Is it possible to get orgasmic over an iron? I suppose it is, but it’s probably listed in some book of psychiatric disorders, and well, I don’t want to be the one who gets diagnosed with such an ailment.  But it is possible to get positively elated by the thought of an iron that actually does its job — and lives up to the hype.  Case in point is the Black & Decker F67E Classic Iron.  I happened upon this savior of my clothes on Black Friday while trolling Amazon for holiday gifts.  I wasn’t in the market for an iron, but I did get sucked into the comments on the product.  Review after review claimed that this was “the only iron you’ll ever need.”  At first, I was skeptical mostly because the Black & Decker irons I’ve purchased in the past were horrible appliances that, yes, did press my clothes, but often did so as it leaked water through the steam holes, scorched fabric and then baked it into the iron, or had a power steam feature that only worked sporadically.  I cursed Black & Decker — a brand I used to associate with quality — and vowed never to buy another one of their products. Why should I?  The clothes I buy aren’t the most expensive, but they aren’t exactly cheap, either.  And since I’m one of those people who likes to have ironed shirts and dress pants, is it too much to ask that the iron used to press these garments doesn’t ruin them?

So you can see my reticence when I saw the Black & Decker label affixed to The Classic iron.  But before I get to the glories of the Classic Iron, let me introduce you to quite possibly the worst iron ever made:  The Black & Decker Quickpress.

A piece of shit

This white devil was waiting for me at my local Lucky supermarket after our other iron (which was probably a Black & Decker as well) was leaking rust onto my clothes, and I needed to replace it.  Originally priced at $24.99, this iron was being discontinued by Lucky and they sold it to me for $5.99 (I only learned of the discount when I was checking out and the clerk informed me).  ”Wow,” I thought, “I sure am a savvy shopper.”  Convinced of my prowess as a consumer, I brought the iron home, and we used it without any real problems for about a week.  After that, the trouble began.  The first problem was the steam surge.  Billed as an extra blast of steam to get stubborn wrinkles out of clothes, it did its job for a week, and then stopped consistently working.  Then, my wife used it to iron a table runner, and it scorched the fabric — even though she didn’t have the iron on the maximum setting. I was able to get the burnt fabric off the iron, but after a few weeks, bits of fried fabric started to accumulate until it got to this point:

Why, Lords of Kobol…WHY?

I’d had it. My disgust with this vile metal monster from the bowels of hell had reached critical mass.  But I was stuck. Paralyzed by the thought of throwing good money after bad on another iron that I had no idea if it would work or not.  I knew I had to act because my clothes weren’t going to iron themselves, and that’s when I got sucked in to my savior:

Lords of Kobol, you heard my prayers!

It took some time for the Black & Decker Classic Iron to arrive in the mail from Amazon, but once it did, and I unpacked it, I could instantly feel the quality. The first thing I noticed was how heavy the iron was. I’m not saying this thing was the weight of an anvil, but it had some poundage to it. The second thing I noticed was that the materials Black & Decker used to construct the iron were very durable.  Sure there’s a fair amount of plastic, but it’s a hard plastic that will certainly take years of use (and, at times, abuse). The third thing I noticed was that it did not come with a steam surge option.  I was a little stunned.  How would I get those tough wrinkles out?  Well, as it turned out, the weight of the iron is such that it doesn’t need any extra steam shooting into the fabric.  And if you’re ironing a pair of pants and want that crisp seam up and down the legs, you can get that without really pressing down hard with the iron — something I used to do quite a bit. It’s the same with shirt.  The fact that the iron is heavy and that it has an aluminum service (without all that non-stick crap) gives it the right combination to iron your clothes without much effort.

And now, a side by side comparison between my laundry savior, and its evil brother:

Angel and Devil

See how much wider the Classic is compared with the Quickpress?  That gives you the ability to press a larger area of clothing. For example, when pressing pants, it’s important to keep as much of the cloth under the iron as possible as you push and pull the iron up and down the pant leg. If you don’t do this smoothly, you’re going to get a number of crooked seams that run down the leg of your pants and, well, instantly marks you as an incompetent douche.

