Recipe: Kombucha!

I began drinking kombucha as an effort to replace my occasional soda cravings. I never keep soda in the house, but felt free to drink it at restaurants. That way, I was drinking one per week at the most, excepting vacations. That said, in the summer, I sometimes crave the fizz. I had tried it several years ago and found it pleasant, but intense, so I would drink maybe a couple of ounces at a time. Fast forward to six months ago, when I restarted Weight Watchers, and wanted a go-to that was reasonably healthy but did not use fake sugar. Fake sugar always makes me feel off, and it was hard to find sodas that were fizzy but low in sugar. I began buying kombucha from the store, and drinking it more and more. Now, I am drinking about 5 bottles per week, give or take.

Anyone who has purchased kombucha regularly knows that the stuff is PRICEY! Between $3-5 per bottle on sale. I realized that there was absolutely no way I could keep on purchasing it at the rate I had been, and my roommate had asked me before if I had ever looked in to brewing it on my own. I had scoffed at the thought, assuming it would take tons of supplies, money, space, and involvement. That was when I happened to come across two YouTube videos describing kombucha, and how it is made. Kendra explained it in such a simple, direct way and upon seeing it, I realized that it really wasn't difficult or overly time consuming at all, and the supplies are surprisingly basic.

To summarize for anyone who might not know, kombucha is a fizzy drink made from fermented sweetened tea. It is made by introducing a bacteria and yeast culture, known as a scoby, to the sweet tea and letting it ferment. The result is a slightly sweet, sour, fizzy concoction that is easily flavored with fruit, herbs, or juices.

To begin my adventure, I ordered a Kombucha Kit off of Amazon. It came with the vast majority of the supplies Kendra suggested, and I had the few other items at home that I needed.

                      

After that, I made the sweet tea mixture. I steeped the tea in four cups of filtered water. I used their tea and their teabag, but plan to use a metal strainer in the future. I do not think this fabric one is as reusable as they describe. I also have so much loose tea that I have an entire stash I use to cold steep for iced tea, and there are some I do not like iced. I plan to try to use them for kombucha in the future. Waste not, want not!
                                              

The oddest part of doing all of this is handling the scoby, the blob of bacteria and yeast responsible for creating the drink. I got one with my kit, though I know it reproduces and grows in such a way that like sourdough, you can easily pass the excess between friends. The one that came in my box was hockey puck sized, in about a cup of starter liquid.

                                                

I got my setup together, added the water and made sure the temperature wouldn't kill the scoby before putting it in, and covered it with the cloth. I love the temperature gauge taped to the side of the container because it is cheap, easy to see, and easy to monitor.

                                                
Over the course of this process I was convinced I had screwed things up somehow, it couldn't possibly be this easy. Setting up the brew took maybe 20-30 minutes tops. Again, it all just seemed too easy. So I checked my brew many times per day, waiting to see if the scoby would grow or if somehow it would all go wrong. I watched enough different YouTube videos on the process to know that the scoby should grow much bigger, have no mold, have some bubbles, forming near the top, and be whitish gray in color, maybe a bit tan, with strings all over the place. One day, I started seeing the scoby suddenly appear over the entire top of my container! It was very thin, but it was white, and looked healthy.

                                                   

By the end, it was thicker, and clearly visible from the top. I started tasting it at seven days, decided to flavor it on the eighth day. It smelled and tasted somewhat sour and vinegary, as it should, but had some sweetness left. I dislike kombucha that is too sour, so I was worried to let it go very long on my first go.  I had decided already to invest in a second gallon sized glass jar, so I could get a new batch started more quickly while the other flavored. I got one with a spigot so I wouldn't need to handle the scoby each time. The scoby is firm, rubbery almost, and not fragile, but it is still an odd texture.

                                                  

After getting the new batch started, I took the remainder of the old batch and added a few tablespoons of lemon juice and about two cups of cut strawberries to make a strawberry lemon flavor. Recipes seem to call for one cup of fruit, but I was worried it wouldn't end up fruity enough.
                         

