Frank Picchione

Spring Cleaning

I think there is nothing nicer than freshly cleaned windows in the spring, scrubbed free of their winter grime, to clear the view to the brighter sun. 

I feel the same way about my face, so yesterday I returned to Sally Hershberger for another one of those amazing facials I told you about in my earlier post, Radiance.  You may remember my telling you about how I prefer no-nonsense, get-down-to-business, in-and-out beauty treatments.  No fragrance, no frills, no waiting.  Convenience and results, that's what I'm after.

So today I walked over to SmoothMED to smooth out my newly cleansed skin with a little Botox.  That's right, I said it.  I love this place.  I discovered it about a year ago, and I will never sit and wait in a dermatologist's office for Botox again.

The first time I walked into the shop I found myself surrounded by smiling, friendly, flawless beauties. After I obnoxiously went on and on about how perfect they all looked I was taken to the back for my consultation with Dr. Gridley, who turned out to be just as gorgeous as the others.  I laughed and told her that I felt as though I had just entered a white toothed, wrinkle-free, parallel universe.  Lisa Maria and Jennifer obliged me today by happily posing. 

And the place itself is equally photogenic.  It is so clean it sparkles.

But aside from the superficial, there are other reasons I enjoy SmoothMED.  Because let's face it, it would take a lot more than pretty women to keep me coming back.

First of all, there are no appointments.  Simply drop in whenever you need a little touch up.  When I started my day I did not intend to get Botox.  But after I renewed my tennis permit in the neighborhood I spontaneously decided to stop by SmoothMED on my way home.

I have never had to wait, and today was no exception.  That may have something to do with the time of day I tend to go. Apparently Saturdays can be busier.  But within minutes I was sitting in Dr. Gridley's office discussing my customized treatment, which is another great thing about SmoothMED. 

While most dermatologists charge a certain amount for each area treated, regardless of how many units of Botox they use, SmoothMED charges per unit, so if you want only a small amount here and a little more there, that is what you pay for.  For example, because my left brow muscles are stronger than my right, I asked for one extra unit on the left side. There is nothing like that dead feeling where there used to be a furrow.   I Botox only between my eyebrows because I hate that frown line crevasse, but I enjoy being able to expressively move the rest of my face. 

Before leaving (a mere 15 minutes after I arrived) I stocked up on my favorite product, Exfoliate.  It has 12% glycolic acid, so you really feel it burning away those dead skin cells when you apply it.  That is the most important thing; fast cell turnover for fresh smooth skin.  www.smoothmed.com

Spice of Life - Cinnamon

What we in North America commonly call cinnamon is actually the bark of a tree found in southern China and Vietnam called cassia.

Like other spices, there are health benefits to eating cinnamon, which is a natural anti-inflammatory.  Studies have shown that a half teaspoon per day can lower LDL.

It has also been found that cinnamon has a regulatory effect on blood sugar, making it beneficial for people with Type 2 diabetes.

And a study published by researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that cinnamon reduces the proliferation of leukemia and lymphoma cancer cells.

Not to mention it is delicious. I add a half teaspoon to my daily oatmeal, alongside my curried egg whites.

Real Age

Have you all heard about the Real Age Test?  I learned about it in Doctor Oz's book, You Staying Young.  It's a free on line test that tells you what your "real age" is as compared to your actual biological age.  It's interesting and a lot fun to take. 

While there are questions about your personal health, like blood pressure, cholesterol and whether or not you smoke, there are other statistical questions, like how many miles do you drive, do you wear a seat belt, do you floss regularly?  It doesn't take long and in the end you learn your real age as well as steps you can take improve the number.  I'm proud to say I am nearly a decade younger than I am.

But none of that is the reason I write this.  Yesterday realage.com emailed me the dog version of the test!  Like the human test, this one asks about where your dog rides in the car (unfortunately on my lap in the passenger's seat) and the condition of his teeth (fortunately pearly white and brushed daily).  Then it gives your dog's real age - in people years.  Dudley is a 14 year old, though biologically he is nearly 30.  I know that sound a bit extreme, but I think it's because he is a terrier, which itself gives him a longer than average life expectancy.

I don't know why I, like everybody else, have always believed that each human year equals seven dog years.  It's not true.  If you think about it, many dogs live to be nearly 20 years old, but no human has approached the age of 140.  Below is the correct comparison.

