Tag: tea

  • Ginger as Medicine

    On Wednesday we wrote about how we are all using more ginger than in times past and how we love our gingery Asian Chicken broth. While most of our broth is used in cooking, we also use it as medicine.

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    Ginger as Medicine

    The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center maintains a directory of herbs and botanicals with information about their uses. Their report on ginger points out that, “Ginger root contains compounds that may help relieve or prevent nausea and vomiting. These substances can increase the flow of saliva and digestive juices and may also help calm the stomach and intestine.”

    Liquid Ginger!

    We sip a cup of warm homemade, ginger-scented chicken stock rather than ginger ale for an upset tummy. We share filtered-until-it-is-clear supplies of it with friends who are preparing for a colonoscopy, and we’ve supplied friends with colds, flu, and chemotherapy patients with sips of what one friend called, “your magic elixir.”

    Penny loves ginger tea. She often makes her own with ginger from our supply, but you can buy some excellent organic ginger tea.

    Some folks swear by ginger mints, ginger gum, or organic candied ginger to combat motion sickness.

    In “Ginger Root In Ayurveda and Chinese Medicine,” author Eyton Shalom writes, “There are no panaceas in medicine, but if there were going to be one, it would have to be the humble ginger root.”

    Please Read this Important Part!

    Even with all these positive recommendations, increasing ginger consumption may not be for everyone. In addition to following the scientific research on each substance, Sloan Kettering also puts side effects and warnings even on everyday items like ginger. If you are planning on adding a lot of any ingredient or a supplement containing that ingredient to your diet, you would be wise to check for interactions with medications and medical conditions.

    You should also let your personal physician know if you are using something like ginger as medicine.

    Related Post: Ginger Goes Mainstream

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    Details:

    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photography: © 2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino  

    (Adapted for BostonZest from one of our fresh & Local newspaper columns.)

  • Perfect Tea with a Joule Sous Vide

    I thought I had an original, brilliant idea when I thought of making tea with my Joule Sous Vide immersion circulator only to find that smart people were already doing this. 

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    If you are particular about the tea you buy and want to brew it the way a tea master would, the temperature of the water, teaspoons of tea per cup, and steeping time should be precise. As you can see, the Joule fits right into my warmed teapot and will keep the water for my favorite Moroccan Mint tea at exactly 180 degrees. 

    I measured my loose tea into a basket filter, removed the Joule, popped in the tea, and steeped it for exactly 2 1/2 minutes. I was very pleased with the result. At warmer temperatures, the mint overwhelms the green tea. This pot was nicely balanced with both tea and mint flavor.

    If you are a coffee lover who uses a pour over coffee method or an Aeropress, you will also find this a great way to heat the water to your favorite brewing temperature.  

    Of course, like some of my friends, you may have an intelligent tea kettle that lets you set the temperature of your water for these purposes. I don't, but remember the tea kettle can just heat water, while my Joule can cook a steak, make perfect Eggs Benedict, or as we showed you in the post below, produce perfectly-cooked, moist chicken breast.

    Sous Vide Chicken Gremolata

    As we experiment with this new kitchen tool, we'll tell you more about our favorite uses and show you our results. 

    What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

      

    Details:

    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

  • Perfect Tea with a Joule Sous Vide

    I thought I had an original, brilliant idea when I thought of making tea with my Joule Sous Vide immersion circulator only to find that smart people were already doing this. 

    IMG_5816 copy

    If you are particular about the tea you buy and want to brew it the way a tea master would, the temperature of the water, teaspoons of tea per cup, and steeping time should be precise. As you can see, the Joule fits right into my warmed teapot and will keep the water for my favorite Moroccan Mint tea at exactly 180 degrees. 

    I measured my loose tea into a basket filter, removed the Joule, popped in the tea, and steeped it for exactly 2 1/2 minutes. I was very pleased with the result. At warmer temperatures, the mint overwhelms the green tea. This pot was nicely balanced with both tea and mint flavor.

    If you are a coffee lover who uses a pour over coffee method or an Aeropress, you will also find this a great way to heat the water to your favorite brewing temperature.  

