Okay, my first thought on the Revolution English Breakfast tea was "Do I need to leave the bag in longer?". Yeah, IMO, it is kind of weak. Personally I like my EBT to be fuller, thicker, and slightly sweet tasting. I ended up adding quite a bit of sugar to this Revolution EBT to give it taste. I think that I will be sticking to my Twinnings EBT until I find something better. Now, the one variation that might need to be tried is with milk. I don't usually add milk to my tea, so this might be something that would bring out other flavors of the Revolution EBT that would otherwise be missed by the "straight up" drinker. Nonetheless, the way I enjoy tea, did not bring out the positive quality of this tea. Therefore, my socks were not knocked off. Socks still on and thank goodness because it is WAY COLD outside.
Stash Peach - yum! I liked it quite a bit more than the Revolution Ginger Peach. The peach flavor is stronger (yet not unpleasantly strong), and the body of the black tea is fuller and more substantial than the Evolution Ginger Peach. Once again, I feel that the Evolution Tea was a bit weak in the taste department.
It is 2 degrees (F) outside, -11 with the wind chill. I feel as though I will be consuming a lot of tea this weekend. :)
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
In the moment.
Oh brrrrrr. It seems as though I am drinking so much tea lately. These cold, damp days really make me hanker a nice hot cuppa-T. Usually, I just reach for my old stand-by, Red Rose; but recently I decided to branch out a little bit and I purchased a few "new" teas.
The Coconut Pouchong is simply delightful! I never before have known of coconut in tea, and wow, here it is. You open the container, and the coconut essence is just heady! It is described as being "serene, and light ... with the coconut instilling a tropical sweetness in this exquisite bouquet..." 100% exact. The tea leaves are high quality, and brew up nicely. Actually, I accidentally over steeped (steeped the hell out of) some last night (bedtime bedlam began), and it was still really good by the time I got back to it (15 minutes or more). Now, this may have been due to the small, one cup quantity I was steeping; but, nonetheless, it was still TASTY, coconutty, and not bitter at all.
I must admit that I was quite apprehensive trying a Pouchong tea variety, because the name sounded way too similar to a Lapsoung (Lapsang) Souchong I once tried. Yeah, there is a reason I now call I now call Lapsoung Souchong, "Lhasa Apso tea". It tasted like a smoky, wet dog. I thought I was going to DIE. This is the very tea served in the waiting room of Hell, I am sure of it. Yet, I digress .... where was I?
The Vanilla Black Tea is quite tasty, but I have only made one cup of it, and I think I over-steeped it because IT:WAS:STRONG. Too strong. I don't think this was the tea's fault though. I was negligent. Despite my over doing it, this tea reminded me a lot of Chai, without all of the complexities. I will make this again and give a diatribe later.
The Pear Honey from Golden Moon Tea, I gave away to my Ravelry Tea Swap partner. She seemed to be quite pleased with it, so I am going to dash out tonight or tomorrow and score me some.
As for the Revolution teas; so far, I have only tried the Tropical Green Tea (dragonwell green tea, blended with pineapple flavor and citrus peel...) and the The Sweet Ginger Peach (a blend combining the taste of peaches, and ginger root with Ceylon and Assam Teas..). I was intrigued by this brand of teas because the name makes me think "hummm, they sound really responsible.." but when I opened the box I found the tea packaged in a little "plastic" mesh pyramid tea bag. We compost, and I compost all of my tea and used tea bags, so I was immediately taken back. Well I did some sleuthing and came up with this interesting description how their little mesh infuser bags are 100% biodegradable! Wow, nice!
The Tropical Green was fine, but not very rememberable. I attribute this to the fact that I was drinking it Christmas Eve, and I was a little stressed that night - read above post. The Sweet Ginger Peach was nice as well. Quite nice peach taste, without the harsh tannins and totally fake peach that some other peach flavored black teas have.
The only thing that kind of hacks me off is that the whole reason I bought this sampler box is because it was the ONLY ONE that had a sample of the White Pear Tea. Well, not MY box. Instead of the White Pear Tea, I ended up with two of the Tropical Greens. It is not like I don't like the Tropical Green, I just really wanted to get my taste buds wrapped around that Pear Tea! I guess one positive thing that comes out of this is that I am getting another chance to try the Tropical Green and come up with a better decision on it.
