BITES : Maybe He’s Amazed

The largest exhibition of art in the United States by the late John Lennon is being hosted by the Hotel Nikko in Beverly Hills. To celebrate the event, the hotel has created a cocktail called John Lennonade, which it will serve until the show closes Thursday. Here’s the recipe:

JOHN LENNONADE

1 ounce vodka

1/2 ounce Midori liqueur

Triple Sec

Seven-Up

Sweet and Sour

Cognac

Mix vodka and Midori. Add splash Triple Sec, Seven-Up, Sweet and Sour. Top with Cognac.

The drink will sell for $7.25. (Hey, this is for Lennon, man.)

Mojo Quest

The people at Domino’s Pizza are looking for superstitious pizza-eating football fans. They’ve already heard from a guy who eats only foods in his team’s colors during a game and one who plays Nintendo football before the game (if he loses against the computer, he makes a point of not watching the real game lest he spoil his team’s chances).

If they decide your football ritual is supreme, you’ll win a weekend for two in New York, where you’ll meet the NBC sportscasters and watch all the day’s games in the NBC screening room, plus get $1,000 walking-around money and pizza each week for a year. The four runners-up also get the year’s supply of pizza.

You need to send a two-minute videotape of your ritual (which must include the consumption of a Domino’s pizza). Entries are judged on creativity, use of Domino’s, adherence to the rules of the contest and the humorous caption that must accompany the video. Call (800) 391-3993 for official rules of the Ultimate Pre-Game Party Weekend. Entries must be postmarked by Dec. 15.

Stalking the Wild Lobster

The rarest lobster in the world comes from the Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea. The entire catch is taken by spearing, and only Aboriginal islanders are permitted to harvest the lobsters. Partly the spearing business is to prevent overfishing of the species, but it’s also because Torres Strait lobsters can’t be caught the same way as ordinary lobsters. They’re vegetarians, so you can’t lure them into a trap with bait.

Hey, Mabel--We’re on Cable

QVC, the cable shopping network, has sent a big orange bus around the country for the past couple of months, doing remote location broadcasts that feature 20 products by local entrepreneurs from each state. The 49th broadcast in the “Quest for America’s Best: 50-in-50 Tour” will be from Los Angeles, and nobody should be surprised that a quarter of the California items are food-related. They’re Better Than Bouillon, Designer Baking Tins, “The Stinking Rose Cookbook” (all garlic recipes), Blue Ribbon Figs and Delightful Honeys (flavored with spices and other ingredients). And who knows--maybe Savore Perfume Enhancer and Armadillo Skin Barrier are edible.

The Los Angeles broadcast will be Nov. 28, 5 to 8 p.m. Then it’s on to Hawaii! (Hey, does anybody remember the 20 products from Rhode Island?)

You Can Look It Up

Webster’s New World Dictionaries added biscotti , balsamic vinegar and microbrewery to this year’s edition and during the next couple of years will include coulibiac (a Franco-Russian salmon pie), cabrito (meat of young goat) and etouffee (message to Webster: the Cajun thing was about 10 years ago).