    Of course, like some of my friends, you may have an intelligent tea kettle that lets you set the temperature of your water for these purposes. I don't, but remember the tea kettle can just heat water, while my Joule can cook a steak, make perfect Eggs Benedict, or as we showed you in the post below, produce perfectly-cooked, moist chicken breast.

    Sous Vide Chicken Gremolata

    As we experiment with this new kitchen tool, we'll tell you more about our favorite uses and show you our results. 

    What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

      

    Details:

    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

  • Formaggio Kitchen’s “Staff Picks” 2012 – Friday Link

    Screen shot 2012-12-05 at 12.07.07 PM

    We always find wonderful things at Formaggio Kitchen and their skill in choosing wonderful products goes way beyond cheese. So, when their staff picked their "Top 10 of 2012," we paid attention and want to share what we learned with you.

    On this list you'll find cheese, vinegars, olive oil, pasta, seasonings, tea, cakes, coffee, chocolate, and more. They added a few honorary mentions. That group included the Cabot Clothbound Cheddar we told you about yesterday. 

    Formaggio is the perfect place to shop for gifts for the food lovers on your list. We have so many personal favorite items that entered our pantry through a visit to this wonderful collection – the best things one group of people can find to please those of us who love to splurge on great food.

    Addresses and directions below the ad.

    What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

    Details:

    Formaggio Kitchen

    244 Huron Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts  (map)

    (617) 354-4750 

    Some items may also be found at:

    South End Formaggio

    268 Shawmut Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts  (map)

    (617) 350-6996 

    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photos: Screenshot from Formaggio Kitchen's Cheese Blog

    Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.


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  • Formaggio Kitchen’s “Staff Picks” 2012 – Friday Link

    Screen shot 2012-12-05 at 12.07.07 PM

    We always find wonderful things at Formaggio Kitchen and their skill in choosing wonderful products goes way beyond cheese. So, when their staff picked their "Top 10 of 2012," we paid attention and want to share what we learned with you.

    On this list you'll find cheese, vinegars, olive oil, pasta, seasonings, tea, cakes, coffee, chocolate, and more. They added a few honorary mentions. That group included the Cabot Clothbound Cheddar we told you about yesterday. 

    Formaggio is the perfect place to shop for gifts for the food lovers on your list. We have so many personal favorite items that entered our pantry through a visit to this wonderful collection – the best things one group of people can find to please those of us who love to splurge on great food.

    Addresses and directions below the ad.

    What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

    Details:

    Formaggio Kitchen

    244 Huron Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts  (map)

    (617) 354-4750 

    Some items may also be found at:

    South End Formaggio

    268 Shawmut Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts  (map)

    (617) 350-6996 

    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photos: Screenshot from Formaggio Kitchen's Cheese Blog

    Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.


    Enhanced by Zemanta
  • Formaggio Kitchen’s “Staff Picks” 2012 – Friday Link

    Screen shot 2012-12-05 at 12.07.07 PM

    We always find wonderful things at Formaggio Kitchen and their skill in choosing wonderful products goes way beyond cheese. So, when their staff picked their "Top 10 of 2012," we paid attention and want to share what we learned with you.

    On this list you'll find cheese, vinegars, olive oil, pasta, seasonings, tea, cakes, coffee, chocolate, and more. They added a few honorary mentions. That group included the Cabot Clothbound Cheddar we told you about yesterday. 

    Formaggio is the perfect place to shop for gifts for the food lovers on your list. We have so many personal favorite items that entered our pantry through a visit to this wonderful collection – the best things one group of people can find to please those of us who love to splurge on great food.

    Addresses and directions below the ad.

    What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

    Details:

    Formaggio Kitchen

    244 Huron Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts  (map)

    (617) 354-4750 

    Some items may also be found at:

    South End Formaggio

    268 Shawmut Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts  (map)

    (617) 350-6996 

    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photos: Screenshot from Formaggio Kitchen's Cheese Blog

    Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.


