Food Gadgets Keep Holiday Festive

Long weekends mean all sorts of entertaining for many people. Campers, hikers and picnickers look forward to woods or beach trips, whereas for others, it means hosting indoor or outdoor parties. Here’s a brief shopping guide that might help whether or not you entertain this Labor Day weekend.

At your service is the Cold Butler from Glacierware in Hartford, Conn. This refrigerated hors d’oeuvre tray will keep appetizers, cold cuts, cheeses and fruits, sushi, gelatin molds and chilled desserts cold for a few hours. Available in red, white and black, the deep tray has a square white plate in the center to hold the food and a freezable module that goes underneath the plate to chill it.

This non-electric chilling tray has a sleek, straight-line design. When placed in the freezer overnight, the Glaciercore component is designed to contribute coldness to anything in contact with it for several hours. Two wooden handles at each end add function and design to the Cold Butler.

Small gadget ideas often create big consumer interest. One that sparked such interest is the Winelight from Vintage Concepts in Napa Valley. Invented by former restaurant dining room manager Jari Hirsch, the Winelight is a high-temperature corklike ceramic item with a wick that fits most wine bottles or other decorative bottles, converting them into long-burning candles.

Recommended for use indoors and on covered patios, this illuminating gadget burns scented or odorless lamp oil. One quart of the oil will provide about 200 hours of soft lighting. The idea came to Hirsch one evening after a wine dinner and soon afterward he quit his restaurant job to concentrate on this project.

“This innovation combines the ageless warmth and beauty of candlelight with today’s love of wine,” he says. “It can also easily double as an emergency light during one of those unexpected power failures.”

If you choose to go picnicking, consider taking a Tavolo Pic-nic table from Himark. This table and bench ensemble for four adults folds up neatly into a slim compact suitcase. The table and chair surface is made of thermo-plastic material while the strong framing is made of white galvanized steel that is rustproof.

A single unit, the table and benches are attached to each other. Made in Italy, the Tavolo Pic-nic table ensemble can be used in camping, in the garden or patio. The table measures about 33x30 inches and when closed, about 33x15x5 1/2 inches. Not a lightweight item, it weighs 34 pounds.

The Cold Butler has a suggested retail price of $24.99 and is available at Geary’s in Beverly Hills.

The Winelight has a suggested retail price of $3 and is available at Hallmark shops, some wineries or by sending $3 to Vintage Concepts, P.O. Box 3929, Napa, Calif. 94558.

The Tavolo Pic-nic has a suggested retail price of $150 and is available at the Broadway.