Did you know that in the early 1900’s the great lawns of private estates were filled with countless croquet and badminton fanatics. They spent their summer days playing these games until the early evening. Of course, to keep them from becoming dehydrated they had regular stops for drinks and their favourite choice of refreshment was ‘tea’, which was taken in the lawns and countryside amid the badminton, shuttlecocks and rosewood mallets.
Author: Treeca
In 1484 teas popularity reaches a new height when Zen priest Murata Shuko introduced the Cha-no-yu or Hot Water For Tea ceremony, which celebrates the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of tea preparation and drinking. In 1560 the first European to encounter tea and write about it was Jasper de Cruz, a missionary on Portugal’s first commercial trade journey to China. Portugal, the most advanced navy at the time, was the first European country to gain the right of trade with China. In 1773 American nationalists dump crates of tea from a British ship into the sea in protest over…
10 secrets to better baking – Leave your cake on a wire rack in the tin you have baked it in for 5 minutes before you turn it out. When making your cake, leave the eggs and fat our overnight so that they will be at the same temperature. For a really moist fruit cake, use marmalade instead of candied peel. For an extra rich, tasty fruit cake, use cold coffee instead of milk. Measure all your ingredients accurately. Bake your cake immediately once mixed as the baking powder begins to act as soon as its combined with liquid. Leave…
If you don’t have a skewer or something similar to check your cake try using a piece of dried spaghetti instead. Before putting your cake mixture into the oven, tap the cake tin on a counter to release any large air bubbles in the mixture. Never open the oven door in the first half hour of baking as the cold air will interfere with the rising of your cake. For a moister fruit cake in electric ovens or Aga’s, place a dish of water on the floor of the oven when baking. ‘Always’ turn Your oven on before you start,…
Before icing a cake, sprinkle the top with some flour, this will stop the icing from running down over the edges of the cake.
Wheat flour is the most common in the UK but there are also many different types of those. You can find out some healthy facts about wheat flour from Healthy Eating website. The main difference between them is their protein content. This protein when mixed with water will make gluten. Its the gluten that determines the elasticity and structure of the finished product. A typical example is that a high gluten flour would be used for bread and a low gluten flour for cakes. Real Foods are well known for their organic range of flours but most supermarkets carry a large…
How many different types of tea are there in the world? Well according to UK Tea & Infusions Association there are approximately 1,500 different varieties of tea !! They also say that Tea breaks are a tradition that have been with us for approximately 200 years, and by the mid 18th C tea replaced ale and gin as the drink of the masses to become Britain’s most popular beverage. One thing I certainly did NOT know about tea is that it is a natural source of fluoride that can help protect against tooth decay and gum disease. I presumed wrongly…
1. For a 15.5cm (6 inch) Cake Tin 200g each of Self Raising Flour, Caster Sugar and Butter 4 Eggs 2. For a 18cm (7 inch) Cake Tin 250g each of Self Raising Flour, Caster Sugar and Butter 5 Eggs 3. For a 20cm (8 inch) Cake Tin 325g each of Self Raising Flour, Caster Sugar and Butter 6 Eggs 4. For a 23cm (9 inch) Cake Tin 450g each of Self Raising Flour, Caster Sugar and Butter 9 Eggs Photo Source: www.flickr.com/photos/conall/
To remove a scratch from a table, crack open a walnut and rub it along the scratch . Walnuts contain a natural resin which will conceil the scratch. To get rid of ink stains from furniture soak a piece of cotton wool in water and cover the stain with it. That will then draw the mark out and into the cotton wool. When defrosting a freezer, keep frozen food cold by wrappong it in several layers of newspaper. Clean your microwave by placing half a lemon in water and setting it to boil. To unblock a blocked sink tip a…
We all love pancakes on Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) but do you know why you eat them on this particular day? The website Historic UK explains. Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday, is the traditional feast day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Lent – the 40 days leading up to Easter – was traditionally a time of fasting and on Shrove Tuesday, Anglo-Saxon Christians went to confession and were “shriven” (absolved from their sins). A bell would be rung to call people to confession. This came to be called the “Pancake Bell” and is still rung today. Shrove Tuesday always falls 47 days before Easter Sunday, so the…