1) THIS CHOCOLATE IS DIVINE: Locally grown cacao is transformed into luxurious, rich estate chocolate by Malie Kai Chocolates. A little piece melting on the tongue is a ticket to chocolate-lover’s heaven, with such selections as 1.5 ounce bars in dark, milk and nibbed (with cacao beans) chocolate — $4.99 at R. Field. Other varieties include Milk Chocolate with Macadamia Nut & Orange Essence and Dark Chocolate with Tropical Fruit & Nuts. Also available at Executive Chef, Umeke Market, Tamura’s and other fine stores. Visit www.maliekai.com. — Joleen Oshiro

2) A DISCREET BLEMISH BUSTER: No one wants to admit they still get breakouts, especially when puberty was more than two decades ago. When they do happen, I turn to Clinique’s Acne Solutions Clearing Concealer, which both disguises and diminishes blemishes. Not since Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups has there been as brilliant a combination as concealer and skin-clearing medicine.

The product comes in light, medium, tan and corrective-green shades and is available for $13.50 at Sephora. — Donica Kaneshiro

3) ‘PORTLANDIA’ HO!: Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein love Portland, Ore. — the city "where young people go to retire." Bonded over a common love of indie music, the "Saturday Night Live" comic actor and former Sleater-Kinney band member have expanded on their original web sketch videos as ThunderAnt to present a six-episode series called "Portlandia" for IFC that starts at 8:30 p.m. today. (For those who don’t get the cable channel, episodes will be available at www.hulu.com/portlandia.)

The two friends have worked out a nice comic chemistry between them, and their satiric take on the city’s notoriously inclusive hipster vibe is both biting and sympathetic. In the first episode, the duo play a politically correct couple whose insistence on learning the origin of their restaurant’s free-range chicken leads them to become cult members of the farm’s charismatic leader, played by "SNL’s" Jason Sudeikis. — Gary Chun

4) FEAR NOT THE MICROWAVE: I admit it, I’m paranoid. I microwave food only in glass — no rubber lids, just a paper-towel splatter screen. Watching co-workers pull half-melted takeout containers of food from the microwave fills me with horror.

Pyrex has been my standby, but now there’s a cuter option: Safeway Kapahulu sells these lunch-sized Italian glass dishes from Fridgeoverre for $6.99 to $7.99. — Stephanie Kendrick

5) A GLUTTON FOR THE GHOULISH: I’m a Stephen King junkie. I stumbled onto King as a teen, sometime in the 1970s when I picked up "Salem’s Lot" at a bookstore on Guam. I’ve been hooked ever since. I’ve collected nearly all his books — numbering near 60 titles or so — since that fateful day. From vampires to deranged housewives, gunslingers, zombies and even the Devil himself, the author has kept me coming back for fix after fix for nearly 40 years with his tales of the strange and outlandish.

Movies? I’ve watched ’em all. "The Shining" with Jack Nicholson. "The Shawshank Redemption" with Tim Robbins, just to name a few. In the works are a movie and TV series based on King’s "Dark Tower" epic to be directed by Ron Howard. There are comic books, too: "The Dark Tower" and "The Stand." Overdose! — Michael Rovner