Should I drink coffee when travelling? How many cups do you drink?

Free coffee for those who have made purchases in Waitrose supermarket, Harrow, NW London, England.

Problem
Who can resist a free cup of coffee? A coffee break? Should I drink more coffee? Less coffee? Dark coffee? Light coffee? Strong coffee? Mild coffee?

Answers
I remember drinking my first cup of coffee. I didn't like it! I was sixteen, at a youth club. As a child I had drunk water. My parents would not let me drink fizzy drinks.

Avoiding and Liking Coffee
My first attempt to drink coffee was not a success. I avoided coffee for a long time. Then one day I was given coffee with milk and sugar. I was hooked.

I had to have brown sugar. I rated a restaurant on whether it could supply 'proper' coffee, with milk and brown sugar, rather than instant coffee with white sugar.

Instant Or Not?
When I went to Asia it was a surprise to find that instant coffee, served with sweetened evaporated tinned milk, was more expensive than the local coffee. I was annoyed that restaurants tried to 'palm me off' with instant coffee, which is cheaper back in Britain. When I saw the locals being served local coffee, when I had been given the unaccountably more expensive Nescafé with condensed milk, I challenged the restaurant owner to explain why.

He explained that cows were rare, milk was expensive, most people drank black coffee. Imported instant coffee was favoured by white Westerners, who were prepared to pay more for the rarity of the added milk. In the tropics milk went off quickly. So tinned milk was kept as a standby. The sugar in it kept it fresher longer. Tinned milk was a treat, and locals liked it, having got used to the sweeter taste.

Sugar In Coffee
Later, back in Britain, I went on a diet. I gave up sugar in coffee.

Finally, I went to a doctor, a GP (general practitioner) in London for a general check up. I admitted that I was not sleeping well. I got up in the night to go to the toilet . Then I felt jittery and could not get back to sleep.

Conting Cups Of Coffee
The doctor asked how many cups of coffee I drank. About five, maybe more. How come I drank so many?

I counted.
1 One for breakfast - sometimes a double or a second cup. 2.
2/3 One for elevenses (what the British call the eleven o'clock or mid-morning break - a word unknown in the USA).
3/4 Another cup after lunch, which would be my third or fourth.
4/5 Another cup at tea time, about four o'clock. That's number four.
5/6 Another after dinner. That's number five.
6/7 Sometimes another later, especially if out at a restaurant, or visiting friends, or at a club evening meeting, which makes six, sometimes seven if I'd had two cups at any time in the day.

Oh - I forgot. If I woke early, I would start the day with another cup to get me going. That would make seven or eight cups of coffee!

I was drinking between five and eight cups of caffeine-laden coffee a day. I had never counted or noticed how many. Even if I had counted, I would not have noted it as a problem.

Counting Spoons Of Sugar
If I had sugar in the coffee, I would get a boost of caffeine and sugar, then I would sink half an hour or an hour later, needing another boost, feeling jittery. Eight doses of sugar! Eight doses of caffeine! No wonder I felt exhausted and overweight.

Limiting Coffee
The doctor suggested: no more than three cups of coffee a day, and none after mid-day.
One caffeinated coffee after breakfast. One for mid-morning. A decaffeinated coffee at lunchtime, no later than 2 pm (not after a lunch finishing at 2.30, 3 pm or 3.30 or 4 such as Christmas day or Sunday or on holiday, or a delayed lunch at work.

White Teeth
I also went to my dentist for teeth whitening. I looked at the colours of food I was eating. As a child I had white teeth. I drank white milk and washed my food down with a glass of colourless water. I ate white steamed fish, white mashed potato or white chicken.

Dark Foods
My diet as an adult turned into brown curry with staining yellow in the rice and curry, red steak, brown beef casserole. I ended every meal with a dark coffee.

Dye In Clothes
I dyed clothes and noted that after an hour a dark stain would set. Salt helped the dye to set. I had been putting dark coloured foods and salt into my mouth.

Costa - my favourite because of the almond slices.

Travel
When you are travelling, often you have no choice. But many times you do have a choice.

Final thought: When I'm taking a long motorway journey I like coffee to keep me awake. However, I don't like to drink coffee just before leaving, because I will need a toilet.

You don't have to do what I did. But at least you can now consider my reasoning, and your options and your situation.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts. I have several more posts on coffee including King Coffee from Vietnam and Giuliano coffee from Italy.

French words of the day: fondant; fondue; sucre roux

French words of the day are sucre roux, brown or raw sugar.
Fondant means melting.

Fondue is popular in restaurants in Switzerland, the home of cheese and chocolate. Fondue is melting cheese or chocolate, served in a bowl over a small tea light, candle light or burner, usually with two or more people using skewers or pincers to pick up and dunk cubes of bread or vegetables in the cheese; or cake, or marshmallows or fruit such as strawberries in the chocolate.