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  • The Food Lover’s Guide to Wine: Book Review

    With our sparkler of the month on March 1st, we mentioned that we had put The Food Lover's Guide to Wine on our book wish list. That afternoon, we received an email from the authors Karen Page & Andrew Dornenburg saying they would love to send us a review copy. 

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    It arrived a few days later and hasn't made it to a bookshelf yet. It has spent a few nights beside the bed as Penny's relaxation reading, we've used it explore a couple of new wines, and we're planning to feature some recommended producers as our Sparkler of the Month.

    Learn in various ways from a collection of great wine lovers.

    • If you were hanging outside our door, you might have heard us reading quotes from the book to one another. It has the greatest collection of quotes from wine lovers and wine experts you can imagine. Boston's own Cat Silirie is often cited.
    • Ed loves the pronunciation guide in the core listing of wines, grapes, and wine topics.
    • The system used to emphasize the importance of wine grapes, characteristics, and producers (by using bold and all caps in lists) is brillant and intuitive to use.
    • The end chapters on matching wines with foods, cuisines, and courses will have us exploring new options.
    • We love the gold boxes with great asides on topics. A few are already marked with page tabs. 
    • Since these writers believe that the wine you like is the right wine for you, they've prepared a series of recommendations based on your own taste. If you like a flavor, for example almonds, they give you a list of wines to try. If you like a particular wine, they give you others with similar flavor profiles.

    A Great Interview Grabbed Our Attention 

    We first hear about The Food Lover's Guide to Wine on the Heritage Radio Network show, A Taste of the Past. Penny listens to podcasts of food shows while she cooks, and this one was good enough for a shared listen during an afternoon of crab-cracking and conversation.

    Host Linda Pelaccio began by covering the history of American Wine (the book contains a timeline) and then a discussion of the book that really gave us an insight to the authors' points of view and how this book would fit into our collection. Here's a link to that show.

    Meet the authors and hear what some experts say about this book.

     

    We are not only recommending this book to our readers, we'll be buying copies as gifts for wine-loving friends. It is a treasure and we expect it to look a bit worn and well-used pretty quickly. It may even suffer a few wine stains but we doubt that Karen and Andrew will mind.

    Here are more books from this team:

    The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs  

    What to Drink with What You Eat: The Definitive Guide to Pairing Food with Wine, Beer, Spirits, Coffee, Tea – Even Water – Based on Expert Advice from America's Best Sommeliers

    Becoming a Chef

    and of course

    The Food Lover's Guide to Wine

    Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

     

    Details:
    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photography: © 2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino  

    Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often those add a great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

  • Boston, Say “Welcome” to Burdick Chocolate on Valentine’s Day

    IMG_4636 - Version 22012-02-05burdick-chocolate-mouse-backbay-clarendon-© 2011 Penny Cherubino

    Yes! We have "mice" in the Back Bay!

    What better day to welcome Burdick Chocolate to the Boston side of the river? Right in time for Valentine's Day they've opened the retail part of their new location on Clarendon Street between Boylston and Newbury.  

    PMC_7282 - Version 22012-02-12burdick's-chocolate-backbay-clarendon-© 2011 Penny Cherubino

    Have you ever seen a more perfect use of an existing building? This little shop has been waiting all its life to be a chocolate shop & café. You can buy chocolates today and soon they will be offering their famous café menu with that luscious single source chocolate drinks, a great tea selection, and excellent pastries.

    IMG_4621 - Version 22012-02-05burdick-chocolate-backbay-clarendon-© 2011 Penny Cherubino

    For now, we were happy to yield to temptation and select a few treats from the case. Choose your own or pick up one of their boxed assortments. But, be sure to include at least one mouse in the selection. They love going home with you.

    You still have time to tuck an Amazon gift certificate into that chocolate box. You can also send one by email!

    Details:

    Burdick Chocolate

    Back Bay Boston Chocolate Shop & Café 

    220 Clarendon Street, Boston, MA 02116 (map)

    www.burdickchocolate.com

    617-303-0113

    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photography: © 2012 Penny Cherubino

    Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often those comments add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads out of comments.