Give gifts a touch of flair with reusable Knot Wraps

Gift bags are great when you don’t want to fuss with wrapping paper, but by the time you buy the bag and the coordinating tissue paper and bow, you’ve spent more than $5. So why not present your gifts furoshiki-style in Lush’s Knot Wraps and score greenie points while you’re at it? The stylish scarves, which come in an array of patterns, are reusable and sport a tag that lets the recipient know each one is made from two recycled plastic bottles. The Knot Wraps are $6.95 at Lush in Ala Moana Center and on Front Street in Lahaina, or at www.LUSHusa.com. — Christie Wilson

Look for favorable flights on Hipmunk website

There are plenty of aggregator websites to use these days when searching for cheap airfares on the Net, but only Hipmunk helps sort through the endless numbers with color-coded bar charts and an "agony" sort function that combines price, duration and number of stops to allow the most favorable flights on all three criteria to float to the top of your list. So now, even when you’re overly excited about your impending vacation, you won’t accidentally book a 12-hour layover in Phoenix. Check it out for yourself at hipmunk.com. — Donica Kaneshiro

Social climbers, fortune hunters join forces in ‘English Lord’

Two generations before the sinking of the Titanic, wealthy, young American women who were frozen out of high society’s rigid caste system began going to England to marry noblemen. The women had money and wanted status, the men had titles and needed money — it was a win-win. By the 1890s impoverished English peers were coming to America in search of wealthy, young women to marry.

Gail MacColl and Carol McD. Wallace cover this era of unabashed social climbing and cynical fortune hunting with witty commentary and thoroughly illustrated detail in "To Marry an English Lord" (Workman Publishing, $15.99, www.workman.com). The popular history provides everything you’d want to know about these people, their cultural values, and the staggering amounts of money they spent.

"To Marry An English Lord" was first published in 1989 and has been reprinted following the success of "Downton Abbey" on PBS. Fans of the TV series may read it as a "prequel," but no knowledge of the show is necessary to enjoy this fascinating book. — John Berger

Spicy ahi dish at Four Seasons is well worth return trip to Lanai

On a recent afternoon at Fresco, the poolside restaurant at the Four Seasons Resort Lanai at Manele Bay, chef Dario Montelvere’s Poke of the Day was a spicy ahi dish on homemade taro chips for $17. The fish bits were seasoned in a mixture of mayonnaise, sriracha (spicy chili paste), green and white onion, sesame oil, sesame seeds and shoyu, with red tobiko as a garnish. A must-try on your next trip to Lanai, or Lahaina, a 50-minute ferry trip away. — Jim Borg

Find local-style pork rinds in stores, online

While shopping in Times Supermarket the other day, I came across these awesome pork rinds in local flavors like furikake, kim chee and teriyaki for $4.99 a bag. They’re made by Pork Grinds Hawaii and I’ve seen them at Don Quijote, Kmart and Marukai, too. They also have a website, www.porkgrindshawaii.com, where you can order bags. I love them because they have only 70 to 80 calories per serving and contain no trans fats or carbs. Plus, it’s made in Hawaii! — Mary Ann Aviles, Ewa Beach