HOT TIPS : SWEET-TALKING TOYS.

``I work for peanuts,'' proclaims Larry the Talking Elephant. Howie the Talking Cow queries, ``Got Milk?''

The two are the latest in a line of plush talking toys - called the Yak Pack - from Venice-based My Favorite Company, joining Sid the Talking Bear (``I loooooove chocolate'') and John the Talking Pig (``I'm a pig'').

The talking toys and other products - talking cookie and candy jars, candy tins, magnets, coffee mugs, picture frames and figurines - are available in gift and specialty stores, and even have their own theme shops within larger stores like Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Lord & Taylor, Robinsons-May and FAO Schwarz.

It was the chocoholic tendencies of company founder and president Mark Eisenberg that led not only to the characters, but to their luggage. Each toy carries a backpack filled with candy.

Most of the products - including the plush toys (and the candy) - retail for less than $20. For more information on the toys, call My Favorite Company toll-free at [phone], or check out the Web site at www.myfavoriteco.com.

- Carol Bidwell

To whom it may concern ...

When the restaurant serves you soup with a six-legged surprise, when the mint-condition car you bought turns out to be a lemon, when the insurance company gives you the run-around, rather than fume in private, let them have it ... in a professionally composed letter.

To be heard and to expect results is a fundamental consumer right, say John and Mariah Bear, father-daughter co-authors of ``Complaint Letters for Busy People'' (Career Press; $16.99).

Their new book will teach you the fine art of complaining - both on the spot and in ink. Be direct, ask for a resolution and you'll get what you want, whether it's a fresh bowl of soup or dinner on the house.

Not your style? Don't want to cause trouble? Don't have time to write letters?

Quit complaining. The Bears have devoted an entire chapter to 62 sample letters addressing all kinds of situations, designed solely for your adaptation.

Give constructive complaining a chance. You may end up swearing by it.

- Betty Kwong

Pillow talk for a king's ransom

You've heard of walking on air. But how about sleeping on money?

For $2,300 you can lay rest your head on what's being touted as the world's most expensive pillow: eiderdown filling, covered with 435-thread-count silk, woven in Germany. For that price, it is, of course, king-size.

It's ``so light and soft - so sinfully luxurious - your friends and neighbors will have `pillow envy,' '' promises David Pipkorn, pillow pundit and vice president of manufacturing for the Company Store of La Crosse, Wis., catalog supplier of pillows, comforters, featherbeds and other sleep products.

The filling for the pricey pillows comes from eider ducks, who line their nests - in Iceland and the northern islands and coastal areas of Canada and the United States - with their own down to keep their ducklings warm. Once the babies have flown the coop and mom's moved on, farmers collect the rare, soft down, which is made into pillows.

The major drawback to buying a $2,300 pillow, says Pipkorn, is that your bed mate's going to want one, too. For those on tighter budgets, the Company Store offers a queen-size eiderdown pillow for $2,000, or a standard-size one for $1,800.

Check out other, less expensive pillows and bed covers in the Company Store's mail-order catalog. Call [phone] to receive a catalog or browse its Web site at www.thecompanystore.com

- Carol Bidwell

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Photo: (1--Color) no caption (Larry the Talking Elephant)

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