Ok, tea

I've been holding off on buying tea, just in case my sister-in-law (there has to be a shorter way of saying that) decided to buy me tea for Christmas. She did. Here's what I've found.

Hot Chocolate: is. Yeah, it's tea, but it may as well be hot chocolate. I'm not complaining.

Apple Cider: tastes fake. A look at the ingredients shows that it IS fake. You can do better, @davidstea.

Organic The Big Chill: I've had this before, to be honest. It's pleasant.

Chocolate Chili Chai: I haven't had this from the box yet, but I've bought it. Memory says it's tasty but needed more chili to be called a chili chai.

Spiced Apple: I usually avoid teas with black pepper, since it overwhelms everything else. They've kept it low here, though. I enjoyed it.

Snow Day: another one I've had before. It's fine, and almost has something to do with its name.

Sleigh Ride: yeah, this is an old familiar. Don't add sugar to it. It's already one of the few items in the bunch that has a sugar listing.

Alpine Punch: is good, but has nothing to do with alpine anything. Coconut?

Toasted Walnut: you do get that walnut aftertaste, for better or worse. Actually, this one's not bad.



So, overall, drinkable except for that unforgivable fake-tasting one that makes me wish that David's Tea would learn to stick to actual tea. Next up? Whatever I get to augment the current supply.

Doodling

This is the time of year when, thanks to a generous gift card from my brother and sister-in-law, I generally end up with more art stuff. I say generally because last year I ended up buying beads and some other stuff and just a little bit of art stuff. Back to the art stuff again this year, though.

Are you tired of me typing "stuff" yet?

What you're seeing to the left in today's pointless photo(s) is mixed media paper, black 110 lb paper (I was going to buy an art pad of heavy-ish paper, and then it occurred to me that I could find it cheaper in the scrapbooking section. Turned out to be heavier paper, even.), a General's sketch set with charcoals, pastel pencils, and graphite (just to replace some of my stubs, really), a package of store brand coloured pencils in neons and metallics (for a change from my normal, usable colours?), and a set of Stabilo Point 88 Fineliners. That's nylon tip pens, good for writing or drawing. The picture to the right is me testing the pens to make sure none of them were dry. Oh, and I was drinking tea, obviously.

I went all art with my gift card this year partly to give myself a figurative kick in the butt. I've been lazy about art lately. It's been happening, but I slowed down a lot to give my stupid wrist a rest while it was being, well, stupid, this fall. It's an old injury that I periodically re-injure. Unfortunately, it also means that on my bad days I get a very shaky hand, because it's your wrist that controls most of your hand movements. If you're interested in anatomy, look up a picture of the human hand. There are surprisingly few muscles in the hand itself. Your wrist is the puppet master.

Anyway. Shaky wrist equalled shaky hand this fall -- still does, now and then -- so I backed off a bit to let things heal. The problem with that is that you get out of the habit. Oh, I've still been doodling (it's pretty hard to stop that) but I haven't produced much that's worth public viewing. In fact, I see that the last time I posted to my art blog it was August. I guess I should do something about that.

That's the plan. So, fineliners to convince myself that pen lines don't have to be perfect to be valid (shakes really show in fine pen, but that's okay... she tries to believe...) and pencils because I used to do a lot of pencil work and I should get back to it.

The other thing that usually helps is doing an inventory. I started one a few months ago, but got stalled. If you follow me on Instagram, then, don't be surprised if art supplies start showing up in my posts again. Photos remind me of what I have and how far I got, and if I've got the photos I may as well post them, right? That way it's not just me that knows the scale of years of buying.



Well, this turned into a post. Fancy that. Next time will probably be tea, you know. It wouldn't be the holiday season if I wasn't reviewing my tea presents.

You've been warned.

Pointless cat photos

Because the internet needs more cat photos, really.

This is me not apologising for not blogging, by the way. Life has been busy. I recently officially took on social media management at work, and since that's becoming more and more a part of our marketing it's keeping me on my toes.