Elegant vs Idiotic

And when it comes to the controls of the iron, there’s something to be said for simplicity. The Classic has one dial that gives you a number of heat settings, a button on top to activate steam, and a large opening in the front  that allows you to fill the iron with water if you want to steam iron clothing or fabric.  Now look at the Quickpress.  Two buttons on the top that will apply a steam surge and spray water if you really want to get rid of wrinkles in your clothes.  Both didn’t work all that well.  Notice the little lever on the front that’s labeled “max and min?” It didn’t do a goddamned thing.  The dial for the heat setting did work as advertised, but the most inane thing was the opening to fill with water.  For some reason, there was something that periodically blocked the opening to the reservoir and wouldn’t allow me to fill it with water. I would sometimes bang the iron on the side of the countertop to loosen whatever was causing the blockage, and it sometimes worked to unclog whatever was blocking the fill tube. Finally, the Quickpress is a light iron. It doesn’t have the required weight to properly iron your clothes, which means that the whole point of the ironing is defeated.

So, if you’re in the market for a new iron that is a bargain at $19.00 on Amazon (normally $29.99), plunk your money down on the Black & Decker F67E Classic. It’s made with quality materials, it seems very durable, and, most importantly, it does the job that other irons I’ve owned really haven’t.

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Gear that promises audiophile sound at midline prices is also nothing new, but a lot has changed on the hardware front in the last 50 years — you can still spend thousands of dollars on an amazing home theater system, but the gap between that and more judiciously priced equipment is thinner than ever. Case in point: NuForce’s new entry-level USB-DAC, the Icon uDAC-2.

“Hold on a second,” I can hear you saying. “What the hell is a USB-DAC?” The long answer is that I’m really not the guy to ask, because I haven’t used a soldering iron since I was in the Boy Scouts and I spent several years cheerfully listening to 128 kbps mp3s. (Neil Young and maybe Eric Johnson aside, I don’t think most musicians are really audiophiles. It’s telling that the first thing you do after you mix down a new song is play it back through the shittiest speakers you own.) But the short answer is that no matter how much you spent on it, your computer’s/iPod’s/phone’s sound card really isn’t made for delivering the kind of audio your ears want when you’re listening to music. It can get reasonably close — you’re probably happily listening to something through a computer device as you read this — but it’s always going to lack true separation and warmth, especially if you’re listening to some of the horribly compressed noise that the majors have released over the last 10 years or so.

How does a USB-DAC compensate for this? You can get the technical specs here, but you can’t get me to pretend I understand them; I’ll just tell you that my pal Jacob Detering chalked it up to “double jitter correction” before my eyes glazed over and he started sounding like one of the adults in a Charlie Brown cartoon.

In other words, it all sounds like a bunch of hooey, especially given that we’re talking about a USB-powered box that’s about as tall as a quarter, so I was skeptical when I plugged my uDAC-2 (sent for review by the folks at NuForce) into my desktop. My speaker setup isn’t amazing, but it’s serviceable for what I do — a pair of Boston Acoustics satellites with a subwoofer — so I figured it’d be pretty perfect for this type of gear. And what do you know? I was right. After doing an A/B comparison between my unassisted sound card and the uDAC-2, I heard an immediate, noticeable difference. Single jitter, double jitter, triple jitter, whatever; what ends up hitting your ears is what feels like an expanded field, where treble and bass actually have a little room to play instead of being crushed together and squeezed out of a digital tube. It helps cut down on ear fatigue, which is another way of saying I wish I could marry the uDAC-2.

There are a couple of caveats, though, and they might be fairly significant ones, depending on your own setup. First of all, if you do tend to listen to a lot of “hot” mixed stuff, the uDAC-2 will make you think twice about cranking the volume — it’s been my experience that it makes loud stuff even louder. And while it makes good audio files sound great, it’s also pretty unforgiving when it comes to cruddy ones. Anything ripped below 192 kbps isn’t going to sound better through the uDAC-2, and I think stuff down at 128 sounds even worse. If you’re the kind of person who rips at 320 or buys lossless files anyway, you know this is just a matter of course; it’s just important to note that plugging in one of these boxes isn’t going to magically correct your shitty mp3s. In fact, it may end up driving you to replace them.

Learn more about the NuForce product line at the company’s site, and purchase their equipment at Amazon.

