Our favorite tea strainer

For enjoying delicious loose-leaf green tea by the cup, our favorite strainer is a deep, over-the-cup type widely available on the 'Net (but, unfortunately, not at our website) under the name "celestial tea strainer." The name comes from the sun-and-moon cut-out design in the rim of the strainer, as you can see in the photos below.






The nice thing about this strainer is that, unlike most over-the-cup strainer, it's nice and deep, so the tea leaves have plenty of room to swirl around and release their infusion as they brew. And they're a little neater to clean up after than a tea ball. It's nice to have a small cup to set the strainer in between uses. With one of these, a cup, and a means for boiling water, it's easy to enjoy loose-leaf tea by the cup anytime. For brewing at the office, you can heat the water right in the cup in a microwave, or even use an electric kettle.

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Rewarding the good with the bad

If you’ve ever seen an aerobics show on TV, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that the fast-food companies advertise heavily during these shows. What advertisers seem to be targeting so mercilessly is our tendency to want to “reward” ourselves after doing something that's good for us. In other words, those advertisers are in effect saying, "Go ahead. Have a cheeseburger and a shake. You're exercising, so you deserve it!" This is the same psychology behind golf’s so-called 19th hole: An afternoon spent whacking and following around a small, white ball outside in the fresh air should be rewarded afterwards, the logic must go, with a few cocktails. We all need a little break now and then, but perhaps we should resist the temptation to reward ourselves after every single good thing. How about after every other good thing?

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