Roma tomatoes, fresh basil and roasted garlic top a three cheese blend. Basically, its a Margherita pizza with a cream rather than a tomato base.

The crust is wafer thin compared to other Freschetta pizza offerings, and I caution you to cook the pizza on the lean end of the 14-17 minute time allotment. Then again, I used a pizza stone, so there is that margin of error. For best results, set the timer for ten minutes and then check it if cooking on a stone or using a convection oven. For traditional ovens, check it after 12. The crust will approach a golden brown, but you might be one of those folks who just like the heat to glance at the cheese. Pan seared Mozzarella, anyone?

What most impressed me was the expiration date on the pizza. Yes, it actually had one. Mine was purchased April 23rd and expired in July. This is most likely why I was not overwhelmed with the sodium-heavy taste of many instant pizzas. It simply doesn’t have the dearth of preservatives. The Fresch-Taste Seal package is a plastic, recyclable tray with a peel off top. It really does lock the flavors in. I know you will miss the exercise of poking shrink wrap with a tooth pick, but it does use 30% less packaging than the traditional boxed frozen pizzas.

The taste of the pizza did not have a strong sodium bouquet like I am used to for frozen pizzas. The basil added just the right amount of sweetness. Due to the very thin crust, I would recommend cooking up two pizzas if two hungry but not gluttonous adults were making a meal of it with no salad or appetizers. The perfect application would be as a fancy appetizer at a party. Cut up the pizza into thin slices and serve on a cutting board.

Bottom line, would I buy these? I wouldn’t buy them for any linebacker-like brothers and his linebacker friends, but would definitely buy them if I wanted a bit of a more upscale pizza experience.

Speaking of cutting boards, are you ready to win? One of my lucky readers receives a small round bamboo cutting board that swivels to hide the perfect utensils for serving cheeses and other appetizers. You will also receive a certificate to redeem for a Freschetta Simply Inspired Pizza from your grocer.

To enter:

1) Comment on this blog post: Each comment laureat will receive one entry.

2) Tweet: Tweet this post to your friends. Include @TheSnackHound in your tweet, that way I’ll be able to find it and give you an additional entry.

3) Follow @TheSnackHound on Twitter. Leave me a comment here to let me know with your twitter handle if its not obvious.

4) Blog about this post with a link back.

So..you have a total of four chances to win. Winner will be determined by random number generator.

Contest Closes May 8th.

Reader must reside in the Continental USA or Canada to win.

“No! There is no bubble.”

“But now its wet again. So you have to redo it.”

“So dry it.”

“It touched the gross dishwater.”

The evil washer could retaliate by taking exactly five business days to wash a plate, going over with every square inch with a brillo bad.

“My hands are all pruney. Where are the gloves. That’s better. But now my hands feel weird. I have to go to the bathroom. I need hand cream. These gloves don’t fit.”

The most unkind cut at all would be washing the stoneware. Not the glazed stoneware mugs, but the pie dish or something to that nature. It made the best pies as it heated so gosh darn evenly. Of course, nowadays the stoneware isn’t such a paper weight and its beautifully glazed, but the dish in question was. It was very 70s. Plenty of browns. And browns. It was porous at least on one side and seemed to soak up water like an over water terracotta pot, which would be good for a plant if you were abandoning it for a vacation but allowed the washer to play mind games with the dryer. In fact, after cleaning/drying lots were cast, the washer could beg for the stoneware to be used.

“It’s still DARK. That mean’s its WET.”

“Then it can sit to dry. But if its dark it mean’s it’s dirty. YOU have to wash it again.” Touche’… maybe the dryer was learning to be equally as treacherous.

Our younger sis and cousins don’t know how good they have it with stoneware produced in such spritely colors and glazed in the nooks and crannies. Oh, yeah, and they most likely have a working dishwasher where they will never know the kind of feuding that occurred with children in their family a half a generation before.  I should just go ahead and buy a stoneware pie pan for my dear bro, though he has probably wiped the incident from his memory in an act of repression. The horror.