Related articles

• What the Hell do You Buy an Audiophile for Christmas? [Audio] (gizmodo.com)
• USB-DACs: The new devices that make downloaded music sound good. (slate.com)
• First Look: iStreamer hi-fi DA converter for iOS devices (ipodnn.com)

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I really do try to eat mindfully, but the truth is, sometimes the balance tips dangerously into the Ho-Ho and waffle category. So certainly, the concept of fasting has always appealed to me as a sort of “reset” button–a chance to essentially separate myself from food and re-focus on healthy eating. In reality, though, I never could bring myself to do a week-long master cleanse or other juice fast, partly because they sounded gross and partly because I’m just too lazy busy to do all the preparation. I don’t have a juicer, nor do I have the time to read a bunch of books or make gallons of spicy lemonade every day.

But a juice cleanse whose motto is “we think, you drink?” Well, now we’re talking!

Basically, Blueprint Cleanse (BPC) claims to provide the same physical health benefits as other juice fasts but with an easy-to-use system. It’s like a juice cleanse for dummies. They send you emails before, during and after your fast, telling you what to expect and how to prepare, and the juices themselves are numbered in order from one to six. They even send you an insulated logo tote and ice packs so you can take the juice with you. It’s honestly one of the easiest diets I’ve ever done.

The juices are actually pretty tasty too, though I guess some people have trouble with the green juices–probably because they are, well green. Mostly they just taste like the yummy fresh-squeezed juices you’d get at a juice bar. There are three levels of the cleanse available, each with a varying number of green juices throughout the day and a slightly different number of calories. And all three finish the day with a delicious cashew-milk smoothie, which for the first two or three days of your cleanse you will think is the best effing thing you’ve ever tasted in your life.

I’ve done two cleanses with BPC now, each lasting about a week. The first cleanse was the hardest (mostly because I was convinced I was going to starve to death) but both times “eating” juice became routine–even easy–after two to three days. Overall, I felt pretty great on the cleanse. My energy was good and I was very mellow, which is a rarity for me considering my usual balance of toddlers, work and marriage. My husband also commented on my glowing skin and–everyone’s favorite question–I did lose a few pounds, though for me the cleanse-related weight loss was temporary. On the downside I was hungry much of the time, but oddly enough, that was okay (you’ll notice how I didn’t die). It was also surprisingly hard at first to prepare meals for the rest of my family, but it ended up being quite liberating to focus on the cooking itself rather than on getting food into my mouth ASAP.

In regards to the purported health benefits of cleansing, I definitely think there is some merit to giving your body a “rest” from heavy eating, especially considering all the junk we normally shove into our pie-holes. But even though intestinal health is essential to whole-body wellness, I don’t think a short-term change in diet is enough to dramatically impact your overall health trajectory. The truth is, many of the toxins that accumulate in our bodies over time are stored in fatty tissue and can’t easily be flushed from the body; in other words, a three-day juice cleanse ain’t gonna defuse that beer-belly time-bomb.

Personally, the greatest benefit I’ve experienced is the change in my eating habits after the cleanse was over. I’m sure I’m not alone: after days of drinking fresh, raw foods I don’t see how anyone could wake up the next morning and power down a McMuffin. You just don’t want it. After finishing a cleanse I pay way more attention to what I eat and why I’m eating it–even if it’s cold pizza at ten PM.

So, would I do it again? Probably. It’s awfully expensive (between $75-$95 a day), but it’s tasty and well worth it if you interested in cleansing but are busy or don’t know where to start. I wouldn’t expect any miracles, but you can definitely count on being a little bit lighter–both mentally and physically–by the end of your cleanse. Consider it a getaway vacation for your hardworking gut.

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A few months ago my husband managed to snag a free pair of Tanto headphones from the newly launched Urbanears line which I, of course, quickly claimed as my own. I figured it was only fair since he already had a rather fancy pair of headphones and I was still stuck in the ear-bud stone ages.

I assumed I was headed for a big leap forward in both quality and style. After all, Urbanears is the latest offering from “lifestyle headphone” manufacturer Zound Industries, and their design aesthetic is quintessential Scandinavian design: sleek, sexy and clean. They’re like Lindberg for your ears.

But when I finally got around to opening the box, I was disappointed. My initial thought was that they looked and felt exactly like the free walkman headphones you used to get  in the eighties. You know: a metal headband with two flimsy little foam circles? Not exactly the great leap into the future of headphones that I was anticipating, especially coming from a company that claims to promote “a deeper connection to color, form and people while providing the freedom to transcend individuality and unify the sound experience.”

Silly me. And I thought headphones were just headphones.

