A No-Frills Kitchen Still Cooks – New York Times challenges my assumption that I “needed” a rice cooker and microwave oven to have a happy kitchen.

Dieting has been a challenge but not as much as it is for those who experience it as starvation: Genes Take Charge, and Diets Fall by the Wayside – New York Times

Remedies: Dark Chocolate Similar to Blood Pressure Drugs – New York Times:

Four of the five studies on chocolate found
reduced blood pressure after eating, but none of the tea studies showed
significant benefit. The magnitude of the effect of eating three and a
half ounces of dark chocolate a day was clinically significant,
comparable to that of beta-blockers like atenolol, known by the brand
name Tenormin, or propranolol, known as Inderal. The authors
acknowledge that the studies were short and that results may not apply
to habitual use.

Such news, of course, will not stop me from continue my tea-drinking
habit. It does he me and Laura justify our newly revitalized eating of
dark chocolate after dinner!