Tuppence

Newman's Own Pizza ~ A Review and a Giveaway!

2010-09-01T15:10:00.004-04:00

This is a sponsored review by BlogHer and Newman's Own.

In the interest of full disclosure, I'd like to say right from the beginning that I have two teenagers and they would happily eat pizza every single night, 365 nights a year. I, myself, would probably do the same . . . You can keep your chocolate; pizza is a besetting weakness for me.

When I received the opportunity to review the frozen pizzas from Paul Newman's Own, I happily accepted. I'm a fan of Paul Newman's Own and all the good it does, specifically their commitment to the following practice:
“All profits to charity. Newman’s Own Foundation continues Paul Newman’s commitment to donate all profits to charity. Over $300 million has been given to thousands of charities since 1982.”

And if I can contribute to charity by eating pizza, so be it.
So . . . I drove down to the nearest grocery store, a Price Chopper, and had a look-see. The selection of Newman's Own Thin & Crispy Pizzas was pretty broad. My small-town store had the Margherita, Four Cheese, Pepperoni, Roasted Garlic and Chicken, and Supreme. A visit to the next nearest store, a fairly large Hannaford in the next town, yielded the Italian Sausage variety and netted me a White Pizza, which is a family favorite and fairly sophisticated for a frozen pizza, with mozzarella and feta cheeses, spinach, and white sauce on its multigrain crust. (Yeah, yum.)

I served mine with a green salad tossed with some extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, and dinner was on the table in less than 15 minutes. Now that's fast food.
I just love the fact that these pizzas have no artificial ingredients, no transfats, no modified food starch, no sodium nitrate, no modified corn starch. And they actually taste good. Really, really good. So, to recap: an all-natural pizza that tastes really, really good and whose profits go to charity. Seriously. What's not to like about that?

But check it out for yourself. Visit the Paul Newman's Own website and download a coupon for your own pizza.

And be sure to enter to win to receive a Newman’s Own Gift Basket valued at $75 (contents may vary). All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post between 9/1/10 and 10/31/10 telling me which of these wonderful pizzas sounds best to you and what you would serve with it to make it a complete meal. (Please note that the deadline for this contest has been extended from the original date, 9/30.)

Rules:
• No duplicate comments, please.
• You may receive an additional entry by linking on Twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
• This giveaway is open to US residents, aged 18 and older.
• Winners will be selected via random draw at the close of the contest on 10/31/10 and will be notified by e-mail shortly thereafter.
• You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
• Please see the official rules here: Official Rules

Ritz Crackerfuls ~ A Review and a $100 Giveaway!

2010-07-09T10:14:00.004-04:00

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Ritz.

This giveaway is now closed ~ thanks for checking in!

You know those days when everything in your life is flowing as smooth and sweet as pure maple syrup? When all your deadlines are met, your laundry is washed and folded, your checkbook is balanced to the nickel, and your fridge is stocked with all the ingredients you need to prepare a week's worth of perfectly balanced meals?

Okay, me neither. But I try. I'm an inveterate list-maker, note-taker, multi-tasker, light sleeper, over-caffeinated mom working to stay just one step ~ one tiny baby step ~ ahead of the 8 ball. And that means prioritizing the chaos. Family, work, yard work, housework. (Note: yard work precedes housework because the neighbors and impressionable strangers can actually see that.) And all the other things that go into creating a satisfying and enjoyable life from the nuttiness that is being a working wife and mom in this world we live in.

Sometimes, no matter how much we love our stimulating job or our fantastic family or the simple tasks of organizing and maintaining our homesteads, we start to possibly lose our enthusiasm a little. Our energy flags. Maybe our fuse gets shorter. In my world, that's when it's snacktime. And since I don't have the time to prepare a delightful little spread of Comte and baguette slices while I'm in the middle of a grinding deadline crunch (if I did, I would be getting some much-needed sleep, not having a picnic at my desk), I've grown pretty fond of these Ritz Crackerfuls.

I like a snack you can grab and eat without consuming mindlessly. With these, I can eat one, stop there without difficulty since they're individually wrapped, and not feel too bad about it later. (Which reminds me, Ritz Crackerfuls are made with real cheese and manage to include 6 grams of whole grains, so I don't have to feel guilty about indulging ~ and that's swell, because the last thing I need is another thing to worry about.)