We all know by now that if you are an “indoor person” you can get fit with Billy Blanks, but Billy Blanks doesn’t stop the video or DVD and tell you how you are actually doing compared to the folks in the studio.  Does he really know you are not sitting on the sofa watching him do all the work? Personally, if I was actually exercising, I’d make sure to send him an email or something to make sure he knew, because the last time I checked, it looks like Billy Blanks could flatten you if he wanted to, and maybe he doesn’t take kindly to sitters.

If there is a way to NOT exercise while having spent a lot of money on gadgets, there must be a way to feed your face too.

Over at , iNetVideo I have found amongst the sea of blu-ray movies and dvds, that Nintendo makes a game where Jamie Oliver helps you cook. Well, he really doesn’t, but its an interactive experience where you get grocery lists and figure out how to do all sorts of stuff.  In fact, they actually had other titles on dvd and various games revolving around cooking and nutrition.  iNetVideo has been around since the late 90s and has offered movies and games at a discount, but with the information overload of all the other movie websites out there, I’ve overlooked it until now.

If you interested, it appears to be a title that is being discontinued, or they just bought a lot of them, because its 70% at $5.99. It really doesn’t matter if they are coming out with a new game system, if a DS is what you have.  I still play the old Atari 2600. I don’t think Jamie Oliver would come over give you a whooping like Billy Blanks could, but he is certainly more skilled at wielding sharp objects, so you best make an effort, kids. Actually, he doesn’t have to do anything because if you choose to eat garbage all the time, you will cause more damage than a one time encounter with a juicer-of-steel could.

Lately, I have been adding a sparing amount of chicken to my diet. I had been trying to go vegetarian plus fish lately but chicken is so gosh darn convenient when I am cooking for others and they don’t like fish. Typically, my mom notices my eating trends and when I am over decides to buy similar items. Instead of antibiotic-free chicken breast, however, she bought a bag of chicken strips that were painted with grill marks. I knew that it wasn’t really grilled because of the chicken nugget-like interiors. I was polite as I could be, but I am really hoping that it sinks in that they will feel so much better without all the sodium. There was no time savings as you still had to prepare the chicken. Maybe you didn’t have to cut it, but you couldn’t exactly eat it raw.

If you desire the sear marks on meat or veggies but don’t want to fire up the barbecue because its raining, winter, or you live in an apartment, never fear….Dimplex PowerChef Electric Grills are here. Well, its not HERE in my lap, but they’re here in this wonderful world. The grill is electric and safe for your apartment balcony or indoor applications and creates the gas grill-like stripes on the food. Instead of being just a Toast R Oven, the heat actually comes from the grates. You can view the rocking video of it HERE.

Maybe the “indoor grill” seemed gimmicky at first, but there health benefits to grilling food instead of frying it, and there are all sorts of pre-programmed settings for folks who absentmindedly tend to be authoring a book and not watching the food.  That wouldn’t be me, of course unless I ignore the kitchen timer.

Have you tried the gentle art of indoor-outdoor cookery? If so, tell me how you did.

Mark writes:

I want those Salt and Pepper Shakers!

I assume he is talking about the photo of the dachshund salt and pepper shakers in the bottom left corner of my blog design template.   At least, I hope he is talking about the dachshund salt and pepper shakers in the bottom left corner of my blog design template. I placed them at left for those of you who don’t want to bend down that far.

If he isn’t, then I guess he just likes to send random and incomprehensible phrases to random people on the ‘net.  Perhaps he ascribes to the chaos theory and it just so happened that he randomly sent a phrase that actually meant something to the sender.  Amazing.

For the rest of you, the doxies are the Kikkerland Dachshund Salt and Peper Shakers. This pair is not for sale, as I my dachshunds would be mad if I parted with their little friends. However, you can own a pair that looks just like mine. on the internet at Quincy Shipping used to have them, but no longer do. If you don’t want to hunt, Click Here to buy them right now!