I don't really have any other news. Dad and I went out for Chinese food last night because we both have upcoming birthdays and I won't be home for either of them. He was pretty quick to agree to supper when I suggested it, because as a Legion member Remembrance Day is always fairly busy for him. I also had to give him his birthday present early, because it was perishable. What did I give him? Sausages. No, I'm not kidding. I gave him sausages from Big Bend Market, which makes them in-house from local meat. They have other fantastic local products as well, and a great lunch counter. If you're in the Red Deer area you should look them up.

I of course didn't give him the sausages at the restaurant. You know, in case you wondered.

Anyway, that's all I have at the moment. Oh, except for the fact that Dad's washing machine is sounding like it's preparing for take-off. I think he needs to start looking at the sales flyers. Now onto the Turkey Brothers:

Tom was unimpressed with Dad's towel mountain.

The "don't hate me because I'm beautiful" pose.

Bob, chillin'.

Add me with a face cloth and you'll know what it's like to wash your face here. Yes, he stands right in the sink.

Tea!

Considering that I didn't have the right lens on the camera to take a non-close-up shot, this photo didn't turn out too badly, I think.

Anyway, tea. I haven't done a tea post in a while, and I'm sure that you missed it.

Oh, shush.

I can't remember what I have and haven't discussed by now, so give me a bit of a break if there's some doubles here. Also, I recently got in on the summer sale, so including the boxed sets I bought there's nine new teas in my life. Well, not all new, come to think of it. Either way, I'll try to keep the reruns to a minimum.

First, the teas that aren't the most recent ones. In fact, I've had one long enough to have since got a refill.

For whatever reason, the last time I went for yerba maté  (I mean the last time before this most recent last time. Bear with me here) I veered away from my beloved Chocolate Rocket and went Electric Lemonade instead. That's weird for me, because I'm usually dissatisfied with fruity teas (that's right; I'm a spicy gal). This one's not bad at all, though, and I'll admit that my one exception to fruit teas is lemon. It'd be nice to not see "flavouring" in the ingredients list when there are so many things that can brew a lemon flavour, though. That'll be a recurring theme of this post, by the way.

On the same trip (I must have been in a weird headspace that day) I picked up Pistachio Ice Cream and Lemon Pound Cake, both of which were, I think, limited time flavours. Pistachio Ice Cream tasted like pistachio ice cream. Lemon Pound Cake tasted like lemon pound cake. Both, obviously, needed "flavouring" help to taste that way. Neither should have been called a tea. Note to self: no more novelty flavours, Dee. It's not what you're looking for.

Also on that same trip, I tried out Dark Chocolate Delight. That's the one I've since bought more of. 'Nuff said there, I think.

Ok, on to what I've tried so far of the new stuff.

If I can remember, that is.

The maté I went for this time around was Cinnamint. I'm of two minds for this one. On the one hand, it's fine. And on the other hand, it's fine. Not unpleasant, but doesn't exactly blow me away. I'll likely be going back to Chocolate Rocket for my caffeine, or maybe even that Electric Lemonade.

I also picked up a sale pouch of Live Wire Lemon, which contains yaupon rather than maté. Not bad at all, but I see it's on its way out as well. Maybe something to do with its scientific name (look it up...).

This is where it get a little hazy, just because I can't remember what I've tried and what I haven't. Monk's Blend is very pleasant (and no longer listed), The Spice Is Right is sort of have a little tea with your cinnamon, the licorice hit in Chai & Mighty is a bit weird to me but drinkable, and as much as I'm not really an Earl Grey person this morning's Cream of Earl Grey with the added vanilla was nice.

I think that's got it.

There are still more to go, believe it or not. I've sure you're all waiting with baited breath...

Hey, it's another post!

Probably another short post because I'm literally just waiting for the (watercolour) paint to dry on something I'm doodling for Illustration Friday. See the other blog in a while for the end result, if I feel like it's worth posting.