Earlier I spoke of Red Rose: Here is the newest addition to my Wade Figurine Frenzy.
I am still making my way through the Stash teas given to me by my tea swap partner. I will critique those later. I feel like moving on to other news right now.
FO! SOCKS! Although I am quite pleased with my PGR recipe for the invisible cast on toe. I am equally pleased with the "same as the toe, heel". What I am really irked about is the fact that it took me until the second sock to really get down grafting off at the top edge.
Egad! I should have practiced this technique before getting down to business on the real, actual sock. I was just so sure that I could just wing it and make it happen. Funny thing about grafting off ... once you start, there really is no turning back; at least not for me. The first sock (the unintentional guinea pig) is quite noticeably different than the second "got the hang of it by now" sock. I am not unhappy enough to tear it out though. Honestly, the beautiful yarn, and the glove-like fit, cancel out the top edges. The colors are so saturated that they are very hard to capture. I think that the above photo comes the closest to showing the actual colors.
The above photo was taken with a flash,
and does nothing for the colors.
Don't handmade socks look funny before they are blocked?
Now that my wonderfully warm Diakeito socks are done, I can start on my baby tasks. As of New Year's Eve, 4 babies have been born, and 6 more are on the way. All 6 are due between now and August. And how far along am I into my list of babies things to make?
The HUGE 5 pound spool of cotton/linen boucle
was an e-Bay purchase made about 5 years ago.
The seller actually sent this spool to me by accident (!)
and told me to keep it since it was his mistake.
That is it. That is all I have done. Good lord. At this rate I will never catch up. This little cutie will go to whomever is born first. Baby #1 is due the last week of January, baby #2 is due the first week of February. Baby #3 April, babies #4 and #5 (i think) June, baby #6 August. Baby #6 though, is not going to get a hand-knit. His family is going to get a homemade meal. He is baby #3, and although every baby is special and deserves something new, they have everything they need for a new baby ... what they are really going to need is ready-made food so that the new momma does not have to cook right away.
I have made this little sweater tons of times before, and I know I can turn one of these out in a day or two. I am going to try to make the matching booties as well, but we will see how much time I will get. Depending on my time, I might make these for the first two impending births, and for the next babies, a few of them might get the BSJ! I got my hands on a pattern when I went to Knitters Mercantile in November, and I have been chomping at the bit to start it. I am a little apprehensive at the learning curve, so I would rather tackle it when I am not feeling pressured. I think that between the February baby, and the April baby, I can get one or two done.
Oh, and last but not least ... everybody, meet Rufus.
He has to have been the BEST Christmas present EVA!
He's a PURSE!
How cool is that?
Ingredients: Grand Pouchong Tea Leaves, essence of coconut.
Vanilla Black Tea from Taylors of Harrogate
Ingredients: a blend of fine black tea with vanilla and sunflower petals.
Pear Honey from Golden Moon Tea (not pictured)
Revolution: variety tea sampler.
(Earl Grey Lavender, Tropical Green, Sweet Ginger Peach, White Pear, and English Breakfast)
Vanilla Black Tea from Taylors of Harrogate
Ingredients: a blend of fine black tea with vanilla and sunflower petals.
Pear Honey from Golden Moon Tea (not pictured)
Revolution: variety tea sampler.
(Earl Grey Lavender, Tropical Green, Sweet Ginger Peach, White Pear, and English Breakfast)
The Coconut Pouchong is simply delightful! I never before have known of coconut in tea, and wow, here it is. You open the container, and the coconut essence is just heady! It is described as being "serene, and light ... with the coconut instilling a tropical sweetness in this exquisite bouquet..." 100% exact. The tea leaves are high quality, and brew up nicely. Actually, I accidentally over steeped (steeped the hell out of) some last night (bedtime bedlam began), and it was still really good by the time I got back to it (15 minutes or more). Now, this may have been due to the small, one cup quantity I was steeping; but, nonetheless, it was still TASTY, coconutty, and not bitter at all.