Looks-wise, I have to give Urbanears a thumbs-up since the colors are unique and the fabric cord is an improvement over the usual plastic. There are fourteen luscious colors to choose from (like “Sallad” and “Ocean”) and all have a built in microphone with remote, matte fabric cords and universal adaptors. I also found the sound quality surprisingly good, especially considering the junky foam cushions don’t even fully cover my ears. Basically, if you’re the type of person who will go to great lengths to rock a signature color, Urbanears might be for you. Personally, I think it’s a pretty flimsy pair of headphones for forty bucks.

If you can throw in another twenty though, the sixty-dollar Urbanears “Plattan” model looks a lot more promising. The Plattan has the same color options, cord and mic as the Tanto, but has a wider headband and proper ear cups. It also folds down to fist-size (unlike the lightweight but unwieldy Tanto) and comes with a built-in “zound plug” on the ear cap where you can plug in a second pair of headphones to share with your friends. Urbanears also has a snazzy in-ear model equipped with a special “ear click” patent that is supposed to hold the ear-piece comfortably in place.

Overall, I think there are much cheaper options on the market that provide the same user experience as Urbanears. If your ultimate goal is to make a fashion statement, these headphones might be for you. Otherwise, I’d think twice about buying any headphones listed in the “clothing and accessories” category on Amazon.

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After six episodes, I knew my Plantronics headset microphone wasn’t going to cut it in the long term. We record the podcast over Skype, which opens us up to all kinds of sound quality issues to begin with; I was desperate to do anything I could to at least make things sound passable on my end.

Enter Blue Microphones.

Blue has been manufacturing professional-grade microphones for the last 15 years, combining award-winning design with high-quality sound. Of course, demand for high-end studio gear isn’t quite what it used to be, so Blue has recently started moving into the consumer market, releasing a line of USB-powered equipment targeted at the many consumers who need more than an entry-level Plantronics headset, but aren’t willing to shell out ridiculous amounts of money. The Blue consumer line includes everything from the THX-certified Yeti to the iPod-ready Mikey. I had my eye on the Snowball — it isn’t as feature-rich as the Yeti, but it’s a step up from the ultra-portable Snowflake, and I assumed it would give me more than enough sound quality for the show. Plus, just look at it! If you’re in the market for a mid-priced microphone, how can you even look at the Snowball without falling in love?

Of course, a good-looking electronic gizmo is often a piece of junk trying to hide between a pretty exterior, so I was cautious about the Snowball — but much to my delight, its performance reflects its aesthetics. To begin with, using it is no more complicated than simply plugging it in; there’s no software to install and nothing to adjust. Just find a USB port and away you go.

And then there’s the way it works — or, to be more specific, the ways it works. The Snowball is a full-featured condenser microphone, with three modes: Cardioid, for straight-ahead recording; omnidirectional, for capturing a room; and cardioid pad, which adds a 10db dampener to avoid clipping in high-volume situations. With the Plantronics microphone, I had to keep it aimed away from my mouth or my vocals would pop all over the place — but since I hate listening to myself talk, and tend to use a pretty quiet voice when I speak, that meant my track always needed to be boosted in the mix, usually adding hiss and hum to the show. The Snowball is, needless to say, more powerful; I used it for the first time during our show’s seventh episode, and I quickly realized that it would record at normal levels even if I was one or two feet away. I’m still learning how to use it, but I was thoroughly pleased with my first Snowball recording — and the fact that I didn’t do a thing with it before we started the show demonstrates just how simple it is to use. I’d recommend it without reservation for any kind of home recording — I think it’d even make a really affordable addition to a home music studio.

And it’ll look great on your desk, too.

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Today, we’re going to talk about the new limited edition offering of Heritage Dr. Pepper, but before we get there, I feel like I should give you a personal rundown of how I became a Dr. Pepper fan. To do this, we’re going to chart my soda drinking history, brand-by-brand.

Before I became a Pepper, I was originally a Coke guy, or Mr. Pibb if I could get it. I loved going to work with my dad, because they had a pop machine at the office that served up nice cold bottles of my favorite beverages, and I could always get my dad to lend me a few coins to pick one up. For me, there was nothing better than an icy cold bottle of Coca-Cola, one of the true pleasures in life that was just as good as the commercials that you saw on television. Unlike the fast food sandwiches that you saw on television that looked completely different in person (read:  gross), the experience of drinking a Coke was as advertised, completely awesome. Coke was it.

