Salt scrub with lavender, sage, and grapefruit.

I have enjoyed an amazing day off this Tuesday!  I met up with a good friend at one of Denver’s newest culinary additions, the Kitchen.  The sun beckoned us out to the patio, but the move was a bit premature.  As we shivered through lunch, we caught up, laughed, and kept the cocktails coming.  To avoid sounding like a spoiled food critic, I’ll keep my description of the restaurant succinct, but I must say that the mussels were a stand-out, as was the bruschetta, topped with burrata, anchovies, and watercress.  An Americano with cream gave me the necessary jittery fuel for the next steps in my day.

Recently, I have been on a quest to end my dry skin and have a good time trying out homemade remedies, along the way.  I am tired of purchasing expensive scrubs, when I know I can make the same thing at home for far less money and way more fun.  I have been researching different recipes for body scrubs, both salt- and sugar-based.  Today, I decided to create a salt-based scrub that will benefit skin that resides in cold, arid, windy climates.

This is completely a rough draft, a first attempt at saving my weathered, dry skin.  For my initial try, I combined sweet almond oil, sea salt, cornmeal, dried sage, freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, and a couple essential oils.  This particular recipe is quite perishable and should be used in two weeks’ time.  Making the scrub in small batches ensures using it up by its short shelf life, and it allows for more creativity in the variations.

The most time-consuming aspect of this project was shopping for the ingredients; the process itself can be completed in less than five minutes.  I made a trip to Whole Foods and found everything that I needed…

The goods.

And, yes, I completely splurged and bought a Le Creuset mortar and pestle in bright yellow.  I could not resist.  My initial recipe calls for the following ingredients that are simply mixed together in a bowl by hand:

• 1/4 cup sweet almond oil
• 1/4 cup coarse cornmeal
• 1/4 cup sea salt

I added about 15 drops of lavender essential oil, about 1/2 teaspoon of ground, dried sage, and about an ounce and a half of grapefruit juice.  Feel free to experiment on the ratios and types of oils.  I just made a batch of peppermint oil scrub that is wonderfully invigorating.

My fun, new kitchen addition…love it.

There’s really no science behind what you add as far as the “flavoring” components go.  Just be sure to choose high quality, organic essential oils for the most potent aroma and efficacy.

A winter skin saver, sweet almond oil.

The best site that I have found to purchase essential oils, shea butter, and the like is Mountain Rose Herbs.  They have the best prices and variety and even offer containers for projects.

…off to get my scrub on!