Fondue sets are sold in supermarkets and department stores in the crockery departments, packaged as gifts at Christmas time. I bought what I thought was a fondue set. It is an oriental stir-fry set.

This set was sold in Tesco as an oriental gift set, with a stir-fry sauce.

English - French
Sugar-sucre
brown sugar-sucre roux

French - English
brun - brown
fondant - melting
rouge - red
roux - raw
sucre roux - brown sugar / raw sugar

Brown and white sugar served with coffee at Fulham Wine Rooms in London, England.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, speaker, author.

Tapas Bar and Charcuterie Restaurant Ember Yard near Oxford Street: what do you get?

The menu here is similar to the restaurant I tried previously, and this time I liked the experience even more. From our table upstairs I could see the flames of the grill. We had warm welcome and attention all the time form all the staff.

Decor
Downstairs is a bar and more tables and a secluded area. And the toilets.

Plus an amusing double painting of Adam and Eve and wine. The restaurant owner Simon explained it to me.

The restaurant name, Ember, reflects the embers cooking the food.

Starters
You pay for the bread or olives.

The bread was very tasty. I scraped off the blackened parts. I am not keen on chargrilling. I don't like the last of charcoal. Also having had cancer in the family, I've perused the cancer websites which advise against eating food which is cooked on high heat and you can't get higher than food burned to a cinder. But I still ate it and I would still recommend it.

Having a pink (rose) sparkling wine, made everything nicer.

Our starter was the cooked vegetable in honey, which we'd previously tried at the sister restaurant Salt. (Four related restaurants. Next on our list to try will be Opera.)

Anything I'd like to change or improve? Yes, some kind of curtains or blinds on the front window as either a semi-barrier or complete one-way screen so you are not exposed to passers by. I hate windows exposed so that you are either facing the window and distracted by movement of people and vehicles outside, or sitting with my back to the window wondering what is going on behind me. However, only three of the tables are against the window and if you feel as I do about windows you can easily sit at a proper table inside, or at a bar stool, or downstairs at the bar on a bar stool or downstairs at a proper table.

The tables are wooden and close together. A bit of a squeeze. With fingers over the corners so you don't bruise your flesh or bang your bones.

Main Courses
The ribs on a puree of mash were good. So was the chicken.

Desserts
We ordered desserts with matching sweet wines which were excellent, aromatic and tasty, sweet but not sickly, interesting to learn about.

Desserts were the high point. We shared three. Even though my pears were underdone, hard and not so flavourful, the amaretti biscuits were so good! I also liked the honeycomb. We resolved to order honeycomb at home for home.

The coffee came up with the hot milk on the side as requested, with a small bowl including rough cubes of brown sugar.

Anything missing? The coffee was not accompanied by anything. They charge for chocolate as a special dessert. Maybe I'm spoiled, but an Indian restaurant changing half the price gives you a free chocolate with your coffee and/or the bill.

Despite what I've said in retrospect, we came out smiling and raving about the restaurant, saying we would try another branch and come back to this one again.

Not over-full of food. Nothing to bring home in a take-away bag.

At this branch the menu said that the expensive seat meal was for groups of 8 or more, and the restaurant needs 48 hours notice. So, for a special occasion, or Christmas, here's a good place.

See my earlier revue of Dehesa.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, speaker and author.

WHAT ATTRACTS FLIES? DIY FLY AWAY: Fly creams and sprays for travel

Prevention is better than cure. When I hear that dreaded noise past my ear sitting at lunch, or trying to sleep in a hotel bedroom, I an instantly alert, distracted from rest.

I just watched the video on how to make a fly attractor and trap. I remember years ago being told about making a sugar syrup in a half buried bottle. This system adds yeast.

I was interested in what it said about how your body attracts mosquitos. Mostly at night, worse at night. But you can get bitten daytime, anytime you walk on grass, or just sit out around a dining table. I never sit outside, but I have friends and family who always want to sit outside. They think it's part of the joys of summer and holidays or being in a warm country, or off work, or at work taking a meal break.

Hot water, brown sugar and yeast - you must buy the yeast.
This works at home.

But travelling on business or on holiday you'd have to buy brown sugar and yeast and take them (or the portions needed) in the car/suitcase. (Plus a piece of old newspaper, big plastic bottle and tape - which are probably available at your holidays destination, but why leave it to chance. Alternatively pack fly repellent cream for your body and fly killer for the hotel bedroom, or put it on your packing list now.

As for that summer barbecue, garden party, march, or festival, even in the city centre, be prepared.

http://www.viralnova.com/diy-mosquito-trap/

Angela Lansbury, author, travel writer, speaker.