Tealicious

Mmmmm tea.... :) I'm, slogging my way through a paper and all I can think about is making myself some iced chai tea. My fella has some in his pantry that I love to steal. And yes, I could buy my own but it just seems more special to be able to have it when I come over to see him :)

image and a great chai recipe found here

The tea in question is known in these parts as Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and we found it at a fantastic tea shop in Toronto called David's Tea. This Chai blend is your classic combo of black tea with cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, and is best steeped in a pot of hot milk with a touch of honey. The thing I love most about chai is how multifaceted the taste is: spicy, warm, earthy, and refreshing all at the same time. I highly recommend picking up some chai if you're trying to cut down on coffee consumption or if you like hot cocoa but want to try something new. Actually, while we're on the subject of sweet stuff, why not check out the caramel rooibos? It's smooth and creamy-tasting and will make you go nuts-in a good way. By the way, I'd like to say right now that I am in no way affiliated with David's Tea...although if they would like to compensate me for shamelessly promoting their product that'd be just fine with me :P I just love tea.

I also happen to love the presentation of tea, so when the packaging and the product are gorgeous I get deliriously happy. Par example? Kusmi Teas (seeing as I've already wh0red out David's Tea enough for one blog entry). Kusmi is perhaps one of the oldest tea purveyors in the world; they offer Russian-style blends dating back to the nineteenth century. I had a taste of their Polish blend No. 18 and was in bergamot heaven. And then I saw the tin.

And then I saw their other tins. Hellooo gorgeous! I am absolutely in love with everything about this tin; the rich colours, the vintage typeface and the chinoiserie-inspired design on the label. Imperial Russian style with French flair. I want to design a room around this freaking tin. Maybe something Ottoman-inspired, with loads of purple silk throw pillows. Not unlike this completely realistic representation of life in Abu Dhabi as featured in Sex and the City 2. Eh, ok let's not go that far, but we can agree that both the tea and the movie are a heck of a lot of fun to look at. Want more? Of course you do!

See you after the jump for some more deliciousness!

Hup Holland Hup!

The World Cup Final is upon us!!! I will be expanding this entry later but I just wanna say congrats to all of the Oranje fans out there!  Holland's gonna win....I can just feel it :)

p.s. image not mine

-GT

Miso Soup and a Quinoa Salad

This is what I had for dinner tonight :)

I was feeling like something healthy so I made some quinoa salad and miso soup. Seeing as I cannot ever leave well enough alone, I also prepared some edamame and chopped up some carrots, beets, tomatoes, various herbs, and of course a lime wedge.

More photos and a recipe after the jump!

Honey Creek Acres

I am lying awake in my bed listening to the sounds of insects being zapped outside in my neighbour's yard. It's unsettling but familiar in the sense that it reminds me of lying awake listening to the bug zapper at my grandparents' old house in Ada, Michigan. It's a beautiful little town near Grand Rapids. I have a few pictures but they'll take some digging up. I'll share what I have at my immediate disposal (read: Interwebs) right now.

*UPDATED! Pics of Honey Creek Acres apres le jump*

 The covered bridge over the Thornapple River via Webshots

A view of the Grand River via Wiki Commons

Meet Pumpkin!

This is my little sister with the newest member of my family! Little Pumpkin is just 7 weeks old but she's quite the character :) More pics to come!

In other news, I am in the midst of working on another furniture reno project, which I will be soon posting a little more about in the projects section.

News from the farm is also incoming :) I have some pictures of my seedlings to share :) It will have to wait until tomorrow though, because the files are on my laptop (which is currently refusing to connect to the Internet).

And lastly, there's a new layout in town. Since my html skills are pretty abysmal I am actually really pleased with how it looks. Thanks to Blogger Template Designer ;) Any feedback is of course appreciated!

Alright, I gotta get on the subway and make my way home. Cheers!


*Update: some more glamour shots of our kitty after the jump

Treachery, thy Name is Cadbury Mini Egg...

Mmmmmmmm.......mini eggs...*drool*...

Ok so now that I have your attention I'm just gonna jot down some stuff real quick. Ok for some reason I have this feeling of total anxiety right now. Like physical knot-in-my-chest-total-sense-of-foreboding kind of anxiety. I haven't felt that way in awhile...but then again I've been absolutely terrible lately when it comes to taking my medication on time (VERY stupid on my part), so perhaps that's it. It could also have something to do with entering this last stretch of the school year. There's loads of work to do, a job to find, family drama to deal with and a constant feeling that there simply won't be enough time to accomplish it all. I am hoping it will pass so I can concentrate a little better tomorrow. Anyhow on with some news...

I have finished a few things from those lists I posted! Now I will undoubtedly be adding many more items to them but it feels good for now to knock some projects out of the way :)

First of all, I've been getting my essay stuff done and eating healthy :) Well ok I totally ate waaayyyyy too many Cadbury Mini Eggs over the last week. My boyfriend bought them for himself but sadly (for him) left them unattended for large parts of time and I..uh....well.... Hey, it's not my fault, he KNOWS that mini-eggs are my kryptonite! More importantly, they're seasonal kryptonite...I only get to have them at one time of year! Ok ok so I owe him a rather large portion of mini-eggs. I need to make a trip to Costco to get a family-size bag or something lol. Seriously though, I love Cadbury mini eggs-which is why I usually keep my distance from them *ahem*.

Well Hello There...

Well first I'd like to apologize for disappearing on y'all like that. I vowed to stop disappearing on people so it's time I 'splained...

I continued to be sick for about a week after the kefir incident. I didn't eat. I couldn't sleep. It was awful. I didn't really feel like staring at a computer screen even for the little while that it taks to blog. Now right as I started to feel better, I had to banish myself from the world to study for a midterm. Anyhow that's all done for a little while so I am back to write for a little bit before I go to bed.

Soooo what's new? Not too much. I've been doing the usual: school, cooking, the Beer Baron, room reno etc. As far as that list goes from the last time I wrote here? Eh, let's check it out:

• Make cupcakes with munchkin sister as promised.
• Get some homework done
• Watch Caps game.
• Get together books for buy-back at bookstore.
• Figure out where to put my calendar so that I don't have to check this page to remember all of these tasks.
• Put up list of tasks on wall. Aka paint my chalkboard onto my wall.
• Call one friend on phone. S is preferrable. Also figure out her gift.
• Make the lampshade if I am so inclined...no ok make the damn lampshade.
• Take a look at the spice jars. Hopefully finalize said spice jars.
• Eat healthy all day so I don't feel sluggish like I was today because of sugar overload.

Hmmm not as good as I'd hoped. Ok so here's my pledge for te next few days. All of these tasks will get done (will update you all of course) aaaand I will add a few more onto this list. Oh lord ok here we go:

• Get a few essay outlines done.
• Get a few rough drafts done
• Post a recipe with pictures..this entails locating my camera cord.
• Follow healthy plan for all meals
• Complete cute pink box.It will make sense when I post pictures.
• Clean my floor so I can move up my bookcase.
• Move up the bookcase.

Ok! So that's it! Hope to see you all tomorrow with some progress and some exciting news.

-GT