Age of Dog 1 year 2 years 3 years 4 years 5 years 6 years 7 years 8 years 9 years 10 years 11 years 12 years 13 years 14 years 15 years 16 years 17 years 18 years 19 years 20 years 21 years 22 years 23 years

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

"Human Years" 15 years 24 years 28 years 32 years 36 years 40 years 44 years 48 years 52 years 56 years 60 years 64 years 68 years 72 years 76 years 80 years 84 years 88 years 89 years 93 years 96 years 99 years 103 years

Spice of Life - Turmeric

Turmeric is a ginger-like root spice with many health benefits.  It is also the ingredient that gives curry powder its distinct golden color.

Turmeric contains compounds called curcuminoids which are potent anti-inflammatories.  Studies have shown them to be as effective as hydrocortisone, phenylbutazone and Motrin, therefore making the spice useful in fighting inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Turmeric is also loaded with antioxidants that neutralize free radicals and fight cancer.

Aside from today's recipe there are many ways to add turmeric to your diet.  My favorite is to sprinkle a quarter teaspoon into my daily six egg white omelet.  It adds a lot of flavor to an otherwise bland breakfast.

Radiance

What I did not tell you yesterday was that I actually had to race through lunch with Kelly (see H2O Continues with SIGG).  I left a pregnant woman standing alone under the restaurant's awning, in the rain, without an umbrella, waiting for her husband Nick to arrive in the car.  You didn't wait long did you?  Again, I'm sorry.

It's not like I didn't have a good reason.  You see, I had fifteen minutes to run home, walk Dudley, brush my teeth, and get over to 72nd and Park to meet Sara, so we could make it all the way down to West 14th Street for our facials at Sally Hershberger's Face Place. 

That's Sally sitting in front of Jane.  She has shops in Los Angeles and New York's Meatpacking District, and I'm always surprised when someone says they've never heard of her.  She made a sensation when she opened the New York salon and had the balls to charge $600 for a haircut.  Now it's $800, and it takes beyond patience to get an appointment if you're unknown.

After saying that, let me add that I do not like luxurious fussy places.  I like to get in and out.  I spent years dreading haircut day when I used to go to Oribe.  After schlepping to midtown and taking the elevator all the way up, I'd sit and wait and drink coffee and bang my head on the wall.  Finally someone would shampoo my hair so I could wait some more until Louise was ready to cut my hair.  Loved Louise.  Loved the haircut.  My day and my nerves were shot.

Louise eventually opened her own successful salon, but I had already discovered Paul Mole, the old school, wood paneled barber shop a few blocks from home, where Peter has me out of there in 25 minutes tops.  Sally's place is like this.  While it is definitely no old school, it is undoubtedly no-nonsense.

You enter through an unmarked, beat-up door next to Alexander Mcqueen, and climb two long flights of industrial stairs.  The second floor is the hair salon.  Above that is Face Place.

Now that I like to call myself a journalist I take my little camera everywhere with me and make a big scene, forcing people to pose for the blog.  Sara refused to introduce me to Sally because she feared I would start snapping pictures of Meg Ryan, or whomever happened to be in the chair.  I think they'd have been good sports - like Tom.  This is Tom in front of Betty Davis (wearing a fur).  [Bill thinks he can name that film in one frame, and will leave the title in the comments if he knows how to use them]  Tom gave me the best facial of my life, which I am going to attempt to describe.  Now Tom, if I make any mistakes you go and correct me in the comments. 

It was fantastic.  Number one; it was mostly fragrance free.  You know how I am about that.  There were nothing but clean, fresh smells. No perfumed lotions and potions.  Number two; it was long.  Nearly an hour and a half.  Unlike with haircuts, I prefer a leisurely facial.  And number three; I spent almost the entire time wrapped like a mummy.  I wish I had asked Tom to take my picture under all those yards of gauze.  You'll just have to imagine.  The good thing (maybe not for Tom) was that I was able to speak the whole time.

There was none of that slathering with goop.  Tom started with yucca-soaked cloths to soften and detoxify.  Then I was mildly strangled under heavy padding and what he described as a cone.  I didn't see it coming, but when I opened my eyes I was staring through a far off hole.  I think it was this that contained the anti-aging solution of vitamin C and the anti-inflammatory mineral, Zinc. 

