Out of print for 30 years, the first and greatest book of regional American cuisine How America Eats has been revised for today’s home cook in The Great American Cookbook. The original bestseller was a decades-in-the-making compilation by Clementine Paddleford. A pioneering food journalist, Paddleford piloted a Piper Cub as she crisscrossed the nation to interview real home cooks about local specialties.

Sounds right up your inquiring alley!

An actual enameled tin (well, tin-like, with a steel rim) cup, it will have a pleasing heft. Of course, it cannot be microwaved, so that may limit it’s usage.

Twelve and a half by sixteen inches in dimensions, with predrilled corners (very handy) and, apparently, no sharp edges to create hazards for the caffeine-deprived recipient; it’s both retro and true.

I do have a few lingering doubts about whether the tin sign is, in fact, actual bona fide tin (as opposed to some other lightweight and low-cost metal) but am IN NO MOOD to quibble.

OK, you think, it’s a 1:18 scale Delorean from Back to the Future, specifically the one with the “Mr. Fusion” power pack. Nice, but so what?

Well, there’s this:

It’s a USB 2.0 cable because there is a 500 GB hard drive inside.

I want this with the burning fire of a thousand suns.

Just sayin’.

Now we can live out all of Jane’s stifled passionate dreams of adventure for her, posthumously, with the elegant and useful Jane Austen Action Figure. Comes with a tiny writing desk with a removable quill pen, and a miniature Pride & Prejudice. (Zombies not included.)

If Frank Lloyd Wright had had LEGO bricks as a child, what might he have accomplished?

Well, I’m no child, but I can have LEGO versions of his iconic designs!

I might like such a thing, except I do know. Every time, every computer. And “I’m just a boy who can’t say no…”

Colourful, waterproof, and practical! Your choice of pointy cowboy style (shown), or traditional Wellington (not shown for some reason). A long way from that black-with-a-red-sole ” ‘igh rubber boot”. No soakers!

or this…

… would be good in November, which is National Novel Writing Month – as you all know and some are participating in. <- Dangling participle. I know it's wrong, so it's "writing" rather than "a goof".

When teaching the class, that is…

May work on the little ones until… say… 8?