For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. The boxes can range from austere lacquered trays to multi-tiered Hello Kitty confections of neon pink plastic. The meals themselves are anything from rice and leftovers to elaborate themed affairs of Pikachu-shaped dumplings with sesame seed eyes and carved radish trees. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.
Today's featured bento is an impressive spa-themed box from Sakurako Kitsa. The mud-masked face of our turbaned spa lady is made from a turkey slice slathered in green-dyed mayonnaise. Her turban and robe are made from white cheese with fruit leather trim, and she wears diamond-shaped squirts of canned cheese for earrings. Wow!
The Canyon Ranch spas are some of the most renowned wellness getaways in the country, not just because of the beautiful facilities and revitalizing treatments and activities that they offer, but also because of their food. The spas are known for serving food that is as good for your body food can get - and has a taste that "is beyond words." Canyon Ranch Cooking: Bringing the Spa Home is a collection of some of the spa's best recipes, which means that you can easily recreate their healthy, delicious meals even when you're mot visiting the spa.
The large volume is nearly 500 pages long and is well laid out, filled with beautiful pictures and well-written recipes. All of the recipes conform to the low calorie, low fat (20% cal from fat) guidelines followed at the spa. They rely heavily on fresh produce and meats, not on prepacked "diet" types of products, as well as cous cous, white and brown rice and other grains, and the dishes end up looking - and tasting - just as good as those from regular cookbooks. There are many options for breakfast, lunch, diner and dessert, as well as dips, sides, soups and salads. Some of the recipes include Banana Waffles with Maple Walnut Syrup, Indonesian Chicken with Grilled Bananas, Osso Bucco, Seafood Chowder, Cheese Enchiladas and Cherry Streusel Pie.
Grocery shopping is not usually the activity at the top of the "fun things to do" list, but Whole Foods wants to change your mind about that by making the experience relaxing and pleasurable. The company has just opened The Everyday Spa, a prototype full-service spa, at their Dallas store.
The spa is 4,500-sq. feet and is entirely enclosed in a soundproof section of the store. It offers the same services as other day spas, including a wide variety of skin treatments, massages, nutritionists and "wellness consultants." There is also a "private balcony where lunch is served" and a store that carries most of the skin care products and cosmetics that are currently located in the Whole Body aisle/section of most Whole Foods Markets, in addition to jewelry, shoes and clothing made with organic materials.
Grocery shopping and spa treatments, despite the fact that WF is trying to emphasize the organic connection between the two services at their stores, don't seem like the best matchup. The point of getting a full body massage, for example, is to help you relax and clear your mind, not to think about what to buy for lunch tomorrow. That said, if their prices and services are good, there's no reason to rule out one of their spas if this one is successful and they decide to roll them out to locations across the country.
Part spa, part amusement park - the Yunessun Spa in Japan offers guests the chance to experience green tea, sake, red wine and even coffee in a way that is truly unique. Instead of drinking any of these beverages, visitors to the spa can bathe in them. The sake spa is continuously filled from a huge cask and is said to be good for the skin. The green tea spa is brewed with tea grown at the "foot of the Tanzawa and Hakone mountains" and contains a powerful anti-oxidant that is reputed to enhance the immune system. The wine spa is filled with real red wine, inspired by the fact that Cleopatra loved to bathe in red wine as a rejuvenation treatment in ancient Egypt. Perhaps the most interesting is the coffee spa, which is filled with coffee that is brewed with the natural hot spring water at the spa. Not only will it energize you, but it will energize the skin.
A spa in San Francisco, CA (where else?) will treat you like a sushi roll. Spa Radiance offers a California Roll body treatment that involves sea salt, sesame seeds, seaweed, cucumbers and avocado oil, according to a post on Daily Candy. Besides rice, the only thing missing, mercifully, is the crab sticks. You'd think they could exfoliate your heels with crab claws or something. The sea salt and sesame seeds are used in a scrub; the cukes and seaweed are part of a body mask; and the avocado oil is used in a final massage. I couldn't find this treatment on Spa Radiance's menu, so perhaps it's only offered on a limited basis. They do offer a coffee and sugar scrub, however.
You may eat oatmeal every morning for breakfast, but you can also use it on your skin. Doctors and
scientists have long known the power of oatmeal to treat minor skin inflammations and relieve very dry skin, and we
often see colloidal oatmeal as an ingredient with facial products.
For a bath soak, finely grind 1c. dry oats in a blender or food processor. Sprinkle in tub of
warm water. Soak yourself for 15-20 minutes. I had to do this for a few days when I broke out in hives from a food
allergy.
I have seen oatmeal facials done two ways. The first method uses ½ c. dry oats that
has been finely ground mixed with ¼ c. plain full fat yogurt and 2 Tbsp.
honey. (We've already seen the beauty benefits of honey.) Apply
to face, rest for 15 minutes, then rinse off.
The 2nd oatmeal facial uses 1/3 c. instant oatmeal cooked with ½ c.
water. Add 2 Tbsp honey, apply to face, rest for 15-20 minutes, then rinse off.
