Holiday Cookie Exchange

Written by Chris, WebAdmin.


Withrepparttar Christmas holidays coming up, many cooks will be looking at lots of baking and preparations forrepparttar 135537 parties and get-togethers not to mentionrepparttar 135538 big day itself. How can you reducerepparttar 135539 stress and still put out a variety of tasty treats for family and friends? Try a cookie exchange.

The general idea of a cookie exchange is a group of friends each bake a batch of cookies to be shared amongstrepparttar 135540 group. Each member concentrates on and only has to purchase ingredients for one recipe but still gets a variety of goodies to offer at their own home. You need ground rules and everyone has different ideas so it is a good idea to discussrepparttar 135541 details in advance so everyone knows their role.

For some parties there is a strict rule aboutrepparttar 135542 cookies being homemade. At othersrepparttar 135543 gathering is more important so if a member feels a time crunch atrepparttar 135544 last minute they can choose to buy something fromrepparttar 135545 bakery. Store bought bagged cookies would be taboo but bakery, homemade-like would be okay.

First, agree on a timeline. Make sure each member can makerepparttar 135546 commitment and ask that they each set aside baking time at least a few days beforerepparttar 135547 scheduled exchange (that way they have time to bake and time to fix it if something goes wrong). Another reason you might want to bakerepparttar 135548 cookies early is they "cure" a bit. Fresh cookies don't really transport well and tend to crumble badly duringrepparttar 135549 exchange.

Ask your members to send you their recipes so you can make copies forrepparttar 135550 others and ensure that no two are makingrepparttar 135551 same cookies (don't forget, variety isrepparttar 135552 key!). They don't all have to bake cookies either, bars and macaroons work really well too. It is a nice idea if they include a few lines about why they chose this recipe or any memories they have of making or eating these cookies. Sharingrepparttar 135553 details of howrepparttar 135554 recipe was once grandma's or how you set fire torepparttar 135555 kitchen one time while baking them is halfrepparttar 135556 fun ofrepparttar 135557 party! Create a booklet ofrepparttar 135558 recipes and memories for each member to keep. If you have a digital camera you could even take pics atrepparttar 135559 party ofrepparttar 135560 cookies andrepparttar 135561 members to include inrepparttar 135562 booklets.

Ten amazing things you don’t know about Tea.

Written by Lorraine Bevere


Legend has it that an ancient Chinese emperor wasrepparttar first to discover Tea when some leaves were blown by chance into a bowl contain some boiling hot water. The tea we drink today is exactlyrepparttar 135486 same andrepparttar 135487 brewing process has never been interfered with.

In recent Australian studies CSIRO scientists found thatrepparttar 135488 occurrence of skin cancer in laboratory mice was greatly reduced when they were given black tea. It is thought that polyphenols which are very strong antioxidants and are contained inrepparttar 135489 tea arerepparttar 135490 most likely reason for this phenomenon.

Tea can be used to kill warts. The tannic acid found in tea is said to be just as effective in killing warts as many wart removers that you can purchase overrepparttar 135491 counter atrepparttar 135492 local drug store! Soak a black tea bag in hot water, and then placerepparttar 135493 damp bag onrepparttar 135494 wart itself for fifteen minutes a couple of times each day. Slowlyrepparttar 135495 wart will shrink and soon disappear.

Tea comes fromrepparttar 135496 leaves of a tree called Camellia sinensis. The three main types of tea are Black, Oolong and Green. Herbal tea does not come fromrepparttar 135497 leaves of a tea plant, therefore, is not considered to be real tea. Roots, stems, flowers and parts of plants are used to make herbal tea.

In recent Dutch studies it was found that men who drink black tea which contains catechins are 50 percent less likely to die of ischemic heart disease. This is when our arteries become clogged and are unable to work as they should because of them becoming narrow.

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use