Silly me! After letting it sit for maybe 15 hours, it was super sweet and strawberry flavored! Note for next time, crazy amounts of fruit not needed. I put the liquid in bottles using a funnel from home and a ladle, and they are carbonating on my counter as we speak!

                                                       

I let the air escape every 12 hours and pour a sip from one every day. This produced five 18oz bottles. I had left a fairly generous amount of starter liquid for the new brew, because I felt like it was better to be safe than sorry on that! So far we are on two days and it is not ready for the fridge yet, but it turned out very juicy and tasty!

I am excited for the final product, and have ordered a third glass jar to brew in, two gallons this time. Both my roomie and I drink enough kombucha that we could use a larger supply, and this will leave two jars available to make two separate flavors per batch, and hopefully 10-11 bottles per batch. I am sure we could accommodate more, but I have no idea if I will continue to consume it at this rate in the fall. I ordered more glass jars to accommodate more brewing as well. All of these supplies are completely reusable.

I am planning to let this next batch get a bit more sour. As you could see in my picture of the new batch, the puck of original scoby is still there, but a wider pancake is now also there. I can only assume that this means it will ferment faster. So, I will taste at seven days like I did the first brew, and taste every day after until it gets a little more sour. I am thinking of doing a fruit with mint combination for the flavoring. I used an oolong tea that is more mineral-y tasting than I prefer for hot or iced tea.

Thank you to everyone who actually made it here to the end of this very long, very involved post. I am excited about what kombucha will mean to help me make healthier, happier choices than soda! If you have ever made kombucha, please share any tips/tricks/comments you may have!

Homemade Chai Update!

I woke up today, saw clouds in the sky and rain in the forecast, and despite it being summer my brain screamed "CHAI!!!!!!!!" and I knew today would be a homemade chai day. I shared a recipe a long time ago, and I still use that, but have made a few alterations to brewing to help things go a bit more smoothly.

As a recap, my ingredients have not changed but I do not measure them anymore. I use a bit of ginger powder (this dissolves quickly in the liquid) because I do not have fresh ginger in the house most of the time, four cinnamon sticks, a teaspoon of cloves, a tablespoon of black peppercorns, and maybe ten pods of green cardamom. Before, I bring about three and a half cups of water to a boil, then turn off the head and steep all of these whole spices for about 20 minutes. Then, I would bring the water back up to a boil and toss in about four tablespoons of loose darjeeling black tea and let it steep for 5 or 6 minutes like I would a strong cup of tea. Then, I would strain the mixture, return the strained liquid to the pot, stir in honey, add about a cup of dairy (anything from fat free milk to half and half, depending on how rich I wanted it to be), and heat it up on low.

A major change in procedure was containing my steeping ingredients in a strainer. I used to just steep them all freely in the pot, then I added the tea loose, and then had to strain my final product into another container and then return it to the original pot so I could reheat it and add the dairy and sweetener. It was messy, it dirtied up another pot, and I am not graceful enough to not pour the hot liquid all over me during the process. 

Since then, I have acquired several teapots that come with their own strainers. I love these not just because I love the pots, but because I often take out the strainers and use them for other things, such as this. This way, I can steep the spices and quickly remove them, refill the strainer with tea while the liquid heats back up, then steep that in the same strainer. Once everything is steeped, I can remove that quickly too. Then I can just put in sweetener, honey is my usual choice, let it dissolve, and add dairy without the extra steps.

However, using the strainer meant that my favorite ingredient, cinnamon, wouldn't be totally submerged. I knew I could probably stick those in the water outside the strainer and get them out with a fork, they are bigger and easier to fish out, but in a flash of g̶e̶n̶i̶u̶s̶  basic logic, I realized that putting all of them in a plastic baggie and pounding them down would not only make them all smaller, but would open the spices and intensify the flavors! I used the base of a bottle of strained tomatoes as my mallet, but any firm jar will do, you don't need to hit any of it hard.

If you have a spare strainer, and a plastic baggie, take that extra step. It is SO much easier to clean and contain! 

