More Evidence that Tea Drinkers are Better than Coffee Drinkers
L-Theanine is a unique amino acid. Tea's got it, coffee don't. It's the reason why us tea tipplers have great memories and are so laid back, while java addicts on the other hand, have that familiar semi-deranged look on their faces by mid-afternoon. Read this article, it explains everything.

Bitter Melon Fights Diabetes
A new Australian/Sino study seems to confirm what Chinese physicians have known for centuries: that bitter melon is an effective treatment for diabetes. Also known as bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) is a common ingredient in Chinese food. read story

Feng Shui: Don't Sleep Near Your Kitchen
"Harm will befall young people should their bedrooms be located next to the kitchen. This sounds superstitious but on closer examination it is a practical point to consider. Should the kitchen be next to the bedrooms the latter would be badly polluted. Moreover fires often start from the kitchen in domestic buildings." – Standard Rules-of-Thumb of Geomancy, from Chinese Geomancy, Evelyn Yip

The Great 'High Mountain' Tea Rort
Taiwan's wulong (black dragon) tea has a well justified reputation. Partially fermented, it is not as strong as black tea but it is more fully flavoured than green tea. It also has the fortunate habit of holding its flavour longer than either black or green. Starting out as a strong brew, a Taiwanese wulong will be much milder but still pleasing to the taste several pots later. read more

Grape Expectations
"Scientists at Caltech and Stanford recently published the results of a peculiar wine tasting. They provided people with cabernet sauvignons at various price points, with bottles ranging from $5 to $90. Although the tasters were told that all the wines were different, the scientists were in fact presenting the same wines at different prices." read more (from The Boston Globe)

Quote
The richer the ear of grain, the more the head bends. (The greater the intelligence and learning, the more humble one should be).

New Chinese Recipes
It is the Chinese New Year break and the weather is cold; a great excuse to stay at home and do nothing more than potter around. This has meant lots of cooking and getting around to finishing some recipes. Here are a few of them: Ginseng Chicken Soup 人參雞湯 (which we cooked for our New Year's eve dinner), a tasty example of Chinese medicinal cooking. Pineapple and Bamboo Chicken Soup 鳳梨筍子湯, a home-style Taiwan soup. White Cut Chicken 白切雞, a pure-flavoured chicken dish – served cold it makes a great starter. The first two recipes are great winter dishes. I will try to add more soon: check Recipe page for updates.

Steam a Fish for Chinese New Year
Chinese prefer their fish whole – head, tail, skin, and often fins, all intact. Only very large fish are filleted. Compared to fillets, fish cooked in its own package, so to speak, is much juicier and more flavourful. Try this steamed fish recipe for Chinese New Year (Feb. 7: Year of the Rat).

Accidentally Great Steamed Fish Soup
Steamed a fish a couple of nights ago. After the meal I tasted the water left in the wok. It was clear with just a hint of oil on top. What the steaming had created was a robust fish stock, suffused with the flavour of fresh fish and the light seasonings it was cooked in. It reminded me of the sea, and when I say the sea I mean out on the sea, and not some stinking fishing pier or seaweed-strewn beach.

The next day I added water and brought the stock to a boil. All I had to do then was toss in some chopped scallion for a delicious fish soup, an almost instant by-product of another dish. I used this steamed fish recipe but you should be able to get a similar effect from many steamed Chinese fish dishes as long as the seasoning is limited to basics like salt, pepper, ginger, scallions, and garlic.