RETAIL ROUNDUP

We’re ready to admit it right from the get go. Tell us about food, and

you’ll have our ears (isn’t it nice that those funny looking hearing

things don’t seem to get bigger no matter how much stuff we shovel down

our throats?)

But back to business.

The guys over at Chipotle Restaurant in Costa Mesa’s Harbor Center

recently set up shop with a fund-raiser for Share Our Selves, a Costa

Mesa clinic that provides emergency services to the needy.

That’s nice, right? But the people at the “gourmet restaurant where

you eat with your hands” (now, we’re always up for that) also raise money

to get kids excited about reading.

If you bring in a new children’s book -- they’re emphasizing the “new”

part, so don’t try to cheat with something that’s been read before --

they’ll make you a burrito. For free. And the books will go to

READ/Orange County’s Families for Literacy.

Free food and reading. You’ll understand that your bookworm

rounduppers couldn’t resist that one.

Let’s keep going. For a long time, we’ve been secretly harboring a

passion for churros, those star-shaped cinnamon sticks you’ll get at any

good Mexican restaurant. If they’re done right, they’re delicious. Trust

us.

So keeping our bias in mind, we’re ready to try Domino’s Pizza’s

CinnaStix. It’s their first-ever dessert, apparently. The pizza folks

take freshly baked bread sticks and cover them with cinnamon and sugar.

And if you really want to take things over the top, there’s creamy icing

for dipping on the side.

What’s even more exciting is the sticks only have 136.92 calories and

5.17 grams of fat (yes, the precise numbers had us also worried a

little.)

Sick of us yet? Well, the creators of all things Haagen-Dazs have come

up with something we just had to get out there before all of us get

lovey-dovey next week.

Yup, it’s a heart-shaped Valentine’s Day cake, 7 1/2 inches in

diameter and made out of, well, ice cream. It comes with a tube of

frosting to decorate it with that very special message. We’ll probably go

for the cake and pass on the effort of writing a message. It just seems

more romantic to whisper those sweet nothings in our valentine’s lean

ear.