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Kuba Kuba with Emily before we went to see the beautifully awful Bing Crosby movie.

of all the samples i ordered from Harney, this one did not really stand out.
but i really think i understand tea better now, and i’m not speeding through my tastings the way i used to. these days i take more time. which is important. SO when i do decide to order from Harney again i will probably throw another sample of this in the cart and give it another whirl.
cuz a jammy and honey kissed chinese black sounds like a very good idea.

i’m kinda over rooibos teas. at least for this month.
so let me tell you about some food i ate today for lunch.

i am usually vegan, but my roommates and i have part of a “cow share”, which means that we all own a part of a cow along with other local people and then we all get to drink the cow’s milk, raw with no pasteurization. so though i don’t drink milk in general cuz i just don’t really like it, i DO enjoy raw yogurt yum.

so here, if you take half a cup of plain yogurt and put like one whole chopped up gala apple in it, and then maybe a banana chopped up if you’re in the mood, and maybe even a tad of granola or cereal or something if you want texture. THEN add 1 tablespoon of peanut butter to it and mix it all up. it basically tastes like you are eating a peanut butter milkshake. or like, a bowl of peanut butter. or something.

basically i’m saying that it turns one tablespoon of peanut butter into a whole bowl of peanut butter and it is delicious.
you can also add raisins or cinnamon and nutmeg or whatever. forever.

01/18/2013
what a perfect tea on a snowy day!!
i brewed it very short, cuz i’m trying to reduce my caffeine intake. and it’s still perfect.

i’m reading ‘Devil in the Details’ about an OCD girl and really i just wanna leave work and go read and then watch my whole hulu queue at once. you know what i’m talking about.

04/02/2017
i am drinking my very last cup of this. I’ve obviously saved it for a long long time.
i love this tea. love.
but Della Terra no longer exists. so I’ve cradled the last scoop of tea like a frail baby bird for several years.
i’m drinking it now because I’ve realized my backlog of untasted teas is completely unmanageable! time to get real. xox

i blended the dregs of 4 different mapley chocolate teas.
3 of the 4 are herbal and 3 of the 4 are della terra teas.
i was organizing my tea because my tea tins arrived!

LOOK AT THIS!!!
deep drawer: http://instagram.com/p/Uh6GZyIc-N/
shallow drawer: http://instagram.com/p/Uh6QRIoc-a/

there are still a few labels i need to make, but i’m basically there.
i am pleased with the aesthetics. i went to art school you see.

i’m coming to the sad realization that i need to reduce my caffeine.
it’s going to be very hard.
very very hard.

i’ll start this week by not drinking black tea or the like after 2p, and no caffeine at all after 4p.
then next week i’ll do no caffeine after 2p.

i’ll try at least. try until i succeed.
sorry i just realized how dramatic this kinda sounds. BUT IT’S TEA WE’RE TALKING ABOUT!!

see, in 2010 i lost 60lbs and in 2012 i ran 6 marathons and an ultra.
and i used to tell everybody who asked that of all the healthy changes i made in my life, quitting caffeine was by far the best thing i’d ever done for myself.
quitting caffeine relieved me of my sad moods and general prevailing anxiety. it made my pms/pmdd almost go away entirely. it made me feel more whole. and i felt like i could do anything, any time of the day. (instead of feeling like i could do anything only after a cup or two of tea and only for some times of the day.) sure quitting removed those wonderful poetic highs, but it also relieved me of the grey and irritable lows. and if you know what i am talking about, then you know that the grey lows are nothing to mess with. they get in your skin, in your mind, and in your heart.
point is, it effected me in a very positive way. in fact, it’s what brought me to tea!! i became obsessed with herbal tea and bought as many kinds as i could find. then i branched out and had a white or two. maybe a green. and before i knew it i had 100 teas stocking my cupboard. oh lovely lovely teas.

but the honeymoon’s over, and i gotta reign it in.
i say this because i know you will all be able to relate or commiserate with me in some way. i’m not even slightly suggesting that anyone else should quit no way!!! and i will try to find a balance and a way to still drink tea regularly no doubt. just not as MUCH tea is all. just not as much.