The prompt this week is vintage, by the way. Kind of a weird one.

Anyway, today's flower. I wish I could have gotten a better shot of this poppy, but it was a bit windy yesterday (today? Rain, so not much better). It's pretty spectacular, though. Pink double with purple bits on the underside. The funny thing? Dad has no idea where it came from. The oriental poppies we had before came from my grandma's former house, and they were straight-up orange.

I hope this one seeds, because I'd like to see it around for a while.

Speaking of Dad, did you know that yesterday was Father's Day? It was for us, since I had to work last Sunday. That edible plant walk for the local U of Alberta alumni (Quaecumque vera! And yes, I'm an alumna as well. 91 BSc spec (Zoology). Sheesh, 1991. And now I feel even older...) went well, at least. Anyway, when I found out that I couldn't come in for actual Father's Day I asked Dad if I could take him out for dinner the next Saturday -- yesterday, in other words -- instead. He chose a local Chinese buffet, which let me off cheaper than I intended. I'm always up for decent buffet, though, and this one turned out to be just that.

Decent, that is. Definitely Chop Suey (Chinese heavily modified for Canadian tastes, that is), a few too many battered and deep fried things, lacking in something spicy except for the sriracha they had out, but generally tasty and definitely fresh. That waitress put on an awful lot of miles continually restocking things.

It was definitely the pseudo-Chinese food of my childhood, and probably what I would have kept eating except for a friend I had at U of A (Quaecumque vera...). She was the daughter of from-China parents who had a restaurant in Fort Macleod. At the restaurant they served  the Canada-friendly stuff, but at home it was straight-on real Cantonese. When she and I would go to the Chinese restaurant close to our places she'd order completely off the menu and get things that I wouldn't have even imagined existed. Not everything went over well immediately with this small town Alberta girl, but it certainly gave me a taste for something that wasn't sweet and sour pork.

And good on her. Life's boring if you only ever eat pineapple chicken balls.

Anyway (again), my paint's dry now so it's on to the pen & ink.





Don't expect much, by the way. I never do.

Tea dude

Tea dude is happy that I replenished my tea supplies yesterday. Got some of the usual, but (also as usual) there had to be one or two newbies, right? So far:

Last night I tried The Spice is Right. It tastes like cinnamon and cloves, with a kick at the end from the chili. I approve.

This morning's was Electric Lemonade. Let me tell you, this one goes down quickly enough that I was a little worried I'd be buzzing. Very tasty.



Back to work for me now. Tea dude? His job's done for the day.

Yes, it's a tea post

A quick one, though. Work &c &c.

Today marks my foray for-real into the world of matcha. I'd debated on getting the traditional set-up of bowl and whisk, but in the end I went for what you see on the left. It'll be easier in the office.

The Matcha Maker is basically a travel mug with an agitator in the top that creates the foam when you shake the tea. You just add matcha and warm water to the fill line, shake for a while, and then top up with water, milk... whatever turns your crank, I suppose.

Verdict? It works. Oh, and it comes with a regular infuser as well so that you can use the cup with regular tea.

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In other tea news, last night's tea (because I couldn't leave the store with just matcha, could I?) was Ginger Beer. When you open it up, it smells like ginger beer. When you brew it, it smells like ginger beer. When you sip it, it tastes like non-carbonated ginger beer.

In other words, if you don't like ginger beer (and for those unfamiliar, ginger ale isn't ginger beer. Ginger beer bites you back a little when you drink it), you won't like this tea.



I like ginger beer. And I liked the tea.

Later, folks.

Something

Actually, more likely nothing. I just wanted a chance to use a real photo from a real camera after spending the past little while taking phone pictures for work's instagram. Kind of proving to myself that I do still occasionally take real photos, I suupose.

Even if they're weird.