The oatmeal by itself in a facial mask works as an exfoliator, but it can also physically slough off dead skin
cells because of its texture when it is ground into a powder.
I can honestly say that I've never had the desire to swim in beer. If, by chance, this notion has entered your
dreams, you're in luck. A family brewery in Prague recently opened a spa where visitors can lounge in Victorian-style
baths filled with beer and get beer wraps, massages and other cosmetic treatments. A full weekend goes for about $140,
but single treatments are offered for less. The spa's owner touts the curative properties of beer and said he hopes
that a beer spa will appeal to men who might be put off by the idea of other spa experiences.
This coming weekend, there is going to be plenty a jar of mayonnaise and Miracle Whip emptied out into recipes for
dips and spreads. Why? Because mayonnaise is fat and we all know that fat tastes pretty damned good. Just don't use the high-end expensive stuff.
But before you scoop all your Hellman's out into Stefania's Easy Artichoke Dip to
treat your guests, save a cup or two to treat your face and hair! It's the fat in the mayonnaise that has a
moisturizing effect on both hair and skin.
For a simple deep moisturizing condition for the hair, simply comb about ½ cup mayonnaise through dry
hair, cover (so you don't faint from the mayo fumes) and let it sit anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. I have seen
some "recipes" that even suggest that you sit in the sun with a shower cap on, as the heat gets
trapped inside the shower cap and works even better to moisturize. Rinse as much of the mayo out as you can with warm
water first, then shampoo like normal.
This one sounds slightly odd, and if anyone actually tries it, please leave a comment about the results!
Spread Miracle Whip (the salad
dressing, not real mayonnaise) on your face, let it sit for 10-15 minutes, massage into your skin, then rinse off
with warm water. Something in the Miracle Whip removes dead skin cells (which sound scary, since people also
eat the stuff) and leaves your skin smooth and radiant.
Previous spa foods not to eat, but to treat: Avocadoes are moisturizing Cleopatra's secret: honey
If your face feel moisturized after cleansing with the avocado
leftover from guacamole, then the next thing you need is honey, which is a great moisturizer for the skin on the
face. No wonder Cleopatra took baths in milk and honey! Though these claims haven't been fully proven, honey
may also have antioxidant properties, which means it can protect from the sun's harmful UV rays, and
anti-bacterial properties, which means it's great for acne.
By itself, honey can be used as a facial mask. In addition to moisturizing, the honey tightens pores to give the
skin a smoother look. Simply cover your cleaned face with a hot, wet washcloth to open the pores, then apply honey to
the skin. Let it sit for 15-20 minutes before rinsing off with warm water.
Honey can be combined with a few other ingrdients for a mask as well. For regular skin, mix
1 Tbsp honey, with 1 egg and apply to face as a mask. If skin is dry, simply
leave out the egg white and use the yolk only. If skin tends to be oiler, use only the egg white.
As an anti-bacterial acne fighter, simply dab plain honey on the blemish that has been cleaned, and leave on for
10-15 minutes.
Because it is a moisturizer, honey conditions hair. Mix ½ c. honey with ¼ c.
olive oil and apply to hair. Leave on for 30 minutes, which seems long, but perfect for sitting down with a cup
of tea sweetened with honey. Shampoo and rinse as normal.
It's a good thing Nicole highlighted
avocadoes as an major player in the Super Bowl of
food, because it's also the first food I'm talking about in a totally irregular, sporadic series of
posts dedicated to feeding your face - the skin on your face that is, along with your hair, and maybe even
your nails. Food certainly does wonders for your body from the inside when you eat it, but it certainly works
natural miracles on the outside, too. Haven't we already seen a French toast facial?
Avocadoes, as we all know, taste good because they contain a lot of fat. Not to fear the freaded F-word!
Even though it can be up to 25 grams per avocado, it's good fat for your body, and it's this fat that make
avocadoes an amazing moisturizer. Alone, avocado can work as moisturizing mask, and mixed with a few other
ingrdients, can be used as a cleanser, and even to remove under-eye circles. Just don't make guacamole with it once
your face feels refreshed!
To make an all-avocado face mask, all you have to do is puree a quarter, or up to half an avocado
(depending on the size of the avocado, and the size of your face), and apply it, by itself, to your clean face.
Let it work its avocado-magic for 15 minutes, then rinse off.
A spa in San Francisco, CA (where else?) will treat you like a sushi roll. 
I can honestly say that I've never had the desire to swim in beer. If, by chance, this notion has entered your
dreams, you're in luck. A family brewery in Prague recently opened a spa where visitors can lounge in Victorian-style
baths filled with beer and get beer wraps, massages and other cosmetic treatments. A full weekend goes for about $140,
but single treatments are offered for less. The spa's owner touts the curative properties of beer and said he hopes
that a beer spa will appeal to men who might be put off by the idea of other spa experiences.
If your face feel moisturized after 
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