Month: April 2007

Butter, cream, powdered sugar, granulated sugar, corn syrup, chocolate, more butter. It’s like the seven deadly sins, with some walnuts thrown in. (I love when people scarf down three pieces of pecan pie and then say, “What? Nuts are good for you! Protein!”) But this kind of indulgence is most definitely worth it from time to time, and HotCakes can prove it: They’ve had to send out this recipe before, to faithful customers who moved out of town and couldn’t quell the toffee jones.

Working with caramel and toffee is sticky, tricky business, but what sweet rewards!

Lisa McEwan, whisk-master at HotCakes, notes that working with caramel is a tricky business—firstly, you want to avoid touching it, since it will stick on you like hot lava. There are other tips for getting it just right: Use a high-sided, heavy gauge metal pan to keep it from burning, and keep a moistened pastry brush around to prevent crystals from forming on the side of the pan (they’ll make it gritty). You’ll have to have all your ingredients out and ready to go, too, because caramel waits for no one. Once you’ve stirred it to a gorgeous dark amber, don’t delay with the butter-cream mixture; the flavor depends on good timing, even if you are smothering it in chocolate.

HotCakes’ Chocolate Toffee Squares

22 Tbsp. (2 sticks, plus 6 Tbsp.)
   unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
3 1/3 cups walnuts
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/3 cups heavy cream
2 Tbsp. light corn syrup
12 oz. chopped semisweet chocolate

Part 1, Shortbread Crust:
Combine 12 Tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, confectioner’s sugar, and flour in a mixer or food processor. Press into an even layer in a 9"x13" baking pan or sheet. Bake at 350° until the crust has a pale golden color. Scatter 3 1/3 cups of walnuts evenly over the surface. Set aside.

Part 2, Caramel Filling:
In a BIG pot, over low heat, cook to dissolve sugar in 1/2 cup water. Stir until all sugar crystals are dissolved. Raise heat, bring to a boil and cook until the syrup takes on a golden color. Continue cooking a couple more minutes until the color is deep amber, almost mahogany. The syrup will quickly burn and turns bitter, so be watchful. Meanwhile, in a smaller saucepan, melt 5 Tbsp. sweet butter. Add 1 1/3 cup heavy cream and heat until it just comes to a simmer. Slowly and carefully add this to the caramel. This is the point we refer to as the “Volcano Stage:” The hot caramel will bubble up very energetically as the cream is added. Continue to simmer the caramel over medium-low heat for 10 minutes. Then, very carefully, pour the caramel oven the nuts and crust. Transfer to the oven and bake for about 15 minutes or until the entire surface is bubbly. Cool at room temperature. 

Part 3, Chocolate Glaze:
In a heavy saucepan, melt 5 Tbsp. sweet butter. When the butter is melted, add 1 cup heavy cream and light corn syrup. Bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and add semisweet chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Pour the glaze over the cooled and firm caramel, spreading evenly with a spatula. Refrigerate until set. 

Implanon is a newly approved form of birth control, but it’s not a new drug—not really. It’s a progestin-only product that inhibits ovulation, increases cervical mucus viscosity and reduces the thickness of the uterine lining, making it a triple-threat against pregnancy. What’s different? The format. It’s the first single-rod, under-the-skin implant on the market. Norplant II, a.k.a. Jadelle, is down to two rods. So Implanon is one tiny matchsticks versus two on your inner arm. What’s the difference? Visibility. Norplant users’ complaints often include the veinlike appearance of the rods themselves. Implanon, by contrast, is pretty much invisible, but like all implants, you should be able to feel it if you run your fingers over the skin.

By the time you read this, gynos in Charlottesville should be offering the teeny hormone implant known as Implanon.

Interested? Gynecologists in Charlottesville should be offering Implanon now; clinicians at UVA’s Womens’ Place underwent training in March. “It’s a good contraceptive alternative for women who can’t take estrogen, women over 35 and smokers, since it’s progestin only,” says Yvonne Newberry of the Womens’ Place. Upsides? It doesn’t appear to cause much weight gain, and no bone thinning. Downsides? It can cause irregular bleeding and totally disrupt your cycle, Newberry advises.—Katherine Cox

The Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep website gives you health skinny on all the ingredients in the potions and lotions you keep around the house. The site, at www.ewg.org/reports/skindeep2, wins smart design points with its search options, too: You can search by brand, product or ingredient, and the listings provide comprehensive information on relevant toxins and hazards. It’s a good thing, too, since no one else is on the lookout. “The FDA cannot require companies to do safety testing of their products before marketing,” stated the FDA Office of Cosmetics and Colors in 1995, and that hasn’t changed.

Search by brand, product or ingredient to find comprehensive info on relevant toxins and hazards in your beauty products.

Yikes. What’s more, just because it’s O.K. to put chemicals on your eyelids for a day doesn’t mean that the buildup over the years is safe. According to EWG, currently “safe” substances found in cosmetics include known immune system toxicants, endocrine disruptors and cancer hazards, all of which are used in nontoxic amounts in individual products; however, if you’re like most people, you use an average of 10 products per day (soap, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, makeup, perfume, etc.). The Skin Deep site states that “a coalition of health and environmental groups, including the EWG and the Breast Cancer Fund, is working with manufacturers to eliminate or reformulate chemical ingredients suspected of hazards as mild as skin irritation and as serious as cancer, genetic mutation and nerve damage.”—K.C.

Could the ingredients in your moisturizer have come straight from your garden?