Additional pro tip that normal people wouldn't need to be told: don't try to just dump your mixture from your pot to a mug, because you will spill everywhere. I have literally two years of experience attempting this. Just use a ladle. Easy peasy, no mess. Yes, it took me two years to have that flash of g̶e̶n̶i̶u̶s̶ basic logic as well. 

Better late than never, right?

Tea Setup

One of the best parts about this move and moving in with my roommate is discovering a new option for storing my tea and other hot drink stuff. She is a primarily coffee girl who loves tea, I am a primarily tea girl who now also loves coffee, so we balance. She had this amazing cart that I just knew would make an amazing drink station!

Behold! I feel so grown up.

Now, it has taken this over a year to get this awesome. The cart and the way it is organized was one of the first things we set up in the new place, before we even had a couch for our living room. We always envisioned having shelving to display teaware and coffee items, but only had one smaller bookshelf that didn't really "go" with the color of the cart. In a stroke of luck, earlier this spring, some people were moving out of their apartment and put these two heavy duty bookshelves by our dumpster! My roommate and I ran out in the beginning of a hail storm to get the first one and when we saw the movers with the second, we directed them straight to our place. Given the age of my building and how most of my furniture is hand me downs, the old school shelves fit right in!

We still use the little kitchen cart, mostly to store my steeper on so it doesn't mess up the wood of the other cart if it drips, and our honey stash. I LOVE lavender honey and rose honey!

We use the lower shelves as a hodgepodge. I store the teas I am reaching for most often to ice, as I am trying to mostly whittle my collection down to near nothing before I rebuild with less old teas. I also store coffee filters, empty tea canisters of teas I plan to replenish in the fall (hello chai!), and we store coffee, the occasional coffee travel mug, and random teapots that don't really "fit" on our more nicely curated shelves.

We have a Chinese themed shelf, with a lot of red tones, and a brown/black coffee shelf with our most loved coffee preparing devices. A red stovetop espresso maker was in use at the time of this picture, but it usually lives here.

The top of the cart includes my mug of the day, the tea I am brewing, cups, Keurig, kettle, sugar, and the teas I am working on at the moment to finish. The cups are adorable, but really are so small I never personally use them. I have used them when we have guests who all want tea at once.

The bottom of the rack holds 95% of the tea in these baskets. The upper right hand basket holds scales mostly, and a few teabag teas I save to use at school. The middle top shelf are my absolute favorite teas, most of which I am working on finishing because they are getting old, and the companies no longer exist. The teas on the upper and lower left have not been tasted yet. The teas on the bottom right are teas I have tried before and enjoy, the basket in the middle contains tea I have designated as iced.

Ultimately, I would like to reduce the tea to one row, so I can keep extra containers and such on the bottom, and just have higher tea turnover.

These are my favorite shelves. A blue/purple focus, and a green/yellow/aqua focus. These items are a combination of mine and my roommate's. Temporarily, there are also green and yellow tea tins that will ultimately go live in my bedroom once I drink all the tea inside!

These shelves are the remainder of the bunch. Leftover tea tins, tea brewing supplies, my roommate's stash of teabags, as most of the tea she drinks is in teabag form, and our handful of cookbooks.

Overall, I love our setup. I love the teaware being decor, I love having a dedicated brewing space, and storage that for the first time ever actually works for me! The kitchen cart was from IKEA back in the day. They have a similar cart, but it is not the exact same. The new version is a bit slimmer and shorter. That being said, if my roomie moved out tomorrow, the first thing I would do is go buy it! It looks great, fits baskets super well, and is a great size!

Been Awhile!

Well, it has been quite a long time since my last post. As it tends to be with teaching, and moving, things were quite the whirlwind. Combined with my first teaching year being (predictably) overwhelming, things like this blog got away from me.

I am hoping to restart posting here regularly, but first I should do some catch up first.

Location: I am still living in Virginia. It took me over a year to furnish this apartment so it looked like a real (semi) adult lived here, but I finally did it! I enjoy this area, and could see myself staying long term. I live with a girl I lived with in college, and having her as a roommate has been awesome.

