Cheap 'n' Choosy Chelsea

MULTIMEDIA : $22 'do with the works @ Jun Salon "It's just hair." This, from a card-carrying hairdressing salon owner. It's a statement that might freak some cashed-up coiffsters right out, and put others at ease - like me. After umming and ahhing at spending $65-100+ on a trim in Manhattan I thought, there must be a cheaper, yet choosier, way. I mean, look at our Asian hair - straight as the highway to hell and in any color you like as long as it's black - what's so hard about that? I decided to try the well-reviewed-considering (see yelp.com) Jun Salon in Chinatown. Jun is an unpretentious gal who reminds me of one of my favorite gal cousins. She says she use to do $105+ Uptown cuts before she went cheap'n'choosy - and many of her clients followed her, not minding having to pick their way along the cracked and cabbage-strewn sidewalks of Chinatown for their discount 'do. There is something twee (we use the word 'daggy' downunder) a

This is my slightly healthier spin on the 5-minute Chocolate Mug Cake recipe circulating furiously around the internet. I say 3+ minutes because abandoning it in the nuker for 5 minutes can lead to burned bits - better to coax it gently to doneness ... here's me doing the dishes in County Kerry back in 1999 Galfromdownunder 3+ minute Vegan Chocolate Mug Cake ( with original, non-vegan substitutions indicated) 4 Tablespoons buckwheat pancake mix (or ordinary flour) 3-4 Tablespoons Splenda/Stevia (or sugar) 2 Tablespoons good cocoa (I used Fair Trade Organic unsweetened) 2 tbsp no-sugar fruit conserve (not in original recipe - I used Wholefoods grapejuice sweetened Raspberry spread) 1 glob of soy yoghurt (or 1 Egg) 3 Tablespoons almond milk (or regular milk/half&half) 3 Tablespoons grapeseed oil (or regular oil) Few chocolate drops/chunks (optional - I used 70% chunks because I like it dark) Few nuts (optional) 1 Mug Method: Mix dry ingredients in 1 mug. Mix wet ingredients in