Once I was exhumed Tom performed painless extractions along with intermittent vacuuming.  Then I was wound up again, and this time covered with a mask that emitted galvanic current - that's an electrical charge of some sort - to deliver improved skin tone, firmness, fewer lines and a clearer complexion.  The beauty is that it continues to work  and improve your skin over the following seven days.  All I knew was that I looked and felt fresh-faced and clean.  And when I looked in the mirror this morning I had the radiant skin of a cherub.

After, I was so obsessed with getting the right photos for this entry that I forgot to buy Sally's face shampoo.  I love that it's called face "shampoo".

H2O Continues with SIGG

Great responses to my H2O post. 

The first comment I read was Melissa's telling me about her SIGG water bottle, and I thought I remembered her talking about it in her blog long ago.

In the second comment Abigail said she'd given SIGG bottles to all her family members for Christmas.

Okay, I thought, I will look into it.  But before I could I had to meet my friend Kelly for lunch.  Dudley used to play with Kelly's dog Van Buren before they moved out to Westchester.  Kelly was in town for a doctor's appointment because she is pregnant with her second set of twins.  Her first two, Grace and Carter are not yet two.  Gotta hand it to her, when she puts her mind to something.

So she and I were catching up and I mentioned that today's blog was about water and water bottles and recycling.  What did she say?  "Grace and Carter each have a children's size SIGG bottle."  She then pulled hers out of her bag to show me.

As someone who doesn't carry water around with him, I've never much considered reusable vessels.  Until now, because today I learned about the 100 year old Swiss company called SIGG.  On their website you will find the coolest selection of personalized, eco-friendly metal bottles.  I hope they have one with tennis balls on it, so I can fill it with tap water and carry it to the courts.

Sigg is a member of 1% For The Planet, which means they give 1% of all sales to environmental causes.  According to their site Americans add over 30 million plastic water bottles to the nation's landfills.  EVERY DAY.

H2O

There was an article in Sunday's Times about this wand that purifies water by beaming rays of ultraviolet light.  That does not mean it filters the water, but it disinfects it.  Which would come in handy if your only source is a tap in Morocco or a babbling brook originating from who knows where.

I have always had problems with bottled water.  First of all, I am too cheap to buy it.  I am old enough to still have the mindset that water should be free.  Besides, New York City's water supply is among the best in the country.  I find it delicious.  I keep a big cold jug of it in my refrigerator.  I request it in restaurants.  I drink from the fountains at the gym, and yes, even in Central Park.  The organisms on the push buttons freak me out; the water does not.  I am a germ-a-phobe, and always use my knuckles - even at the ATM - and never touch my face.  Whenever I go to someone's home and reach for a glass to fill from their tap, there's always that, "no no, don't drink that.  Here, take this bottle."  "No thanks.  I love it from the tap."  Dudley does too.

Everyone carrying their bottles of water.  So healthy.  On our way to yoga.  What about the environment's health?  I'm not one to carry water around with me, even in the summer, because it's available pretty much anywhere.  And yes, I do drink a lot of water.  Including strong coffee in the morning and white tea in the evening, I must drink nearly two gallons a day.

Do you ever wonder about all those millions of plastic bottles?  I think it's just awful.  I know they can be recycled, but many are not.  And what about the lids?  Did you know, at least in New York City, plastic lids are not recyclable?  Only metal ones.  They all have to be thrown away, along with any containers that are not bottles or jugs - meaning their necks are smaller than their bodies.  That includes all deli and yogurt containers and plastic cups.  That's a lot of unnecessary non-biodegradable garbage.

So here's something I just researched about toilet water.  Toilets manufactured after 1994 do use only 1.6 gallons of water per flush.  But, toilets made between 1980 (or 82) and 1993 use 3.5 gallons.  And, all toilets made before 1982 (or 80) use 5 to 7 gallons of water every time they're flushed.  Do people still have 25 year old toilets?

Wanna learn a tip that will tie up this blog entry into a tidy package?  If your toilets are the older models, you can fill used plastic bottles with water, seal them with their non-recyclable lids, and place them in the tank of your toilet.  This will displace enough water that in the course of a day (depending on your usage) you will preserve many gallons of water.

ICE

Maybe everybody else knows this, but I just learned that ICE stands for "in case of emergency".  I can't believe I'd never heard of it because it makes a lot of sense.

You know, suppose you are in a horrific accident and you wind up in a coma, or for some other reason are unable to speak - I don't know, maybe you smashed your jaw on the steering wheel or somebody's bat.  If you're lucky, you turn up in the emergency room with some form of ID, and your cell phone - unless you are like me and never carry your cell phone.  And stored in your phone are possibly hundreds of numbers - unless you are like me and store only eight of your favorite numbers. 

