The pomelo is the largest, most delicious citrus fruit you’ve never heard of – and if you love your grapefruits, oranges, lemons, and limes, you’d better fix that situation right quick.

Native to Southeast Asia, the pomelo is a large, juicy fruit with a tough exterior and a sweet, tart interior. And since this weekend is Memorial Day and the first days of summer, it’s the perfect time to try the pomelo in one of these delicious, easy recipes – ideal for hot summer nights and backyard barbecues.

Pomelo Salad

Ingredients:
1 large pomelo
1 red chili
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 stalk lemongrass
2 limes
Fresh coriander

Peel and segment the pomelo. Crush the garlic. Slice the lemon grass and the chili. Squeeze the limes. Prepare a dressing from chili, garlic, honey, fish sauce, lemon grass and lime juice. Mix this dressing in a bowl with the fruit and decorate it with fresh coriander.

Pomelo-Mint Mojitos

4 peeled sections of pomelo or grapefruit, chopped
6 mint leaves
2 tablespoons orange juice concentrate or orange sorbet
1 1/2 ounces white rum
Ice
Club soda
1 lime wedge

In a cocktail shaker, muddle the pomelo with the mint and orange juice concentrate. Add the rum and ice and shake well. Pour into a highball glass. Top with club soda and garnish with the lime wedge.

Pomelo Ceviche

1 side snapper
1 cup of a combination of freshly squeezed lime juice, lemon juice, and orange juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 pomelo
1/2 tsp. pomelo zest
1 or 2 more limes
1 serrano chile, halved lengthwise and then in thin pieces
¼ cup red onion, sliced paper-thin
1 pomelo
Small handful cilantro

Rinse the snapper with water and pat dry. Using a sharp fish filet knife, slice it into thin strips and place in a non-reactive container. Pour over the citrus juice and toss in the garlic. Let the fish “cook” in the citrus juices for 2-4 hours in the fridge.

Peel the pomelo with a sharp knife, removing all of the white pith. Use a small knife to remove the fruit sections.

Soak the red onion in a small bowl of water for 10 minutes to remove its sharpness.

Take the fish out of the fridge, drain it of the citrus marinade, and toss with the juice of the limes, Serrano chile, red onion, pomelo pieces and zest, and a good shaking of salt. Roughly tear up the cilantro, toss, and serve with pita or toasted chips.

While everyone else is all abuzz about “Sex and the City 2″ hitting theaters this weekend, we thought we’d take [...]

Sciton and Medical Spa MD will be announcing a group buy offering for our Members next week.

This is just a heads-up, but if you’re even thinking about adding a cosmetic laser or IPL to your medical center you’ll want to take a look at this new program.

Sciton’s not sitting on their thumbs. They’re a motiviated and hungry company that’s watched the success that some of our other Select Partners like Medical Spa RX, Shine and Frontdesk SEO have had and decided to craft an offer that pushes the limits of what a cosmetic laser manufacturer has done before.

This could fizzle of course, but I think there’s an equal possiblity that it could just change the way that cosmetic medical technologies like laser and IPLs are sold and marketed… at least by those companies who have good reputations and understand that their physician customers are their greatest asset.

For Medical Spa MD’s community this could be something of an inflection point, with one of the major technology companies now looking to actually become a member of the community we’ve built and allowing Members to pool their collective buying power and benfit from others who are using the same technology without trying to wall them off from all other information and messaging – which never really worked anyway. We’ll be discussing the details of the offer and how it came about when it launches now but I wanted to mention that it’s coming.

To bone up beforehand, read the latest cosmetic laser & IPL reviews and get a sense of what the medical spa community’s thinking about Scition, Palomar, Cutera, Solta and the rest of the cosmetic laser & IPL technologies or visit some of the physician user groups.

If you’re in the market for any type of cosmetic laser or IPL my advice is this; wait a week. Even if you’re about to buy a Palomar Starlux, Candela Smoothbeam, or even a used cosmetic IPL, you’ll be able to beat up your sales rep on price a little.

