Eat to beat the heat

No energy in the midst of the heat wave? You might be dehydrated. To counter the hazardous impacts of the summer sun, forget about cholesterol express meals. Temperature-reducing water-laden fruit and vegetables are your best when the sun is hitting hard. Here are a few cooling foods that you should definitely add to your diet to beat the heat

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Happy jamming time

According to a French proverb, saint Anatole’s day (July 3rd) is happy jamming day. Bring out your best jam pan, preferably wide rimmed and, according to specialists, made of copper. Why? Because cooking fruit releases pectin from the cells and copper encourages the molecules to coalesce, joining together to form a web that holds all of the fruit juices together.

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TEA-TIME. Lesson 1: the colours of tea

To start with, we are going to tell you a Chinese top-secret well-kept for centuries: there are only six tea varieties and they all come from the same plant.Depending on how they are processed, the leaves will become white tea, green tea, black tea, yellow tea, blue-green tea (Oolong or Wulong) or dark tea (Pu’erh). This is only known since the 19th century, thanks to Robert Fortune, spy extraordinaire and tea thief at the service of Her Most Gracious Majesty Victoria.

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The magic of rice

Most countries welcomed the rice pudding with open arms and made it their own speciality by adding different spices, raisins, almonds, pistachios and other nuts, fruit, caramel, rosewater, chocolate, etc. May be because it is easy to make, homely and not terribly expensive. The secret to make it unforgettable is the quality of the ingredients you use.

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Pumpkins are devilishly delicious

These delightful members of the cucurbit clan pack more than just a festive punch. They scare away diseases with their powerful immune boosting antioxidants, protect your eyes, enhance your immune system, aid in cancer prevention andlook after your beauty. For Halloween, find a terrific recipe : the Roasted Hokkaido pumpkin with couscous and haloumi cheese

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Quick-cured cod

Raymond is dying for a brandade de morue! The problem is finding salt cod. Not exactly the most appealing of fish, stiff as a board, smellier than old socks and at the antipodes of convenience food. The long soaking it needs, before you can cook it, spoils any spur of the moment culinary creative impulses.But don’t despair, for there is a shortcut to the long and tedious desalting process. Try Stephan’s secret recipe.

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Eat pears not pesticides

Fruit and vegetables do wonders for a glowing skin and radiant health, but not the pesky pesticides that go with them. These non-gratae don’t do us any good, not even in tiny doses. Studies show that the problem, even more so than the amount itself, is the pesticide exposure frequency. Over time, even in minute quantities, they are detrimental to our health and beauty.When possible, buy organic; if not, wash and peel all peelable nonorganic candidates. As for the others – such as salads, red fruit or grapes – they have to be thoroughly washed with the usual favourites, famed fighters of all undesirables: Soda bicarb aka baking soda, white vinegar and 3% hydrogen peroxide.

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Spices and passion

From The Bible to The Kama Sutra, and The Perfumed Garden, the concept of boosting sex appeal with plants went viral. Various studies today confirm that a number of them actually work, in different ways, to arouse you.A small amount of chili, ginger, curry and a few pepper corns are enough to flavour the humblest dishes and transform them into an explosion of savours, totally turning your taste buds upside down.

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No zzzzz? No worry!

Getting into the arms of Morpheus, no matter how much you relish it, is not as easy as it used to be. Gone are the days when it happened naturally, without even thinking about it. Forget about counting sheep. Ditto for drinking hot cocoa or chamomile and sniffing lavender. They all fail miserably to send you to snooze city. You keep tossing and turning and when you finally fall asleep, it’s time to get up and you feel wasted.The good news is that a divine dark red liquid could change this…

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