1985 came around, and Coca-Cola had the brilliant (insert sarcasm here) idea to change the formula of their classic soft drink, setting off one of the largest marketing disasters of all time with the introduction of “New Coke.” Reaction was quick, and it was negative, and worst of all, I could no longer get my favorite drink. It was New Coke, or no Coke at all for the 11 year old me. So I chose “no Coke” as my option, and moved to drinking Mr. Pibb exclusively. Eventually, Coca-Cola tried to save face with the introduction of Coca-Cola Classic, but even that tasted somehow different from the original Coke that I had once known and loved.

When we moved to Ohio, Mr. Pibb was not widely available at local grocery stores, and it was at that point that I officially met Dr. Pepper, my beloved drink which many have come to associate as a signature part of my personality.

While I’ve consistently been a Dr. Pepper drinker since the late ’80s, I am always interested in soda developments as they come and go, although I never quite got up the nerve to try Jolt Cola – their marketing ploy of “all of the sugar and twice the caffeine” made my head hurt, just thinking about it.

Some other beverage thoughts:

Diet beverages, i.e. Diet Coke, Diet Dr. Pepper, Coke Zero – “taste just as good as the original.” Um, not quite. Further, Coke Zero is complete flavorless crap. It really is truth in advertising – Coke Zero= taste that is zero, and enjoyment that rates at zero. Yuck.

Soda Myth: When ordering a beverage in a restaurant that does not serve Pepsi products, root beer is an acceptable substitute for Dr. Pepper.
Truth:  Not even close.  Waiters and waitresses, please take note and stop lying to us.

Speaking of root beer though, Mug Root Beer allegedly sent the foam straight to the end user’s brain – and while I can not specifically comment on that, Mug Root Beer was delicious, and I miss it. Although it’s apparently still in production, I can’t find it in Ohio. Boo.

Cherry-vanilla Dr. Pepper – while this seems like a good idea on paper, ultimately it tasted like a flat Dr. Pepper that had been left out on the kitchen counter overnight. I hear that the newer Cherry Dr. Pepper is better, with a more pronounced cherry taste – something that I’ll look forward to trying. I refused to try the “Berries and Cream” version of Dr. Pepper that was briefly available in 2006/2007 – that just sounded gross to me.

Which brings us to Heritage Dr. Pepper, a product that began appearing in stores this past November. Made with real sugar, instead of the high fructose corn syrup that the company has been using since the ’70s, Dr. Pepper fans can finally drink (albeit, for a limited time only) a version of Dr. Pepper that is likely as close to the “original stuff” as you’ll ever taste, unless you’re willing to import the original formula from Dublin, TX (or unless you live in the UK, where they apparently also get the full sugar experience).

I was interested to sample Heritage Dr. Pepper for myself, and finally got the chance when I tracked down my own twelve pack of the hallowed beverage at Christmastime. After icing it down in the refrigerator for several hours, I opened my first Heritage Dr. Pepper and took a sip. The taste was definitely different, although not necessarily in a positive way. I found that the use of “real sugar” actually took away some of the traditional flavor, rather than the enhanced flavor that I was expecting/hoping for. In fact, the expected taste that I was hoping for was far enough removed from what I’m normally used to, to the point that it almost had a bit of a diet taste to it, lighter than the current formula. Old school (read: older than me) Dr. Pepper drinkers have said that the sugar taste is an adjustment for anyone used to normally drinking beverages fueled by the high fructose corn syrup.

Whatever the case might be, I’ll stick to the more familiar blend of Dr. Pepper that I know and love. The authentic blend of 23 flavors might not be quite what the doctor ordered for some soda fans, but for me, it’s just right. I’m inclined to believe that whether it is made with sugar or high fructose corn syrup, you’re really splitting hairs to say that there is a significant difference in the taste. Sorry guys, I’m just not that much of a beverage snob. I will definitely argue that the taste of any brand of soda will always be superior when it comes from a glass bottle. The soda drinking experience lost a lot when they moved to packaging them in plastic bottles and cans – it just doesn’t taste the same.