For more info, stop by the Ritz site and check out the scoop on these tasty snacks. They're a nice little treat to tuck away in your desk drawer, purse, brief case, or coat pocket. You know, for when you need a little something to keep you going between lunch or dinner, to help keep you satisfied until your next meal, or when you find yourself back at your desk after everyone else is asleep. Click here for a coupon to save $1.00 on Ritz Crackerfuls.

And here's something else to brighten your day. How about a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card? For your chance, just leave a comment sometime between July 9, 2010 and July 31, 2010, telling me what little treats or pick-me-ups you rely on to motivate you to "get the job done" when you feel pressed and harried and under the gun. Winners will be notified by e-mail, so please don't forget to leave your e-mail address in your comment! (Spell out the "at" and "dot" to discourage grabbers, like this: emailname [at] host [dot] com.) And be sure to check out the other BlogHer bloggers' reviews here for 16 additional chances to win $100!

Rules:
• No duplicate comments, please.
• You may receive an additional entry by linking on Twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
• This giveaway is open to US residents, aged 18 and older.
• Winners will be selected via random draw and will notified by e-mail.
• You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
• Please see the official rules here: Official Rules.

Oxiclean Arm & Hammer Detergent ... and a Visa Gift Card Giveaway!

2010-03-25T23:16:00.002-04:00

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Arm & Hammer.

Between my two kids, we've experienced a good proportion of the stain-making sports kids participate in. Over the years, they've played soccer, softball, baseball, lacrosse, cross-country, track, wrestling (both the legit kind, which takes place on mats in the gym, and the backyard free-for-all variety), karate, gymnastics, dance, and so on. In the role of supportive sports mom, I've laundered countless uniforms and leotards; socks, jocks, and singlets; sweat pants and hoodies. I've tackled grass stains, mud stains, blood stains, sweat and tear stains, makeup stains, mustard stains, red sports-drink stains, and orange infield-dirt stains.

Logging as many sideline hours as I have, I've heard a lot of coaches talk about weakness—and how being in possession of it is a lot like being in league with the devil. Pain is weakness leaving the body! The team is only as strong as its weakest player! There's no place for weakness in youth sports! Okay, that last guy was a little intense. But you know? I've gotta say, I can relate to this, at least as far as it relates to the laundry side of sports.

When my son comes to me at 11 p.m. with his white away uniform and says, "Mom, I have a lacrosse game tomorrow and I forgot to take this out of my bag last week after that game where it was pouring and I fell into the muddy ditch. . . . Do you think I could wear it or does it need to be washed?" That thing better get clean the first time I wash it. In this house, there are no do-overs for grass stains. I can't put my trust in a detergent that may or may not perform. When I'm filling the washing machine at the 11^th hour, I want a player that can bring it!

So I really like the new Arm & Hammer plus OxiClean gel detergent. I've always been a fan of OxiClean for white or light-colored laundry that can't be bleached, and I love that it's combined with detergent here. I also like the consistency of the gel detergent, which makes it easy to spot treat—a real benefit for stain-fighting.
How does it work? Great. So far, everything I've tried it on came out clean—sports laundry and household laundry alike. Grass stains, gone! Mud stains, gone! Celebratory pecan-pie-goop stains on race T-shirt, gone!

To enter to win a $200 Visa gift card, leave me a comment below, telling how your family likes to make their clothes dirty outside. Or you may leave a link to your post on your own blog in the comments below. The contest will begin on 3/23/2010 and will end 4/30/2010. Please make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct. Don't forget to check out the other sponsored reviews and enter the other reviewers’ sweepstakes as well!

Rules:
• No duplicate comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by linking on Twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
• This giveaway is open to US residents, aged 18 and older.
• Winners will be selected via random draw and will notified by e-mail.
• You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
• Please see the official rules here: Official Rules.

Stay Connected ~ and Win $200!

2010-01-13T15:18:00.004-05:00

How Do You Stay Connected with Your Family?

This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Sprint.

This contest is now closed ~ we have a winner!

As a working mother of two teenagers, getting and staying connected with my family are top priorities for me, as they are, no doubt, for you. With so many tools at our disposal, you’d think this would be easy, but the reality is that there never seem to be enough hours in the day to make the connections we feel are important. Distractions—even necessary ones like school and work—divert us from making the effort to stay in touch and available.

This year, though, I’m taking a proactive stance about staying connected with my family. My top-10 list of things I plan to do this year to ensure we make and maintain connections reflects things I feel are doable and practical—the last thing I want to do is create a laundry list of failed resolutions to look back on! I'm sharing my list in hopes that you might find some workable ideas for connecting with your family ~ and I'd love for you to leave a comment sharing your ideas, too.