Oh, there is one something. I forgot to tell you about the last tea sample from that Christmas tea set. It was Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait, and to be honest it didn't do it for me. It seemed like it needed the word"-flavoured" after it, like it was somehow fake. I know that artificial flavouring is listed, but I suspect that it's more about the dried strawberries. Dried strawberry is a pretty strong taste, and it's hard for it not to jump in and announce itself above everything else. Ah well, one tea out of nine isn't bad at all, considering what diverse tastes the company tries to appeal to.

Back to work, then, but for anyone who wondered which of my regulars that I mentioned the other day needed replenishing, it was Quangzhou Milk Oolong (I promise, one of the smoothest teas you'll ever drink) and Chocolate Rocket. Consider that last one morning coffee for the I-hate-coffee crowd.



I'm a proud member, if you hadn't guessed.

Christmas: finally over

But first: David Bowie. Of course I had to mention him. Diehard fans will roll their eyes when I say that my fondest memories are of the Thin White Duke period, but when you consider the fact that those songs came out when I was an impressionable teenager who didn't know much pop music beyond what was on AM radio (please tell me that I don't have to explain AM radio...), I think that I can be forgiven. Obviously I discovered the vastness of his other work later. One thing I hope that people will remember is that yes, he was a showman. Yes, he shocked people, BUT THE MUSIC WAS STILL FANTASTIC. How many other showmen/shockers can even approach that?

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My two fans will know about this time of year for me, but for those new to the program I should say that every year my brother and sister-in-law act as my art supply enablers by giving me a gift card to go out and buy something new for myself. Usually it's already been spent by now since I generally try to get out early and hit the Boxing Day Week sale and get as much as I can out of it, but this year for a multitude of reasons it just didn't happen. On Sunday, though, we finally had a decent day (the day before had been bitterly cold. Go figure. It's Alberta in January) and I decided that I was in the mood for shopping.

I've mentioned this before, but I have a general philosophy about gift cards. Since a gift card has been given as I gift, I try to avoid buying practical things with them and instead go for the I kinda want that... arena. It can be hard since it goes against the grain in my normal life, but hey. It's a gift. Treat it as a gift.

I broke that philosophy a little this year since I really did need some more workable fixative, but otherwise what you see up there is what came out of my wants this time. From... whatever order I pull up the links... you'll find Koh-I-Noor Magic pencils because I'm a five-year-old; Liquitex Pools, Puddles, & Drips, which contains paints, pouring medium, string gel, and two completely useless canvas boards (yep. Someone's planning on getting messy); Staedtler watercolour crayons because I somehow didn't have any even though I have scads of watercolour pencils, and some cheap-ass acrylics because a) I'm not much of a painter and b) they were on sale. Oh, and my travel mug is in there partly to keep the fixative can from falling over and partly to remind myself that I also made a stop to buy tea.

And why tea, when I'm still working my way through my Christmas stash? Well, mostly because I wanted to check out their matcha make travel mug since I've never tried making matcha and it seemed like an easy way to get into it. Apparently I'm not the only one who's had that idea, though, since I see that the thing's sold out even online. Ah well, something to keep in mind for later. It wasn't a wasted trip in the end anyway, because I was out of two of my regular favourites so I got refills while I was there.



Of which teas? I'm afraid this post is long enough for a work day now.  I'll end with a quick look at me at work back in 1995. Yes, I've been here that long. Longer, in fact. You kids get off of my lawn.

So quick, no pic

Thoughts before the weekend:

Anyone who's on a New Year cleanse needs to be told that your body doesn't need that. Your liver and kidneys do that for you. If they don't, you have very serious medical problems. And if a cleanse is making you feel better, you should look at your nutrition rather than your toxins. Juice cleanses often provide nutrients that your body needs. If they advertised them that way rather than the bullshit toxins approach, I'd be willing to listen.

On a similar note, nutritionists and dietitians aren't the same thing, folks. Dietitians study and have professional requirements in order to be legally employed. Nutritionists are people who think that they know things about food. They may have studied but they're not regulated so who knows what they studied. Guess which one is more likely to sell you on cleanses?

