I have speculated in this very column whether it is correlated with a liking for cats or dogs.
I have asked what Chinese teas/infusions I would recommend for a coffee lover to try; wheat tea (大麦茶) or burdock-root (牛蒡茶) tea. I have also asked aloud what makes me (and most other people) enjoy one so passionately more than the other.
Well, this month, we have (perhaps) learnt a bit more.
A study by Northwestern University, Illinois, USA, has identified specific DNA differences correlating with humans drinking coffee or tea.
Apocalypse Tea; Should I...
If there’s one food that’s emblematic of everyday indulgence, that’s chocolate.
Delicious for most of us yet inextricably connected with fat, sugar (and caffeine, if you’re worried about that).
When my 4-year old daughter went for her second tooth-filling last month, the obvious culprit was chocolate. Yes, we are raising her in Shanghai, the saccharine city. And, yes, I should have instilled and enforced better brushing. But, rightly or wrongly, it was her fondness for chocolate that received the headline blame.
Dear readers, there may among you be some attempting to quit...
The term, “flatscreen TV”, continues to be used in 2023. I sometimes wonder why. Seems to denote value, luxury, modernity. “Police seized 15 stolen flatscreen television sets”; “The room features a mini-bar and flatscreen TV”.
It’s actually been impossible to buy a new TV which isn’t flat for at least 15 years, making the “flatscreen” preface useless. Yet it persists.
There’s a name for this; “redundancy”.
Other examples include “each and every”, “balsa wood” or “cease and desist”.
Like bad handwriting, these are perpetrated more often by first language users, because they rely...
You are reading this in English.
I can therefore assume that, unless you have some aversion to carbs, you have found your solution to the problem of bread.Personally, I have a bread maker from Midea which cost less than ￥400 and makes bread as well as, say, a Panasonic or a Russel Hobbs.
I also make a pick-up whenever passing a good baker or even an Aldi. I often scoff the whole stick to claim its full freshness.
Unless this is your first year here, your solution to bread is probably...