Sometimes a product comes a long that compels the mind to go in a bit of megalomaniacal hysteria. It fuels it to think, “SOMEONE STOLE MY IDEA.” Of course, when that happens, the product is usually nothing that could have been produced by me. I would not have had the follow through to completely figure out the mechanics of making the item. I would not have the budget to produce a prototype. It may not have been a rip roaring success, as my package design skills are lacking. Sure, it would have some sort of a box, or at least wrapping paper around it, but I would have failed to psychologically analyze what package colors trigger a “buying” response in potential purchasers.  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the product probably is nothing like I thought either.  Oh, but other than that it is JUST like it.

What went on in my mind that constitutes a “Hey, I thought of that first?” Well, it is quite simple. I probably said,”Hey, wouldn’t it be neat if refrigerators had locks on them?” Five seconds later I completely forgot that I thought of it. That’s hardly a stroke of “eureka” that would give me a claim to any patent.

What is the inspiration for this meandering announcement? I just have become acquainted with the Fridge Locker. If you don’t believe me that one exists, go to www.FridgeLocker.com. Truth be told, it is not exactly what I had envisioned. It is not a big padlock on a Frigidaire. Rather, it is like a little jail cell inside of your fridge. Maybe you could call it a pop play pen.

I hear you chuckling.  This is a legitimate product that could potentially save your life, so don’t scoff, Bucko.  In fact, there is a testimonial from Howard L., from Pacific Beach, California.  He writes, “My friend’s Girlfriend can’t eat all the Multigrain Bars anymore.”  Well, Howard, firstly, what is your friend’s girlfriend doing over there ransacking your fridge?  If she is the girlfriend of your roommate, then maybe I could understand, but if she is dating just a random friend of yours, then I think your random friend needs to be given a talking to.  Maybe he told her that he rents a shelf in your fridge or that your place is really a hipster theme restaurant.

The inventor, Kevin Alan Tussy, was having a similar life drama.

One Saturday I was thinking about how I really wanted to start eating better at the office.  I was always eating out and spending a lot of money on some pretty unhealthy food.  Not to mention that I always seemed to be on the brink of starvation before I would actually go eat.  Some healthy snacks would definitely be a great thing to have around.  I went to the grocery store and every morning I packed up my brown bag, but after a few days I started forgetting.  In my morning rush it would slip my mind and I was back to eating out…  If only I could bring in a weeks supply of snacks to work all at once, then I would never go hungry…  But I knew that wouldn’t work. My food would be eaten by all the employees in the office. People just weren’t very respectful.

Do you see a theme here? There is no nonsense about beer or chips. Perhaps Howard and Kevin should just realize that there coworkers, relatives, and girlfriends of friends only steal multigrain bars. They should stop eating them and get a little monosodium glutamate in their diets. That will fix the wagons of all of these pilferers.

Until at least tomorrow, I think this is the Best Invention Ever. If only I would have had something like this years ago, I would have not been accused of eating all the chocolate in the house.  I could show people that it was all locked up so I couldn’t possibly have done it.  Of course, if I am the only one with the key, then that would have solved that. Like all of the best products, the Fridge Locker is available for the paltry sum of $19.95. That is a magical number.  It is so much cheaper than any of those $20 products.  I don’t have that kind of money.  Do you think I am rich?  But I do have $19.95.  But I am going to hope that my readers buy it for me for Christmas instead, right?

This little Mountie plate is available for sale on Etsy.  It is a souvenir of Canada, yet it is English china.  In other words, it is made in England. It may seem more appropriate than you think, as in Canada, the royals and other English accoutrements are well regarded, even when during some historical errors, it was not the same in the States. We just had too many bad memories of that business.

Despite this info, it still had me wondering what I would use a tiny plate like this for.  Would I get a tiny plate holder and display it?  Knowing me I would probably use it to put my wasabi and soy sauce.   I may even use it for change on a dresser.  What about for a salt plate?  I never seem to use things for their intended use.   In this case, I am not really sure what the intended use is.    Maybe all of the above is the intended use.  Maybe it is for someone who wants to buy every china pattern, but can’t afford to buy every single one, so they just get a tiny plate of each.

What about you?  What would you use this tiny plate thing for if you were to buy it, or if you do decide to buy it?