On a totally different note, last night's tea, The Big Chill, has a pleasant but sort of unidentifiable taste, which isn't surprising considering the ingredients list. Same concerns about the valerian as I mentioned the other day, though. Today's tea was Alpine Punch. I've had it before; I like it. Still can't figure out what coconut has to do with alpine anything, but there you go.



And there you go for real. See you Monday, possibly.

Today

Today it looks like this outside the back door at work.

Today's jewellery is a snowflake obsidian marble in a rock cage and some weird vintage 70s earrings.

Today's tea is Cinnamon Rooibos Chai. It's pretty good, but I'm not sure that the apple does much for it. Could be wrong, but to find out I'd have to fish out all the apple bits before I make it next time and that seems kind of pointless. Last night's tea, incidentally, was Mother's Little Helper.  It has peppermint and lemongrass and tastes like peppermint and lemongrass, which is good because it covers up the chamomile. Not a huge fan of chamomile, to be honest. And does the valerian do anything? Oh, I don't know. I was tired enough to begin with, so who knows if it made any difference. Besides, it does make me a little leery. Valerian is a drug, after all. I'm sure that the tea doesn't contain much of it, but still.

Today's test for my father's phone: to see if he could answer a call. He couldn't. The whole swiping thing takes practise, as I know from experience. My own phone's set up very right-handedly, and this lefty took a couple of tries to be successful.

He has managed to send a photo by MMS, though, so things are going pretty well.

Today at work I've looked through over thirty web pages of percussion instruments to help decide what we're buying to help with programming our music park. Brain-draining, but it could be worse.

And speaking of that, I'd better get back at it. Later, then.

Technology and tea

This'll be quick. People to do, things to... oh wait. That's not quite right.

Anyway, technology. My father's learning how to use his smartphone. He's figured out calling, voicemail, and accidental pocket dialing so far. Today we sent a couple of texts back and forth. Next step apps?

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And, briefly, tea. Today's is Sleigh Ride. I've had it before. It's good. The end.



Gotta go now.

My new friend, and more tea

Alone in the office today, so the bluetooth speaker that SantaDad gave me is getting its first real workout. Sounds pretty good to my non-expert ears, and for all you speaker snobs out there that's plenty fine for me. I mean, I was going to buy a cheap plastic $15 something, so this is about twelve steps up from that. For anyone who craves brand names, this one is Headrush, which is a The Source exclusive apparently.

Tea time, then. Or tea review time. I need to add a caveat even before I start, though. Both of these teas are fruit infusions, and I'm not exactly a fruity tea fan. Good thing that neither of these was a particularly fruity tea.

A couple of nights ago I tried Banana Nut Bread. This time I followed my usual rule of not sweetening it for the first taste, but this is one that I think would benefit from just a touch of honey or agave. Otherwise, the name pretty much says it all. It's liquid banana bread, all right.

Last night's sampler was Forever Nuts, which I was honestly a little leery of since they claim that it's one of their customer favourites. Hype like that generally sets me up for disappointment. It was good, though. I missed out on the "steeps pink" part because my evening teapot is generally a travel mug so that I can have the tea around for an hour or two if I get busy with something. It wasn't so much the almonds as the cinnamon that attracted me, I must admit. I guess I'm just a spicy tea girl at heart.

Verdict: would I buy it? Banana Nut Bread maybe; Forever Nuts probably. No duds so far in this year's Christmas tea.

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One -- or two, really -- last thing(s). My speaker makes a decent speakerphone, according to my dad. He just called me to let me know that his first ever smartphone proved to be a dud. They've ordered in a new one (android) but in the meantime they gave him a loaner iphone. If anyone out there gets pocket dialed, you'll know why now.

