Quick Tea Review....

I was enjoying a cup of tea and thought I would share...

One of my mom's favorite vacation spots is Carlsbad, California and whenever she goes she brings me back this really good tea.  It comes in these resealable bags or cute tins.  The tea is called The Loose Leaf and you can find it online, at various stores in the area, and at local farmers markets.  So far I have had Jasmine Green Tea and these herbal "teas" Chamomile Lavender and Heavenly Hibiscus.  I say "teas" because, well there's actually no tea in an herbal tea is there??  Either way they have all been wonderful, the Chamomile Lavender is currently my favorite.  Oh and best part, they are all organic.  

.....getting low, gonna need some more soon....


This has nothing to do with tea but since I was taking pictures I just couldn't resist.  My doggie Morty has the hardest time keeping his tongue in his mouth while he is sleeping and it is just so darn cute.  Oh and never mind his one slipper sock, he's not very good at dressing himself and gives up after one sock.
 

The Big 3 0

So another week has gone by without a post...obviously I'm bad at regularly updating this blog.  Sooo we should probably just acknowledge right here and now that this is not going to be a blog with posts every day or even every other day.  I mean who has time for that anyways? I'm busy, you're busy.  Let's just agree to meet up here at least few times a month...okay? Okay.

Now what was I doing last week that kept me so busy?  My 30th Birthday of course!

Yes, I am one of those people who celebrates their birthday for a whole week.  I feel like I deserve it and I need a whole week of fun.  Which in all honesty translates into a week of me eating what ever I want, sleeping in super late, and slacking majorly on my chores.  Then the actual day of my birthday I go all out.  In years past I have spent the day at the spa or spent the day shopping.  This year my birthday might have been the best yet.

I woke up super early which is unusual for me.  There are only 3 things that I will wake up early for: work, a flight, or a garage/estate sale.  Lucky for me there were a couple really good estate sales the morning of my birthday that I just had to visit.  Even luckier, probably 30th birthday luck, is that I scored some pretty fun stuff.  I was excited to pick up a few bags of craft supplies for a few bucks and these pretty pieces all had to come home with me...

I fell in love with this umbrella stand...

this painting is so charming, but that frame! love it!

and the best and most exciting find...this flatware set!

Nobility Plate Oneida 1939 Royal Rose Pattern, so pretty!

Then after my morning of treasure hunting it was time for celebrating!  

one of a few pictures I did remember to take...

Since I love a good cup of tea the only logical way to gather my friends was for afternoon tea.  I chose to have my tea at Veranda at the Four Seasons.  This was my first time there and it did not disappoint.  Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of it! What was I thinking?!?!  I guess this just means I will have to go back again to take pictures.  I can say that the food was amazing.  Everything was delicious and the service was great.  I have been to tea at the Mandarin Oriental before and while you simply cannot beat the view or atmosphere of the Mandarin Oriental the food at the Four Seasons was so much yummier.  The portions at the Four Seasons were also much larger and none of us could finish and we had to bring home a couple of boxes of yummy desserts.  

To top off my week of celebrating we had my parents over for some yummy smoked brisket that my hubby cooked and my mom brought with her the best birthday cake ever!  Seriously the best cake I have ever had.  She got it from my favorite cup cake shop called ShowBoy BakeShop.  They have a cupcake called The Bombshell which is sweet strawberry cake topped with champagne buttercream.  It has to be my favorite cupcake flavor and they made this cupcake into a cake in the shape of a tea cup complete with sugar cubes!  It was so cute and so delicious.  I am such a lucky girl and this definitely made the sting of turning 30 so much easier to bare. 

Tea shops in Hawaii

One more post about Hawaii that I almost forgot to share....

Not only are there great places to have a cup of tea in Hawaii, but I was really surprised and a little jealous by how many places I passed that sold tea and tea cups.

One evening while heading to dinner we passed a store called Royal Selection.  I had seen another one earlier that week, but wasn't sure what it was so I didn't go in.  This store had some tea cups in the window so of course I had to go in, and wow.  I could not believe the amount of beautiful dishes they had.  I was so memorized by everything that I spent a good while just looking at everything and completely forgot to take a picture.  If you are in Waikiki and see one of these stores you have to check it out.  They had dishes I have only read about online and have never seen in person before.

Here is a picture from their website to give you an idea of what fun this store is...

Royal Selection Kings Village

The next store I just have to share with you is Lupicia at the Ala Moana Center.  I saw the store from a distance and had no idea what it was, but it looked interesting so I went in.  I was happily surprised to find it was a tea store that sells more than 200 kinds of fresh tea. 

