Update on the ring lost by a See’s employee: Thea Sawyer found the glittering diamond ring in her See’s bag last Wednesday and returned it to the happy owner the next day. Friday she went to pick up her reward ring at the contributing jewelry store and announced she would be donating it to charity. Nice.
See’s Candies employee, Wanda Estrada, must be happy that parent company Berkshire Hathaway also happens to own Helzberg Diamonds. Estrada believes she lost her diamond ring while bagging sweets for a customer. Sister company Helzberg has offered up a reward ring valued at $2,500 to encourage the return of the misplaced one.
On Thanksgiving Day a local toddler (from Redmond, WA) died soon after his parents rushed him to the hospital with severe flu-like symptoms. The autopsy uncovered two tiny magnets in his small intestines. One magnet was at the top of the intestines, the other at the bottom. The attached magnets twisted his small intestines together, closing them off. He died from septic shock. The magnets had fallen out of the plastic pieces from his older brother’s Magnetix set. Of course this toy is not intended for toddlers to play with, but older kids and parents may not notice if the tiny magnets come out of the pieces and are subsequently ingested. Fred Meyer, where that set was purchased, removed Magnetix from their shelves. The manufacturer has not taken any public action yet.
The Dry Soda Co, based in Tacoma, WA, is rather new and I spotted their minimalist clear bottles at QFC in the cold soda section. Their flavors, lavendar, kumquat, lemongrass, and rhubarb are designed to be paired with fine foods. Thus, they are also available at local (and perhaps soon farther afield) fine restaurants such as Brasa, Canlis, and the Herbfarm. I can’t stomach much alcohol so I’m all for more options in teetotaler drink pairings.
Playwright Wendy Wasserstein is ill with leukemia. “Third,” her most recent play, opened in New York in October. It takes place at a Small Unnamed New England College. Wasserstein received a BA from Mount Holyoke in 1971.
Your trivia for today: Why is pig iron called pig iron? Prompted by Mark Bittman’s NY Times paean to cast iron pans. Lodge cast-iron is made from “pig-iron ingot and scrap steel converted back into iron.”
Over at feeling listless it’s time for Review 2005 and Stuart was not only kind enough to ask me to contribute but used my entry to kick the series off.
“Space Above and Beyond” the short-lived Fox series from about ten years ago was recently released on DVD. Despite reported attempts by creators Glen Morgan and James Wong to add extra material to the DVD set, Fox kept contents to just the bare minimum.
Oprah Winfrey finally deigned to be on Letterman last night. With Tony Danza standing by in the wings as “backup host” Dave gave Oprah a setup and welcome worthy of her 16 year absence. Paul Shaffer even added a tympani for the night to drumroll her introduction. On his very best behavior, Dave concentrated on serious questions, allaying any fears Oprah had that she would be the focus of juvenile jokes and then gallantly escorted her across the street to the Broadway premiere of “The Color Purple.”
In United States Patent No. 3,870,803 is the secret to Stove Top Stuffing. The size of the bread crumbs are critical to the perfect texture of the resulting stuffing. Ruth Siems, first in the patent’s inventor list, died on Nov. 13. The NY Times published her obituary today (one may wish to make snide comments on whether they held this news for the maximum effect of the date juxtaposition). Siems spent her three decade career at General Foods and her invention detached stuffing from the need for poultry to the happiness of side dish fiends everywhere.