I must admit that I was quite apprehensive trying a Pouchong tea variety, because the name sounded way too similar to a Lapsoung (Lapsang) Souchong I once tried. Yeah, there is a reason I now call I now call Lapsoung Souchong, "Lhasa Apso tea". It tasted like a smoky, wet dog. I thought I was going to DIE. This is the very tea served in the waiting room of Hell, I am sure of it. Yet, I digress .... where was I?
The Vanilla Black Tea is quite tasty, but I have only made one cup of it, and I think I over-steeped it because IT:WAS:STRONG. Too strong. I don't think this was the tea's fault though. I was negligent. Despite my over doing it, this tea reminded me a lot of Chai, without all of the complexities. I will make this again and give a diatribe later.
The Pear Honey from Golden Moon Tea, I gave away to my Ravelry Tea Swap partner. She seemed to be quite pleased with it, so I am going to dash out tonight or tomorrow and score me some.
As for the Revolution teas; so far, I have only tried the Tropical Green Tea (dragonwell green tea, blended with pineapple flavor and citrus peel...) and the The Sweet Ginger Peach (a blend combining the taste of peaches, and ginger root with Ceylon and Assam Teas..). I was intrigued by this brand of teas because the name makes me think "hummm, they sound really responsible.." but when I opened the box I found the tea packaged in a little "plastic" mesh pyramid tea bag. We compost, and I compost all of my tea and used tea bags, so I was immediately taken back. Well I did some sleuthing and came up with this interesting description how their little mesh infuser bags are 100% biodegradable! Wow, nice!
The Tropical Green was fine, but not very rememberable. I attribute this to the fact that I was drinking it Christmas Eve, and I was a little stressed that night - read above post. The Sweet Ginger Peach was nice as well. Quite nice peach taste, without the harsh tannins and totally fake peach that some other peach flavored black teas have.
The only thing that kind of hacks me off is that the whole reason I bought this sampler box is because it was the ONLY ONE that had a sample of the White Pear Tea. Well, not MY box. Instead of the White Pear Tea, I ended up with two of the Tropical Greens. It is not like I don't like the Tropical Green, I just really wanted to get my taste buds wrapped around that Pear Tea! I guess one positive thing that comes out of this is that I am getting another chance to try the Tropical Green and come up with a better decision on it.
Earlier I spoke of Red Rose: Here is the newest addition to my Wade Figurine Frenzy.
I am still making my way through the Stash teas given to me by my tea swap partner. I will critique those later. I feel like moving on to other news right now.
FO! SOCKS! Although I am quite pleased with my PGR recipe for the invisible cast on toe. I am equally pleased with the "same as the toe, heel". What I am really irked about is the fact that it took me until the second sock to really get down grafting off at the top edge.
Egad! I should have practiced this technique before getting down to business on the real, actual sock. I was just so sure that I could just wing it and make it happen. Funny thing about grafting off ... once you start, there really is no turning back; at least not for me. The first sock (the unintentional guinea pig) is quite noticeably different than the second "got the hang of it by now" sock. I am not unhappy enough to tear it out though. Honestly, the beautiful yarn, and the glove-like fit, cancel out the top edges. The colors are so saturated that they are very hard to capture. I think that the above photo comes the closest to showing the actual colors.
The above photo was taken with a flash,and does nothing for the colors.
Don't handmade socks look funny before they are blocked?
Now that my wonderfully warm Diakeito socks are done, I can start on my baby tasks. As of New Year's Eve, 4 babies have been born, and 6 more are on the way. All 6 are due between now and August. And how far along am I into my list of babies things to make?
The HUGE 5 pound spool of cotton/linen bouclewas an e-Bay purchase made about 5 years ago.
The seller actually sent this spool to me by accident (!)
and told me to keep it since it was his mistake.
I have made this little sweater tons of times before, and I know I can turn one of these out in a day or two. I am going to try to make the matching booties as well, but we will see how much time I will get. Depending on my time, I might make these for the first two impending births, and for the next babies, a few of them might get the BSJ! I got my hands on a pattern when I went to Knitters Mercantile in November, and I have been chomping at the bit to start it. I am a little apprehensive at the learning curve, so I would rather tackle it when I am not feeling pressured. I think that between the February baby, and the April baby, I can get one or two done.
Oh, and last but not least ... everybody, meet Rufus.
