Spa or nah?

hayvac — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:42:11 -0800

My girlfriend and I are going to Puerto Plata (Dominican Republic) for a week, and she wants to book a day at a spa there. The spa wants payment up-front and via Paypal. Is this a scam? The spa has a real-looking website: Jasmine Spa.

However, it also has solid 5/5 reviews on tripadvisor and doesn't seem to appear on any sites that aren't self-submitting travel sites.

Maybe I'm too skeptical, but I'm suspicious this place may not exist. Is there a way to confirm that this is legit? Even better, have you ever been there?

Putting jasmine into baked goods?

simplethings — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 11:28:26 -0800

Is there an easy solution to getting jasmine flavor into baked goods? I love jasmine tea so the first idea that hit me was substituting brewed jasmine tea for the liquids in a baking recipe.
I tried adding a very strong brewed tea to cupcakes and could barely taste jasmine but got a decent green tea flavor.

Then I thought I could make a simple syrup with equal parts green tea and sugar and use that syrup as a sugar substitute... but then I realized I'd be adding a whole lot more liquid and I'm not sure how to figure out a compensation... and who knows if that would be effective in adding flavor.

I've been to the grocery stores in the area, a specialty spice store, a specialty baking/cooking store, and 2 florists and could not find a jasmine spice, extract, artificial flavor, or even the flower.

I'd prefer to completely eliminate the green tea and get straight up jasmine, but, I'm willing to experiment with easy-to-find ingredients.

Any ideas?

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Spa or nah?

Putting jasmine into baked goods?