Real Bread Baskets

These colorful bread baskets are lined with Provencal print fabrics that will add a bright note to any table. Pop in a loaf of French bread and you have a hostess gift that stands out from the usual flowers or wine.

Bread basket, $16.95 from Landis General Store, 140-142 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles. (323) 465-7998.

Pea Puffs

Snapea Crisps are a baked Japanese snack food. They’re shaped like peas in a pod and made of ground peas. They have a pea-like taste but the texture of cheese puffs. Serve them as a snack or sprinkle them on salads for crunch. They come in two flavors--original and Caesar. Tasters in the Times Test Kitchen preferred the original.

Snapea Crisps, 3.3-ounce package, $1.59 at select Bristol Farms and Wild Oats stores.