He has to have been the BEST Christmas present EVA!He's a PURSE!
How cool is that?
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
New Year, new post.
The New Year brought along with it, new illnesses. Yup, both boys caught the creeping crud. How they got it I will never know. Up until a few minutes ago, my laundry room still had the faint odor of baby vomit, so I had to drop everything and get the mounds of "illness laundry" pushing through. Thank goodness the boys are asleep, for now I will have a little bit of time to try to figure out what to post. I hate to say it, but I am starting to feel a little ill ... but I am going to try to "mom my way through it" and perhaps the germs will just give up and go try to find a foot hold elsewhere?
I have not been completely idle since my last post. After much agitation, and studying PGR's Simple Socks, and Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks , I embarked on my own toe-up pattern. What would make me take on such a daunting task, you ask?
My precioussssssssssss...
I had only two, 109 yd balls, so I wanted to use every.single.inch of this gorgeous stuff. This is why I opted for the toe-up variety of sock. I am creeping up on the half way mark for sock #2. This yarn? Diakeito MSE Diamusee. It is Simply Delicious. I cannot get enough of watching those colors change! It is so soft, and squishy, and the thing that keeps surprising me is how clean it is! I knit with Noro a LOT, and I am so used to having to stop and remove debris - not with this, baby! I also love how the color bands are not predictable - so much for trying to make identical striped socks! Honestly though, the striping is "random" enough that the different-ness does not bother me one bit! I actually prefer it with this yarn.
OH! OH! And don't let me forget! I signed up for Ravelry's Cup o' Tea holiday Tea Swap! I have no photos of my Tea Swap Loot, simply because I immediately dove into the tea box, and I had to put away the beautiful yarn because Big C kept wanting to drive his Matchbox cars in it "Drive car in mommy yarn garage?" Yes, he kept forcing the car into the skein calling it a "yarn garage" -
My swap partner wrote me and said that there is more coming too! Can you believe it? What a sweetie! I almost had to do an installment mailing as well, as it was taking forever for me to find the goodies to send my partner, but, as luck would have it, I found everything the Friday before Christmas, and got it out the door by the 22nd. Now, this parcel was going international, over the holidays, so who knows WHEN it will get to it's destination! I just hope she likes it when it arrives!
The washer just stopped, I need to move the washed load on to the dryer and get the next (4) loads going so I can sit and rest for at least half an hour before Thing 1 and Thing 2 get up. :)
I have not been completely idle since my last post. After much agitation, and studying PGR's Simple Socks, and Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks , I embarked on my own toe-up pattern. What would make me take on such a daunting task, you ask?
My precioussssssssssss...
I had only two, 109 yd balls, so I wanted to use every.single.inch of this gorgeous stuff. This is why I opted for the toe-up variety of sock. I am creeping up on the half way mark for sock #2. This yarn? Diakeito MSE Diamusee. It is Simply Delicious. I cannot get enough of watching those colors change! It is so soft, and squishy, and the thing that keeps surprising me is how clean it is! I knit with Noro a LOT, and I am so used to having to stop and remove debris - not with this, baby! I also love how the color bands are not predictable - so much for trying to make identical striped socks! Honestly though, the striping is "random" enough that the different-ness does not bother me one bit! I actually prefer it with this yarn.
OH! OH! And don't let me forget! I signed up for Ravelry's Cup o' Tea holiday Tea Swap! I have no photos of my Tea Swap Loot, simply because I immediately dove into the tea box, and I had to put away the beautiful yarn because Big C kept wanting to drive his Matchbox cars in it "Drive car in mommy yarn garage?" Yes, he kept forcing the car into the skein calling it a "yarn garage" -
My swap partner wrote me and said that there is more coming too! Can you believe it? What a sweetie! I almost had to do an installment mailing as well, as it was taking forever for me to find the goodies to send my partner, but, as luck would have it, I found everything the Friday before Christmas, and got it out the door by the 22nd. Now, this parcel was going international, over the holidays, so who knows WHEN it will get to it's destination! I just hope she likes it when it arrives!
The washer just stopped, I need to move the washed load on to the dryer and get the next (4) loads going so I can sit and rest for at least half an hour before Thing 1 and Thing 2 get up. :)
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