So the paramedics or emergency room staff refer to your phone in order to call your nearest and dearest.  But who would that be among all those many numbers?  Of course - it is the contact labeled ICE, because supposedly this is universally understood. 

If you have more than one emergency contact you would enter them as ICE1, ICE2, ICE3 and so on.  I don't know about you, but I'm going to add a ninth contact, named ICE. 

Cows

I almost called this post "Beef", but really to me it is more about beef before it is beef, or rather, cows.  I had wanted to start a blog for as long as I'd known what a blog was.  What I noticed was that every time the urge to blog was at its greatest it followed my awareness of atrocities committed against animals I hadn't known about before. 

It is hard to describe the emotional reaction I had when I researched the slaughter of unwanted horses, or the Japanese murdering dolphins, or the training methods used to teach circus elephants how to entertain.  The closest I came to becoming physically sick was watching a video of dogs being skinned alive in order to sell their fur.  They do this in China - of course.

What gets me every time is the overwhelming need to understand what kind of human being is capable of inflicting literally unbearable pain upon an animal.  It is one thing to earn one's living ending lives in a slaughterhouse.  It is another to torture those lives on their way to death. 

HBO aired an unbelievable documentary by PETA called I Am An Animal.  In it there is an undercover investigation of a Butterball turkey factory where workers did unspeakable things to the turkeys before they were hung upside down from a conveyor belt, while still alive, and moved to slaughter.  That was the closest I came to starting my blog without actually starting it.  I thought the least I could do to help was to spread the word - even if it meant only one less Butterball turkey purchased on Thanksgiving.  But one day turned into the next and still I did not start my blog.

Then on January 27th I read Rethinking the Meat Guzzler in The New York Times.  Three days later, on January 30th the Humane Society of the United States released a video showing the measures taken in attempts to get downer cows to stand and pass inspection before entering our food supply.  I did not watch the video.  After my reaction to the dogs being skinned in China I was afraid to.  And besides, the written description provided me with all the mental images I needed.  I starting blogging on the 31st.

Has it really taken 18 days to order the country's larges beef recall?  Unless you've been spending Presidents Day under a rock you'll know that my avoiding the video was in vain.  I could not look away when clips were shown on CNN.  Did the forklift operator go home that evening and sit down to dinner with his family?  Are Americans going to continue eating at fast food restaurants?

The thing is, people don't want to know.  When I start describing what the cows were subjected to the usual response is, "Don't tell me!" or "This is not the sort of thing I want to face first thing in the morning."  I think a lot of people imagine that the cows we eat live in green pastures until the day they are swiftly and painlessly converted into a steak or burger.  I am reminded of that commercial where the two cows are voice-overed so they appear to be having a conversation in a bright sunny field.  "Good cheese comes from happy cows.  Happy cows come from California."  Does anyone notice that these talking cows' ears are mutilated; pieces cut away in order to mark them as with numbered tags?  It is funny that the makers of this commercial did not even think it was necessary to find happy cows with whole ears.  If they were even aware of it they must have figured most of America would not be.  Ironically, California is the state where the beef recall originated.

I recently learned about the horrors of killing cows in Kosher slaughter houses, where the blood must be drained from cows who are hoisted upside-down before their throats are slashed.  These cows are then dropped to the ground where they often scream, sometimes for minutes, while trying to stand and flee.  You see, Kosher law forbids killing animals who are sick or wounded, which includes animals who are stunned in order not to feel pain.

Okay - I'm done.  And I will continue to balance posts like these with stories like "Loose Hair".  But there are several things I want to accomplish here.  I'd like to believe that going forward everyone who reads this will purchase and eat only organic beef.  Though even I am not quite (but almost) ready to commit to that, which would really limit my restaurant options.  I think it's more practical to hope that going forward we will never buy or knowingly eat a Butterball turkey, Kosher beef, or any preground beef - that is beef ground before it reaches the store or butcher.  And yes, that includes burgers sold in school cafeterias and fast food restaurants - unless you've actually seen the lunch-lady in the back grinding meat.

If you still need more convincing about school lunches and McDonald's then you absolutely have to rent Fast Food Nation.  Since seeing it a couple years ago I have NEVER stepped foot in any fast food (as in burger chain) restaurant.  I swear, it will change your life.  And I promise, while disturbing, it is very watchable.