The Wonder Of Chinese Green Tea In Today’s Society

Photo: Pixabay

Have you tasted Chinese green tea? As you all know, green tea is the most popular types of Chinese tea. Many people, not only Chinese, consider it as the best drink for sultry summers. The main reason for this claim is the fact that green tea is cool and fights off inflammation.  Many have even claimed that it relieves fever.

Actually, the health benefits of Chinese green tea have been known throughout the world. The Chinese have known about these medicinal benefits since ancient times, as they have been using green tea to treat everything from headaches to depression. A writer named Nadine Taylor in her book Green Tea: The Natural Secret for a Healthier Life mentioned that green tea has been used as a medicine in China for at least 4,000 years.

These days, numerous scientific researches conducted both in Asia and the West is providing hard evidence for the health benefits long associated with drinking green tea. To mention, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute published the results of an epidemiological study in 1994, indicating that drinking Chinese green tea lowers the risk of esophageal cancer in Chinese men and women by nearly 60 percent. Also, it was reported by the researches of the University of Purdue just recently that a compound in green tea inhibits the growth of cancer cells.

There are other medical conditions to which drinking green tea is reputed to be beneficial.  To sum up, these conditions include cancer, cardiovascular disease, infection, rheumatoid arthritis, impaired immune function, and even high cholesterol levels.

What Makes Green Tea Special?

The top secret of Chinese green tea lies in the fact that it is rich in catechin polyphenols, particularly the said epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). EGCG is basically an anti-oxidant that has the power to fight and kill cancer cells without harming healthy tissue in the body.  Studies also revealed that this anti-oxidant has been effective in lowering LDL cholesterol levels and hampering the abnormal formation of blood clots. The latter benefit takes on added importance for the fact that the formation of abnormal blood clots, medically known as thrombosis, is the main factor that causes stroke and heart attacks.

Furthermore, the effects of Chinese green tea and the “French Paradox” were highly associated.  Researches were in the first place puzzled by the fact that despite consuming a diet rich in fat, the French have a less incidence of heart disease than Americans. The primary answer was found to lie in red wine, which contains resveratrol. Resveratrol is a polyphenol that restricts the negative effects of smoking as well as a fatty diet. However, in 1997, a certain study reported that EGCG is twice as powerful as resveratrol. And, this somehow explains the lower rate of heart disease among Chinese men even though approximately 70 percent are smokers.

Other Benefits

New evidence that reveals the other benefits of Chinese green tea are now emerging. One of those is the claim that Chinese green tea can help dieters. Researches found that men who were given a combination of caffeine and green tea extract burned more fats than those given only a placebo and caffeine.

Chinese green tea is also said to prevent tooth decay. Just as its bacteria-destroying abilities can help prevent food poisoning, it can also fight the bacteria that cause dental plaque.

Today, several skin preparations containing green tea, from deodorants to creams, are also starting to appear on the market. This is for the reason that Chinese green tea is found out to be powerful in fighting bacteria that cause skin imperfections.

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Watch Out For These Indoor Plant Insects

Red Spider Mite - Photo: Wikimedia

There are a few insects that infect a plant that grows indoors. When the symptoms of these infestations become known you should take immediate remedial action because failure to do so will allow the infestation to spread to the other plants and lead to complete destruction in a short time.

The most common plant pest is the spider mites. These are a very serious problem for plants as they multiply very fast, lead to defoliate and kill the plant.

These mites belong to the family of ticks and spiders. Spider mites are yellow or green in color and cannot be seen easily. To check for the presence of spider mites tap the leaf over a piece of white paper and check for very tiny movements on the paper. Remove them with an insecticide spray from your plant store.

Shell Insects appear like a small bump of wax on a stem or leaf. It is usually not possible to view these creatures without magnification, but when their numbers increase they make their presence known.

Shell insects stunt a plants growth and can even kill the plant in time. The only known solution is an insecticide spray.

Mealy Bugs are easily visible without having to magnify the pest. These insects look like they have come out of a sack of flour and have a long waxy protrusion from their tails.