Work: I have loved being a third grade teacher the last two years. Third grade is really in my wheelhouse as a great age group, and I have worked with some amazing people. There have been some issues with some coworkers and certain students, but such is life. I am excited to start a new year with a fresh batch of kids this fall.

Dating: I have been casually dating a man here for about a year, it is not destined to go anywhere, as he is a certifiable train wreck. But we have fun, he is a lovely person, and he provides companionship as I periodically attempt dating elsewhere. So far, my attempts have been unsuccessful, but school tends to be all consuming. I make stronger attempts during summers.

Tea: The tea hoard is actually getting under control. School has prevented me from being as active on Steepster as I would like, but school also prevents me from justifying new tea purchases. I have slowly but surely been working on it. New count to come soon, as well as pictures of my awesome tea/coffee setup!

Cooking: I have really gotten my shit together on the cooking front. I am no master chef, but I have mastered quite a few super awesome dishes that I can't wait to post. They are seriously amazing. I've been making a variety of deliciousness, enough that aforementioned man I date has no idea I am not a natural born amazing cook! I am still striving to improve, as I still stick to mostly simple things. No shame in my game, but I don't like the idea of being intimidated by anything, let alone a recipe.

Weight Loss: On January 1 of this year, I rejoined Weight Watchers. Things were kind of stressful at school, I was tired of how I looked and felt, and decided to just get serious and take the plunge. I have lost about 35 pounds since then, and am feeling great! Things have not always gone super smoothly, but I have stuck with it, and have every intention of continuing. My goal for this calendar year is to have lost 65 pounds total, which I feel is doable. If it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen, but I am a big believer in challenging but achievable and realistic goal setting.

Exercise: I have always loved walking, but beginning Weight Watchers spurred me to kick up my exercise into high gear. I bought an inexpensive stationary bike, and went from walking three miles a couple of times per week to walking 5-7 miles five or six times per week. With the summer heat, I have not been exercising nearly as much, but I know come fall I will be walking like it is going out of style again. Walking alone or with my roommate is truly therapeutic for me, and I know I can't stay away for too long!

Well, that is the update. In many ways, things are exactly the same. In so many more, things are very different. My confidence is higher, I am healthier, and more adventurous. I am hitting financial goals, dabbling in the world of podcasts, meditation, reading for pleasure consistently for the first time in too long, and I've decided to start brewing my own kombucha. It is summer, why not?

I have made a particular effort to focus on myself these last six months after spending a year and a half totally immersed in my work, and I am looking forward to continuing to do so even more intentionally!

Progress

After a couple months of plateau, there has finally been some progress on the job front. I have been applying to any position I am qualified to apply to (and a few I am not) in PA, DC, DE, NH, VT, VA, and MD, as well as a few other outlying places as well, that show up on the job sites I have my information on. I have an interview with a school in Virginia for a second grade position, of which there are 2. There are two days of interviews, which makes me believe I am one of 15 at the most (as they are scheduling them in hour increments), so on first look, I do have a fighting chance. The school looks beautiful, the location looks beautiful, and second grade is a great grade for me. It is about an hour and a half from DC, so closer to where a lot of my friends live and about equidistant from my family as where I live now, which I think works well.

I am freaking out. It will be a 5 hour drive down, and a 5 hour drive home, and thanks to pet sitting and subbing I will need to do both drives in one day. I am hoping the drive down will help to subdue and calm me, and the drive home will hopefully feel triumphant. And if it doesn't, as this is my first interview for a classroom job, it will hopefully also help me feel calm. It has been 8 years since I have interviewed for a job that I had no paid experience doing, and the first interview I am sure I will be the most nervous for the first interview.

In less critical news, my tea stash that was once filling a cabinet, half of my dining room table, and a 4 by 2 foot space on the floor has been reduced to the cabinet and the table only. Sounds silly, but it is the first tangible evidence of me consuming more than I acquire that I've had in awhile, and all of my tea that has over an ounce now lives in a tin in its appropriate spot in the cabinet. Particularly if I end up moving home without a job, how much tea I have will matter a lot, as my organization options will be exceedingly limited. If I am in my own place at a new job, I will just have a new cabinet to organize. Maybe the solution is dedicating a larger cabinet/shelf...