Charlottesville-based Brigit True Organics works with this appealing idea, creating a full line of products with nothing but herbs, flowers, nuts and fruits. The website, www.brigittrueorganics.com, catalogs everything—yummy lip balms, butters, massage oils, baby balm, body creams, and a prolific selection of organic olive oil soaps.

Calendula is one of the many healing herbs featured in Brigit True Organics’ line of moisturizers and balms.

Owner Brigitte Rau named the company after Brigit, Celtic goddess of healing, herbalism and firecraft, and she’s been connected to what you might call the Wise Woman healing philosophy from childhood (thanks to Grandma’s garden). “I learned to go out in the woods and touch the herb, smell and taste the herb, and really commit [its properties] to my mind. It’s the old world style of knowledge,” Rau says.

The website is a trough of knowledge, too. The ingredients lists are a quick read—they stick to a short list of super-pure, often handcrafted components. The site’s also dotted with helpful tidbits about therapeutic ingredients, as well as aromatherapy benefits. Visit the site and
make your purchases there or shop locally (though the selection will be more limited). Rebecca’s Natural Foods, Market Street Wine Shop, Petit Bebe, Fabulous Foods and Whole Foods all carry the line.—K.C.

You’ve got the mat, the stretchy pants and the water bottle. Now, what’s the perfect yoga style for you? Here’s a breakdown of yoga personalities.—K.C.

Target your "heart space" or your heart rate, depending on what kind of yoga you practice.

Anusara. The focus is on opening up the “heart space,” with a fairly free attitude toward the postures. It’s great for beginners and best for those who want to de-stress, reflect and spend time with like-minded people—it’s a communal style (i.e. brief chanting). Where: ACAC, Ashtanga Yoga of Charlottesville, Gold’s Gym.

Ashtanga. Strengthening, toning, and pushing limits are common goals for Ashtanga devotees with its challenging set routines and quick flow—breath work is key. “We use breathing (with sound), steady gaze and the bandas, or inner locks that hold energy in place, to draw energy up through the body and get the stagnant parts moving again,” says Jennifer Elliott from Ashtanga Yoga. Where: ACAC, Ashtanga Yoga of Charlottesville, Studio 206.

Bikram. If you appreciate hot temperatures (105 degrees), a good cleansing sweat and an unvarying routine, this is the one for you. “Because the postures and heat are always the same, it’s very easy to recognize the changes that your body goes through,” according to Lizzie Clark at Bikram Yoga. Where: Bikram Yoga Charlottesville.

Hatha. Most yoga falls under this category, so classes vary widely. It’s best to contact the teacher if you’re wondering whether you’re up for it—many are gentle, beginning-level classes, with detailed posture explanations and individual corrections. Where: ACAC, Body Mind Spirit Center, Studio 206.

Iyengar. Form is everything. It’s not like flow yoga; you’ll move slowly through a sequence, doing each posture precisely before moving to the next. Props, such as blocks or straps, help you along. Where: Blue Ridge Yoga.

Kripalu. The goal here is often transformation, because it’s intensive work for both body and mind. Be ready to get to know your physical thresholds and unlock your powers
of concentration. Not for the casual yoga practitioner. Where: ACAC.

Vinyasa. Another form of flow yoga, like Ashtanga—just more forgiving. You’ll use the rhythmic breath to focus your awareness, you can tailor the level of difficulty of each pose to your body’s needs, and you’ll learn a variety of poses, since the routine is generally switched up each time. Where: ACAC, Ashtanga Yoga of Charlottesville, Studio 206.

Americans spent more than $1 billion on white teeth last year—on gels, strips, bleaching and bonding. If you’re part of that crowd, consider Lumineers, porcelain veneers that are contact lens-thin and painlessly bonded to your teeth. Whereas veneers usually require grinding the existing teeth down to make room, ruining the natural teeth for good, Lumineers require no reduction in the size of your teeth. They also make chipped, misaligned teeth look shapely and straight. Once they’re on, your regular dental upkeep is all the routine you need.  They’re good for 20 years.

If you’re tired of messy bleaching gels, you could shape up your smile with Lumineers.

Pricing varies based on how many teeth are covered and what you’re covering, but a good per-tooth estimate is somewhere between $700 and $1,100. Cash might not be your only setback: Without proper placement, Lumineers can crack, darken or irritate your gums.

Waynesboro dentist Dr. Alan Bream has put Lumineers on a handful of patients since he started offering them two months ago. “People love them, but if you’re going to get them, you’re going to want a uniform smile—meaning you need to get at least six.” Bream says you can choose your shade of white and the shape of the new teeth—“rounded for a more feminine look, squared for more masculine.”—K.C.

If your preferred way to ingest antioxidants is in a pill, you might want to consider going straight for the original food source, according to the National Institutes of Health. Scientists have been promoting antioxidants as a way to protect against free radical damage and prevent cancer. But recent studies have found that separating them from their natural context (fruits, veggies, nuts) pretty much zaps their usefulness.

Put down the capsules and pick up the seeds: Antioxidants work best in their natural setting.

Supplements like beta carotene, vitamin E and coenzyme Q10 have shown positive results only in the test tube—once they’re in a human body, little to no health perks have been noted. Even worse, some studies, like the one conducted by the National Cancer Institute, suggest that taking the supplements can actually increase the risk of disease.

But studies and trials often report that people who have veggie- and fruit-rich diets seem to be avoiding cancer and heart disease. Current theories point to slower digestion time of foods as opposed to pills and the relationship between antioxidants and other nutrients in the food.—K.C.