Must-Haves

Batter Up

Most cookbooks for kids offer easy recipes that are fun to make, but not always fun to eat.

Batter Up Kids: Delicious Desserts is a great new cookbook from Barbara Beery of the Batter Up Kids cooking school. With easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions and amazing photos on every page, the treats such as Crispy Creamy Ice Cream Sandwiches, Baked Snowballs and Bonkers for Banana Bread are, as the title says, delicious.

Offering tips that parents can use too, like using powdered sugar instead of flour when rolling out dough to prevent toughening, the cookbook provides unique techniques that also teach children about the fundamentals of cooking and baking.

Sample You Are My Sunshine Cupcakes from Batter Up Kids: Delicious Desserts in our Recipe section.

Batter Up Kids: Delicious Desserts $13.97 at Amazon.com.

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A Little Language Lesson

What do Uma Thurman, Kelly Ripa, Debra Messing and Rosie O'Donnell have in common? All four introduced foreign language to their enfants with the help of Language Littles dolls.

Thurman gave the cuddly, plush Spanish and Russian speaking dolls to her children; Ripa gave Spanish and Italian speaking dolls to her daughter; new mommy Messing received a Hebrew speaking David doll for her bundle of joy; and O'Donnell gushed over the dolls on her talk show and gave Spanish speaking dolls to her older children.

The dolls, although a tad on the stereotypical side (Anna the ballerina speaks Russian), perfectly translate over 25 English phrases to their native languages including Spanish, French, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Hebrew, German, Russian and Greek.

Language Little Dolls available at Amazon.com. $34.99

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Pool Cool

Daniel Oakley, creator of the stylish Oli Blocks, is taking the fun to the pool with his latest invention - Oli Inflatables.

Available in Warm (magenta & orange) and Cool (blue & green) color schemes, the pieces interlock like the original blocks to create ultra-modern "pool art."

Currently offered in a "V" shape that we found ideal for kids and adults to hang onto and float around, Oakley will introduce two additional shapes in the coming weeks.

$30; Available at Oliblock.com

Easy Bake

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Faced with baking a pie or cake, many perfectly capable cooks succumb to "pastry phobia" and leave the job to a frozen crust or the local bakery.

Caprial's Bistro's Caprial Pence doesn't want anyone to miss out on the fun of making desserts just because they panic at the prospect of beating egg whites.

Like a culinary class, Caprial's Desserts focuses on the basic process pastry chefs practice daily - using master recipes as a base for developing more creative desserts.

By building on the more than 60 master recipes divided into seven categories including Cakes, Pies and Tarts, Cookies, Ice Creams, and Desserts for Special Occasions, the easy to follow guide reveals how each one can be finessed to create several tasty variations.

With step-by-step photographs, clear explanations and advice, Pence easily teaches anyone how to turn a Lemon Cream Tart into an unbelievable Dreamsicle Tart; Piped Butter Cookies into exotic Spiced Almond Sticks; or Flourless Chocolate Cake into a luscious Dark & White Chocolate-Hazelnut Cake.

Caprial's Desserts is a user-friendly, approachable, must-have addition to your cookbook library with something for all levels.

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Gadget of the Week - 07.19.04: iGo Juice 70

Mobility Electronics' Juice 70 was designed as a universal power adapter for laptops that can be used in the office, at home, in cars, airplanes...basically, anywhere you go, you'll have Juice.

With this device, users can simultaneously charge their laptops, mobile phones or PDAs.

The charger includes interchangeable heads which fit most electronics and is a great asset while traveling or to minimize cable messes.

Available at www.mobilityelectronics.com

- Suggested Retail Price: $119.99

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