While surfing around Facebook (only for deals, I swear!), I ran across this great deal on two BOGO offers:  BOGO soy sauce/ponzu and BOGO soy sauce.  And just what the heck is ponzu you may well ask?  According to our beloved Wikki:

Ponzu is made by simmering mirin, rice vinegar, katsuobushi flakes, and seaweed (konbu) over medium heat. The liquid is then cooled, strained to remove the katsuobushi flakes, and finally the juice of one or more of the following citrus fruits is added: yuzu, sudachi, daidai, kabosu, or lemon.

Commercial ponzu is generally sold in glass bottles, which may have some sediment.

Ponzu shoyu and tuna steak.

Ponzu shoyu is traditionally used as a dressing for tataki (lightly grilled, then chopped meat or fish), and also as a dip for nabemono (one pot dishes) such as shabu shabu. It is used as a dip for sashimi. In the Kansai region, it is offered as a topping for takoyaki.

Sounds ideal for a springtime dressing.  Click here to get to the Kikkoman FB page and print two copies of each.  Note that you don’t have to do anything stupid like “liking” them or “friending” them.  Domo arigato, Kikkoman.

Kikkoman Corporation was founded in 1917, a combination of 8 family companies, some going back to 1603!  So you can see why advertising that boasts “since 1990” or even “since 1890” fails to sway me.

Every year your kid starts whining about Christmas gifts for the teachers, aides, therapists, drivers, pool boys (oh wait, that’s my list) and you immediately start wondering how you’re going to pay for all the stuff….did you ever think about shopping your stockpile?  with a twist?

For 2009 we put together “Depression Care Packages” which contained organic pasta sauce, pasta, paper towels, toilet paper, Nivea lip balm, shampoo and conditioner (especially funny for the bald guy), anyway, you get the idea.  We used a brown grocery bag and believe me, it was filled to the top.  People that somehow got left out were know to pout until I made more…

So this picture is this year’s gift:  The 2010 Sniffle Sacks for 12, just in time for the cold and flu season.  Each bag contains….well, you can see everything, right?  And I would hope you would remember the deal.  Except that the 3 bags of the teddy bear cookies are something I just kinda “lucked” into – 6 cartons of luck – …maybe I’ll have a giveaway…

I’ve been trading emails with the clever folks at Cool Juice about their entry into the Chicago market.  Even though they are based in the southeast, turns out that they are very familiar with our area, having lived and/or had Chicago as a territory for other juiceries  (made-up word; just like how it sounds).  Good news is that they will be rolling into Chicago in February – bad news is they’re starting with Dominicks.  Well, high value coupons on quality juice blends is enough of a reason to run in and out.  and at least there’s always tons of parking spaces…

Just “liked” (god, I hate that stupid idea) a company called Cool Juice, which produces a 100% fruit juice blend in four flavors/colors.  I like the look of the blue one (blueberry, etc.), so first you like them on Facebook, then send a “shout out” email with your deets and they will mail you a coupon for a free 64 oz carton of your juice choice.  Free is always good – crummy “likes” and “shout outs” are not.  pah…

A note here: This product is not yet available in the Chicago area; it seems to be spreading out from the southeastern states.  The stores that do sell it are Albertson,  Supertarget and CUB (all stores with affiliates in the Chicago area), so you have nothing to lose, since the coupon should be good for quite a while (unlike Sobe…)

Here is a link to complete if you can truthfully answer that you purchased at least 3 boxes of Frosted Mini Wheats between January 28, 2008 and October 1, 2009.  Truthfully?  I can attest to having purchased at least 50 in that time frame!  It’s almost two years, folks.  Fill in the on-line claim form with your name, address and phone and the next page asks for the number of boxes you purchased (minimum/maximum of 3).  You will receive a check for $15.  wonder how much the lawyers got?

thanks to Barb at CW