Paraffin

Spa Week is back from Monday, April 11 to Sunday, April 17, with $50 treatments at a number of Baltimore-area salons and spas.  There are 10 businesses participating in Baltimore and its suburbs, although you'll have even more opportunities if you're willing to venture down to the DC area. Options include an hour-long "rosemary mint awakening body treatment" at Visual Changes Salon and Spa in Ellicott City, a 90-minute spa manicure and pedicure with paraffin dip at Deja Vu Salon and Spa in Kingsville or a "shellac gel with paraffin spa manicure" at Zina's Day Spa . To book one of these or any others, you'll have to call the salon or spa directly and make an appointment.

Spa Week is back from Monday, April 11 to Sunday, April 17, with $50 treatments at a number of Baltimore-area salons and spas.  There are 10 businesses participating in Baltimore and its suburbs, although you'll have even more opportunities if you're willing to venture down to the DC area. Options include an hour-long "rosemary mint awakening body treatment" at Visual Changes Salon and Spa in Ellicott City, a 90-minute spa manicure and pedicure with paraffin dip at Deja Vu Salon and Spa in Kingsville or a "shellac gel with paraffin spa manicure" at Zina's Day Spa . To book one of these or any others, you'll have to call the salon or spa directly and make an appointment.

Underwear as outerwearMadonna may have started it all several years ago when she began performing in bra tops and bustiers, but the idea of lingerie worn as outerwear has now taken on a life of its own. Bare little dresses cut like slips have become standard fare at the trendiest clubs and cocktail parties. Come spring, expect to XTC see even more lingerie-inspired party clothes -- dresses featuring built-in bras and delicate nylon lingerie lace edging necklines and shoulder straps.One of the most popular new fabric combinations also happens to be black lace layered over nude or blush-colored satin, a look hitherto more common in the boudoir than the ballroom.

A BALTIMORE college student who was heading off for a month's study in Cuba was mystified when a brochure arrived telling her to bring, among other necessities, some carbon paper. She might just as well have been told to sharpen her nibs. After her parents explained to her what carbon paper is, they set out to find some, heavy of heart at the prospect of what surely would be a frustrating and fruitless mission. But no! It was easy. You may not have given carbon paper much thought since the early years of the first Reagan administration, but that doesn't mean it's not still out there.

Barbara S. Schubert of Ellicott City is seeking a recipe called Need'ems. She says: "I bought some at a craft and baked goods fair in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, and knew immediately it was the appropriate title for this scrumptiously delicious sweet treat. It was a square of semisweet chocolate with a creamy filling. Please help me locate this recipe as I now know my taste buds Need'em." Goldie Brody of Baltimore responded with a recipe "from a cookbook titled Damariscotta Kitchens -- Favorite Recipes From Historic Lincoln County, Maine."

Here are safety tips for preserving from the Alltrista Corp., marketers of Ball brand home canning products:Jams, jellies, conserves, preserves, fruit butters and marmalades should be sealed with two-piece vacuum lids and then processed by water-bath canning. Do not seal with paraffin. Paraffin seals are not recommended by the USDA because they do not maintain a proper seal and are not heat processed, a necessary step that kills the microorganisms that could cause spoilage.Old-fashioned jars and commercial jars, such as those from commercially canned mayonnaise and jellies, should not be used for home canning.

At first glance, Osami Tanaka's wood, steel and paraffin sculptures, at Grimaldis, look very much like one another. But take a longer look. Actually, that's part of what they're about: taking a longer look.They are, superficially, rectangles of wood and paraffin joined by bands of steel. Some are horizontal, some vertical; some sit on steel pedestals, which constitute part of the work. So what else is there to see?Take two that look virtually identical (all are untitled) and spend a little time with them.

Around the house* Patch a leaking cooler. Melt paraffin wax and allow to cool slightly. While wax is soft, plug hole inside and out. Use caution when heating wax because of flammability.* Perk up an old picnic table. Cover with a printed, fitted single sheet.* Clean window screens. Remove and lay them on flat surface. Mix a solution of 3 parts water to 1 part ammonia in a bucket and scrub with bristle brush. Rinse with a hose and rap screen with hand to remove excess water. Let screens dry in sun.* Keep ants away from house.

Give Dad an ignitable corn cob for Father's Day.Why, you ask, would Dad want one? Because it would make him feel like a '90s kind of guy. A guy who is concerned about the environment. A guy who wants to build a good fire for the barbecue.I know. I'm a dad and I worry about these things.I read about coated cobs and wanted some, so I quickly called the outfit that makes, or at least repackages, the corn cobs, Griffo Grill in Quincy, Ill. These cobs of Illinois -- feed corn dipped in food-grade paraffin -- are called Cob Lites and are being sold in food stores as fire starters for charcoal briquettes.

A BALTIMORE college student who was heading off for a month's study in Cuba was mystified when a brochure arrived telling her to bring, among other necessities, some carbon paper. She might just as well have been told to sharpen her nibs. After her parents explained to her what carbon paper is, they set out to find some, heavy of heart at the prospect of what surely would be a frustrating and fruitless mission. But no! It was easy. You may not have given carbon paper much thought since the early years of the first Reagan administration, but that doesn't mean it's not still out there.