However, my curiosity has been piqued, and I will add Dublin Dr. Pepper to the list of things that I will plan to try in 2010, along with Mexican Coke, which I’m also very curious about. There are at least subtle differences between Heritage Dr. Pepper and Dublin Dr. Pepper – HDP uses a cane and beet sugar mix, while DDP uses pure cane sugar. The difference? We’ll have to wait and see on that one.

Who knew that drinking a simple soft drink could be so complicated? I did learn a few things along the way, including the significance of the numeric sequence of 10-2-4 that once could be found on containers of Dr. Pepper. In the ’20s, Dr. Walter Eddy discovered in his studies at Columbia University that all of us experience a natural drop in energy at 10:30am, 2:30pm, and 4:30pm. He also discovered that people are able to avoid that energy drop with a quick snack or drink at 10, 2, and 4. And hence, Dr. Pepper had a marketing strategy on their hands that famously targeted the beverage as the 10-2-4 solution to avoid the energy drop. And with this bit of gained knowledge, I’ve finally learned something that I’ve been trying to convince many of for years – Dr. Pepper really is good for you!

I’m kidding. Kind of.

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Last spring, however, I hit the jackpot at a Las Vegas Sephora: no kids, no husband and two gift cards. My original intent was to choose a self-tanner, but after realizing that an in-store demonstration was going to leave me looking like a Bengal tiger (and not in a sexy way), I re-directed my questions toward lip therapies, finding myself in front of LipFusion XL–one of Sephora’s best sellers and a celeb favorite. A few salesgirl sound bytes later (collagen! repair!) and I was sold. I opted for the smaller dual-wand package with both LipFusion Clear and LipFusion XL (and a much gentler $18 price tag compared to the $50 XL).

This was back in May, and though I have been using the product every day, I haven’t really seen any dramatic changes. However, folks on Sephora.com love this stuff–dozens of reviews from women of all ages describe a noticeable increase in lip fullness. The science behind LipFusion Clear and XL involves dehydrated collagen and hyaluronic acid spheres that stick to your lips and absorb an ungodly amount of water, creating a plumping and hydrating cosmetic effect. In theory this effect should only last as long as the product is on your lips, though many users report plump morning lips following a bedtime application. It’s targeted toward ladies who’d like to plump up their pout a little, but for whatever reason (pain, money, Lohan) are not interested in physician-administered collagen injectables.

My experience: easy-to-use, non-sticky, smells like oranges. Gives you a little tingle. To me, it basically just acts and feels like a really nice lip gloss, perfect for a quick freshen-up. I’m not a lipstick wearer, so a quick swipe with this product gives a nice natural lip finish to my make-up routine (all five minutes of it). I’d probably even buy it again since I’m sure as hell not planning on sticking any needles into my lips any time soon.

Overall, though I wish the effects lasted a bit longer, the product does look great on my lips. It’s actually one of the four beauty products I reach for every morning. I think my only real complaint is that it’s not good for kissing–far too gooey. Otherwise, it really does create the perfect (though temporary) plump Parisian pout. Bisous!

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So, my miserly friends, if you have limited funds to spend on looking fabulous, for God’s sake put the money into things you can wear over and over. Buy your t-shirts at Goodwill and save your money for the best jeans, accessories, haircuts and skin products you can afford — quality skin products like those from… you guessed it: Obagi.

The Obagi Nu-Derm System is an appropriately pricey combination of creams and cleanser that claims to make your skin act “younger and healthier.” This stuff is about as A-list as you can get and doesn’t come cheap, though it’s thankfully not quite as dear as La Mer. It’s also only available by prescription, so if you are the type of person who likes having a professional to oversee your skin regimen, this product is for you.

There are six components to the Obagi Nu-Derm System; the most medically active ingredients being phytic acid and hydroquinone. These two elements block melanin production and bleach the epidermis, addressing classic signs of aging like pigment deposit and sun damage. It’s like taking an dirty old car and scrubbing away years of dirt and grime, then buffing it like hell until it really starts to shine.

So, you ask, what’s not to love? Well, as it so happens, hydroquinone is actually banned in the European Union, Japan, Australia and South Africa; rodent studies have indicated it may be carcinogenic. Hydroquinone can also (rarely) cause ochronosis or areas of hypo-pigmentation, especially in darker-skinned individuals. The FDA is expected to make a final ruling on US sales of hydroquinone-containing products by the end of this year, but in the meantime I’d say individuals who chose to use these products should limit their exposure. Apparently results should appear in 6-8 weeks; after three months dermatologists are advising patients to reduce down to a maintenance dose of 2-3 times weekly.