Let’s Get Connected!

Speak less, say more. Sometimes a well-timed gesture or facial expression can say more than the windiest diatribe. Measured words can bring immeasurable understanding.
Kick it old school, at school. Stay connected to your kids with good old-fashioned notes or funny cards dropped into backpacks or lunch bags.
Steal the moments. Even the mundane “downtimes” like washing dishes and running errands can be put to good use. A casual atmosphere is perfect for putting everyone at ease, and consequently, this is often when some of the best and most meaningful discussions take place.
Live out loud. Don’t be concerned with putting up a false front as the “perfect parent”: you’re not fooling anyone. Laugh at yourself; don’t be afraid to cry; let it show when you’re embarrassed, disappointed, disconcerted. Be human.
Make eye contact. Never underestimate the power of eye contact. Never.
Take an interest. Even if, at first, you have to fake an interest, taking an interest is powerful on a number of levels. The more you participate in one another's lives, the more you’ll have in common.
Get techie. Learn how to use—and use well—modern technology like cell phones, e-mail, and social networking sites to stay in contact with your family—especially if you have teens or tweens.
If you bake it, they will come. If you make your home a welcoming place for your kids’ friends, a place where food and fellowship abound, you’ll be a fixture in their lives.
Know whether to be a shoulder or a shover. Sometimes we all just need a shoulder to cry on, and sometimes we need a shove to keep pressing on. Make it a practice to know which to offer when.
Be there. Just being available is critical. It’s hard to make a connection with someone you never see/hear/touch.

To enter to win a $200 Visa gift card, leave me a comment below, sharing your best tips for keeping your family connected in the New Year. Or you may leave a link to your post on your own blog in the comments below. The contest will begin on 1/13/2010 and will end 2/9/2010. Please make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct. You have 9 chances to win $200 at the BlogHer.com special offers page.

Be sure to check out the Family Connections Group at BlogHer.

Rules:
• No duplicate comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by linking on Twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
• This giveaway is open to US residents, aged 18 and older.
• Winners will be selected via random draw and will notified by e-mail.
• You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
• Please see the official rules here: Official rules.

Here's to a great year of getting ~ and staying ~ connected to those we love!

Pepperidge Farm's Baked Naturals Cheese Crisps ~ and another chance to win!

2009-10-05T15:58:00.008-04:00

Please note ~ This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Pepperidge Farm Baked Naturals Cheese Crisps.

This contest is now closed.

In my family, an event of any significance at all calls for a get-together involving food. Birthdays and holidays, of course. But also we seem to have more than our share of going-away and coming-back parties (think pre- and post-vacation), pet birthdays, and all manner of reasons to just gather together for food and fellowship.

And even though we gather frequently, each shared meal is an event in its own right. Appetizers, wine, dinner, dessert, and extended coffee ~ possibly followed by a round of speed Scrabble and round 2 of dessert. Seriously, there's no halfway when it comes to get-togethers in my family.

Because we're the kind of family that tends to hang around in the kitchen when someone else is cooking, I like to provide something to munch on that doesn't require a lot of prep work and that isn't so filling that no one's hungry by the time dinner's on the table. I like to put out cut veggies and dip, hummus and pita triangles, cheese and grapes, and the like.

Recently, I had the opportunity to sample Pepperidge Farm's Baked Naturals Cheese Crisps. The official description is: "Natural, preservative-free snacks, made with an artisan blend of real cheeses golden baked to bubbly perfection on top of a thin, crispy, crunchy cracker. Four Cheese is made with Aged Cheddar, Asiago, Romano and Parmesan, while Italian Herb is seasoned with flavorful herbs and spices."

These classy little snack crackers are pretty munchable. The cheese is baked on top of the cracker, not lost inside it, giving them an assertively cheesy flavor. They're really nice with a glass of wine and some olives, and they're light enough to take the edge off your guests' hunger without dulling their appetite.

So, what inspires you to break out the party snacks? To enter for your chance to win a $100 Visa gift card, leave me a comment below and tell me What brings you and yours together for food and fellowship, and what's your celebration style? Do you shine up the silver for Super Bowl Sunday or are your gatherings the "barefoot in the backyard" type? Alternatively, you may leave a link to your post on your own blog in the comments below. The contest will begin at 10/5/2009 and will end 11/2/2009. Please make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct.

Rules:
• No duplicate comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by linking on Twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
• This giveaway is open to US-residents age 18 and over
• Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
• You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
• Please see the official rules here: Official Rules

Don't forget to stop by and visit other BlogHer Reviewers for seven other chances to win a $100 Visa gift card.