Josie Jade and Cavocorax have been discussing Toasted Marshmallow recently and it made me wanna have a sip too.
i used a teabag for a change. i decided i’m gonna try using tea bags for teas that tend to have floaties and gummy residue in general. you know the ones. the gummy residue on top of some cups tends to really distract from the enjoyment for me so i’m sure this will be helpful.
the scent of this tea is really delicious and weird. it smells like marshmallows,… but it doesn’t.
it brews a golden foggy honey color. i guess it’s slightly too sweet of a cup for me. plus i wish it had more cinnamon in it. something sweet with a kick. i’ll try adding a cinnamon stick next time i brew this! great ideas, i’m full of ‘em!
i have a nice amount of this tea left and i’ll save it for dessert on the weekends. yummm

i haven’t even tasted this tea yet and i can tell from the reviews that i’ve oversteeped it…

aaaaand i did oversteep it. but i love the smell very much. and i’ll try again soon enough.

actually i just did a weird thing. i put maybe 1/3 a pack of splenda in my cup. i have spelnda in my desk but it was put there under a moment of insanity. i was not quite myself when it happened and i am NOT a splenda/stevia user. just to be clear of where this is coming from. but because of the over steep i figured i had nothing to lose so i added the tad of splenda and now the tea has no bitterness at all, and it’s not even really sweet! but it is still dry and the smell is still wonderful.
not that i’m gonna start using the splenda or anything, but i figured i’d get creative cuz it was already kinda not a good cup. and my experiment paid off :) cup of tea resuscitated!
good way to end the rainy blah work day that’s for sure.

i feel tired and nervous and wrong. off and wrong and i want to go lay in bed and be sullen. i oversteeped this tea but the berries and vanilla are still there. thank you thank you. i want this tea to comfort me. but it might be too tall of an order on such an overcast and drizzly day.
(i think i’m just too hungry and tired and it’s making me feel wrong. i ran 14 miles this weekend,didn’t eat enough last night to fuel my tired muscles, and stayed up until 1:30am because i made lunches for the week and tried to paint our renovated bathroom too late. also i’m out of my protein powder.)

chocolate and light. sssssslightest bit of mint.
it sweetens and it deepens.
matching the christmas eve sky.
here is a poem for you to enjoy.

by ee cummings

if in beginning twilight of winter will stand

(over a snowstopped silent world)one
spirit serenely truly himself; and

alone only as greatness is alone —

one(above nevermoving all nowhere)
goldenly whole,prodigously alive
most mercifully glorying keen star

whom she-and-he-life ifs of am perceive

(but believe scarcely may) certainly while
mute each inch of their murdered planet grows
more and enormously more less:until
her-and-his nonexistence vanishes

with also earth’s
—“dying” the ghost of you
whispers “is very pleasant” my ghost to

warning, fitness-centric post!

so first things first, i use myfitnesspal to try to keep reigns on my eating so that i don’t out grow my pants and so i can continue to progress at running. today i added a category for tea hah! it goes TEAS, breakfast, lunch, dinner. duh should have done that long ago.
i also add every tea i drink to the database, even if they are adagio fandom blends and i’m the only person who will drink them. i love seeing bilbo or sherlock names when i go to log food.

now, i have also registered for a relay race in October. it’s usually a relay of 12 people but this year we are doing and ‘ultra’ team which means we each run twice as much over the 30 hr race. about 33 miles each person is the estimate. since i prefer long distances i’d have it no other way.
we need a name for the team, so i’ve been brainstorming puns. the race is 6 people in a van, 1 person runs at a time, and if you can decorate the van for a theme it’s even better. the first round of punny names include:
Repo Van
Vando Calrissian
Encino Van
Vans Labyrinth
The Hobbit: Van Unexpected Journey
VAN Hell Zing
The Van Who Wasn’t There
A Van with No Name