Craving an 830-calorie Wendy’s Baconator? The Calorie King’s “Calorie Fat & Carbohydrate Counter” handbook clocks that lunch in at 51 grams of fat. Now it’s up to you to decide if you’re willing to enjoy that flavor, skip it or decide to cut back elsewhere. Allan Borushek’s guide includes the counts for basic foods, name-brand packaged foods and 200 fast food and chain restaurants. Knowing what you are eating will help you make better decisions. Eating just 350 extra calories a day will add one pound every 10 days, book promoters say.

Watch for sneaky labeling. The "actual weight" of packaged foods is often significantly greater than the "net weight" on the front of the package. Some baked products can be up to 40 percent heavier than the net weight, yet the calories are only provided for the lighter net weight, according to the author.

Find out more at http://www.calorieking.com/.

Black gold

I love to begin my day with hot peppers for breakfast and I keep ‘em coming whenever I can. While I love a good peppercorn-crusted anything, I usually don’t bother with ordinary “table” pepper. McCormick has cans of two new gourmet blends that pass my test. Worchestershire and Smokehouse Black carry nuances as distinctive as wine.

Applewood is the buzz this grilling season and Smokehouse has an infusion of the smoky flavor. I don’t know how they got the Worcestershire flavor in this blend, but kudos to them. I’ve coated all manor of broiled vegetables with nothing but these pepper blends and sea salt Mrs. Kleinpeter of Groves sent me. I am still working up to trying them on meat.

Contact this reporter at ddoiron@panews.com.