Do You Ragu?

2009-09-29T22:01:00.007-04:00

This contest is now closed.

Please note: This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Ragu.

Generally speaking, I try to make my own pasta and pizza sauces from scratch. Like everyone else with an Italian grandmother, I have a "signature recipe," and it's a process whose end results are worth the hours of prepping, cooking, and cleanup it necessitates. That said, when I was offered the chance to test-drive some recipes from Ragu that featured 3 of their signature sauces, I had to seize the opportunity. Why use sauce from a jar if I usually make my own? Because, frankly, there are only 24 hours in a day, and even the very best intentions have been known to go astray.

Is it important to me that my family eats a minimum of processed foods? Absolutely. But it's even more important to me that my husband, teenage son and daughter, and I get to sit down together at a dinner table that's a haven from the stress and conflict of the day that preceded it. And if that means opening a jar of sauce that lets me put together a flavorful meal that's easily customizable to suit various dietary preferences and needs, then that sauce will have a place in my pantry. Without a fall-back plan for those busier-than-usual nights, we tend to take the path of least resistance ~ which may lead straight through a fast-food drive-thru.

So, jarred sauces can be a great tool in the arsenal of a busy home cook. Keeping some on hand in the pantry means always having a meal ready at your disposal. The Ragu sauces I sampled were good, flavorful, and excellent in each of the applications I used them for. In one, my family actually preferred the Ragu version to my homemade sauce ~ and no, it wasn't a blind taste test. Unfortunately.

Ragu offers a terrific bank of recipes to support its products, and it's from here that I drew the three recipes I used to incorporate the samples I received. I prepared the Pasta Margherita (with Ragu® Old World Style® Margherita Smooth Pasta Sauce), the Chicken Alfredo with Fettuccini (with Ragu® Cheesy Classic Alfredo Sauce), and a homemade deep-dish pizza (with Ragu® Pizza Sauce - Homemade Style).

The Pasta Margherita was a huge hit. I used basil from my garden and diced mozzarella. The sauce is terrific ~ not too acidic, and light enough to taste fresh herbs through.

The Chicken Alfredo I modified to be meatless ~ there's a vegetarian at my table. I threw some blanched broccoli florets in and voila ~ dinner!

One of my favorite easy meals to put together is also one of the most popular in my repertoire. Pizza. And in the interest of full disclosure . . . Ragu's pizza sauce is my number one go-to sauce. I use it more than I use my own. It's really good and my family loves it. One jar gives us two large pizzas, and I love, love, love that it's resealable.

How do you feed your family well when you're rushing? Do you have a few tricks up your sleeve and in your pantry you'd like to share? Leave a comment with your answer and you may just win a $100 Visa gift card!

To enter, leave me a comment below and tell me how you feed your family well even when you're in a hurry. Maybe it's not the fanciest meal on the block ~ we've had more than our share of "cereal buffet" nights, but I'd love to hear how you make the most of what little time you have to put something nourishing and satisfying on the table. Alternatively, you may leave a link to your post on your own blog in the comments below. The contest will begin at 10/1/2009 and will end 11/11/2009. Please make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct.
Rules:

• No duplicate comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by linking on Twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
• This giveaway is open to US residents, aged 18 and older.
• Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
• You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
Be sure to stop by the BlogHer.com Review/Giveaway Roundup Page to see what everyone else thinks. You have 10 chances to win the gift card if you do!

Ritz Crackerfuls ~ And a Contest!

2009-07-21T17:43:00.009-04:00

Please note ~ this is a compensated review from BlogHer and Ritz Crackerfuls.

I admit it, I'm an inveterate snacker. No matter how satisfying my breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I just seem to require the little bursts of joy that accompany foraging and consuming some tasty little thing between meals. And I'm a savory snacker. I've had an open bag of M&M'S in my pantry for a month, and although I love M&M'S, they don't tempt me like a bag of chips or snack crackers would.

My greatest need for snacking satisfaction generally occurs during one of two times: when I've had to work through lunch and it's only an hour before dinner, and when I'm working into the wee hours and caffeine has ceased to have any effect on me at all so snacking is the thing that keeps me awake.

I was happy to give these Crackerfuls a try because they're right up my alley ~ savory and cheesy, conveniently packaged in single-serve pouches. They reminded me a bit of the cheese and cheese cracker sandwiches that I used to throw back during protracted cram sessions in college (a requisite no-fridge snack). Only these are way more substantial, with a more generous spread of cheese filling presented between two yummy, not-too-salty crackers.