Anyone else nap when they get nervous? I suddenly feel like I know absolutely nothing about teaching at all. Dating is so much easier for me, so much less riding on it. I just need to remind myself that this interview is not that different from a first date - if it doesn't work, I have a plan that is still in place that isn't terrible. It will be great practice, the principal sounded friendly on the phone, and even if I struggle with something unexpected, I will be even more prepared for the next time.

Recipe: Matcha Chocolate Chip Scones

With all of the new things I am making, a few are standing out as game changers. This is one of them. I don't typically bake all that well, but who knew scones were so easy? Plus, tea and chocolate and baked goods together? Yes, please. I foresee running out of matcha rather quickly now. I adapted this recipe a little bit, as I found the scone mixture to be too sticky on its own. I added a lot more flour in the end, close to another cup's worth. I've made this twice, and it came out really well both times. My first was a hair better, because I spent a bit more time mixing things more thoroughly (my biggest challenge when cooking or baking is impatience), but I'd say this is pretty reliable.

Clearly this is not helping the weight loss a whole lot. I've upped my minimum walking distance to three miles instead of a mile and a half in part because of this exact situation. Whatevs.

Steepster and Tea Organization

Today marks one year on the tea lover's haven, Steepster. I have to say it is one of the more awesome discoveries of the year while also being the most cruel. I have spent a lot on tea, and my stash is nuts thanks to exposure to more high quality brands that are often small and not very well known. In that time, I have completed 423 tasting notes in that year, though admittedly a solid chunk are compiled from other records I have from tea reviews past (mostly Adagio). I am excited to see where this next year takes me.

I am also checking in about my tea pare-down goals I introduced at the end of last summer. At that time, I had 80 samples and 68 tins. The goal was 20 sample sizes and 30 full tins. I currently still have 68 full sized tins, but only have 43 samples. I take this as decent news - it means that knowing I bought a TON of tea, I was drinking it and/or rehoming the things I didn't like at the same speed as I purchased it. And more, I am drinking samples far faster than I am acquiring them. With some mindfulness, I am confident this year will show progress in reducing even more.

In the spirit of the new year, I reorganized some things. I also got my first little teapot. It has a mesh strainer inside it, is a pretty jade green color, and holds two mugs worth of tea. This has revolutionized my tea drinking as I am now able to steep loose leaf tea easily while I am dog sitting (I have been house and dog sitting for the past 3 weeks straight), and able to make a big pot and sit and do other things. Overall it cuts down time brewing.

I redid my cabinets. Right now as they stand, they house nearly all of the tins I have. It is organized in a specific way, and about 2/3 of the way full. The organizational system doesn't work as effectively if it is any more full, so I think what is inside is my real goal for knowing I have just enough.

The bottom shelf are all teas I prefer to make iced - many tins are on their sides. On the right, there are older teas I need to use up first. The pink box in the middle hold all of the tea samples I have tasted and am keeping. The left side holds the iced teas that are newer. The top shelf holds my hot teas. The ones on the right are ones that are full sized that I haven't tasted yet. The ones on the left are ones I have. The ones in the middle are my favorite teas so I can find them easily. The whole top shelf is also organized by having the newer teas in the back in their sections, and the older ones in the front.

I keep a small stash on my countertop of things I am trying to finish. There are usually a couple samples here too. Right now, I have some lavender honey I am trying to finish. Yes, I also have a small excess of honey.

I have an excess that I am trying to cut down on. This small box holds all the teas that I am not going to bother rehoming in a tin - there isn't enough to warrant it, and many are Butiki and are going out of business. These will be consumed long before they go stale. Many of these are night in light-proof packaging, also requiring that they be consumed sooner rather than later.

This is the true overstock. The large box on the left are samples. Since this picture was taken, I received my golden tips subscription so there are more now. The small Adagio box holds samples that I know I enjoy, but that aren't open yet. I really try to make sure teas not living in tins, or open samples exposed to air get priority. The box on the right contains all of the sealed, airtight teas that are waiting for tin space in the cabinet. It is a medium sized box. The giant bag in the middle is a huge amount of Blood Orange tisane from Adagio, one of my favorite iced teas, waiting for tin space.