Can race (or any difference) affect the quality of care that a patient receives at any medical center?

from CNN

In the study, which appears in the journal Current Biology, people of Italian and African descent watched short film clips that showed needles pricking black- and white-skinned hands. As they watched, researchers measured the participants’ empathy (i.e., their nervous-system activity) by monitoring sensors attached to the same spot on their hands. They also tracked the participants’ heart rates and sweat-gland activity, a common measure of emotional response.

“White observers reacted more to the pain of white than black models, and black observers reacted more to the pain of black than white models,” says the lead researcher, Alessio Avenanti, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Bologna.

The researchers also showed clips of a needle pricking a hand painted bright purple. Both the Italian and African participants were more likely to empathize with this intentionally strange-looking hand than with the hand of another race, which implies that the earlier lack of empathy was due to skin color, not just difference. “This is quite important, because it suggests that humans tend to empathize by default unless prejudice is at play,” says Avenanti…

…”A doctor with high racial bias may understand the pain of other-race patients in a more detached or disembodied manner and, in principle, this may contribute to the causes of racial disparities in health care,” Avenanti says.

Previous research has shown that doctors tend to empathize more with a patient’s pain — and provide higher-quality care — if they have a history of pain themselves, or if someone close to them has experienced chronic, debilitating pain, Dr. Green says.

“Now we are understanding that if you see someone as being more like you, you can empathize with their pain better,” she says. “Race, age, gender, and class probably play a role in how we assess and treat patients with pain.”

So does that mean that, say, an African American with low back pain should seek out only doctors who are African American?

Not necessarily. Green says it’s more important to find a doctor who actively listens to you and asks questions.

“If you feel you are not heard, or that your pain complaints are not being taken seriously, you can and should see another doctor,” she says.

Interesting article and worth keeping in mind around your medical center when you have a varied patient population.

Repêchage will host its 12th Annual Congress from August 2-3 at Manhattan’s Park Central Hotel. The event is sponsored by Les Nouvelles Esthetiques & Spa magazine and will feature a lineup of speakers including Lydia Sarfati, founder and CEO of Repêchage; Leon Alexander, M.D., specialist in beauty retail and salon development; DeeDee Crossett, president of the San Francisco Institute of Esthetics and Cosmetology; Dzigbordi Dosoo, founder of Allure Africa Limited, the premier Day Spa Group in West Africa; Randall Feingold, M.D., aesthetic plastic surgeon; Denise R. Fuller, editor in chief of Les Nouvelles Esthetiques & Spa magazine; and Shiri Sarfati, vice president of Sarkli-Repêchage. They will address spa and salon industry issues such as branding, retailing, education, and distribution. “Coming upon this momentous occasion has given me pause to reflect on all that we have accomplished as a company and as a family business,” says Sarfati. “I am so proud of how far we’ve come and am so excited as to where we are going.” To find out more information or to register for the upcoming 12th Annual International Congress, visit www.repechage.com or call (800) 248-SKIN.

As you make your way to the beach for the weekend to soak up the sunshine, one thing we would hope for you to pack is a great summer scarf. When an outfit falls flat, a scarf  can give it that extra boost to make you stand out. Wear it as a sarong, wrap up your hair after a day at the beach, or grab it as your extra layer for when the night cools off. We love these tie-died ones from The Company Store. Happy Memorial Day!

Metallic Striped Crinkle Scarf, 32.99

Celeb and GOOP author Gwyneth Paltrow and family (Apple included) are going to be in Nashville for a while – so, as you do, Gwyneth had an industrial warehouse converted into a cutting-edge, million-dollar home in just 10 days.

In her newsletter, Gwyneth detailed the breakneck pace and the gorgeous results – at one point, 30 workers were busily installing drywall, painting, hanging, tiling, and wiring – all at once. The furniture and decor was moved into the home with just 3 days to spare.