Bottom line: be careful. You don’t want to go all Sammy Sosa with this stuff.

That said, I’ve been using the Nu-Derm System for about three months, and have been quite happy with the results. I had a little bit of lasting melasma from my pregnancies, so ordered a travel kit as a “starter package” for $189 from lovelyskin.com (without a prescription, by the way — FDA eat your heart out). The system seemed awfully complicated at first, but the packaging includes clever numbering and “AM/PM” designations to help you get started. After some mild itching and redness for the first week I found the system quite easy to use, and the sunscreen is divine.

As I mentioned above, you can order the Nu-Derm system without a prescription from Lovely Skin but my recommendation (and the FDA’s) would be work with a dermatologist or other health-care professional. Though I have noticed a more uniform appearance in my skin and have received several skin-related compliments (well, um… thanks mom), considering the questionable risks I don’t think I’ll be using the Nu-Derm system long-term.

Guess I better start saving up for some La Mer.

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Go into any bar, and what do you think the most popular drink is? If you said beer, you’d be right. But among variety of micro and macro-brews at local watering holes, you’re also going to find people order quite a few rum and Cokes, Mojitos, and Cosmopolitans being ordered on any given Friday night. I have nothing against those drinks, but you won’t find me ordering them. Nope. My drink of choice is bourbon. Yeah, that’s right, bourbon: straight with no chaser. But not just any bourbon, mind you. It has to be something that’s worth savoring; something to slowly enjoy over a long conversation or while watching an engaging movie. In other words, (and to use a more high-minded way of expressing myself): I loves me some sipping bourbon.

I know there are people out there who love to shoot bourbon, get really shitfaced, stumble around the dance floor and later puke their guts out on the sidewalk. That, my friends, is recreational bourbon. It’s the kind of bourbon you drink to forget your troubles, to work up enough courage to talk to someone you find attractive, or to show your friends that you can hold your liquor. That kind of booze has its time and place, but now that I’m older (or to some: old), I’ve grown weary of those kind of reindeer games played in bars, and have settled into a quiet snobbery where fetishizing certain kinds of alcohol has become a hobby akin to stamp collecting.

My current favorite bourbon is Woodford Reserve, but I’ll leave the glories of Woodford for another time. What I’d like to feature this month is a bourbon from Evan Williams. Now, most distilleries have their “good stuff,” and Evan Williams certainly has plenty of that. Last week, I went to my local BevMo and there in the locked cases was a bottle of Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage from 1998. Now, I’m a pretty liberal guy when it comes to bourbon, in that I’ll try anything that looks boutique. And the Evan Williams had all the marking of a boutique bourbon: it came highly recommended with part of the following review affixed to the price tag:

1998 Vintage
2008 San Francisco World Spirits Competition – Silver Medal “The latest issue from the series of annual releases, still is one of the best whiskey bargains around. Aromas of brown bananas, clove, vanilla and glove leather pour from the tasting class. In the mouth it’s smooth and mellow, well-balance and assertive, with a lingering, clean and slightly lemony finish. It’s mouth-watering as a sipping whiskey, and it invites cocktail experimentation. This is a stylish and charming whiskey, another success from the father and son distilling team of Parker and Craig Beam.”

Well, I was sold. I don’t think I’ve ever had a bourbon that had a lemony finish and smelled like brown bananas, clove, vanilla and glove leather, but I was willing to try it. So, I plunked down my $40 and brought home my prize. The verdict? It was a very nice bourbon with pleasant flavors, but it was missing that certain something that is often referred to as “complexity.”

Some bourbons have a smooth finish, others are a little harsh, and some, as the review above stated, linger. But the flavors didn’t linger in the Evan Williams I bought. Instead, the harshness of the alcohol did – with none of lemony finished promised. I was sad, but not to the point of demanding my money back. No, I decided to let my pallet get used to it, and had a drink every night to see if my opinion of this bourbon would change. Alas, it didn’t. I tried to change it up by making Manhattans with the Evan Williams, but it didn’t rise above “pleasant.” Now perhaps my tastes are skewed away from the subtle notes in a bourbon like the Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage, and while I would recommend this bourbon for those who don’t like powerful flavors, I don’t think Evan Williams will be making an appearance in my liquor cabinet in the near future.