At this point I was in complete heaven and the hubby was being a smart ass saying "see??"...  The store is located on the lowest level outside of the mall, you walk out of the store and you are literally in the parking garage.  It's a very weird setup and when you're in the mall this end looks a little grungy and not very inviting because well its sorta in the garage.  I was going to skip this area and turn around, but the hubby insisted we walk down there just to take a peak and see what stores were on this outside edge.  Well I'm so happy I listened to him.  

Along one wall is the a long line of teas for you to look at and smell.  Once you know what teas you want you can either grab that tea from a display if it's out, or take a piece of paper from the sample area up to counter where they will retrieve it for you.  

I had the hardest time deciding which teas were going home with me.  There were so many yummy ones I wanted to try but only so much room in my suitcase....

I finally narrowed it down to five:

• Muscat Oolong- Full-flavored tea is exquisitely accented with sweet muscat grapes.
• Cookie- Black tea scented with an image of freshly backed caramel cookies. Best served with milk.
• Chocolate & Strawberry Puer- Decadent with chocolate on the nose finishing with the juicy tart flavor of ripe strawberries. 
• Rosé Royal- A black tea with enchanting aromas of sparkling wine and sweet strawberries.  This is their signature tea.
• Thé Au Chocolate- Black tea scented with dark chocolate.  Blended with cocoa nib and cocoa powder

They all sound and smell so delicious.  I can't wait to try them and share with you if they taste as good as they smell

Tea Time in Hawaii

Where ever I go on vacation I always look for some place to have afternoon tea.  It's one of my favorite things to do and I always look forward to it.

So we started the trip with afternoon tea at The Kahala Hotel.   The tea was very enjoyable, but I felt it wasn't quite as good as the afternoon tea I had experienced at the Moana Surfrider during my last trip to Hawaii.  Don't get me wrong it was a nice afternoon tea, our server was wonderful, and you simply can not beat the view.  That being said I have had better and thought since it was The Kahala I would be blown away.  The interesting thing is my mom, who had tea at The Kahala last year, seemed to have had a much tastier tea.  So maybe I just simply didn't like the current menu.  Either way here are a few pictures for you to decide....

The Moana Surfrider tea a few years ago...

I give the Moana Surfrider extra points because they served loose leaf tea and The Kahala simply put one tea bag in my pot.  Also the Moana Surfrider started the tea with soup and ended it with ice cream, I have never had that else where so bonus points to them.  

Now on to tea at The Kahala...

It is pretty hard to beat the view, one direction you have the ocean, the other dolphins.

The desserts looked pretty, but the chocolate tart was the only one that tasted good.

This was the salmon, which was good, but not great.

Now here are the pictures my mom took of her tea at The Kahala....

Now this looks like a delicious salmon sandwich....

So like I said, the tea I had was very nice, I just didn't love it.  This is just my personal opinion and I know most places change and rotate their menus so I might have just been there at the wrong time.  If you are there though do not pass it up.  This is a lovely way to spend the afternoon.  

TWG Tea and Banana Oatmeal Cookies

This week I have a couple new teas to share and I tried a pretty tasty, healthy cookie recipe...

The Mr. occasionally travels for work and lately he's been going to Hong Kong and Macau.  The Mr. shares my love for tea.  So while he was there right before Christmas he sat down to a Holiday Afternoon Tea, and boy was I jealous.  I wish I could have been there.  Here are a couple pictures he took, they even served sipping chocolate with the tea.

On his most recent trip he brought me home some TWG Tea.  The two tea flavors he brought back were Tea Party and Moments Tea.  I had my mom over today to try them and the banana oatmeal cookies I made.

Tea Party is from their Haute Couture Tea Collection, which means what? Its extra fancy and they can charge more?  It's a black tea infused with candied sweetness and bright yellow blossoms.  Not much of a description for such a fancy tea, I think the bright yellow blossoms are Marigolds, as I have seen those in other teas before,  but not sure what else is in it.  It is very tasty though and has a sweetness to it.  It definitely reminds you of a tea party and the yummy goodies served.  

The Moments Tea is a special tea created exclusively for the Sheraton Macau Hotel and is a mix of green and black tea with sweet flower blossoms and ripe tropical mango.  Again I am left wondering exactly what's in it, but the smell is very intense and it is very tropical and fruity.  They are both delicious but I think I prefer the Moments Tea.  

Now on to the other yummy part of this post, the cookies!  I have to start off by saying these cookies are pretty simple and healthy so don't expect them to taste just like oatmeal cookies.  My mom had in her mind that she was having oatmeal cookies so she was quite surprised when she took her first bite.  We both agreed these were tasty but would be even yummier with chocolate chips, but then that is adding more sugar.  She even had the great suggestion of turning these into bars to take with you for a snack instead of buying granola bars.  

