Coming Soon to a Grocery Store Shelf Near You - acne-fighting chocolate, caffeine attracting stirrer, milk flavoring straws

I did what I never do - I bought a weekly magazine at the check-out line at the grocery store. Why? Because Chef Mickey (as in Mickey Mouse) was on the cover of Woman's World magazine along with a slice of Disney's Pop Century Resort's famous Tie-Dyed Cheesecake. As a Disney-phile and Cast Member, I was very curious. Turns out there was a whole spread on various sweet recipes from Walt Disney World, including the cheesecake, so I was pretty pleased with my purchase. And, despite the wildly different graphics and fonts on every page of the magazine that look like someone just threw stories and pictures on the pages wherever they fit, some of the stuff inside was kind of interesting. As a Foodie, I was amazed to find another spread on upcoming food items that are coming our way soon (or are already here). [If anyone out there gets Woman's World magazine -- is this something they do every week?] So, here is a run-down of the most interesting foods on that page:

BORBA Clarifying Chocolate Bar - available at Nordstrom and gourmet food stores now - $8 for an 1.8 oz bar. This chocolate bar contains walnut husks, pomegranate and green tea extracts that is supposed to remove toxins, prevent blemishes, and improve the clarity of your skin. At first, I couldn't tell if you were supposed to eat the chocolate or rub it all over your face! Supposedly, you are supposed to eat the chocolate and, apparently, BORBA has a whole line of drinkable and edible skincare at Nordstrom. I really can't see how this works, but I hope it at least tastes good!

The DeCaf Company stirrer - should be available next year in the coffee aisle of your local supermarket according to the article. Okay, this sounds pretty cool! There are these caffeine-attracted polymers on the stirrer and with a few stirs of your coffee or tea, up to 70% of the caffeine is removed from your beverage. That could come in handy if you want to try the latest flavored blends and they aren't available in decaf (and you are like me and get headaches from too much caffeine). I might have to look out for these next year.

SIPahh Milk Flavouring Straws (http://www.sipahh.com.au/default.aspx?FolderID=99&ArticleID=188) - available in January at supermarkets nationwide in packets of 10 straws. By the "ou" in flavouring I'm sure you've already guessed that this must be an import - you're right! It's currently available in Australia and New Zealand. According to other sources I found on the internet, the flavors available are chocolate, strawberry, banana, and caramel, as well as "new" flavors choc mint, toffee apple, and cookies & cream, although I don't know if all of those flavors will come here to the States. The concept is that you have a plain glass of milk, drop the special SIPahh straw in, drink and voila! you are drinking flavored milk. The straw apparently has flavored beads inside it that stay inside via a one-way valve so the milk flows through but the beads stay in. The beads gradually dissolve as they impart flavor. I found another blog post from someone who had tried it and they didn't give it a good review because they said there wasn't much chocolate flavor and that it was hard to get the milk to go through the straw. We'll see, I'll have to test it on BB and LB when it comes out - they love chocolate milk but not all restaurants offer it - that should solve that problem.