"heart" news and stories

Ever working to improve their image and put their best foot forward with the public, McDonald's has introduced nine meals to its Australian menus that have all been given the seal of approval by the National Heart Foundation. It's an historic event, to be sure, since the company has never had their approval before and fast food is not known for being heart-healthy - or healthy in general, for that matter. The meals include salads, Chicken McNuggets and some hamburgers, but no french fries.

Critics say that the "the Heart Foundation should feel 'duped'" for going along with McDonald's "marketing ploy." While it is true that McDonald's is paying to get the NHF's approval - fees that go towards testing the food, according to the NHF - the organization is still placing their reputation on the line and has no reason not to support the fast food company if their meals meet the NHF's standards. And if some regular McDonald's eaters switch to healthier fare, that's a positive change whether it came from a "marketing ploy" or not.

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As Valentine's Day approaches, there certainly won't be any shortage heart-shaped things, whether it's a gift to give your sweetheart, or something for you to use in the kitchen.

The Big Love Ice Cream Spoon by Alessi comes from Italy and is made of shiny stainless steel. It's perfect to start your Valentine's Day with breakfast in bed (a bowl of Special K can be very romantic, you know), and to end your evening with a bowl of ice cream. The spoons come in a set of four, but let's hope that you only use one...to share!

The spoons are $39.90, available from Amazon.com.

Even though I don't particularly care for silicone bakeware and baking tests haven't shown it to be an improvement over traditional bakeware, I will give it points for coming in such a wide variety of shapes. Silicone can easily be molded into just about any shape you can think of and bakeware manufacturers seem to enjoy using it for some of the more unusual designs that they come up with. Its flexibility means that, unlike with traditional bakeware, it is very easy to pop finished cakes and candies out of their molds without worrying about getting pieces of the cake stuck to the pan. The Hearts, X's & O's pan is made of silicone and bakes 16 mini muffin-sized cakes (the pan is only 8.25-in square) that are ideal for Valentine's Day: five X's, five O's and six hearts. It is easily worth a look just for the sheer cuteness of the finished cakes.

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Get ready, y'all. Valentine's Day is just over two weeks away, and though the holiday is probably my least favorite "holiday" of the year, I can't help but pay it much attention because 1) hearts are my favorite shape, and 2) pink is my favorite color. Trust me, if I had my say with the Universal Holiday Design Council, I'd make Thanksgiving pink and serve everything from heart-shaped casserole dishes.

But I will take great advantage of Valentine's Day until the rest of the world changes and swoon over things like these heart-shaped salt and pepper shakers. Yes, they are being marketed as wedding favors, but I can ignore that for now. The shakers stand 3¾" tall, are shiny chrome, and are $4.99 from Bliss Wedding Markets. If you are planning a romantic dinner in, these would be darling on the table, but I'd plan to use them every day.

More salt and pepper:
Talk to taste
Silvery sleek
Ice cream cones
Sleek and magnetic
Pretty little pigs
Self-shaking shakers for the lazy
Peugeot's electric pepper mill
Weeble wobble
Cha Cha Cha
Teardrops
Loops

Having tea with milk or cream in it is not quite as popular in the US as it is abroad, but the practice is far from uncommon. Milk mellows the flavor of black teas and rounds them into a mild, satisfying drink. It seems that the addition of milk might also reduce the effects of some of the flavonoids in tea, so that those who take tea with milk are not getting all the "protective effects against heart disease" that they would be getting if they took their tea black.

This conclusion was published in the European Heart Journal just this month. The study looked at the ability of women's arteries to relax and expand after drinking tea, either with or without milk. The otherwise healthy participants showed a significant improvement in their blood flow after drinking plain tea, while the tea with 10% skim milk showed no benefits. Similar experiments were conducted on rats with the same results.

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