just say no: hershey's chocolate syrup

Maybe you remember this post, in which I declared that we food snobs should, perhaps, collectively stop judging the cart contents of grocery shopping brethren? Well that doesn't count for restaurants. Sorry, but I am going to judge.

Yesterday evening, NH and I had dinner at relaxed, suburban red-sauce-Italian kind of joint on Staten Island. The dinner was decent and quick, though as many mediocre meals out do it reminded me that I can do better at home in less time. I guess I need to do more emulating of the excellent bloggers behind Not Eating Out in New York. At any rate, NH and I allowed ourselves to be talked into a truly lackluster "chocolate souffle" for dessert, which was really just a second-rate chocolate lava cake. And by "second-rate" I mean the interior was barely warm. True to form, the restaurant festooned this prosaic dessert with ruffles of ReddiWip and the dreaded drizzles of Hershey's Chocolate Syrup.

This stuff. Don't click unless you want to see the frightening number of disgusting-sounding varieties available for purchase at a store near you.

I don't blame this place, after all, NH and I knew exactly what we were getting into and we really didn't mind, though we couldn't help comparing it with some of our recent, finer Italian dining experiences. It bothers me though, that classy-with-a-k suburban casual dining holes aren't the only places where this questionable condiment finds full time employment. Hershey's Chocolate Syrup makes its way onto the fine china of a number of much nicer restaurants regularly. A few of these establishments allow it to touch the food.

Perhaps you're wondering why I'm so harsh on the brown stuff. Here's the thing: it's not good. Doubt it? Go buy a bottle and eat a spoonful of it. Doesn't live up to those childhood memories, does it? Now I won't lie, I still believe there's a special time and place for a glass of cold milk with a few hearty tablespoons of the brown stuff swirled in, but it's the same time and place for grilled cheese sandwiches on squishy white bread and that little square of microwaved dessert in a Kid Cuisine frozen meal (when, by the way, did Kid Cuisine start billing itself as a "real meal"?). That time and place is not in a nice restaurant, making a minefield of my otherwise delicious dessert. I don't need a kind of chocolate-y product drizzled over my delicious fudgy microwaved brownie, or even over my vaguely tasty not-quite-souffle-or-lava-cake dessert product thing. Whatever happened to the joys of minimalist plating? Certainly the restaurant can save $10 on a mammoth can of the syrup and use it to, I don't know, buy more things restaurants need, like salt and pepper shakers to replace all the stolen ones.

At this point in time, there is very little that I can do personally in the war against Hershey's Chocolate Syrup, which is ever so slightly better when warm, but only, only slightly. NH and I have decided to take one course of action though: we're going to make sure we order desserts sans Hershey's Chocolate Syrup. Will you join us in this mission?

general housewifery is participating in National Blog Post Month (NaBloPoMo).

the perfect nail color

S, who accompanied me for a pre-opera manicure/pedicure yesterday afternoon, long ago turned me on to a beauty secret I will now share with you, worthy readers. I know everyone is convinced that Essie's Ballet Slippers or something equally dull is the perfect nail color but I think the flaw with Ballet Slippers, which I have worn several times myself (my mother used to do nails) is that it looks better on those with lighter skin. It's not impossible to flatter almost all skin shades with a single hue, think of colors like eggplant, which look nice on practically everyone. No, in my opinion, the perfect nail color (and I am so in awe of this shade that I will continue to refer to it just like that, with italics) is Essie's Guchi Muchi Puchi. This pale pink looks as lovely with a tan as with pale wintery skin, and has enough white and pink in it to show up on everyone. It's ladylike, and although I can see it working in a mod sort of way with the right jewelry, it's mostly just timeless. As S once pointed out, the polish fades really well, so that while your pedicure at first has more purple-y tones, three weeks later it's looking a bit pink (rather than a bit dull). At seven bucks a bottle, Guchi Muchi Puchi is a worthy beauty indulgence.

I'm wearing the overly trendy but decidedly (and yes, I mean "decided by me") sexy Russian Navy on my toes. I like both of these shades enough to own bottles of them.

back to school

One day back and I'm already in heart attack mode.

But, I did want to post on the super-simple face routine I've been doing that has pretty much cleared up all of the little stress-related breakout on my forehead. My skin is normally clear, but once in awhile my anxiety flares and I'll get annoying little whiteheads and reddish bumps. In the summer I usually use plain old Dove bar soap (I know everyone points out how ridiculously bad this is, but it's always worked for me) and Neutrogena moisturizer (with sunscreen!). Sometimes this routine works in the winter, but this year it feels extra dry and I've switched to Cetaphil's gentle cleanser for dry skin (it's this stuff). I spend a good two minutes doing a nice face massage while washing, which is soothing and leaves me all glowy. I'm also using this creme instead of my normal lotion. I borrowed it from my mom one day while I was home over break and find that it's really quite good, although ultra-hydrating so not really for those without dry skin. I don't know if it's keeping me young, but I sort of doubt the anti-aging qualities of most cosmetics. The price tag (I paid about 15$ for two ounces at Walgreens) is more than I generally spend on skin stuff, since I'm spoiled and usually spent almost nothing for bars of soap and less than 10$ a bottle for four ounces of the Neutrogena, but it's working wonders. I've also been doing it twice a day, rather than my normal about three times over two days. If you've got dry skin I really would recommend either product or both. The drawback to the Jason creme is that it doesn't have a sunscreen, so you need one in addition.

Now if I could only figure out what to do with the almost-invisible blackheads on the side of my nose. Product recommendations?