Quick links

It’s official, ginger really can ease nausea associated with the side-effects of chemotherapy. A recent study has shown that a mere half teaspoon of ginger reduced nausea by 40%. Although they used ground ginger, I’d recommend two tablets of 100% ginger. There are some on the local market that are cheap, Australian made and sold for travel sickness. Unless someone has trouble swallowing, it would be a more palatable way to take it and it still works fast.

Also on an aromatic note, New York chef extraordinaire Mark Bittman has a great recipe for a Mexican Chocolate Mousse – made with tofu. I have made tofu-based desserts before and they work extremely well, fooling even hardened tofu-haters. The video on the site takes a couple of minutes to watch and shows just how easy it is to make.

Walnuts may prevent breast cancer. This new research is promising but it is still at the ‘rats and stats’ stage, with no testing on actual women as yet. Walnuts contain omega-3 fatty acids but they are also a great source of fibre and trace nutrients. Part of the so called “French Paradox” regarding lower incidence of heart disease despite a high intake of cigarettes and alcohol, involved walnuts being a regular part of the diet. My walnut tips are –eat them raw and keep them in a cool place to stop them from going rancid. There are some great new season Tasmanian walnuts available at the moment – so add them to your cereal, have them as a snack or add a handful to a small bowl of sheep’s milk yoghurt with a drizzle of honey for dessert.

More Bittman love – how to set up a no frills-kitchen. A great little video backed up by a more detailed article, the down-to-earth Mr Bittman takes a novice cook by the hand and shows them what they need to set up a kitchen on the cheap. Though the costs are in US dollars, the generic catering supply stores are the same and you can find them dotted all over Melbourne. I use my local one for cheap but sturdy glasses, stainless steel bowls for mixing and prep work (doubling as salad bowls), graters, colanders and the like. Though I’m not a fan of aluminium cookware and I love my wok (though admit that a good fry pan on high heat does a passable job), Bittman’s guide is a great place to start.