Wave to the pretzel It's Christmas (as you might have noticed), so Mr. Tidbit doesn't want to burden you with anything too serious. This is, therefore, an excellent opportunity to acknowledge new Pretzel Waves, from the Rold Gold branch of Frito-Lay. (That's Frito-Lay's pretzel arm -- pretzels are rolled and gold.)
Mr. Tidbit struggles to describe a pretzel wave: Picture a rippled (or, if you prefer, ruffled) potato chip. Now picture it as a rectangle. Now picture that there are only three up and three down ripples (or ruffles). Now picture that instead of a potato chip, it's made of pretzel. There! That's a Pretzel Wave.
Now picture that it's available with vanilla yogurt drizzle (artificially flavored) or dark chocolate drizzle (artificially flavored), or dusted with Cheddar blend flavor or Parmesan garlic flavor.
Mr. Tidbit isn't sure what part of any of that is Rold.
Carry me back Probably you are aware that Nabisco's Barnum's Animals crackers have always come in a little box with a string for carrying it. New from the Endless Stream of Variations Department at Nabisco are Ritz Bits cheese sandwich crackers and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese crackers in similar-size little boxes, with little fold-out carrying handles and decorated to look like baggage.
At the store where Mr. Tidbit found them, the Carry Me pack of Ritz Bits was $1.29 (for 2 ounces) and the Carry Me pack of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese crackers was $1.29 (for 1.5 ounces). At the same store, the regular 7.5-ounce box of Ritz Bits cheese sandwich crackers was $2.89, and the regular 8-ounce box of the Macaroni & Cheese crackers was $2.99, so the cute little Carry Me pack of Ritz Bits sandwiches costs 69 percent more per ounce than the regular box, and the Carry Me pack of Macaroni & Cheese crackers costs a shocking 130 percent more per ounce than the regular box. (Merry Christmas.)
AL SICHERMAN