These appear like small clusters of cotton on the plant. Check the underside of the leaves to notice these pests and when you do find them wash them off with water and spray with insecticide for plants. A couple of weeks of treatment and you will be rid of these pests.

Pests not only kill a plant in time, but they are also very unsightly. A beautiful plant will become ugly and the whole purpose of decorating the place is defeated

by plant pests.

Proper cleaning and regular spraying with insecticide will help prevent any kind of pest infection.

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Regional Cuisine – Down Home Southern Cooking

Photo: Flickr

I grew up in New England, the home of ‘plain cooking’, where corn on the cob is served as is with a slab of butter and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. We boil salted meats with vegetables and call it – well, a boiled dinner. Our clam chowder is white, our baked beans have bacon and molasses in them, and no one in the world has ever invented food, that was improved by the addition of curry. By the time I was eighteen, I could boil a lobster, steam clams and grill a pork chop to perfection. Then I moved to Virginia, picked up a roommate from North Carolina – and discovered a whole new world of down-home country cooking goodness.

To an All-American Italian girl from Boston, the menus in restaurants were in a foreign language. Chicken-fried steak, grits, corn pone pudding, strawberry rhubarb pie – sweet potato pie?? In my mind, chicken and steak were two different types of meat, grits are what’s on sandpaper, corn is a vegetable – and what in the world is sweet potato doing in a crust? But I became a fervent convert to Southern cooking the first time my roommate made up a pan of the sweetest, tastiest, most perfectly melt-in-your-mouth delicious Southern baking powder biscuits and topped them with sausage gravy. From that day on, I was Sue’s disciple, standing at her elbow as she diced scallions to make up a mess of pinto beans, stirred the milk into a pan of drippings for milk gravy and rolled thin steak strips in a chicken batter to make chicken-fried steak.

Down Home, southern cooking is no different than New England plain cooking – at least at its most basic level. Like any other regional style of cooking, it makes use of the ingredients that are plentiful and cheap. In New Englan,d we gussy up our dried beans with brown sugar and molasses and serve them with thick, sweet heavy brown bread dotted with raisins – perfect fare for cold winter nights. In North Carolina, they simmer for hours with salt pork and onions and served with scallions for scooping and a side of flaky biscuits cut out of the dough with a juice glass. Salty, spicy and flaky-good all at once, it’s a Down Home meal that makes my mouth water just to remember.

Some dishes just don’t translate, though. There is no New England substitute for a Southern barbecue sandwich – shredded pork simmered with spices for hours and ladled over buns in a ‘sandwich’ that really requires a fork. The ubiquitous ‘sloppy joe’ just doesn’t cut it. It lacks the spicy-sweet tang and buttery texture of real slow-simmered pork barbecue. Nor is there anything that compares with chicken fried steak – a dish that can’t be described in words without selling it short. If you’ve had it, you KNOW how good it is. If you haven’t, the idea of dredging and dipping strips of beef and frying it like chicken just doesn’t do it justice.

My New England Italian roots show wherever I go. Lasagna will always be a favorite meal, and New England boiled dinners still make my mouth water. But I know, deep in my soul, that when I go to Heaven, the diners will serve flaky Southern biscuits with sausage gravy and chicken fried steak. Some temptations even the angels can’t resist.

Author: Kirsten Hawkins

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The Wide Choice Of Indoor Plants

African Violets - Photo: Pixabay

When it comes to choosing indoor plants there is no dearth of the variety you can select from. We will list some of the plants that can liven up your indoors and are easy to maintain.

It will pay, however, to keep in mind that any type of plant needs sunlight and will sooner or later begin to tilt toward the source of light. This will make them grow at an awkward angle and so you will need to rotate the direction so that the plant will grow straight up.

Some of the popular indoor plants include:

African Violets: These small potted plants are easy to grow and adapt well to the indoors. These plants blossom for about three weeks, however, they need a lot of sunshine, so keep them on a windowsill.

