"Pick Your Nose" is probably not a headline you expected to see on Slashfood. Well. There's a first time for everything.

These are 12 ounce paper cups with various noses on them. Finally, you can pick your friends' noses. I know you've wanted to. A pack of 24 is $9.95, aka way cheaper than plastic surgery.*

As for clipping your friends' nose-hairs, we're still working on that.

*also somewhat less effective.

Ah the spoon. So basic, yet so versatile.

I have used spoons for many things over the years, including lottery tickets and painting (don't ask, it's not worth it).

There are a lot of things you can do with a good spoon, like one of these sexy little 1920 numbers from Horchow (at right). I like these spoons. Maybe I'll get them, and do the following 8 things with my old ones. Does anyone have $550.00 I can borrow?

Here are 8 non-traditional things you can do with an old spoon:

1. Chill it and use it to reduce under-eye puffiness.
2. Make spoon puppets.
3. Gag a Family Ties cast member with it.
4. Attempt to bend it with your mind.
5. One word: catapult.
6. Spoon art.
7. Hang it on your nose, make a child smile.
8. Scrape your tongue to help combat halitosis or fight a cold.

Upgrade your spoons. Impress your family and friends. And have fun!

Game on. Now through November 3rd, McMonopoly has begun at participating restaurants all across the country.

My personal love affair with McMonopoly began as a child. My parents used to take my sister and I to McDonald's on Saturdays for lunch to teach us manners for eating out. Despite all the great toys like muppet characters, and that one time when we collected every single color of plastic traincar, McMonopoly was the best time of year. I loved collecting the pieces, trading them with my sister, trying to coordinate with friends, and of course the instant wins. The aesthetic pleasure of peeling off a game piece is still not lost on me. Simple pleasures.

"Who doesn't love Wii?" says the manager I spoke with at Wildwood BBQ, a restaurant on Park Avenue at 18th Street in Manhattan.

Every Tuesday night since August, Wildwood BBQ, a classy new ribs joint off Union Square, has hosted Wii Boxing with cheap beer and big prizes. There's a pre-tournament warm up at 8:00pm, when anyone can play, then signup for the tournament begins at 8:30. Sixteen guests can play for a chance to win $100 gift certificates good at any of BR Guest's restaurants.

Sign up at the 50-foot bar for a chance to play, and starting at 9:30 pick up a $12 pitcher of Cold Ass beer (pardon my English; that's really what it's called).

Rumor has it that some undisclosed celebrities may be stepping into the ring one of these weeks! Get there if you can.

It looks like 3D cookies will be one of the newest trends in cookie making this year. Of course, we know that both cookies and cookie cutters are normally three-dimensional, but these are different because the baked cookies can actually be assembled into free-standing three-dimensional cookie art!

We first saw the concept back in November when we were prepping for holiday cookie making. This newest set of 3D Cookie Cutters includes fun shapes that can be used in any season: a teddy bear, unicorn, airplane, sailboat, dolphin and dinosaur. The cookie cutters are plastic and there are 12 included in the set, although you can only make six different cookie designs (unless you want to try to attach a flipper to your unicorn or legs to your airplane). The finished cookies stand approximately 5-inches tall and a recipe is included, so you have a recipe that won't spread too much and will fit together nicely on your very first try.

The foodie quiz is a fun little way to waste a couple minutes of the morning and maybe have a little laugh or two while you're at it because it is certainly not a serious quiz in any way. If it were serious, it is highly unlikely that one of the answers, right or wrong, would suggest that the correct solution to a minor restaurant dilemma is to "grab the waiter by his neck, shove him in a tiny crate, which you load into the hold of a plane bound for Auckland, while shouting: 'How would you like it, you animal abusing spawn of the devil?'"

The quiz is intended to test your knowledge of general foodie issues, kitchen trends and food movements. I scored 42 out of a possible 45 (the higher the score, the better), which apparently makes me a "gastro-warrior." Take the quiz and get back to us here in the comments to let us know how you fared!

The 'ole silicone whisk and the collapsible calendar. How are these two seemingly unrelated kitchen tools similar? The silicone whisk doesn't rust and get gooey where the tines splay from the handle; the other is useful and saves space. And I expect neither hurts as badly when hurled by a surly cook, or mother.

Now, I don't cook on non-stick cookware except at friend's homes, but sometimes Teflon is necessary. Take care not to scrape and scratch the surface of the pans and you don't have to worry too much about Teflon-related health issues. There are a good set of such whisks here, and I saw some at wallyworld...take your pick.

This collapsible colander is multi-use. These colanders from Chef'n save space and don't fall out of the cupboard when you're trying to get a baking sheet out. They're also great for egg tosses in the backyard.

It looks like Amsterdam will be getting a new theme park, one based on the Roald Dahl's book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The park will be called De Chocolade Fabriek and will be primarily located underground in an unused railway tunnel, which means that the builders will have an easier time creating the fictionaly world, since they won't have to block out the sights and sounds of the city. Attractions will include a glass elevator and a chocolate fountain, as well as a production facility that will make a small amount of chocolate. The park will cost about €20 million (approx. $25 million) and is expected to take 2-3 years to completion.

Since it's based on the book, not the movie, you can't expect to see the likeness of Johnny Depp popping up anywhere - unlike at the revamped Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland - but considering that they made Willy Wonka slightly more disturbed in the updated film, it's probably just as well. The park is, after all, supposed to appeal to kids.

[Images from http://www.dechocoladefabriek.nl/]

The Octodog is a gadget that bills itself as a "frankfurter converter." In a matter of seconds, it can cut an ordinary hot dog into a hot dog that resembles a sea creature, namely an octopus. The device is made out of sturdy plastic and cuts through the dogs by applying pressure, without the use of a blade. This makes it child-safe, but produces edges that are somewhat dull. To show off the "legs," the Octodog really needs to be served on a plate, not in a bun.

To be frank(furter), I can honestly say that I have never had a desire to try and convert a hot dog into any form of marine life, though sites selling them proclaim that "kids love them!" and I will admit that it is sort of cute, especially with some cartoon eyes added. If you want to check one out, they're for sale here.

 

Is grocery shopping the new national past time? Sometimes, it can certainly seem that way. With lines around the block at store openings for Trader Joe's and Whole Foods markets, one would think that the customers were lining up to see a Broadway show or a blockbuster movie, not to pick up a quart of milk and some specialty produce. Shoppers drive for hours to visit a Wegman's grocery in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland or Virginia - not only to get all the goodies they need to stock their kitchens, but for the fun of it. Cheese tasting, gourmet and artisan prepared goods and other foods, like sushi, prepared on the spot by skilled chefs are all draws of markets like these, whether their prices are high, low or midrange.

Why is shopping becoming entertainment, though? USA Today tried to answer that very question and found that the answer lay in a combination of factors. Americans are more interested in new and quality foods than ever before. They want healthier foods, international flavors and they want to find it all in one store because the long-standing tradition of one-stop shopping is the only kind that fits into a busy schedule. Consequently, the stores that offer everything do well, so well that people want to visit them more than other stores. "Nothing compares with it," a customer said of Wegman's. "You can spend an entire day there."