Hot seller

The Restaurant: Fruition

This week's best-selling item: a starter, Potato-Wrapped Oysters Rockefeller, Parmesan-leek emulsion, bacon lardoons, baby spinach

- Chef Alex Seidel, Fruition, 1313 E. Sixth Ave., Denver, 303-831-1992

Produce pick

The food: Hydroponic greenhouse tomatoes from Nebraska

The deal: 79 cents a pound

Where: Pete's Fruits and Vegetables, 5606 E. Cedar Ave., 303-393-6247

Tasty TV

It's not exactly Reese Witherspoon and Will Smith. But really, who wouldn't want to watch food icons like Snap, Crackle and Pop, the M&M's, Col. Sanders, Mr. Peanut and Charlie the Tuna strut the red carpet? The Food Network Awards, a 90-minute special, premieres April 15 with a celebration of the innovative people, places and things influential in the food world.

How to . . . use vanilla bean in baking

• Choose a vanilla bean that's fresh, pliable and easily split. Slice the bean lengthwise.

• Scrape the tiny seeds into your recipe. The split bean itself can be rinsed and used to make vanilla sugar for baking. Place the bean in 2 cups of sugar and let sit covered for a week. Remove the bean before using.

Now that's a knife

Sure, chopping, dicing and slicing can be a chore, but Kuhn Rikon has made it easier with paring knives in a bright palette of colors. They have a nonstick coating and a safety sheath because, baby, these are sharp. Available at kuhnrikon.com, amazon.com and williams-sonoma.com, $8.

BY THE BOOK

Best of the Pillsbury Bake-Off Desserts (Wiley, $17.95)

Back in the day, the Pillsbury Bake-Off produced such classics as the Tunnel of Fudge Cake and French Silk Chocolate Pie. This new cookbook puts the best sweet recipes from every decade since the contest began in the '50s into one neat little package. Maybe you'll be inspired: One of the categories for the 2008 Bake-Off is Sweet Treats. Entries in all categories are due April 22. For details, check out pillsbury.com.

• Premius Bordeaux Clairet Rosé 2005 (France) $10

A dry, lively rosé that balances merlot and cab sauvignon muscle with pretty raspberries, roses and violets on the nose. Perfect for washing down that deli sandwich you bought when you ditched the office to sit outside and have lunch.