However, avoid the heat of the sun or they will wither. These plants also need special fertilizer made especially for them. All greenhouse stores keep a supply of it.

Begonias: You will find three kinds of Begonias; Tuberous, Perennial and Semperflorens. The most common of the Begonias are the Semperflorens and come in everblooming and wax finishes.

Begonias are available in red, pink, yellow and white varieties and all have a very attractive yellow center.

Ivy: This variety of indoor climber makes for a very attractive indoor plant. Though this plant can survive for quite some time in a dark corner of a room it will soon begin to demand its share of sunlight.

So if you plan to have this plant among your collection it is best to choose a place near a source of sunlight. Remember to add enough water to your ivy to make the water drip out of the bottom of the pot. Too little water will stunt the plant.

Some of the other popular plants are Cactus, Coleus, Amaryllis, Geraniums, Paper Whites, Poinsettia and a variety of rubber plants.

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Homemade Beef Jerky

Photo: Pixabay

Even though our forefathers didn't know it, lean fresh meat jerky is low in cholesterol and fat and very high in protein, making jerky a nutritious and wholesome snack. Jerky is an excellent energy food when camping, biking, skiing, or anytime you want a light snack.

3 lbs. meat (not ground meat)
2/3 cups Worcestershire Sauce
2/3 cups Soy Sauce
1 tsp. Black Pepper
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 tsp. Onion Powder
1 tsp. Salt
2 tsp. smoke flavoring
2 tsp. Tabasco Sauce

Mix all marinade ingredients together in a large (gallon size) plastic zipper bag. Add sliced meat (cut about ¼ inch) and refrigerate, mixing and turning about every hour. You should marinade it overnight

When you're ready to begin drying, place a sheet of aluminum foil on the bottom of the oven. Drain meat in a colander and pat dry with a paper towel (the drier the meat now, the better). Set oven at about 150 degrees and place the meat strips on the oven racks. Leave the oven door open to allow the moisture to escape.

The drying time may vary due to ovens and the size of the meat. The meat should be firm and dry, and not spongy at all. But if the jerky is so dry that it snaps in two easily, then it's over dried.

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Bamboo BONSAI

Bamboo bonsai in Baihuatan Park, Chengdu, China. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Bamboo bonsai is an extremely popular, easy to care for bonsai that allows growers of all skill levels work with a fast growing, beautiful plant. The most common type of bamboo bonsai found in homes is the 'lucky' bamboo, which is believed to bring luck to their owners. This variety of bamboo is hardy and can be grown indoors or outdoors, provided that the bamboo is protected against frost. Like most species of bamboo, the plant does not thrive well in places where frost occurs.

Frost damages the bamboo and stops its growth, often shocking and killing the plant. It is for this reason that many bamboo species cannot thrive in northern climates unless they are kept indoors.

For beginners, bamboo bonsai is extremely rewarding due to the fact that the plants are so quick to grow. A new grower can start a plant and see a large amount of growth within the first year of owning the plant. This lets the beginners experiment with wiring and caring for bonsai without having to wait for five to ten years to see the results of their efforts.

There are many places that you can acquire bamboo. You can purchase it at many stores carrying plants, buy new shoots online that can be grown and transplanted into bonsai pots, or you can cut shoots from other bamboo plants and transplant them to begin your new plant. How quickly the bamboo bonsai will grow and take root is based on the species of bonsai you are growing. Also, some species of bamboo will not take root as well from cuttings as others.

Bamboo bonsai uses many of the techniques for care that more difficult bonsai trees use. You will need the same types of tools to maintain them, and you can use the same style of wire to help guide the trunk and branches of the bamboo. When you are pruning bamboo, like many other bonsai trees, there is a certain time of year that pruning is best done at. When you prune your bamboo is dependent on the type of bamboo that you have. Each species of bamboo is different and requires different care. As many people own the 'lucky' bamboo, you will most likely want to prune your bamboo bonsai in the fall and winter, removing all of the leaves. If you are working with a dwarf bamboo, you will need to prune in the early spring before the new growth has occurred.