Barbara S. Schubert of Ellicott City is seeking a recipe called Need'ems. She says: "I bought some at a craft and baked goods fair in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, and knew immediately it was the appropriate title for this scrumptiously delicious sweet treat. It was a square of semisweet chocolate with a creamy filling. Please help me locate this recipe as I now know my taste buds Need'em." Goldie Brody of Baltimore responded with a recipe "from a cookbook titled Damariscotta Kitchens -- Favorite Recipes From Historic Lincoln County, Maine."

McDonald's doesn't have anything on the Ladies Guild of Magothy Chelsea Community Lutheran Church -- even if both are serving up quarter-pounders.The church women's quarter-pounders are chocolate-covered Easter eggs, and they deliver.About 10 guild members will be mixing friendship with rich ingredients Thursday and Friday in the basement of the church in Pasadena's Magothy Beach community, producing this year's fund-raising eggs.They will be continuing a tradition almost four decades old. Since 1959, the women have sold their Easter eggs to a faithful cadre of regular buyers as well as new customers, and they give the profits to the church for renovation projects.

Not long ago, the town of Easton in eastern Pennsylvania was known for only two colors -- black and blue -- because this is where former heavyweight boxing champion Larry Holmes lives. But the home of the "Easton Assassin" soon will be known for a much broader palette.This summer, Binney & Smith Inc., makers of Crayola crayons, opened the Crayola Factory, a combination children's museum/factory tour in a remodeled department store in Easton's downtown.Binney had run group tours for 20 years in the factory where its famous crayons and other products are made, a few miles north of Easton.

Here are safety tips for preserving from the Alltrista Corp., marketers of Ball brand home canning products:Jams, jellies, conserves, preserves, fruit butters and marmalades should be sealed with two-piece vacuum lids and then processed by water-bath canning. Do not seal with paraffin. Paraffin seals are not recommended by the USDA because they do not maintain a proper seal and are not heat processed, a necessary step that kills the microorganisms that could cause spoilage.Old-fashioned jars and commercial jars, such as those from commercially canned mayonnaise and jellies, should not be used for home canning.

At first glance, Osami Tanaka's wood, steel and paraffin sculptures, at Grimaldis, look very much like one another. But take a longer look. Actually, that's part of what they're about: taking a longer look.They are, superficially, rectangles of wood and paraffin joined by bands of steel. Some are horizontal, some vertical; some sit on steel pedestals, which constitute part of the work. So what else is there to see?Take two that look virtually identical (all are untitled) and spend a little time with them.

Around the house* Patch a leaking cooler. Melt paraffin wax and allow to cool slightly. While wax is soft, plug hole inside and out. Use caution when heating wax because of flammability.* Perk up an old picnic table. Cover with a printed, fitted single sheet.* Clean window screens. Remove and lay them on flat surface. Mix a solution of 3 parts water to 1 part ammonia in a bucket and scrub with bristle brush. Rinse with a hose and rap screen with hand to remove excess water. Let screens dry in sun.* Keep ants away from house.

McDonald's doesn't have anything on the Ladies Guild of Magothy Chelsea Community Lutheran Church -- even if both are serving up quarter-pounders.The church women's quarter-pounders are chocolate-covered Easter eggs, and they deliver.About 10 guild members will be mixing friendship with rich ingredients Thursday and Friday in the basement of the church in Pasadena's Magothy Beach community, producing this year's fund-raising eggs.They will be continuing a tradition almost four decades old. Since 1959, the women have sold their Easter eggs to a faithful cadre of regular buyers as well as new customers, and they give the profits to the church for renovation projects.

Not long ago, the town of Easton in eastern Pennsylvania was known for only two colors -- black and blue -- because this is where former heavyweight boxing champion Larry Holmes lives. But the home of the "Easton Assassin" soon will be known for a much broader palette.This summer, Binney & Smith Inc., makers of Crayola crayons, opened the Crayola Factory, a combination children's museum/factory tour in a remodeled department store in Easton's downtown.Binney had run group tours for 20 years in the factory where its famous crayons and other products are made, a few miles north of Easton.

Give Dad an ignitable corn cob for Father's Day.Why, you ask, would Dad want one? Because it would make him feel like a '90s kind of guy. A guy who is concerned about the environment. A guy who wants to build a good fire for the barbecue.I know. I'm a dad and I worry about these things.I read about coated cobs and wanted some, so I quickly called the outfit that makes, or at least repackages, the corn cobs, Griffo Grill in Quincy, Ill. These cobs of Illinois -- feed corn dipped in food-grade paraffin -- are called Cob Lites and are being sold in food stores as fire starters for charcoal briquettes.

Underwear as outerwearMadonna may have started it all several years ago when she began performing in bra tops and bustiers, but the idea of lingerie worn as outerwear has now taken on a life of its own. Bare little dresses cut like slips have become standard fare at the trendiest clubs and cocktail parties. Come spring, expect to XTC see even more lingerie-inspired party clothes -- dresses featuring built-in bras and delicate nylon lingerie lace edging necklines and shoulder straps.One of the most popular new fabric combinations also happens to be black lace layered over nude or blush-colored satin, a look hitherto more common in the boudoir than the ballroom.