Head over to Apartment Therapy or Paltrow’s site to check out the results – they’re undeniably gorgeous, but one has to wonder at the wisdom of building an entire home from the ground up just for a temporary stay. Aren’t there any 5 star hotels in Nashville?

(All images courtesy of GOOP)

Celeb and GOOP author Gwyneth Paltrow and family (Apple included) are going to be in Nashville for a while – so, as you do, Gwyneth had an industrial warehouse converted into a cutting-edge, million-dollar home in just 10 days.

In her newsletter, Gwyneth detailed the breakneck pace and the gorgeous results – at one point, 30 workers were busily installing drywall, painting, hanging, tiling, and wiring – all at once. The furniture and decor was moved into the home with just 3 days to spare.

Head over to Apartment Therapy or Paltrow’s site to check out the results – they’re undeniably gorgeous, but one has to wonder at the wisdom of building an entire home from the ground up just for a temporary stay. Aren’t there any 5 star hotels in Nashville?

(All images courtesy of GOOP)

Celeb and GOOP author Gwyneth Paltrow and family (Apple included) are going to be in Nashville for a while – so, as you do, Gwyneth had an industrial warehouse converted into a cutting-edge, million-dollar home in just 10 days.

In her newsletter, Gwyneth detailed the breakneck pace and the gorgeous results – at one point, 30 workers were busily installing drywall, painting, hanging, tiling, and wiring – all at once. The furniture and decor was moved into the home with just 3 days to spare.

Head over to Apartment Therapy or Paltrow’s site to check out the results – they’re undeniably gorgeous, but one has to wonder at the wisdom of building an entire home from the ground up just for a temporary stay. Aren’t there any 5 star hotels in Nashville?

(All images courtesy of GOOP)

Celeb and GOOP author Gwyneth Paltrow and family (Apple included) are going to be in Nashville for a while – so, as you do, Gwyneth had an industrial warehouse converted into a cutting-edge, million-dollar home in just 10 days.

In her newsletter, Gwyneth detailed the breakneck pace and the gorgeous results – at one point, 30 workers were busily installing drywall, painting, hanging, tiling, and wiring – all at once. The furniture and decor was moved into the home with just 3 days to spare.

Head over to Apartment Therapy or Paltrow’s site to check out the results – they’re undeniably gorgeous, but one has to wonder at the wisdom of building an entire home from the ground up just for a temporary stay. Aren’t there any 5 star hotels in Nashville?

(All images courtesy of GOOP)

We try a lot of beauty products around here. And we don’t always have time to Google every single ingredient [...]

A few weeks ago, a couple of my American Spa cohorts returned from the IECSC Las Vegas show with fabulous-looking lashes. To say the rest of us were a bit jealous is an understatement. If there is one thing we all covet, it’s lush lashes. Luckily for me, I had just discovered a gift card for a complimentary set of lash extensions from Courtney Akai in a swag bag from a SpaWeek Media event I attended last month. I had thought to save the card for a special occasion but couldn’t resist booking an appointment after seeing my fellow staffers bat their lovely lashes around the office. Because I’m blonde and fair-skinned, I must admit I was a bit worried that I might end up looking like a drag queen with lashes that were far too dramatic, However, Courtney instantly put my fears to rest, and two hours later, I was batting my own lovely NovaLash extensions. It’s been about five days now, and I still can’t get over the transformation. Interested in becoming a NovaLash lash artist and creating some transformations of your own? Then call (866) 430-1261 or log on to www.novalash.com.

Sophy Merszei, president and owner of NovaLash recently received the title of VIP Woman of the Year for 2010 from the National Association of Professional Women, which is an exclusive network for professional women to interact, exchange ideas, educate, and learn through seminars, podcasts, webinars, keynote speeches, and educational tools. Merszei was chosen based on her dedication and commitment to developing only the most researched, physician-approved and face-friendly eyelash product. In addition, Merszei gives back to her community and her world by affiliating with charities such as Girls Inc. and the UNICEF Haiti Relief Fund for Children.