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      Deja brew: chemistry professor’s latest advice on tea drinking – try grapefruit

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Friday, 16 February - 06:00

    Fresh from controversially suggesting adding salt to tea, Michelle Francl says eating fruit can prolong caffeine rush from your cuppa

    If you find yourself feeling the energising effect of your morning cuppa has worn off before the bus arrives, the scientist behind controversial advice to put salt in tea has some more palatable advice: try some grapefruit.

    Michelle Francl, a professor of chemistry at Bryn Mawr College, caused an international storm in a teacup last month after suggesting a pinch of salt would create the perfect brew.

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      UK shoppers could face tea shortages due to trade route disruptions

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Monday, 12 February - 18:32


    Sainsbury’s tells consumers there are problems that could affect the availability of black tea

    Shoppers in Britain could face shortages of tea supplies in some stores due to disruption on trade routes and delays.

    Retail giant Sainsbury’s told consumers there were problems that could affect the availability of black tea, although it is expected to be for a short period.

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      What happened when a colleague made me a cup of tea? I almost died of shame | Adrian Chiles

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Wednesday, 7 February - 16:21 · 1 minute

    When I started out in journalism, my bosses expected me to get the kettle out whenever they were thirsty. Thirty years on, the very idea makes me queasy

    The queue for my morning coffee was short but slow-moving. I was next but one up, but the woman in pole position seemed to have ordered an awful lot of takeaway coffees, each one subtly different. They weren’t being made so much as constructed. Cappuccino, latte, oat, skinny, hot, wet, permutations thereof, etc, etc. You know the kind of thing. The queue lengthened behind me. I noted a Just Eat bloke standing there and was vaguely cheered that he was being paid enough to afford a Caffè Nero coffee. But then the woman in front of me was served her drink and it dawned on me that the eight takeaway coffees weren’t for her – they were all for Mr Just Eat. Not for him to enjoy, of course, but to deliver unto others.

    Many questions came to me in my woozy pre-caffeinated state, not least WHO IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS HOLY BLOODY WELL GETS COFFEE DELIVERED? Second question: how could there be anything left in the cups by the time he got to whichever weirdos had ordered them? I’d have done a great deal of spilling even if I’d only had to walk them next door. What kind of Cirque de Soleil standard of act must this guy have been to keep them upright on his bike? Perhaps he had some kind of gimbal mechanism in his bag to keep them level, designed by the same people who make snooker tables for superyachts.

    Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster, writer and Guardian columnist

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      Don’t tinker with tea, but salt in your coffee is fine | Letters

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Friday, 2 February - 16:53

    It may just be boiling water and leaves, but readers have decided views on the best brew – or mash

    Felicity Cloake’s article about tea ( No salt please, we’re British: how to make the perfect cup of tea, 26 January ) reminded me that when I was young my mother wouldn’t let me pour tea for her as she claimed I held the teapot too high above the cup, thereby allowing the tea to get cold on the way down.
    David Gent
    Dartmouth, Devon

    • Two events stand out in my own personal tea education. The first was as a teenager in the 1960s working on an archaeological dig in Warwickshire, where our tea hut was run by two rather lovely elderly ladies. Having asked for two sugars, I was politely but firmly admonished by them both and have enjoyed unsweetened tea ever since. The second was a more recent trip to Darjeeling, which taught me that, with its unique balance of delicacy and flavour, there is no finer tea.
    Mike Battye
    Oxton, Merseyside

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      Readers reply: why do so many people drink very hot tea – and how do they do it?

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Sunday, 12 November - 14:00


    The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts

    Why do so many people drink very hot tea – and how do they do it without shrieking in pain? Vincent Alladale, Aberdeen

    Send new questions to nq@theguardian.com .

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      Sustancias que estimulan la comunicación verbal en los trastornos del espectro autista

      Jorge Luis · news.movim.eu / niboe · Sunday, 19 December, 2021 - 18:00

    Sustancias que estimulan la comunicación verbal en los trastornos del espectro autista

    Algunas sustancias que pueden ayudar a mejorar el habla en TEA de acuerdo a estudios científicos. #autismo #TEA

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      Treat Valentine’s Day Like a Dinner Party for Two

      pubsub.dcentralisedmedia.com / LifehackerAustralia · Wednesday, 10 February, 2021 - 21:18 · 5 minutes

    Whether you’re cooking a meal or phoning it in this Valentine’s Day, treating the evening like a dinner party for two will ensure you strike a special, thoughtful tone.