I tried the Cheddar and 4 Cheese varieties, and both were tasty, with 5 grams of whole grain per serving. If I had a quibble, it's that they do crumble fairly easily. I'm not confident that these would fare too well in a backpack or soft-sided lunch box. You can Visit the official site for more information on the varieties available.

When do the hungries tend to strike you? Maybe it's while you're driving home from work. Maybe it's while you're making dinner or cheering your kids on from the sidelines at a game. And when they strike, how do you strike back?

To enter for a chance to win a $100 gift card, leave a comment below telling me when you're most likely to experience a snack attack, and how you tend to satisfy those hungries, or you may leave a link to your post on your own blog in the comments below. The contest will begin at 9:00 a.m. (PST) 07/21/09 and will end 5:00 p.m. (PST) 08/20/09. Please make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct.

For more chances to win, go check out the roundup and see what other BlogHer reviewers had to say about Crackerfuls!

Rules:
• No duplicate comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by linking on Twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
• This giveaway is open to US residents, aged 18 and over.
• Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
• You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
• Please see the official rules here.

LGDTXTR.COM Site Review

2009-04-01T10:50:00.006-04:00

Please note: This is a compensated review from BlogHer and LG.

According to the LGDTXTR Web site, the average texting teen sends about 1,700 text messages per month. That’s about 56 messages per day. If you have a teen who texts, are you able to say that you are comfortable with that mode of communication? Or do you grind your teeth in anxiety when you contemplate the jargon of "txt," a code so inscrutable surely Navajo Code Talkers would be required to unravel it? Relax, LG has your back with its new interactive site ~ www.lgdtxtr.com ~ oriented to helping parents of texting teens learn the lexicon and make their way in this strange new alphabet soup of TTYL and ROTFL.

There are four main features to the LGDTXTR site: a Glossary, a Translator, a Tips section, and a Quiz.

Glossary

I like the fact that it's a dynamic feature. Visitors can submit new terms, so it's constantly being updated. You can enter a text message into the search window, or browse the glossary alphabetically.

Some text-acronyms definitions are pretty standard, and easy to puzzle out. But there are others that are completely cryptic. For example, it doesn't take a lot of imagination to figure out that "GGN" means "gotta go now." If cell phones had been available back when I was in high school, it probably would have meant the same thing. After all, that's what we signed on the bottom of our college-ruled notes before we ripped them out of our notebooks, folded them into elaborate origami shapes, and slipped them into locker vents. But something like "GNOC" or "MOS"? Not so much.

The Glossary is probably the most useful tool on the site. Why? Because if you're in the habit of checking your kids' text logs ~ and trust me, random spot checks aren't a bad idea, especially if you provide advance notice that you plan to conduct them ~ you can copy down a few of those mysterious text acronyms and run them through the glossary. Your kids will be amazed and astounded at how fluent you are in interpreting and disrupting their ill-conceived plans.

Translator

This is a kind of fun side-by-side Translator. Not as useful as the Glossary, but your kids may get a kick out of exchanging texts with you in their own vernacular. This would be awesomely useful if the phone itself had such a feature ~ as well as a reverse translator.

Of all the features, I think this one will be of least practical use to parents. However, I can see kids getting into it!

Tips

The Tips section offers some useful guidelines for managing a child who texts. Also, it includes a few reasons why it can be beneficial to provide a child with access to texting. At first glance, this might seem self-serving, but realistically, there are many parents who may not realize that texting goes both ways. Kids love it, and a lot of adults love it too. I'm one of them. I often communicate with my kids (and others) via text messages because it's more efficient in many cases than making a phone call or even sending an e-mail. Sometimes all you need to express is a quick one-liner: "Don't forget to bring home your science notebook," for example. My son will text me on the way home from his sporting events to let me know when the bus will arrive back at the school. Often, it's the easiest, quickest, surest way to get in touch with my kids when they're away from home, be it at a friend's house, riding their bikes around the neighborhood, or on the school bus. (My kids' school prohibits the use of cell phones in the school building during school hours.)

If you're not familiar with the practice of text messaging and have experienced a certain level of irritation over your kids' misuse of it, you may be missing out on the ways you can make it work for you.

