christine-murphy dot net

See product info from Bare Escentuals website.

I’m gonna be honest here…I have mixed feelings about this product.  The reasons I purchased it – first of all, I love BE makeup, and second, since it’s not greasy like traditional sunscreen, I’d have an easier time getting Mike to agree to let me put it on him.  He often resisted regular sunscreen in the past, due to the greasy feeling.  Also, he doesn’t like the way sunscreens smell, this product is in powder form, and doesn’t really smell like anything.

As you may know, summer came much later than usual here in New England, it was more like March/April in May/June.  So I did not have a good chance to test this product until early July, when the sun finally decided to come out.  We had a weekend trip to Portland, Maine planned, with tickets to three Sea Dogs minor league baseball games.  Hadlock Field, the Sea Dogs ballpark, doesn’t have a roof at all, so the sun can beat down pretty hard.  The Friday and Saturday games were at night, but the Sunday game was a 1PM game, right around when the sun’s rays get to be their worst.  So that is when we gave it the big test.

Mike did not want me to put it on his face, and that was okay, because for one thing, he was wearing a baseball cap, and second, we were seated where the sun was behind us.  He hates to wear shorts, so we didn’t have to worry about his legs getting burnt.  So I put it on his ears and the back of his neck, where he’d be most likely to get sunburn.  His arms, like mine, are pretty used to sun exposure, and actually tan and not burn.

Me, I was wearing shorts.  And no hat.  I don’t like to wear hats, because they make me have *hat-head*.  But before we left for the game, I applied the 30 SPF sunblock to my face, under the usual 15 SPF BE foundation.

When we got to the ballpark, I tried applying the sunscreen to my legs.  I was having a hard time telling whether anything was actually coming out of the brush or not.  I followed the instructions, heck, even the guy at the BE Boutique where I bought the stuff gave me a demo as to how to use it, before he used his barcode scanner to ring up my purchases.  I thought it was, but I guess not, because my legs got sunburned.  But my face was okay, and so was the back of my neck.  And so were Mike’s ears and the back of his neck.

So, this stuff DOES work, but I wonder if there’s a flaw with the brush thingy?  It’s the same sort of brush thingy as this Mineral Veil On-The-Go brush.  And I never had any problems getting the product to flow out of that.

My verdict?  I’m going to give this more chances before saying it suck, I’ll try harder to get the product to flow out of the brush properly.  Since Mike didn’t get brunt, I KNOW it works.  Maybe I’m the one who sucks, who knows?

Seriously.  If we hit the lottery, and Mike could retire, maybe it would be fun to drive all over the country in a state-of-the-art RV.  Think about it, we could go to visit baseball parks all over, without the expense of hotels.  We could even save on having to eat at restaurants by cooking either in the kitchen of the RV, or, my favorite idea, BBQing at the campground.

Just as long as our fellow campers are not like our neighbors, who douse their BBQ fire with lighter fluid.  Well, if it did smell that bad, at least we could drive away and go elsewhere…hard to do when you come home, and the stench of burnt lighter fluid hangs in the air, and even seeps into the house through the air conditioner.

Of course, we’d have to visit www.goodsamvip.com to buy RV insurance.  So worth it, though, as you never know what could happen.

And, finally, when we get tired of hearing the neighborhood children screeching at the top of their lungs, and giving me serious headaches, we could always drive up to Potters Place Campground and get some peace there.  An adults-only campground in the boonies of Maine…now I can get into that!

Maybe someday!

This is a very simple and delicious pork chop recipe that I got from the May 2009 issue of Everyday Food magazine.  If you didn’t get to pick up that issue when it was at the stores, you can find the recipe online:  Pork Chops With Endive Salad & Caraway Mustard.

And the good news is that this is not only yummie, but you won’t need to break out the weight loss pills after eating this. Today’s pork is very lean, especially the loin, which is what is called for here.  The only thing is that it is VERY easy to overcook boneless pork loin, it can get seriously dry.  But if you follow the instructions in the recipe, and let the meat rest, it will be perfectly cooked.  Don’t be tempted to cook it for longer…for one thing, scary stuff like trichinosis has been bred out of domestic pork ages ago.  And for another, the meat will continue to cook a bit as it rests.

