Greetings! I receive the Posit Science Brain Fitness newsletter and find the articles in it sooo interesting. Everything health-related fascinates me, especially anything concerning The Brain and it's inner workings. This month's newsletter reports a study which indicates musician's brains have stronger auditory processing and working memory than non-musicians. Drawing on decades of musical training, the musicians had sharper hearing and thinking skills than their non-musician peers and may be at a lower risk for impediments of aging, such as some age-related memory decline and hearing problems. Learn more.

This makes me wish I had taken my piano lessons more seriously...! I tried out numerous instruments when I was younger, but only dabbled before giving up; the trick is to persevere and get in that 10,000 hours they say it takes before you can get good at anything. It's never too late though, I've read numerous articles stating that one of best things you can do for yourself as you age is learn a new skill - be it ballroom dance, knitting or another language. The important thing is that it be a completely unique challenge.

As for musicians, we've seen way too many rockers going strong far into their 60's and 70's not to recognize this study may indeed hold some merit; Neil Young, Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney to name a few. Here's two finely preserved relics, Daryl Hall (64) and Peter Frampton (61) to help prove my point. Enjoy :)

Here's what I brewed up in my Cauldron of Awesomeness...! 

That's a Sheenism and I have to admit to finding some of Charlie Sheen's antics of late quite amusing. He had all the major networks talking about him, instead of what they were supposed to be covering: the news. A video of him cooking on YouTube where he referred to a pot as his cauldron of awesomeness was priceless. I immediately filed that one away. Here's a link to the Live the Sheen Dream random quote generator.

Doesn't this look good? I recently had one of the best cups of tea ever (along with a great meal) in a Thai restaurant. It's a ginger tea and and it was so amazing we returned a few days later, just for the tea. When I was going through the till on my way out that second visit I considered asking them for the recipe, but hesitated at the last possible moment. Determined to enjoy it whenever I wanted led me on a search and I've found what I believe is a pretty close second. I like that it has only four simple ingredients, can be made in bulk (or cut in half if you like) and stored in the fridge and reheated or enjoyed cold on a hot day. Plus, it's good for you :)



Thai-Style Ginger Tea...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

The tea was actually a Thai Ginger Drink that is very popular in Asia. While ginger is used in cooking throughout the world, you may be surprised to learn that it has health benefits as well. Many, especially in Asia, consider it to be a cure-all. Health benefits aside, my main interest in using fresh ginger is to make tea. While I haven't been able to create an exact duplicate of the ginger drink, I've come very close and have been serving it, hot or cold, ever since. This is how it's done.

Ginger Tea

8 cups water

1/2 cup peeled and thinly sliced fresh ginger

1 lemon or lime thinly sliced

1/4 to 1/2 cup dark honey

Bring water to a rolling boil. Remove from heat.

Add ginger and lemon. Cover pot and let sit for 20 to 40 minutes.

The tea becomes stronger the longer it steeps.

Strain. Stir in honey. Serve hot or cold.

Yield: 8 cups.

Enjoy!

Refrigerated Romance: Yes, That's a Royal Wedding Fridge

Just when you thought that royal wedding memorabilia couldn't get wackier, behold, the Will and Kate refrigerator!

The royal fridge and freezer, which is sold by GDHA, a U.K. distributor of GE appliances, features the more casual of the two official engagement pictures taken by photographer Mario Testino. The refrigerator is 5'9", which means you'd almost be looking at life-size versions of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Is this just another company trying to cash in on the royal wedding? Not quite. GE's UK fans actually voted for the design on Facebook, suggesting that royal mania won't, um, cool down anytime soon.
Source: Refrigerated Romance: Yes, That's a Royal Wedding Fridge

For the record, I wasn't searching for royal wedding when I stumbled across this in Time - I was reading an article about another type of 'royalty'; Elizabeth Taylor's recent passing at 79.


Ironically, I saw this (below) in the Star, at some point last week:


Since the announcement of the royal engagement, residents of Ontario have topped the list of Canadians searching for royal wedding news. Burlington comes in at number one and Hamilton at number two when it comes to searching "royal wedding," with Ottawa and Toronto coming in at the number seven and nine spots respectively.


People searching for "royal wedding" in Canada:

1. Burlington
2. Hamilton
3. Vancouver
4. Winnipeg
5. Halifax
6. Edmonton
7. Ottawa
8. Calgary
9. Toronto
10. Montreal

Joanna Lumley's Nile

Your Monday Mews

No news to report...this was probably the most boring weekend on record!

Our back deck on Sunday afternoon...

It didn't let up all weekend - festive isn't it?! 

We didn't dare venture out - it snowed quite heavily each day (if only I had that one-horse-open-sleigh to dash through the snow with that everyone keeps singing about) - that, and it would be sheer madness to try to go anywhere in the city the last Saturday before Christmas. Experience is a great teacher! One bright spot was that our daughter did some last minute shopping for me while she was out; not much keeps her at home. I wrapped gifts on Sunday afternoon and finalized the Christmas menu. I also got much closer to finishing The Dome.  

I thought this was interesting - "Christmas Unwrapped" from the Canadian perspective.

In Canadian news, Liberal MP Justin Trudeau found himself in the middle of a controversy, (he is the son of former Prime Minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau - highly regarded, but was certainly no stranger to controversy himself) as a result of the Christmas card he sent out to his Montreal constituents. He and his family are all wearing fur-trimmed clothing in the card. Comments after a number of the articles I read were overwhelmingly in Justin's favor. Not sure what that means - maybe opinions are changing regarding the wearing of fur, or perhaps it's purely a regional reaction as most of those commenting were Canadian.