I am feeling great about the start to this year, tea included.

Goals and Resolutions

Welcome to 2015, and may it be an amazing year for everyone. It will be one of big changes for me, that is for sure.

I am not a huge resolution-y kind of person, because I find they end up setting me up for failure if I am not succeeding a few months in. So I stick more to goals, and keep them generalized. I do tend to have target numbers, but that is really only to keep me focused on always moving forward.

Goal: Continue to lose weight. Ideally, around 40-50lbs.
Goal: Cook more, order out less. Financially, this one is necessary. Health wise it is helpful too. I want to learn 50 new recipes this year. Even if I only try them once, even if it is simple and three ingredients or involves super low prep. My biggest challenge with cooking is just my lack of experience so trying anything new is a huge help in the long run. 50 sounds like a lot, but really the goal is about one per week.
Goal: Continue to amp up the exercise. I did a great job walking more in 2014, particularly over the summer, and I want to continue that trend of walking more, but also incorporating the couch to 5k program I started.
Goal: Finish more of what I have, organize better, keep cleaner. I have trouble with clutter, and having lots of things around. Particularly makeup, beauty products, and tea. I am already well on my way to paring down the makeup stash even more (a serious win of 2014), haven't bought new lotion in months (thank god), and have made great progress in lowering my overall tea stash. And I have done a great job in organizing my three main hoards so that I use more, more efficiently. This year I began the rule of "if you haven't touched it in a year, contemplate if you REALLY need it" when it comes to organizing. I need to continue that effort throughout my apartment, in prep for moving in the summer.

I believe all of these things are good, attainable goals even among unknown moving situations and job stress and whatever may come.

I am so proud of my progress with my tea. I posted in August about having 45 samples and 59 containers of full size tea. Thanks to amazing deals and a general lack of control, even as I gave away a ton of tea throughout the fall and drank a ton...I currently have 66 full sizes and 47 samples as of December 31. Womp. Why am I proud? Because I reorganized them, have begun purchasing more wisely in general, and am still plowing through my stash at a rapid enough rate that I feel confident I can continue to get my stash to a more manageable level in 2015. My goal is to have all of my tea fit into my cabinets I store them in (post about organization later). Now that I bought some new tins for cheap from New Years sales, my cabinets are about 2/3 of the way full with as many tins as I feel I need.

Overall, I am feeling pretty positive about the new year. Updates on how these goals are going will be regular, I am thinking of making them a monthly thing so I can keep myself on track.

Tea No-Buy...FAIL.

So much for avoiding purchasing new tea. I was at Marshall's (for an entirely different purpose, new shoes I did not get) and saw a fairly varied selection of tea from Les Palais des Thes. The packaging for this French company is SO gorgeous and their tea isn't cheap to order online, so I was SO excited to see this in store. I found myself very quickly with about $100 worth of tea in my hands, and then I saw three options from Den's Tea as well. Den's Tea specializes in Japanese tea, and is also a brand I have meant to order from for a long time.

Don't worry, I did make cuts. I realized that with the sampler, and having some at home already, I should cut what was in my arms in half. My deal with myself is that I can go back on Tuesday or Wednesday to get more/get the bigger canisters of some flavors IF I taste the samplers first and really feel I cannot live without. The full size canisters at Marshall's are $13 and originally $18 or $19...twice as expensive as any other tea they tend to carry.

Here is what I came home with.

By far the most exciting purchase was the gift set from Les Palais des Thes. Originally $60, I paid $40. It came with 12 little vials of their tea blends, each reporting to contain enough for a 6-8 cup teapot, and a 125 page book/catalog hybrid that I found to be very interesting. It will be a lot of fun tasting all of the blends.

I already flipped through the book, which contains information about tea history, countries of origin, all to showcase the types of teas this brand offers in a comprehensive way. A tea newbie would find this really helpful in general, and I found it to be interesting even though I already knew a lot. A seriously cool way to provide a catalog of the options of a company, one I plan to keep on my coffee table.

