When I was in college in a small Midwestern town, I had a friend, now a chef, who cohosted frequent dinner parties with his roommate. We would pile into their sparsely decorated, wood-floor apartment, and they would serve our ragtag bunch bowls of bicolor soup with drizzles on top and carefully constructed towers of ingredients that often, but not always, tasted good together. Handwritten menus offered choices to circle with the Sharpie making its way around the table, and the wine always flowed.

I hadn't thought of those gatherings in years, until I ate at Small Plates in Harvard Square. Then I remembered the bare-bones romance of them, the sense of experimentation and possibility, and the well-intentioned stumbles, born of ambition. A meal at Small Plates is reminiscent of a dinner party in the university-town apartment of someone who is cooking to please you.

LOCKPORT: Family opening a medical spa downtown

They're a doctor and a nurse, husband and wife and, now, business partners.Lockport physician Dr. Richard Junke and Suzanne Junke, a registered nurse with a lengthy career at Lockport Memorial Hospital, are opening Rejuvenere Medical Spa next month at Ulrich City Centre.The spa, in the works for over a year, is a family business anchored in reputation and roots."People trust Rich. I think we'll do well just because of that," Suzanne Junke said.Dr. Junke has practiced family medicine for 16 years. Suzanne is equally familiar in local health care, having worked at LMH for more than 25 years in the emergency room and the surgical recovery room.The Junkes both lived and worked in Lockport all their lives and say they're excited to be new-business pioneers in the "new" downtown, especially since two of their four daughters will be joining them.Suzanne will be the business administrator, daughter Maureen will be the receptionist and daughter Erin may take her first nursing job at Rejuvenere after she receives her degree."The family is coming together to work on this.

Jan Marini Introduces Age Intervention Masses of Lashes, The First ...

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Jan Marini Skin Research, Inc. (JMSR; http://www.janmarini.com), the company that developed the phenomenally successful Age Intervention Eyelash Conditioner, announced today the launch of Masses of Lashes, the first true performance mascara. By combining the acclaimed benefits of Age Intervention Eyelash Conditioner with a luxury mascara formula, Masses of Lashes provides exceptional results

This new "wonder" mascara is formulated with the same technology contained in Jan Marini's Age Intervention Eyelash Conditioner, along with superb conditioning agents.

Dermatologists Can Offer Top Tips To Help Keep Lips In Tip Top Shape

While winter's harsh, windy weather is often to blame for dry, cracked lips, sometimes the cause of lip irritation is harder to pinpoint. In fact, several types of foods, cosmetic products, medications or even bad habits have been linked to dry lips. The key is determining the source of the irritation and modifying your daily regimen to eliminate the problem.

Speaking at the 66th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology, dermatologist Margaret E. Parsons, MD, FAAD, assistant clinical professor of dermatology at the University of California at Davis, discussed the most common causes of lip irritation, available treatments and preventative measures to keep lips healthy.

"When I treat a patient for dry lips, the first thing I try to determine is what this patient might be doing or not doing that could be contributing to the problem," said Dr.