Do U Know Txt Quiz

Took it; got 7 out of 10. But here's the thing . . . acronyms differ. It's just like dialects in a foreign language. Mexican Spanish is different from Argentinean Spanish which is different from Puerto Rican and Dominican and Colombian Spanish. And even Spanish Spanish has 4 or 5 different major dialects within itself! What does that mean? That means you might want to buy, say, a guinea pig from me, and express it thusly: "WTB" (want to buy). I, on the other hand, might type, "W2B." Both mean the same thing, and in context, we'd probably have no trouble figuring out each other's meaning. But, still.

So, ultimately, all these tools are useful. This is a new frontier! Kids now are using a new communication device with almost unprecedented reach. It behooves us to stay on top of things, and the LGDTXTR.COM site is a good tool in the engaged parent's arsenal. But remember to stay level-headed, and keep ALL lines of communication open with your kids. If you read, "GFY" in your child's text log, plug it into the Glossary, and see that it could mean something not polite at all, don't panic ~ these letters combine to represent at least 3 different phrases. It could be something surprisingly nice. Best to put down the phone and talk about it.

So that's my two cents. But don't just take my word for it, check out the other BlogHer reviewers' input here. And while you're there, be sure to enter to win one of the 5 free phones that LG is giving away!

How to Be a Better Foodie

2009-04-01T09:41:00.000-04:00

Sudi Pigott, How to Be a Better Foodie (Viking Studio, 978-1-84400-333-7; casebound $17.95 US, 304 pp.)

We love food, a lot. But not just any food. For example, while others wake up thinking, “Hmm, Frosted Flakes or Pop Tart,” our mind is filled with visions of Saturn peaches, labneh, and ginger-fig jam on wild-yeast sourdough. We are foodies, which, according to Sudi Pigott’s luscious little brown-and-pink bonbon of a book, involves, “eating with integrity, bettering our already demanding palate, and feeding our insatiable craving for culinary knowledge.”

So, proceeding on the assumption that we recognize something of ourselves in that definition, let’s dive right in to How to Be a Better Foodie with a napkin tied around our neck and a notepad and pencil at hand.

If you desire to know more about the kind of foodie you are, you can take the quiz that begins on page 10. This is an interesting exercise, but since I already know the kind I am (guided by taste, not fashion; if I make a visceral, sensual connection to a particular food - if it moves me - I don’t care if it’s culinarily cool), I skipped the quiz to satisfy my more immediate craving. I love food lore; food trivia, food facts, random bits of savory food knowledge are totally my thing. I went right for the meat of the book, flipping through the pages - which are all in delectable shades of pink and brown, by the way, stuffing myself with tidbits in the vein of, “What kind of fowl is Bombay Duck?” (p. 46); ”Who was the author of the earliest recorded cookbook?” (p. 214); and “Who first gave the cranberry its name and why?” (p. 272). Satisfied for the moment, I flipped back to the table of contents.

The book is divided into 8 chapters: One, ”Getting Started”; Two, “At Home with the Better Foodie”; Three, “How the Better Foodie Entertains”; Four, “Culinary Fashionability”; Five, “Out and About with the Better Foodie”; Six, “The Festive Better Foodie”; Seven, “The Intricacies of High Foodism”; Eight, "The Better Foodie Almanac.” These pretty much cover everything you need to know about evolving in your quest to become a better foodie, or at least enough to put you on the right path.

You’ll learn what the foodie kitchen requires, from goose fat and honey varietals in the pantry to gadgets ranging from the indispensable (good-quality saucepans) to the indefensible (truffle shaver) . . . what the better foodie wears (an elastic waistband), never serves to guests (salted pistachios), and keeps as a pet (chickens, bees, pigs).

There’s so much more packed into this little book! I could go on and on, but I won’t. I have other things to eat. I mean, do. Instead, I’ll give you a few section titles to whet your appetite, and let you pick up your own copy to devour: “The Foodamental Issues: How to have your ethics and eat them too” (consumption with conscience and compassion!); “The Better Foodie Movie Guide to the Ultimate TV-dinner: Carefully premeditated edible and visual sustenance” (dinner-and-a-movie pairings!); "Better Foodie Foodementals: Core gastro-knowledge for full Foodie credentials” (what you came for!).

How to Be a Better Foodie is fun, informative, and small enough to tuck inside a briefcase or large purse. This is just the sort of book that’s great to read in small bites, a perfect take-along for a train commuter, a solo restaurant diner, or a work-at-home mom who does most of her reading while stirring dinner on the stove (ahem). Need a gift for someone who considers him- or herself a foodie? You can’t miss with this amuse-bouche of a culinary tome. Bon appetit!