5 Things We Love

5 Things We Love is a shortlist of newly discovered stuff you have got to see, hear, wear, use or eat. What are you loving this week? Send a brief description of your latest favorite thing, where to find it and how much it costs, along with your name and contact info to features@staradvertiser.com.

1. Monster grins gobble up coins

When you unzip one of these Zipit coin purses packed with personality, it’s sure to bring a smile to your face. The monster pouches come in an array of colors and have eyes and a long zipper that when opened gives the monster its teeth. Available at Walmart for $3.97.

—Nancy Arcayna

2. Rice chips satisfy for reasonable price

Lundberg Family Farms’ Rice Chips, available in several flavors at health food stores, satisfy my craving for a wheatless, crackerlike snack at a lower price than many other rice crackers. My preferred flavor is Sesame & Seaweed, which gives the chips a flavor profile similar to norimaki senbei. The chips are made of organic brown and white rice flour, with safflower or sunflower oil, a little organic corn flour, organic sesame and cane syrup. They’re crunchy and just salty enough to serve with a topping of avocado or tomato slices. Lundberg Farms is near my former home in Northern California. The operation has made a massive switch to organic farming, developing new products along the way. This is one I can heartily recommend, at about $3.79 for a hefty 6-ounce bag from Whole Foods Kahala.

—Elizabeth Kieszkowski

3. Fruitwater’s light taste hits the spot

In my latest attempt to wean myself from sugary soft drinks, I’ve found something palatable in Glaceau fruitwater, a zero-calorie carbonated beverage with natural flavoring and green tea extract from Coca-Cola. It comes in five flavors and leaves a nice light taste rather than the sinus-clearing pop that some of the overly bubbled stuff out there has. Yes, it’s flavored with sucralose (aka Splenda), which some might not like, but it seems to fit my needs at the moment. Available at Safeway for about $1.50 for a 16.9-ounce resealable bottle.

—Steven Mark

4. Hurry to nab Vietnamese treat

One of my favorite stores in Chinatown is Vin Thinh, a small grocery on the mauka side of King Street near River Street where you’ll find prepared Vietnamese specialties unfamiliar to most Americans. I usually go late in the day, so only recently saw banh cam there. Called banh ran in the north, it’s a Vietnamese version of jin dui, the fried Cantonese mochi dough balls. Unlike the black bean stuffing in jin dui, banh cam is stuffed with yellow mung bean. It’s flattened and covered with a hard syrup coating. One bite and you’re hooked. "Amazing good," is how one co-worker described it. A Vietnamese friend said when she gets cravings for banh cam, she tries to get to the store by 10 a.m. before they run out.

—Craig Gima

5. Tough REI bags survive yearlong trip

When I took a year off to travel, I knew I needed to invest in some serious luggage. I did a lot of research and couldn’t find a bad review of REI’s 34-inch Wheely Beast. I bought two of them, crossed my fingers, and headed off to India. Over the course of a year they were thrown off moving trains, rolled across every sort of unpaved road the Third World has to offer, and even run over by a rickshaw. They proved indestructible. Because I am very lazy, I needed these bags to be easy for a single person to transport. The enormous wheels mean you can roll it easily without breaking a sweat. Because I am a gifted shopper, I also needed them to be roomy enough to carry lots of stuff. That I — a woman not exactly known to "travel light" — lived out of these bags for a year is a testament to how much they’ll carry. Three years after my big trip, the bags look new and are still my go-to luggage. Even though they’re great for the adventure traveler, mine still look spiffy enough to roll into a nice hotel. Their awesomeness is such that I regularly get stopped by envious airline employees asking me about them. The Wheely Beast is freakin’ amazing. Order for $199 at www.rei.com.

—Martha Shade, Atlanta