What really makes this dish is the caraway mustard.  I love caraway seeds.  Don’t buy those little jars at the spice rack in the supermarket, though, very expensive.  Go to a whole foods store that sells herbs and spices in bulk and buy them there.  Way cheaper that way.  And yes, you can use low-fat mayo if you are watching fat and calories.

The endive salad is excellent, but if you can’t find endive, or it’s too pricey for you, just have some other kind of veggie or salad.  Enjoy!

Ratatouille, that is!  This is simply a stew that is best made in the summer, as it contains vegges that are in season.  So, fear not, your family will not have to cash in your term life insurance because you died from eating rat meat…LOL!

This recipe from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food is a good one, and simple to make.  The only change I made was to use fresh tomatoes instead of canned, but only do this if they are in season and you can find nice ones.  Otherwise, canned are better.

There are only two of us here, and this recipe makes A LOT.  I made this as a side dish to Julia Child’s leg of lamb, which I cooked in the NuWave Oven.  There was much more ratatouille than lamb.  So, what to do with the leftovers?

As the recipe says, this can easily be frozen.  But last night, when I was making Giada’s Simple Bolognese Sauce for pasta, I decided to toss in some of the leftover ratatouille, as the sauce was simmering.  I added an extra can of crushed tomatoes so that the sauce would not be too thick and chunky, as it was, it came out just right.

To me, ratatouille and pasta go together.  For a lighter dish, simply toss the warm vegetable stew with the pasta of your choice, and maybe add some grated Parmesan cheese.

So, this summer, take advantage of the low prices of veggies in season…eggplant, zucchini, etc…and make up a big pot of ratatouille.  And then come up with your own ways to use the leftovers!

Because there is NO WAY we can attend one and not be asphyxiated to death.  For one thing, they both smoke like chimneys, and second, they completely douse their charcoal in lighter fluid.  In my opinion, LIGHTER FLUID IS EVIL.  It not only smells bad, but it DOES get into the food, I don’t care what anyone says.  If we were to attend a BBQ of theirs, just to be polite, we’d have no need for fat burners or anything, because we’d have a hard time choking anything down!

They are perfectly nice people, just not people we’d want to hang out with.  Once we ran into them at a local ball game, and the wife came over to us, and it was kind of awkward.  We just kind of run in different circles, we really have little in common enough with them to ever really be friends.

Also, in that relationship, the husband is the GRILLMASTER, and I suspect he would not take too well to grilling advice from a mere woman.  And I know I’d have a hard time keeping my mouth shut about the lighter fluid.

So we always told them we had other plans, and actually made other plans to be out of the house, if we didn’t already have them.  I mean, they can see where we park our car from their yard, so it’s best that the car not be there on the appointed BBQ day.

Eventually, they stopped inviting us, but they still wave to us if they are out in their yard.  We wave back.  That’s about it.

Still, on days we know they will be BBQing, always on Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day, we vacate the premises just so as not to have to smell the lighter fluid.  It seeps in through the air conditioners, so there’s no escape unless we leave the house for a few hours.

Today we went to the local TGI Friday’s to watch the Red Sox game and have some lunch.  Since most of the world was probably having BBQs with way too much lighter fluid (IMO, ONE DROP of it is too much), the bar was pretty quiet.

When we got home, the neighbors’ party was still going on, but they’d finished cooking, thank goodness.

Pictured above is a chimney starter.  This link provides detailed instructions on how to use one.  Notice that no lighter fluid is involved.  If people used chimney starters, they’d not only not stink up the neighborhood with lighter fluid, but they’d save money on not having to buy the stuff, as well.

As for those briquettes that come already doused in lighter fluid…Match Light, I think they are called…they are even more evil than lighter fluid.  I knew people who used them, and the taste of them gets into the food even worse than regular lighter fluid and briquettes.  And they smell worse, too.

SO…DON”T USE ANYTHING THAT IS OR CONTAINS CHARCOAL LIGHTER FLUID!  Your neighbors will thank you!