Bento box keeps persnickety keiki amused

When you’re trying to get a fussy toddler to eat lunch, you need all the help you can get, whether it’s dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets or a cool bento box. This one features stainless steel compartments inside a plastic case that keep food warm (and plastic chemicals from potentially leaching into the food). I found it at Marukai Market Place at 1020 Auahi St. ($16.79 for members, $1 more for nonmembers) and couldn’t resist buying a smaller lunch box ($7.99/$8.49), also lined with stainless steel with a removable divider. — Nina Wu

Lamb beats bunny for Easter charm

Anyone can buy a chocolate bunny, but I would rather see this adorable lamb ($8.95) from Honolulu Chocolate Co. peeking from my Easter basket. Made of Belgian milk chocolate, it provides a fresh take on the spring theme. The Ward Centre shop boasts an impressive array of Easter treats that includes a rainbow of chocolate eggs with flavored fillings. An 11-pack is $18.95, or buy an individual egg for $1.50. — Donica Kaneshiro

Loyalty glues together teens’ performance

You’d think the judges of "Britain’s Got Talent" would have learned their lesson from the Susan Boyle episode a couple of years ago. But no. This week on the show, a couple of teenagers appeared, one a rather ordinary, self-possessed girl and the other a shambling bear of a boy, hugely shy and massively overweight. Simon Cowell and the audience smirked, until the kids opened their mouths. The duo, who simply call themselves by their first names, Charlotte and Jonathan, are the latest inspirational viral video, and it’s almost impossible not to be moved. Not by their singing, but by their fierce loyalty. Judge for yourself: goo.gl/wiMzh. — Burl Burlingame

Mexicatessen salsa now for sale

Ever since ‘Ilima Award-winning food truck Zaratez Mexicatessen opened in 2010, customers have asked owner Paul Zarate about buying his salsa, made from a family recipe using fresh ingredients from farmers markets. Now that the truck operation has ended and Zarate has settled into a regular schedule at the Blaisdell Farmers Market on Wednesdays and the Kailua Farmers Market on Thursdays, he’s decided to sell the salsa in bulk, with 16-ounce containers going for $8 at the Blaisdell market. Contact Zarate via social media (Twitter.com/zaratez or Facebook.com/zaratez) for details or to request salsa for Thursday pickup in Kailua. —Jason Genegabus

Book broadens beat on Beatles

Bruce Pollock casts a very wide net in this fascinating survey of things that will be of interest to people who like the Beatles. He starts with a look at the songs and artists that influenced the Beatles and goes from there to examine the many artists and music genres the group influenced in turn. Individual chapters cover topics such as pre-rock American and English pop, a look at other artists whose recordings were produced by Sir George Martin, and the history of Apple Records. Pollock also includes a list of the 100 remakes of Beatles songs he feels are "a particularly apt match of performer and song," and a much longer list of recordings he recommends for other reasons.

The author’s cultural bias in selling short the American Top 40 music of the early ’60s is reason to take his analyses of other genres and individual artists with caution, but the breadth of his work makes "If You Like The Beatles … " (Backbeat Books, $14.99; www.backbeatbooks.com) a book that is certain to broaden almost anyone’s knowledge of 20th century music. —John Berger