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According to tea master and owner of J’enwey Tea Co. Lisa Marie Gennawey, bringing water to a boil in a tea kettle or a water boiler produces a circular motion, allowing the water to evenly heat and reach the desired temperature. “Microwaves have no way to recreate this beautiful rolling boil, so they often leave a cup of tea unevenly heated,” she says. How to Brew Tea the Right Way Since we’ve determined microwaves aren’t the best water heating method, here are some tips to ensure your cup of tea will be its best....

Use a plastic cutting board to cut up raw poultry, meat, or fish. Wash the board with hot, soapy water after every use and before using it with another type of food. If possible, purchase two different cutting boards. Use one only for raw meats, poultry, fish, and shellfish, and the other for ready-to-eat foods such as bread and vegetables. Never put cooked poultry, fish, or meat on the same board or in the same container that held the raw meat, unless you have washed the container well first....

1920s: Plants with Artful Elegance When home environments became more plant-friendly in the Roaring Twenties, houseplants soon became part of the lives of your average homeowner. Low-light plants such as graceful ferns quickly rose in popularity, often placed upon wrought-iron pedestals. Their tidy green foliage served as the perfect foil for the era’s geometric Art Deco-inspired furniture, textiles, and patterns. 1930s: Luxurious Leaves The Depression years didn’t stop people from refining their indoor gardens....

What is peat moss? When we’re talking about peat moss for gardening, at least in the US, we’re talking about sphagnum moss. Sphagnum is a type of moss that’s most notable for its amazing ability to absorb. It’s capable of taking in 20 times as much water by weight as its dry weight, so it’s basically a natural sponge. Sphagnum moss prefers growing in moist tundra-type areas, and most of what gets used for gardening in the US comes from peat bogs in northern Canada....

How to Make 2-Ingredient Pumpkin Cake I used a spice cake mix here to really amplify the warm fall flavors, but any flavor cake mix will do. If you aren’t wanting the pumpkin pie spice flavor, a yellow cake or even chocolate cake mix would be delicious. The pumpkin purées real purpose here is to bind the ingredients and provide moisture, rather than flavor. This 2-ingredient pumpkin dump cake is strikingly similar to our autumn pumpkin bars (with way fewer ingredients!...

The design features reliable shade perennials such as hosta, astilbe, and foamflower that offer colorful flowers and lush foliage. Add in a few landscaping stones to give the bed an organic look. Fill around the rocks with low-growing wax begonias and a few autumn croci to ensure continuous blooms from spring until frost. Plants for Creating the Small-Space Shade Garden Plan 3 Astilbe ‘Red Sentinel’: Zones 4-8 4 Hosta ‘Bressingham Blue’: Zones 3-10 7 Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia): Zones 3-7 7 Periwinkle (Vinca minor): Zones 4-9 5 Autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale): Zones 4-9 4 Wax begonia (Begonia semperflorens-cultorum): Annual...

Though most succulents and Echeveria varieties are easy to grow, ‘Compton Carousel’ can be a little finicky, so it’s not a great choice for beginners. Like other succulents, it does best with bright light, but you need to be careful if you’re moving it to a different spot. It can get sunburned if it’s moved from an area with lower light into direct sun, so you’ll have to gradually introduce it to brighter light if you want to move it outside for the summer....

One of the main reasons making bread has always intimidated me is the fact that you need to pay close attention to details like timing and temperature: As the girl who once forgot to put flour in her pumpkin bread, this seemed like a lot of responsibility. But with advice from our food editor and more FaceTime calls to my mom than I am willing to admit, I made my own bread from scratch (yeast and all!...

“We love to entertain and moved back to the Bay after a brief stint in New York because we realized that we cherish the indoor-outdoor lifestyle and wanted to enjoy it year-round,” Jen says. Indoors, a to-the-studs renovation was the solution for everything else. The design, Jen says, is inspired by what she and Lenny love about Sonoma. “A country farmhouse,” she says, “with an easy in-and-out flow and lots of access to the outdoors....

Instead of designing, sourcing, buying, and hiring contractors all by yourself, Block wants to do it all for you. “It’s such a harrowing experience today for homeowners—you’re spending so much money, with such high stakes—and yet there are uncertain timelines, unreliable costs, and unpredictable outcomes,” said Koda Wang, co-founder of Block. Their business is simple: You chose one of three available bathroom remodel packages that range in style and cost....

Tortellini & Smoked Sausage in Tomato-Caper Sauce In a 4- to 6-quart pot heat one frozen portion Tomato-Caper Sauce and 3 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth over medium-high, covered, 15 minutes or until sauce is bubbly, stirring occasionally. Stir in two 10-oz. packages refrigerated cheese tortellini and one 13.5-ounce cooked smoked link sausage or Andouille sausage, halved lengthwise and sliced. Return to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in 4 cups chopped fresh spinach....

2 ounce reduced-fat cream cheese (Neufchatel) ¼ cup shredded Havarti cheese such as dill or other herb flavor, or smoked cheddar cheese (1 ounce) Goat Cheese Slices 4 ounce semisoft goat cheese 2 tablespoon snipped fresh tarragon or dillweed or teaspoons dried tarragon or dillweed, crushed Make-Ahead Tip:

1 pasteurized egg* 1 tablespoon lemon juice ½ teaspoon sea salt ½ teaspoon dry mustard ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper or 1/4 tsp. white pepper 1 cup avocado or walnut oil, or extra-light tasting olive oil