Also from the same brand they had an iced tea set on clearance...$9, less than half the original price. It was shrink wrapped so I know it wasn't tampered with. It contains four teas, with five iced teabags individually wrapped, meant for 16oz room temp brews. Normally I am all about loose leaf, and prefer the lack of packaging of it. Even for tea bags. But one thing I hate is that unless I brew up a few bottles of iced tea before going to school to teach, I don't have much opportunity for tea all day. These are meant to be steeped at room temp for an hour or so, making them perfect for throwing in a purse or bag and steeping them after I finish my morning hot tea I take with me.

Next, I found a couple things from Den's Tea. I stuck with the Houjicha, which was a couple dollars cheaper ($4) than the Genmaicha ($6). The Houjicha is also individually wrapped teabags, which I like having around for when I am dog sitting for extended periods of time. I will be visiting family from Dec 10-18, and dog sitting from Dec 20-Jan 6...so I will most definitely be using these. I often bring loose leaf tea home as I know they have an infuser, but I keep things simple when I dog sit.

As a bonus, only vaguely tea related item, I got a skincare set from Origins including the Frothy Face Wash, White Tea Skin Guardian Serum, and the White Tea moisturizer for $10 because it had no tag, there were no others, and the girl at the register had no clue about the price point of the brand. Given how sure I am that the set was likely meant to be two or three times that price at minimum, I am a happy girl.

I love Marshall's.

Oatmeal Kick Up

So I am eating my breakfast getting ready to go to school after two of the most insane weeks of my adult life, medically. I have a new allergy, amoxicillin, and the kids have really virulent strep bacteria and viruses they are being a bit too free with sharing. Here is hoping the mess is over.

But I am so bored with pretty much all of the food in my house. This blog is supposed to inspire me to make changes, take life up a notch. Well, student teaching has sucked every ounce of improvement motivation right out of me.

This morning, however, there was a flash. I wanted some cinnamon-y tea that tasted like red hots that would hopefully wake me the hell up after my sick day yesterday. So I double strength brewed a cup of tea using Harney and Sons Hot Cinnamon Sunset...and used it in my oatmeal as the liquid, with a dash of almond milk.

Oh heaven of heavens. The possibilities this has opened. Delicious is just not a good enough word. And now I am rather curious to see what flavors happen if I use greens, or oolongs, or other flavors of black.

I highly recommend it if you have an extra 5 minutes in the morning and want to make oatmeal something a bit more special.

Tea Drink Down and Cup of The Day

So I am failing pretty badly at the tea no-buy. I am "down" to 58 samples and 63 tins. And when I began I had less. Even though I am drinking a ton. Is it my fault that there were 5 French teas at Marshall's that are typically very hard to get ahold of in the US? And that a few people were offering unbelievable sample sets for super cheap moneys on Steepster?

Whatever. I still hold that it is a good problem to have. And actually, I am making really decent headway on the iced tea collection - it definitely all fits in it's half of the cabinet now. But thanks to the Golden Tips Tea Subscription, I have a TON of hot tea to drink. Luckily, the weather is getting cooler.

Last night I drank a Teavana Rooibos Chai. It has lemongrass in it and makes me feel like I am drinking dessert even though I usually only put a single drop of agave in it. Mmm.

Gilmore Girls and Cup of the Day

My quality of life just got several notches higher.

My favorite show of all time, Gilmore Girls, is now on Netflix to watch instantly. I remember when it came on, I was the same age as Rory. And even now so many years later it is my go-to show to pick me up when I am sad, or make me even happier when I am happy.

Plus, wearing my Luke's sweatshirt helps me identify awesome people when they recognize where the logo is from.

My happy place is much easier to reach now. :-)

It is the first real day of fall, it barely hit 60 degrees today. I put on a sweatshirt to go outside for the first time in over six months. Today I am drinking a Tealux oolong called Gui Hua that has Osmanthus flowers in it and it tastes so amazing.

Sugary, peachy, and floral all in one. Super super awesome.

Here's to fall.