The Face Shop - Charcoal & Konjac Cleansing Puff/Sponge

The charcoal & konjac cleansing puff (or sponge as I think of it), is one of the beauty tools you can find at The Face Shop, a very popular Korean beauty products company.  With at least nine locations in the GTA now, the first I believe at Pacific Mall in Markham, they seem to be expanding at a ferocious pace!  Check out the facebook page for locations.

I don't do beauty reviews since I rarely experiment with new products, but I recently had to pick up another puff/sponge from The Face Shop and thought, "it's a product I like so why not"?!

This is what the sponge looks like.

When wet it has a bit of a jelly-like texture.  If you hang dry it, it will become hard and you'll need to soak it in warm water before your next use.

The purpose of the sponge is to "improve skin waste-removing effect" or I think of it as "eliminate excess oil/sebum from the skin to ensure clearer skin".  Konjac is a root vegetable consumed in Asia sometimes for it's purported detoxifying abilities, but often as a diet food; here's the wiki.  Or to many, it is the little konjac jelly cups (lychee flavour being the first) from Asia that were so popular many years back.  The bamboo charcoal component is supposed to help with oily skin.

Since using the sponge (often with a foam cleanser though), my skin has been clearer and my pores a little less noticeable, except my nose which I have accepted will forever have large pores.  But, I digress. I really like the sponge as it's very gentle (great for my sensitive skin) and I feel it does remove dry skin.  If I do have acne, it goes away a lot quicker when using the sponge in my experience.

Unfortunately, I can't speak to any scientific backing for the product but it's been working for me and at $5 it's worth a try!  (The brand Boscia has a similar product.)  In fact, their beauty tools section is quite good and well priced.  I also picked up a round brush for blow drying for $4 and have purchased their cotton cleansing pads and cotton swabs as well.

But last time I checked, not all the stores carry the puff, I've picked up mine at Fairview Mall and Pacific Mall. The location at Eaton Centre did not carry the product when I was there in the winter.

In terms of the store itself, the service is always very friendly at the locations I've been to and they provide samples of other products when you purchase something.

Bulgogee House: Bento Box Lunch

The Yonge-Finch area of Toronto is known as Koreatown north and there are some pretty good Korean restaurants to check out.  Going south on Yonge, there are less Korean restaurants but we recently decided to try Bulgogee House on Spring Garden one weekend and it was surprisingly pretty good.

Bulgogee House

41 Spring Garden Ave

North York, ON M2N 3G1

416-250-6094

First Impression:  Quiet place for weekend lunch (which suited us quite nicely)
Second Impression:  Good value for the lunch specials!

Not a whole lot to say about the place, they have all you can eat Korean BBQ which is what most people probably come here for at dinner time, but we were there for the lunch specials which are available everyday.  LA Galbi box was $10.95 and the Beef Bulgogi box was $7.95.  If you're in the area Mon - Wed, the LA Galbi box is on special for $8.95, a sweet deal!

Side dishes (banchan):  Four were served, the basics which included bean sprouts, seaweed, napa cabbage kimchi, fish cake.

Beef Bulgogi

 What I especially like about the box was they provided a whole square of tofu and they had fruit and a little Yakult drink as part of the bento box, cute!

LA Galbi

 A note about the decor, it's not the nicest looking place but has an old school feel to it, lots of wood panels.  Service was also polite.

Oh, Those Lovely Green Leaves! A Simple Kale Side Dish

Kale, thick vibrant green leaves packed with vitamins and antioxidants such as vitamin C and beta carotene , it became the new "superfood" a few years ago and made it's way onto the menus of so many restaurants.  I remember eating an awesome kale salad at Gusto 101 in the King West area of downtown Toronto.  Dressing was citrus-y with the right amount of sweetness.  Because the leaves are quite thick, it also held up really nicely too.  Oh, and just a quick mention, wine on tap here for $1/oz was also pretty decent!  Anyway, back to kale...

Inspired by this spinach and walnut recipe over at Humble Bean, I made it with kale and substituted the mirin with PC brand Splendido "White Condiment with Balsamic Vinegar of Modena" (Ingredients include: wine vinegar, concentrated grape must, balsamic vinegar of modena, sulphites).  Because the vinegar was on the sweet side, I also cut down on the sugar by one third.  I would have rather used mirin but didn't have any in the house; in the end it still tasted pretty good and was easy to make. Again, easy to make, very key these days!

So, try out the spinach and walnut dressing or use kale like I did!  If using kale, boil the kale for about 5 mins.  You do lose quite a bit of nutrients by boiling so you could steam it or chop into shreds and consume raw to retain the nutrients.

May: I'm Dreaming Of...

It's the beginning of May.  The weather is finally getting warmer, the days are longer, and May two-four is just around the corner. With my little princess keeping me busy, the months have passed by too quickly.  To help me focus on enjoying with her some of the special things every month and season brings, I thought I'd start a series of monthly posts (inspired by one of my favourite blogs).   So to begin, I'm dreaming of...

- warm sun with little humidity, great for afternoon walks
- evenings still cool enough to wear boots but warm enough for a light dress
- pastry cream desserts...just because I'm missing that luscious sweet taste
- tree blossoms (sakura trees in high park especially)
- the beginning of Ontario's fruit and vegetable season
- this year's batch of green tea, already picked and processed...hoping to enjoy some on my balcony!