I found these cookies on pinterst which led me the blog The Burlap Bag.  Her site has the full recipe with other great ideas.  I tweaked the recipe a bit and used Strawberry Shortcake Oatmeal instead of quick oats and it turned out great.

All these cookies have in them is 2 bananas and 1 cup of oatmeal.  Smash everything together and bake at 350 for 15 minutes on parchment paper.

They could not be any easier and I don't feel guilty about sitting down and eating 3 at one time.  I think tomorrow I will make another batch but this time with chocolate chips, just a few won't hurt right? 

Your tea basket can be clean again...

I know, I know, I start this blog and then pretty much post nothing for weeks.  I've been busy working, for real working.  I need to make money to buy tea some how. :)

Today I wanted to share a little cleaning tip and tell you something you probably already know, which is that Oxi Clean is freaking AMAZING!  I know I sound like an infomercial right now but seriously this stuff is a miracle worker.  Look below at my before and after of this doily I washed in it.  Seriously, crazy town.

Yeah, see it's amazing, but you knew that!  The only problem with this stuff is that it's not really good for the environment so when I do use it I try to get as many things clean with the amount I have already mixed up.  I have heard that it's possible to make a greener version of this stuff on your own at home; so I am going to have to try that some day and let you know about it, but not today.  Okay, back to my original post...

Once upon a time a few months back I decided it was finally time to throw out my old stainless steel basket that held the tea leaves in my cast iron tea pot.  It was so dirty and looked like a serious health hazard. So I went online in search of a new one and stumbled upon a tip on how to clean it.   They said all I had to do was soak the basket in some water and Oxi Clean and it would be as good as new. Bullshit, this thing was disgusting there was no fixing it, but I'm cheap and thought I would give it a go just in case.  Well, to my surprise they were right! It came clean and really did look like the day I bought it.  

So back to the doily again...the doily is clean and now I have a bowl of Oxi Clean solution that I would like to get at least one more use out of so I searched my house for something to clean...

I grabbed my single cup tea basket, not too bad but a little stained and dingy.  I dropped it in the solution, left it over night and the next morning cleaned it with soap and water.  Soap and water! That's important! You really want to wash your tea basket well, maybe even toss it in the dishwasher, because i'm pretty sure you should be be ingesting Oxi Clean.  After that it's all sparkly and ready to go! Tea time!

Holiday Tea Yumminess

They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, well the way to my heart is through tea!  I love all things tea; tea pots, tea cups, tea sandwiches, and I have certainly never been one to say no to a yummy scone.  Some folks can’t get through their day without a cup of coffee, well for me it’s tea. Tea wakes me up,  puts me to sleep, and fixes pretty much every problem.  Anywho, you get the point, so since I am always finding new delicious teas and beautiful tea pots that I just have to have I will share them with you and maybe convert you to a tea lover as well.

Right now I am all about seasonal everything, as is the rest of the world and there is no shortage of holiday teas out there.  The other day I picked up this “Harvest Stackable” tin from Sprouts Farmers Market.  It’s by Zhena’s and I really love their teas.  They only sell 100% organic and 100% fair trade certified teas which is super important to me.

Think about it, you can’t wash off your tea leaves before steeping them, so you are basically drinking a nice warm cup of chemicals.  Yuck!

Okay, back to the tea.  This tin comes with 4 sachets of each flavor; Pumpkin Spice, Caramel Apple, Chocolate Truffle, and Cranberry Bliss.  I have tried them all and they are delicious.  The only bad thing I have to say is that I have had better Pumpkin Spice tea else where, but it’s still incredibly yummy.  I have seen Zhena’s sold at Sprouts, Whole Foods, and even at HomeGoods once in a while so keep your eyes peeled and pick some up!

The next tea I am loving this holiday season is Peppermint Bark.  A couple of weeks ago my mom and I were out shopping and were lured into Teavana by their free samples.  They have a limited edition White Chocolate Peppermint tea right now that is to die for.  I was in love and about to buy a tin for myself and my mom but it wasn’t organic.  I know we would drink all of this tea right up and as tempting and delicious as it was I wanted an organic version.  Flash forward a week and I get my favorite catalogue in the mail, The Republic of Tea.  My favorite because well it’s all about tea and they always include a free sample.  Who does that?!?!  It’s always exciting for me and guess what the sample was this time…Organic Peppermint Bark!  As soon as I took a sip I was all Teavana who? and this was now my official tea of Christmas.  It's organic, nongmo, caffeine free, gluten free, sugar free, carb free…free of everything but deliciousness! Go now and get some, you can thank me later.