I like Burt's Bees shampoo & conditioner, especially the new one "Super Shiny" because it tames my dry hair. However, there was a BB's product I tried years ago that was so awful it actually caused me pain. I'm referring to the Theraputic Bath Crystals. When I put it in the bath water my skin felt like it was been burnt alive. I couldn't jump out of the water fast enough. I've read reviews where others have had the same reaction but most people don't seem to experience a problem so I guess it depends on how sensitive your skin it. Mikasa...years ago I bought a couple of their white soup bowls open stock and loved how durable they were. So was I surprised a few years later to see how much the quality had changed when I bought an extra one. Utensils left ugly marks on the bowl that didn't wash out, even a spoon was removing the finish. I thought surely this is a fluke so I got another one and the same thing happened. Don't know what Mikasa changed but that product has gone downhill since I first bought it.

If nightshade veggies don't bother you, try this yummy dish I made a couple of weeks ago. It's perfect for the last of the garden stuff. Eggplant chickpea stew with tomatoes from the Williams and Sonoma Vegetable Cookbook 2 small to medium eggplants about 1 1/2 - 2 lbs. total weight. (Note: I just used one big one because that's all I could find, but the littler ones are less bitter, supposedly) 4-5 TBLSP olive oil 1 red onion, cut into wedges 3-4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped 1 lb. fresh tomatoes pureed with a grater or shredder (Yeah right . . . NOT! I just chop them up, or use another can of chopped tomatoes in the off season) 1 1/2 cups canned chickpeas (I usually cook my own, put them in pint jars and freeze, then thaw or microwave to use) 1 lb. diced tomatoes with juice (Like I said, I usually just use one big 24 oz. can of the diced tomatoes, or buy a snazzy can of San Marazano tomatoes and dice them myself before adding) Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste 1/4 tsp. of sugar 1/8 tsp. crushed dried thyme Pinch of ground cinnamon (Don't leave this out, it won't predominate and will give this dish the needed oomph) 1/2 cup dry red wine (Or use a dash of balsamic vinegar if you don't do wine) 2 TBLSP chopped fresh flat leaf italian parsley. (I often don't have fresh parsley, I sub 1 TBLSP dried parsley) Juice of 1/2 lemon (Again, I often sub reconstituted lemon juice, like maybe 1 TBLSP) Sautee the eggplant in half the oil until it is soft, then set it aside. Then sautee the onion in the remaining oil til soft, and add all the other stew ingredients except for the lemon juice. Cook gently to thicken, about 10 min, stirring occasionally and taking care not to smoosh the chickpeas too much. Adjust seasoning to your taste. I DOUBLED the seasoning and might even have added in some oregano. When the sauce is thick and tasty, add the eggplant back in and reduce the heat to med. low and cook 10-15 min. more. Add the lemon juice to brighten the flavors just before serving. (This is not absolutely necessary) I served it with some goat cheese sprinkled on top. Would be great with brushetta with tofu pesto, or pita with spinach dip, but I usually serve it with rice. Goes good with whole wheat pasta too. BF loves this stuff. Oh, and I peel eggplants because I am not a fan of the peel. I also salt them for 15 min. and rinse them afterwards, before sauteeing. I can't usually find good fresh eggplants. Here's another salad I am making later this week to use up my stash of cukes. I probably won't use 4 cukes in it though, and will adjust the ingredients to suit my taste. I usually find that these Eating Well salads don't have enough dressing, so I end up doubling that. Skimping on the dressing is how they cut the calories! Plus I use lowfat feta, or goat cheese crumbles I can get, which supposedly aren't as inflamatory as cow's milk cheeses. Cucumber & Black-Eyed Pea Salad from "Eating Well." Ingredients 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons lemon juice 2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano, or 1 teaspoon dried Freshly ground pepper to taste 4 cups peeled and diced cucumbers 1 14-ounce can black-eyed peas, rinsed (I will use canelinni beans becuase I have a ton of them. Plus, that's the kind of bean I usually use for this salad. Could use garbanzos too.) 2/3 cup diced red bell pepper (I almost always use green peppers, red are too expensive) 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (or less or leave out) 1/4 cup slivered red onion 2 tablespoons chopped black olives 1 can of tuna (LR's addition) Can also add celery and garnish with cherry tomatoes just before serving. Fine to just use bottled italian dressing for this, and you can serve it over lettuce garnished with croutons too.

maybe I do need to explain my idea of dry brining a little bit. I did a google search and it seems I differ from some of the info. Almost all of it is about meat and I must tell you that dry brining is just as good for vegetables. It takes that little hard edge (maybe bitter for some people) off the vegetable making it more palatable. What I do is pretty informal. I prepare vegetables for cooking such as washing and snipping off the end of green beans, or slicing mushrooms or peeling some of the coarse stem off broccoli and chop, etc. I then put the vegetables in a collander. I use about 1 tsp kosher salt per 8 oz of fresh mushrooms. Or two teaspoons for 1 1/2 pounds of green beans. For carrots, I use two teaspoons for 10 mediums carrots thickly sliced (on the diagonal). But don't leave out the seasoning step. Stir the salt into the vegetables in the collander. Then I mince a large jalapeno with seeds in my food processor. Then stir the jalapeno bits into the vegetable mixture in the collander. I think this is the point you could substitute other seasonings such as thyme or dill or garlic or oregano. Stir everthing well trying to make sure your veggies are coated with the herbs (or jalapeno bits). Then put the collander over an empty bowl and cover the collander with a dishcloth. Here is where I get really loose with the directions depending on how much time I've got. But I rarely leave the veggies sitting on the counter in the collander (covered) for more than 3 hours. But I think you could if you accidentally went that long but I have no idea what the maximum time would be. May depend on the veggie. Once your ready to cook, then nothing else special to do but cook. A lot of veggies are good roasted. You can put the results from your collander on a roasting pan and spray lightly with one of those spray cans of olive oil. And then roast for normal amount of time. There will be liquid probably in the bowl beneath the collander. I just discard this though it might be good for making a stock but could be rather salty. Sorry I'm winging most of this but the main point of this is that the salt besides taking the edge off the veggies seems to somehow cause the seasonings to really be drawn into the veggies and penetrates them better than without the brining, IMO. When I cook catfish fillets, I let them sit in the collander with the jalapeno bits and salt covered for a few hours. But inevitably, when I roast them, I need to roast for about 10 minutes, drain and roast some more. Not sure if I get the liquid because my catfish is cheap or what but the final version of the catfish with the jalapeno spicy flavor is nothing short of fabulous. I don't eat catfish any other way now. Yum, yum, yum. Sorry to make this so long but when I went looking on google, turns out there isn't much on this. I posted a pickled carrots recipe in other thread that I love for low fat, diet snacking and healthy too that involves dry brining first with minced jalapenos, then briefly boiling in vinegar and water and chilling in jars in the fridge. If you like spicy food, the salt will really enhance the jalapeno flavor, IMO. Search for "pickled carrots" and I bet it will pop up.

No 100 for this WFD is my post about matcha. ( green tea powder) Do I like it ? Meh it's alright but not terribly impressed. I tried it as a tea made with hot milk. Then because I could detect a faint seaweed smell, I next made pancakes with smoked salmon which were nice but so were DH's non matcha ones according to him. He didn't want matcha after smelling it. There is still some left so I will gradually use it but I wouldn't go out of my way ( ( which I already did) to purchase it again. Jasdip, the strawberries are tiny in real life so it didn't occur to me that they looked like lychee but I can see where you are coming from in the photo.