misosouper, a shopping blog

It appears that I have landed on a strange, strange planet, the surface of which is covered with Twang flavored salt.

Confused?  So am I.  Let me retrace the path.

I read this post over at Public School, and was charmed by the tale of how Jay found pickle salt at his corner store.   Then disturbed by the fact that his childhood ice cream truck used to peddle the stuff.  (I’ll have a Rocket Pop, extra pickly, please…)

So I set out to buy pickle salt on the internet, because hey!  What wouldn’t taste better with a light dusting of pickle salt?  Turns out that Twang also makes chili-lime salt, sweet & sour salt, and–wait for it–BEER SALT.    Apparently, the lemon-lime longneck shaker has been Twang’s best-selling product for over 20 years.

You’ll be doing all of us a public service if you can comment about the Twanging experience.  Because my Twang won’t arrive until this weekend, and I’ll be too drunk and salty to do it myself.

Shopping for a new digital camera?  Start here.

Skin is what’s in.  Or what you’re in.  Until you take it off.  Confused yet?

Thank god these Hood Thongs are custom made.  Because I’m thinking that little landing strip included in department store bathing suits just wouldn’t cut it. (NSFW-ish.)

Via The Awesomer:  a tie pillow, collar pillow, and sleeve pillow that cradle you as you weep softly into your desk.

Booooooom x Design for Mankind’s “Free Encouragement” postcards are for sale.  Hand one to the person who scrunches over for you on the subway.

Via NY Mag’s Best Bets:  a pillow screened with the year’s top Google search terms.  Price?  $120.  Having David Cook and Sarah Palin sitting together on your couch for posterity?  Priceless.

Happy weekend!  Don’t forget to enter this week’s giveaway with fawn&forest, and see you on Monday…

File this Magic Garden under toys that just get better with age.  Like ant farms, or slingshots.

The Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware Spring ‘09 catalogs landed in my mailbox exactly one day apart.  And here’s what I found (PB on left, RH on right):

Let’s compare, shall we?

*PB’s Brittanic Trunk vs RH’s Mayfair Steamer:  according to the descriptions, RH’s Mayfair has 3,000 hand-hammered brass nailheads, while PB’s Brittanic makes no mention of how many brass nailheads hold it together.  The Brittanic, however, has one extra drawer:  more space for you to stash tattered maps, iron candlesticks, and whiskey.  The Mayfair claims to be a repro that’s handmade–an original copy, so to speak.  Derrida would not approve.  The Mayfair’s bigger, but really, how much gleaming silver trunk can you want?  Plus, the Brittanic’s just better looking.  Round one:  Pottery Barn.

*PB’s Wheel Coffee Table vs RH’s Furniture Factory Cart:  this one’s pretty easy.  The Wheel Coffee Table appears to be a sanitized version of a pallet used to push your zinnias through the parking lot to your car.  The Furniture Factory Cart is an actual remnant, salvaged from an actual factory and restored by an actual Northern California craftsman (I italicize to highlight the J Peterman-esque detail).  Round two:  Restoration Hardware.

What say you, readers?  Coincidence?  The result of months of surveillance by a well-placed mole?  A comedic debacle along the order of Rachel’s apothecary table?

So many eyes, screen printed on wood.  Are they bunnies, babies, ghosts?  Does it even matter?