5 Things We Love

Lotions and potions won’t leak from these sealed bottles

I love Pitotubes travel bottles. To quote the label, they are “rocket science for packing in your carry-on — sleek, clear, lightweight, high-tech, airless, sealed-tight refillable bottles to keep your elixirs safely contained and ready for action.” Designed by scientists and flight crews, the TSA-compliant bottles come in a set of four large (1.7-ounce) and two small (half-ounce) containers in a cool mesh, zippered bag for $40. Find them at A Little Bit of Everything in Imperial Plaza at 725 Kapiolani Blvd. Store hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Call 589-0045.

— Kathy Grebe, Pacific Heights

Pepper poppers

Stuffed jalapenos are a new fave among my family’s heat-eaters. To prepare, halve a dozen fresh jalapenos so the halves will sit level on a baking sheet. Remove the seeds; remove the membranes if you don’t want the peppers’ full heat. For the stuffing, combine an 8-ounce block of cream cheese; a few handfuls of grated cheese (Mexican blend is nice); 1 pound of crisp bacon, sliced thinly; a handful or two of thinly sliced green onions; freshly ground black pepper; and if you like, cayenne pepper. Mound into jalapeno halves and bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes or until cheese is bubbly but not oozing out of the peppers.

These gently spicy, cheesy, bacony wonders will be part of my Super Bowl Sundays and potluck repertoire for the foreseeable future.

Want a higher Scoville rating? Try yellow hot, serrano, arbol or tiny Hawaiian chilies. Any leftover cream cheese mixture will make a memorable quesadilla or luxurious omelet filling. Jalapenos sell for $1.79 to $4.99 a pound at local supermarkets.

— Erika Engle

Book tells stories behind the music

Although music trivia is inherently interesting, Rick Beyer deserves extra credit for casting a wide net in compiling “The Greatest Music Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from Music History to Astonish, Bewilder, and Stupefy” (HarperCollins, $19.99). The book includes the world’s oldest known composition (written in cuneiform circa 1400 B.C.), the first known recording of the human voice (1860) and the first American recording star (George Washington Johnson in the 1890s).

Some of the stories are well known — Elvis visiting Nixon, for example. Others less so. Didja know that the guys who wrote “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” had never seen one? Or that pianist Franz Liszt had women screaming, fainting and throwing themselves at him a century before teen girls screamed for Elvis? Or that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was originally named Reginald? Or that Van Halen had a good reason for its legendary “no brown M&Ms” contract rider?

The stories and illustrations make the book a good buy, but Beyer adds scholarly value by including his sources for them.

— John Berger

Shars Bears dish towels good for gifts

My favorite things right now are these adorable dish towels from Shars Bears. Many of you know the designs on T-shirts and bags, and these towels are 100 percent cotton and very light. Best of all, they are generous in size and great for the kitchen. They sell for $8 apiece and come in many different prints. It’s a perfect gift for the holidays. The dish towels are packaged in little bento boxes with chopsticks. It’s too cute! Find Shars Bears at holiday craft fairs.

— Jessica Baricaua, Kapolei

Speaker gives wing to your tunes

Plug this little song bird into your iPod and it will sing your favorite tune with surprising volume and clarity. My Fauvette speaker by chicBuds is a pretty little package sitting on my desk, charging through a USB connection. Once fully charged, the two-watt speaker promises to play for four hours. Though I have yet to find four uninterrupted hours of time to sit and listen to music, the charge hasn’t failed me yet. Fauvette sells for $34.99 at www.chicbuds.com.

— Donica Kaneshiro