Two 14-year-old New Zealand girls made the news recently when their school science project revealed that Ribena, the popular black currant drink, did not have the high levels of vitamin C it claimed to. According to a story published yesterday in The Guardian, the girls were testing a variety of beverages, expecting to find that the less expensive ones had less vitamin C, when they discovered the opposite. Their results were picked up by a local news show and then eventually a national watchdog group. Today, The Guardian reported that GlaxoSmithKline, the drink's producer, is being fined almost $160,000 for misleading ads, which stated "the black currants in Ribena contain four times the vitamin C of oranges." A GSK press release says that that fact is true "on a weight for weight basis," but also admits that it could be misleading. There's also some discrepancy about the differing vitamin C levels in the concentrate versus the diluted product. On a personal note, I was a Ribena drinker for a while. I think it's tasty stuff. I don't think I ever believed it was good for me, however.

Apparently it is no longer "Cool-2B-Real." Some of you may remember a site by that name, created a few years ago by the National Cattleman's Beef Association as a way to get teen and "tween" age girls to keep eating beef. That age group is rather prone to going vegetarian, says a Time article about the site. As this online petition against the site reminded me, Cool-2B-Real featured a survey with the question "What type of beef do you most like to eat with your friends?"  If I recall correctly, the site also featured a blurb from a young female figure skater that was somehow related to eating beef. I recently went to check up on the site, and to my surprise, I found Zip4Tweens. Using numbers instead of words is obviously still cool, but this kid-geared beef site isn't nearly as bizarre as Cool-2B-Real. There are still plenty of beef recipes and diet-related games, but damn it, it's just not as weird. I think I actually saw some salad recipes on there.

While it takes some time to adjust to the fact that this cookbook is full of fabric trimmings and other very girly touches, behind that veneer of cuteness is actually a very useful book. The Meat Club Cookbook: For Gals Who Love Their Meat is just what it sounds like: a book full of meat dishes. They don't have to be only eaten by women, of course, but are meant to make cooking meat seem less manly. It approaches its subject with humor, even adapting the (now ubiquitous) Fight Club rules to suit their purpose:

You have to be a girl.
You have to love to cook and eat meat.
You have to love to talk about meat (any kind).
What's said in the Meat Club stays in the Meat Club!

It may seem cheesy, but the heart of the book is not in dairy, but in the meat of the cow (or pig). The recipes range from basics like Slow Lovin' Beef Brisket to dishes like Wild Mood Moroccan Patty Cakes and most of them have a story of origin, usually having come from a friend, aunt or grandmother. This isn't the place to look for chicken and veggie dishes, but you'll find quite a few that use bacon grease.

Did I mention that they have a website? No boys allowed, of course.

It looks like the Slate missed out in their toaster test by excluding specialty and novelty toasters, but if "cute" had been one of their categories, these Disney toasters by VillaWare would have won hands down. Not only is there a Cinderella toaster, which prints a heart on one side of toast and a glass slipper on the other, but there are Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse toasters, too. Perhaps the most interesting toaster is one that will really appeal to children while annoying the heck out of parents: the Mickey Mornin' Toaster. It prints the unforgettable image of Mickey Mouse on the toast and it plays the Mickey Mouse Club March when the toast pops up. This toaster would make a great gift - that way you get to see it in action without having to live with it!