    Basically, if it’s a move you’d bust out for a dinner party, you should bust it out for the dinner you serve on February 14th. Dinner parties are all about impressing people with how mature and considerate you are, which is a vibe that should be extended to your valentine, who is — more than likely — the person you have been around almost constantly for a full year. Attention to detail can be a love language, and can make an at-home meal feel different , even if you haven’t left that home in over 11 months.

    Set the table

    If you have “nice” dishes, use them. If you have children, banish them for the evening so you don’t have to worry about them breaking the nice plates (have them watch a movie or put them to bed early). Don’t, however, use plates that are so nice you can’t put them in the dishwasher, or plates that are so nice you feel anxious eating off of them. This is supposed to be fun, after all.

    Once you’ve picked the plates, you can focus on the rest of the table. Place mats, cloth napkins, and — yes — candles are all things that make the meal feel more intentional and thoughtful. I also recommend place cards, even if there are only two places at the table. Write your Valentine’s name on a cute little card or — better yet — a clementine (get the kind with leaves still attached if you can), set it in front of their chair, and watch their face light up at the adorable, edible detail.

    Warm your plates and chill your glasses

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    If you are going to go through the trouble to cook a beautiful medium-rare steak, or mix a perfectly chilled and diluted martini, you might as well take the extra step of serving them in or on a vessel that won’t negatively affect their temperature one way or other. For plates that will be graced with hot food, just set them in a low-temperature oven (the lowest it will go) on a baking sheet for a couple of minutes right before serving time. (This is also a good brunch move — few things ruin a hot egg like a cold plate.)

    Elevate Homemade Salads By Chilling Your Plate

    Nobody likes a warm, wilted salad. If you want your homemade salads to be as crisp and refreshing as the ones you get at a restaurant, try this trick.

    Read more

    If you’ll be serving a salad, pop the salad plates in the fridge (for 20 minutes) of freezer (if you’re in a hurry) to help keep your greens cold and crisp. This may not be necessary, depending on how warm you keep your house, but it’s useful if your plates are fresh and warm from the dishwasher.

    If you’ll be serving cocktails, white wine, or even Diet Coke, pop a few fancy glasses in the freezer while you prepare the meal. This is a particularly nice — some might say “crucial” — move if you’ll be sipping martinis, which are at their best when they are icy.

    Learn a few fancy plating tricks

    I did not expect artful plating to be one of the things I missed during this pandemic, but it is — I miss the stark white plates with their negative space and carefully placed garnishes. People truly do eat with their eyes first , and while sculpting mashed potatoes may feel silly in the moment, it feels thoughtful on the plate. If you’re uncomfortable with that amount of bourgeois decadence, at least finish your dish with a squeeze of lemon, a drizzle of good olive oil, or sprinkle on some fresh herbs and crunchy stuff ,.

    What It Means To ‘Finish’ A Dish

    If you’ve watched any appreciable number of cooking shows, you’ve most likely been instructed by some famous chef to “finish” your dish with a drizzle of oil, a sprinkling of salt, or some freshly chopped herbs. “Finishing” a dish, which is quite different than polishing one off, simply means adding...

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    Don’t forget the butter (and nice salt)

    An ample supply of room-temperature butter is what separates my favourite bread-serving restaurants from the rest. If a waiter brings me butter that’s topped with some sort of flake salt, I’m theirs for the night, and will follow them into hell, or at least the more expensive pages of the wine menu. It’s a powerful move, is what I’m saying, and you can harness its power by setting out good butter (which is different from your everyday butter ), nice salt (Maldon or something similar), and a pepper mill full of whole peppercorns.

    If your meal or your valentine requires any condiments, pickle, or sauce, make sure to set all that out before dinner is served so no one has to leave the table, and clean the bottles and lids of those condiments before setting them out. You can also transfer them to cute little bowls with cute little serving spoons, but cleaning the hot sauce bottle should suffice.

    Discuss the division of labour beforehand

    If you are presenting the meal as a “gift,” then cleaning up the mess you make in the kitchen should be part of it. One of the best things about going out for Valentine’s Day is not having to clean anything, so don’t foist an unexpected chore on your partner or spouse.

    If the meal is a combined effort, divvy up the labour before February 14.

    Decide who is making the main, who is making dessert, and who’s in charge of the drink program, mood music, and cleaning up ahead of time so you don’t end up bickering on an evening that is supposed to be romantic. Do this even if you’re getting takeout. Tossing the plastic takeout container in the dishwasher after dinner isn’t as big of an ask as cleaning grease out of a cast iron pan, but it is still an ask, and you might want to ask for other after-dinner activities instead.

    The post Treat Valentine’s Day Like a Dinner Party for Two appeared first on Lifehacker Australia .