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Today we’re throwing back to 1881 to celebrate the 137th birthday of Pablo Picasso.  Born in Malaga, Spain to a father who taught drawing, little Pablo was a child prodigy and had his first exhibit at age 13.  By 1901, he had left Spain and had his first exhibit in Paris.  His reviews were so favorable, he decided to stay.

Over the course of his career, Picasso produced more than 50,000 drawings, paintings, sculptures, engravings and ceramics.  The guy was busy!  Picasso was noted for his Blue and Rose periods as well as playing a major role in the Cubism movement.

Here in Chicago, one of the highlights of anyone visiting is to see the giant Picasso sculpture in Daley Plaza.  The untitled 50 foot tall sculpture is from the artist’s Cubist work and was dedicated in 1967.  When asked to do a sculpture for the Daley Center, Picasso accepted by saying “You know I never accept commissions to do any sort of work, but in this case I am involved in projects for the two great gangster cities” (the other being Marseille, France). Picasso refused the $100,000 payment, considering his work a gift to the people of Chicago.

Happy Birthday Pablo Picasso!

Last Saturday, I had a deep tissue massage.  It was so good, I was just plain stupid when it was done – I was so relaxed that I could hardly figure out how to get myself dressed again!  If you haven’t tried a deep tissue massage, it isn’t for the faint of heart – it will hurt.  But it’s a good hurt.  I’ve had a sore shoulder for a couple of weeks – and I do believe it’s fixed now!

Studies have shown that massage therapy is effective for a lot of ailments – not just sprains, strains and other sore muscles.  Did you know it can help with anxiety?  Or headaches?  Or insomnia?  And these days, it isn’t hard to find a place to get an affordable massage treatment from the mall to your gym to salons and spas, massage therapists are pretty easy to find these days.

Don’t know what to ask for?  Check out this article on WebMD to familiarize yourself with the types of massage you’ll find out there.

I prefer to get my massages where they use pretty smelling oils and play new age music but a massage in a chair in the mall can be just as effective – it’s all up to you.  But if you’ve been achy and sore and out of sorts, a massage may be just the thing you need!

Everyone at my work seems to be coming down with something or has something or just got over something.  We’re passing around cold and stomach viruses like we’re in a daycare center!  So today, let’s try a DON’T get sick Tuesday!

Know what the filthiest surfaces in public spaces are?  Elevator buttons and stair railings.  And don’t forget door knobs, computer keyboards, conference room phones and practically everything around that coffee machine in the break area.

So what I’m saying is, if you’re not feeling well and can’t stay home and away from other humans, do the polite thing – cough into your arm.  Keep the tissues handy and try to sneeze into them.  If you can, wipe up around you with Lysol wipes regularly.  Wash your hands early and often – don’t forget the soap and lather/rinse for at least 30 seconds.  We all know these things but we don’t always all practice what we preach.  Good luck not catching that bug going around!

Need a little reminder on washing your hands?  Check this out!

I don’t know about where you live, but here in Chicago we had frost almost every morning last week.  And yesterday?  It was 24 degrees when I got up!  So we’ve had our official first hard freeze of the season and I’d like to point out that the Farmer’s Almanac lied to me.  According to the Farmer’s Almanac, Chicago wasn’t supposed to have first frost until October 29th.   They get themselves off the hook for their tragically wrong date by saying it’s only a 30% probability of being correct.  Go figure.

So since the Almanac is off to a roaring start with their winter predictions, I looked to see what they say about the rest of the winter for the Midwest.  Brace yourself – the word is  “teeth-chattering cold with plenty of snow.”  Yay?

So I went in search of more optimistic forecasts and here’s what I found:

• The Weather Channel – They seem a bit more hopeful for slightly higher than normal temperatures and below normal snowfall here in my neighborhood.
• NOAA.GOV – They seem to agree with the Weather Channel showing slightly higher chances of a mild/dry winter for Chicagoland.
• AccuWeather – They specifically call out some shots of cold weather but below normal snowfall for Chicago.

So who will be right – The Farmer’s Almanac or the meteorologists at our biggest weather services?  Only time will tell.  In the meantime, I’m getting out my winter clothes!

OK – this is long, but it wraps up tea week and kinda reminds me of Sheldon’s Fun With Flags on Big Bang Theory.  Have a great weekend!

Let’s keep tea week rolling and throw back to a complete history of tea this Thursday.  I don’t have the kind of time it takes to write about the long and storied history of tea which ranges from Asia and India to the tea traditions in the United Kingdom to the tea you can buy at the local coffee shop today – but Peet’s Coffee does!  So check out this link to their version of the history of tea:

https://www.peets.com/learn/history-of-tea

Don’t want a commercialized account of tea from a coffee company?  Check out this link to the History of Tea as told by the lovely people at Wikipedia.

Make your self a cup of tea and enjoy!

 

I seem to have a theme week going so let’s talk about the health benefits of drinking tea.  Really tea is good for you – at least it is until you load it up with sugar or artificial sweeteners.  You don’t want to count on McDonald’s Sweet Tea to help you avoid diabetes!  And those bottled teas are loaded with sugar and flavoring so while you’ll get some benefits from bottled tea, it’ll be less than plain fresh brewed tea.