Final Rating: Three tumblers

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When a rock star is involved with a restaurant that doesn’t have guitars on the walls, it’s noteworthy.

Chrissie Hynde is one of the more vocal vegans out there. So when she found herself going back to Ohio to deal with aging relatives, she was a little frustrated by the lack of vegan food. And so, she opened her own restaurant, The VegiTerranean in Akron. No animal products are used in the food, and the emphasis is on organic and sustainable ingredients.  This makes the menu friendly to many who have food allergies or who keep kosher. The restaurant is open all day: coffee and baked goods in the morning, followed by lunch, dinner, and bar service.  J. Scot Jones, another Akron native, is the executive chef.

Looking around, I had the feeling that this was a celebrity restaurant that didn’t want to be a Celebrity Restaurant of Planet Hollywood vintage. Hynde’s name is associated with the place, clearly, and the menu includes “Chrissie” fries and the “Back on the Chain Gang” fake sausage sandwich. But the décor is almost minimalist, mostly black and white and chrome, and few of the black-and-white pictures on the wall were of the Pretenders. Hynde’s name is on the menu and on the door, but this isn’t a Chain Gang Café. It’s a serious restaurant that attracted a serious business crowd for lunch on a recent weekday.

The menu features Italian-style foods and flavorings, using many meat analogues produced by Gardien. It includes several salads, sandwiches, pizzas, and pastas. The emphasis is on presentation; everything arrives with a pretty shape and a nice garnish to remind you that this is no hippie hangout. I had gnocchi with artichoke and creamy cashew sauce ($12.50), and it was outrageous. It was also a good reminder that vegan food is not necessarily low in fat or calories.

The grilled soy-cheese sandwich ($9.00) is a salad on bread. The onion, tomato, arugula, and dulse are topped with an orange substance that tastes a lot like cheddar. It’s good, if not traditional, but it will not impress a picky child. The Chrissie fries ($4.00) have a delightful seasoning and are served with dips of soy ricotta and balsamic ketchup. The ketchup missed the mark not because it’s not like Heinz but because it is too sweet. Were the fries spicier, it might have worked. The soy ricotta, on the other hand, was a lovely treat.

Instead of bread, we were offered bread and butter pickle spears to start. It’s a light, gluten-free way to start lunch, especially if you are a fan of pickles.  If not, skip ahead to the menu and order some hummus ($8.00).

I was delighted with the lunch fare but disappointed by dessert.  I’m no Martha Stewart, but I make a vegan chocolate cake so good that it will surpass any egg and butter concoction, with nothing more exotic than vegetable oil, baking soda, and vinegar for moisture and leavening. (A vegan chocolate cake is also easy to make. Several good recipes can be found online, the best-known of which is the Moosewood Chocolate Cake .) The VegiTerranean chocolate cake with margarine-cream frosting, was a whopping $10.00. Good thing it was plenty big for two. Unfortunately, it had the distinct flavor of soy-based addition that threw off the flavor and that is unnecessary in a good vegan cake.

The VegiTerranean has an extensive bar list with specialty cocktails, beer, and wine. They aren’t all organic, unless you happen to be a chemist, but those items produced sustainably are given special mention and include the much-loved local Great Lakes Brewing Company lineup. Diet coke and other soft drinks are offered for those who are thoroughly unwholesome, although the root beer is from Sprecher, a Wisconsin microproducer of beer and pop alike.

The service was a little less than perfect. It would have been nice if our soup (a rich and flavorful tomato-artichoke bisque with a goodly shot of olive oil, $4.00 for a cup) had arrived before, not with, the main courses. My companion and I discovered that we were underdressed given that businessfolk make up the lunch crowd, which may have contributed to the relative lack of attention we received. Still, that should not matter.

The VegiTerranean has one amazing feature that deserves to be emulated at every restaurant in every nation: the ladies’ room has twice the facilities of the men’s room, if my lunch date is to be believed. A woman as thin as Chrissie Hynde might not know much about great chocolate cakes, but she’s all right.

If you are in Northeast Ohio, a trip to VegiTerranean is a good way to shake up the mix of bar food, red-sauce Italian, and chains in the region’s restaurant choices.  Rumor has it that the next branch of the VegiTerranean will be in New York City. Hey, if vegan food can make it in Akron, it can make it anywhere.

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