-Nos,
TEMPTING ;\\
BITS OF
INTEREST
AND INFO.

looks to become "a mas-
These Peas Veg
sive seller for Iceland."
Do Not
Please
Kid Expo
Children in England re-
Comes
cently got a taste of some-
To Town
thing very odd.

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
EDITOR

Distributed by Iceland
food stores and developed
in conjunction with
Britain's Cancer Re-
search Chain, it's
called Wacky Veg, and it's
supposed to be both
healthy and delicious.
Among the items on the
menu: Chocolate-flavored
carrots, pizza-flavored corn,
and peas with the taste of
baked beans.
Things didn't exactly start
out on a good foot, according
to a story in the Daily Mail
A group of elementary-
school-age students from
the London area were invited
to sample the new concoc-
tions. Taste-tester Dale
Annous promptly announced,
"I don't like any vegetables;
they're just disgusting. They're
not for me. When I have to
eat them I feel like faint-

THE APPLETREE

ing. )1

12

But the situ-
ation did im-
prove, sort of. --
The children agreed the
pizza-corn was at least edible,
though the chocolate-carrots
met with a resounding thumbs
down. One child described the
gravy as "horrible."
Of course, these little testers
never saw the items Iceland
eventually chose to not pro-
duce, including bubble-gum
broccoli and toffee-apple corn.
Reporter Sean Poulter of the
Daily Mailwrites that Wacky

The Kid Expo 1997 is just
around the corner, with plenty
of fun and educational oppor-
tunities for both parents and
children.
Sponsored by Melody Farms
and the Michigan State Fair-
grounds, Kid Expo 1997 is a
two-day consumer and re-
source exposition, held June
21 and 22. It will feature local
exhibitors, performers, organi-
zations and businesses with re-
sources to offer children. There
also will be plenty of entertain-
ment and a live petting zoo.
Doors open at the Michigan ,
State Fairgrounds at 11 a.m.
and close at 7 p.m. Tickets
cost $5 for adults, $2 for se-
niors and children 13 and
younger. A portion of the pro-
ceeds will benefit the Ronald
McDonald House of Detroit.

You
Bug
Me

Imagine — if you dare — a
scorpion that's bigger than ta-
bles, chairs, cars and even
your father! Sounds wonder-
fully creepy, doesn't it?
Well, you can see that giant
scorpion and plenty of other
robotic insects at the Detroit
Science Center, where they'll
be through Sept. 28.
The exhibit, "Backyard
Monsters: The World of In-
sects," has robotic creatures

up to 96 times their normal
size, along with interactive
learning displays and one of
the world's largest private
specimen collections.
"This is a world where in-
sects tower over humans, and
blades of grass are the size of
trees," says Mel Drumm, exec-
utive director of the Detroit
Science Center.

The massive insects and oth-
er arthropods featured in the
exhibit include a praying man-
tis, a scorpion, a black widow
spider, beetles, a dragonfly and
carpenter ants. Each contains a
system of animated robotics
that enables it to exhibit up to
20 movements such as darting
eyes, waving antennae, for-
ward and backward hunches

Included in the Baby of Mine club membership is a bimonthly magazine.

Attention,
Kmart Shoppers

New babies and their moms are invited to join
a Kmatt club that offers great deals on every-
thing from strollers to diapers.
Members receive a quarterly magazine, called Baby of Mine,
filled with articles, useful tips and rebate offers on a variety of
products. (To receive the rebate, families simply buy any of the
specified items in the catalog, complete a form and mail it in. Re-
bate checks may be used for any future purchase at Kmart.)
Not sure if you could really use the extra cash? Then check
out this information, from a 1997 survey conducted by Ameri-
can Baby magazine:
* Parents spend, on average, between $250 and $290 a
month on children's clothing, furniture and accessories.
* The typical cost of setting up a nursery is $600.
* Parents spend about $342 each month on baby play
clothes.
* In the first year, most parents will pay $600 for the child's di-
apers, wipes and shampoo.
Any expectant mother, or moms of infants 12 months and
younger, are invited to join, at no cost. For information, call 1-
800-533-0143.