Here’s a few of the proven health benefits of drinking tea:

• Tea is full of unique antioxidants called flavonoids. The most potent of these, known as ECGC, may help against free radicals that can contribute to cancer, heart disease, and clogged arteries.
• Tea can boost exercise endurance. Scientists have found that the catechins (antioxidants) in green tea extract increase the body’s ability to burn fat as fuel, which accounts for improved muscle endurance.
• Studies have linked drinking tea to a lower risk of Parkinson’s disease. When considered with other factors like smoking, physical activity, age and body mass index, regular tea drinking was associated with a lowered risk of Parkinson’s disease in both men and women.
• And despite the caffeine content, tea is good for hydrating your body.  So if you don’t like drinking your 8 glasses of water a day, chug some tea!
• Tea can help the body recover from radiation. One study found that tea helped protect against cellular degeneration upon exposure to radiation, while another found that tea can help skin bounce back post-exposure.  I’ve even used wet tea bags as a balm for sunburn – it really works!

Want more info about how good tea can be for you?  Check out these articles:

• Academy of Nutrition and Diatetics
• Time Magazine
• Harvard Health
• Today Show

So get healthy – go make yourself a cup of tea!

Yesterday I wrote about making a cup of tea and at the end of the post I referred to one of my favorite back tea flavors and one of my favorite green teas.  Did you know there are actually at least 6 different kinds of tea?

Most of the tea you’ve probably drank is black tea.  It’s the most common tea in North America and Europe.  It’s produced when withered tea leaves are rolled and allowed to oxidize, darkening the leaves and developing the flavor.  Black tea has caffeine – but only about half of the amount in a similarly sized cup of coffee.  Want a trendy cup of black tea?  Try a chai tea which is a mix of black tea and strong spices like cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ginger or pepper corns.

You’ve probably also either heard of or drank green tea – if you’ve been out for sushi or other Asian foods, green tea is commonly offered to you.  In the U.S., green tea has gotten more popular thanks to its health benefits.  For green tea, the tea leaves are heated or steamed right after harvest which stops the oxidation process and allows the tea to keep its green color.  This process also locks in naturally occurring antioxidants and amino acids that are good for us.  Green tea also has caffeine but only about one quarter of the amount of a similarly sized cup of coffee.

Oolong tea is most popular in Taiwan and China.  The process to produce Oolong is similar to black tea – the leaves are withered but then briefly oxidized in direct sunlight until the leaves give off the distinctive fragrance.  Oolong’s caffeine content is somewhere between black tea and green tea.

White tea tends to be a high end tea.  It is the least processed of the tea varieties and comes only from the spring harvest of tea in the Fujian Province of China.  The process for creating white tea takes the tea buds and carefully dries them rather than oxidizing or rolling them.  The result is a delicate flavor with mellow, sweet notes.  True white tea has even less caffeine than green tea.

The most trendy tea right now is Matcha tea.  Unlike the other types of tea, matcha is made by grinding Japanese green tea leaves into a fine powder.  Then rather than steeping, you whisk the powder into your hot water to make a frothy, bright green cup of tea.  I’m not a fan of this type of tea myself but maybe it’s because I don’t have the knack for the whisk?

Last – but certainly not least – are herbal teas.  Strictly speaking, herbal teas are not really tea because there are no tea leaves involved.  Instead herbal teas are steeped brews of different combinations of fruits and herbs – think citrus, chamomile or hibiscus.  Most herbal teas are very aromatic and caffeine free.

So now you have an idea of all the different kinds of teas – have fun and explore them!  Need more help?  Try a loose leaf tea store like Adagio Teas or Argo Tea.  Don’t have a tea store near you?  Spend some time in the tea section at your local grocery – many of them carry more types of tea than you’ll think!  Enjoy!

With the weather getting colder, the first thing I do most days when I get to work is make a cup of tea.  I’m not the biggest coffee fan in the world, but I love my tea.   I’m particular about how I steep it.  Call me a snob.  I took a trip to London in the early 1990’s and was schooled by a waiter at the hotel we stayed in on how to brew a cup of tea so that I didn’t look like an American.  I was amazed at how much better the tea tasted – so I get a little crazy about making my tea now.

First, you need to use fresh cold water to start.  I know – seems crazy, but it make a huge difference.  I have an electric kettle but a tea kettle on your stovetop works just as well.  Then, bring the water to a full rolling boil – that’s why I love the electric kettle; it gets the water to that full rolling boil pretty fast.

The next step is steeping the tea – but oddly, I open the top of the kettle and wait until the water has cooled just enough to stop showing bubbles before I pour the water in my cup.  If the water is too hot, it scorches the tea leaves (especially green or white teas).  So pour the water and then put the tea bag or loose tea holder down in the water.

While the tea is steeping – DON’T TOUCH THE TEA!  That’s the key according to my helpful London waiter friend.  Most Americans “bounce” the tea bag up and down in the water which really just allows more sediment to come out of the bag and into your tea.  You get much better flavor from your tea if you just let it sit.  The Republic of Tea recommends these steeping times – and remember, if you want strong tea it’s better to add more tea (or less water) than more steeping time:

I generally take my tea without sweetener – and I can’t even wrap my head around why anyone puts milk or cream in their tea.  In the winter or when I feel a cold coming on, I think there are very few things more comforting than a cup of hot tea with honey and lemon.  You decide what you like to add and run with it.

So now you’re all set to brew yourself a great cup of tea – may I suggest Bigelow’s Constant Comment black tea or if you like green tea, how about a cup of Tazo’s Zen tea.  Enjoy!

 

The Appalachian Bear Rescue is a great organization in Gatlinburg, TN.  If you’re on Facebook, I encourage you to follow them in their mission of rehabbing orphaned black bears and returning them to the wild.  Check out this video of one of the current residents – Piccola is adorable!