Tidbits of news and info to make your life easier and more fun, so you’re healthy all the time
1. Today, there are more than 2 700 different languages spoken in the world, with more than 7 000 dialects. In Indonesia alone, 365 different languages are spoken. More than 1,000 different languages are spoken in Africa. The most difficult language to learn is Basque, which is spoken in north-western Spain and south-western France. It is not related to any other language in the world. Mandarin is the most spoken language in the world, followed by English. But as home language, Spanish is the second most spoken in the world.

2. If a soup or stew is too salty, add raw cut potatoes. Discard them after they have cooked - they will have absorbed the salt. If a soup or stew is too sweet, add salt. If a main dish or vegetable is too sweet, add a teaspoon of cider vinegar. Here are some more food tips…
• To avoid ‘onion eyes’ peel under cold water or refrigerate (or freeze) before chopping.
• To perk up soggy lettuce, add lemon juice to a bowl of cold water and soak lettuce for an hour in the refrigerator.
• When cooking carrots, peas, beets or corn, add a small amount of sugar to the water to keep the flavor.
• To keep sweet corn yellow, add one teaspoon of lemon juice to the cooking water just about a minute before taking off the stove.
• Never salt the water you cook corn in. It will only toughen the corn. Store celery and lettuce in paper bags, not plastic. And leave the outside leaves and stalks alone until ready to use.
• Sunlight doesn’t ripen tomatoes, warmth does. Store tomatoes with stems pointed down and they will stay fresher, longer.
• To soften rock-hard brown sugar, simply add a slice of soft bread to the package and close the bag tightly. In a few hours the sugar will be soft again.