Hot things to cool down...!

Yes, it's hot in Summer.....


Oui - il fait chaud en Été....

Ja - Es ist heiss im Sommer..... 



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Summer is supposed to be the period of the year when we bake....not cakes, but ourselves. This summer of 2011 is strange, many places are suffering from low temperatures, rain and not so agreeable weather as one would expect, but even so, the time will come when it's HOT, so it's best to know a few facts about what - and what not to eat and drink in that period.
Strangely it often isn't the things we automatically reach for, such as cold, even iced drinks, and ice cream or iced water that do the job, it's other things we wouldn't think of that are the best. 
Iced or over-chilled items do give some relief straight away, but the relief disappears quickly and in the end - it's worse!
I was told, and I doubted the advice, that piping hot mint tea, made freshly in the Arab fashion  and drunk as hot as possible, was the best and most simple way of cooling down! 
I tried it, and was amazed - it was indeed true.
The only problem was that the typical Arab mint tea uses a horrible amount of sugar and therefore not terribly applicable for people on diats or for diabetic sufferers! 
Of course you can reduce the amount of sugar in it, but it isn't the same.

  Even if you haven't got the beautiful serving items, you can still make your own mint tea...here is a recipe:
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/mint-tea-10000000577318/
The only thing I would change in this recipe is to suggest using what is called "gunpowder" tea, or "green tea" and adjust the sugar content to your own taste.

FRESH mint is a necessity...the dried type isn't worth bothering with, and although fresh mint can be frozen, it loses a lot of the essential oils. 
Mint is actually classed and considered as a plant of the "invading" type, so if you plant it, try to limit where it can grow to. 
The roots become amazingly thick, tenacious and hardy - great if that's all you want to grow, but otherwise - a pain! Of course mint tea can be chilled, but it won't fulfill the cooling down functions as well as the hot version.


Here are a few ideas on what other items are good for the hot time of year, and strangely - ice cream is NOT one of the recommended items!
http://lifehacker.com/5314584/summer-foods-that-cool-you-down-and-those-that-dont


A little extract for example......
"Concerning meals to avoid? Sadly, ice cream and ice-cold beer are on the list, at least where long-term body cooling is concerned."


So - now you know what to do.....go try it out, and avoid all that "slaving over a hot oven" that certainly won't cool you down!