Recipes

The White House said Tuesday that the three objects U.S. fighter jets shot down over Alaska, Canada, and Michigan last weekend may have been harmless research balloons. "The intelligence community is considering as a leading explanation that these could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose," White House national security spokesman John Kirby said. The U.S. won't know more until search teams recover the debris in remote or hard-to-reach places with frigid weather. U.S. officials also told several news organizations that the fourth aerial object shot down this month — a huge Chinese surveillance balloon — may not...

The Chinese spy balloon which was shot down off South Carolina on February 4 was observed taking off from Hainan Island, south China, at the end of January, it has emerged.

Kyoto is known for its abundance of centuries-old establishments, from traditional teahouses to confectioneries creating intricate wagashi. Kameya Kiyonaga in the geisha district of Gion stands out as the only shop in Japan that continues to produce its oldest sweet. Originally established in 1617, Kameya Kiyonaga quickly came to be known as one of Kyoto’s best confectioneries. In 1857, it was decreed one of only 28 shops that were allowed to present sweets to the Emperor. While the shop today offers a wide variety of wagashi, Kameya Kiyonaga’s specialty remains a fried dumpling called seijō-kankidan, which is believed to be...

The Japanese Defense Ministry said that it "strongly suspects" Chinese spy balloons have entered their country at least three times since 2019, Reuters reported Tuesday.  The devices were detected in 2019, 2020, and 2021, the Ministry said in a statement, adding that Japanese officials had contacted China to verify the facts of the situation and ensure it didn't happen again. The Ministry also said that it would not accept any territorial violations from Chinese balloons.  "We will put more effort than ever into information gathering and surveillance activities against balloons, including unmanned ones for foreign espionage," a translation of the statement provided...

There was a troubling news item the other day. A survey of 1.4 million people in 166 countries measured how much people smiled or laughed each day and the conclusion reported in the book “Humour, Seriously” was that people’s sense of humor drops precipitously after age 23. I can handle the loss of my hair and stamina, but I see humor as a necessity none of us should go without. But it is true that most of us get too serious about work, relationships and money in our mid-twenties and forget to lighten up and notice the amusing absurdity all...