You can purchase your bamboo bonsai online or through a local nursery.

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What Makes An Ideal KITCHEN.

Modern kitchen (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is a mistake to suppose that any room, however small and unpleasantly situated, is "good enough" for a kitchen. This is the room where housekeepers pass a great portion of their time, and it should be one of the brightest and most convenient rooms in the house; for upon the results of no other department depend so greatly the health and comfort of the family as upon those involved in this 'household workshop'. 

Every kitchen should have windows on two sides of the room, and the sun should have a free entrance through them; the windows should open from the top to allow a complete change of air, for light and fresh air are among the chief essentials to success in all departments of the household. Good drainage should also be provided, and the ventilation of the kitchen ought to be even more carefully attended to than that of a sleeping room. The ventilation of the kitchen should be so ample as to thoroughly remove all gases and odors, which, together with steam from boiling and other cooking processes, generally invade and render to some degree unhealthful every other portion of the house.  

There should be ample space for tables, chairs, range, sink, and cupboards, yet the room should not be so large as to necessitate too many steps. Undoubtedly much of the distaste for, and neglect of, "housework," so often deplored, arises from unpleasant surroundings. If the kitchen be light, airy, and tidy, and the utensils bright and clean, the work of compounding those articles of food which grace the table and satisfy the appetite will be a pleasant task. 

It is desirable, from a sanitary standpoint, that the kitchen floor is made impervious to moisture; hence, concrete or tile floors are better than wooden floors. Cleanliness is the great desideratum, and this can be best attained by having all woodwork in and about the kitchen coated with polish; substances which cause stain and grease spots, do not penetrate the wood when polished and can be easily removed with a damp cloth.  

The elements of beauty should not be lacking in the kitchen. Pictures and fancy articles are inappropriate; but a few pots of easily cultivated flowers on the window ledge or arranged upon brackets about the window in winter, and a window box arranged as a jardiniere, with vines and blooming plants in summer, will greatly brighten the room, and thus serve to lighten the task of those whose daily labor confines them to the precincts of the kitchen. 

The kitchen furniture.

The furniture for a kitchen should not be cumbersome and should be so made and dressed as to be easily cleaned. There should be plenty of cupboards, and each for the sake of order, should be devoted to a special purpose. Cupboards with sliding doors are much superior to closets. They should be placed upon casters so as to be easily moved, as they, are thus not only more convenient but admit of more thorough cleanliness. 

Cupboards used for the storage of food should be well ventilated; otherwise, they furnish choice conditions for the development of mold and germs. Movable cupboards may be ventilated by means of openings in the top, and doors covered with very fine wire gauze which will admit the air but keep out flies and dust. 

For ordinary kitchen uses, small tables of suitable height on easy-rolling casters, and with zinc tops, are the most convenient and most easily kept clean. It is quite as well that they are made without drawers, which are too apt to become receptacles for a heterogeneous mass of rubbish. If desirable to have some handy place for keeping articles which are frequently required for use, an arrangement similar to that represented in the accompanying cut may be made at very small expense. It may be also an advantage to arrange small shelves about and above the range, on which may be kept various articles necessary for cooking purposes. 

One of the most indispensable articles of furnishing for a well-appointed kitchen is a sink; however, a sink must be properly constructed and well cared for, or it is likely to become a source of great danger to the health of the inmates of the household.  The sink should if possible stand out from the wall, so as to allow free access to all sides of it for the sake of cleanliness. The pipes and fixtures should be selected and placed by a competent plumber. 

Great pains should be taken to keep the pipes clean and well disinfected. Refuse of all kinds should be kept out. Thoughtless housekeepers and careless domestics often allow greasy water and bits of table waste to find their way into the pipes. Drain pipes usually have a bend, or trap, through which water containing no sediment flows freely; but the melted grease which often passes into the pipes mixed with hot water, becomes cooled and solid as it descends, adhering to the pipes, and gradually accumulating until the drain is blocked, or the water passes through very slowly. A grease-lined pipe is a hotbed for disease germs.

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