Tea of the day:

And a mysteriously silhouetted Downy Woodpecker. He's only here a) to provide some sort of photo for a short post, and b) because the blur of the chickadee flying beneath him made me laugh. I didn't see it at the time.

Anyway, today's (well, last night's since I'm not having any right now) tea is Super Ginger, courtesy of Christmas and my brother and sister-in-law (mostly my sister-in-law). As well as being my art supply enablers, you see, they're also my Christmas tea enablers.

Anyway, Super Ginger is what I had last night, and for which I broke one of my own new-tea rules. In general, even though I like a bit of sweet something-or-other in my teas I always make an effort to try new teas without anything at least once so that I can get a feel for the tea itself.

Not last night, though. I put in a little honey for the same reason that I tried this tea first from the selection, and that's because I don't like black pepper in teas. I mean, I like black pepper in itself; I just don't think it belongs in teas because it masks too many other flavours. Thus, the honey to gird myself somewhat against the pepper. Just a little bit of honey, mind. The tea itself has stevia in it already, so I didn't want to take the chance of oversweetening.

Well, I needn't have bothered. Turns out that ginger is as good at masking -- or at least settling down -- the taste of black pepper as it is at hiding green pepper.

A note to those who don't know: I really dislike green pepper. The only way I can eat it is with ginger beef.

Anyway (again), if you like ginger (and I do), you'll like this tea. As advertised, it's also very soothing to the throat, and helps open up the airways a bit. It would probably be decent for an upset stomach as well, given that ginger is good for that in general.

Would I buy it for myself? Probably. Especially if it was on sale.

Back to work now for me.

Hello? Yes, this is phone.

For anyone who didn't get that.

I've been doing my seasonal purge of you didn't use this one with the photos on my nerdstick, since we now have snow (sigh) and I'm not likely to post more photos of spring flowers until the snow (sigh) completely depresses me. In other words, expect a mixed bag coming up.

I thought I'd give you a quick update on my belated life with a smart phone these days. It's ok. I use it more than I want to, but it's handy. I use it an awful lot at work, actually, because I do a fair amount of our tweeting and instagramming (twitter @naturecentre; instagram @kerry_wood_nature_centre). Besides, at work I can hitch a ride on the wifi so it doesn't blow my data out of the water.

No, I don't have wifi at home.

Why would I have wifi? I don't have a computer.





Except the phone, of course. Which I actually used as a word processor this week to work on the newsletter when I was home on Tuesday. That's when I feel old, really; it's doing things like that. It wasn't all that long ago that we were wondering why the Japanese would even want a camera on a phone, and now I instagram events and write articles on mine. The funniest moment so far (to the point where he couldn't understand my message) was when I realised things were different as I was leaving a message for Dad about the fact that I'd e-mailed him a photo of my first attempt at pizzelle (um... pizzelle), since he was the one who bought me the pizzlle iron as a birthday present. As I was trying to leave him a voice mail it occurred to me how odd it was that I was phoning him to tell him that I'd e-mailed him (from my phone) a picture that I'd taken with my phone.

Our world's become a weird, weird place.

Anyway, there's where we stand with modern phonage. I've joined the cult, I guess. And for those of my two fans who've been missing my incredibly non-exciting blog blather because I'm generally too lazy these days, since I got the phone (and since I curated @PeopleOfCanada a little while ago), my own twitter account's busier than it used to be. Find me @deeolworld. Or, you know, just use the link on the sidebar.

If you've bothered to read this.

Geez, who reads nowadays anyway? Isn't that why Whomever created tl;dr?





tl;dr: I have a phone. I use it.

Yet another quick post

Today's pointless doodle is one that I did for Illustration Friday ages ago. I used to be much better at lettering -- my mother, especially, encouraged it to help improve my hopeless lefty writing -- but this was done fairly quickly.

And obviously with no ruler.

So yeah, we've hit the season of fiddling with the clocks again, which this year means that those of you who celebrate Halloween by getting drunk will have an extra hour to do it, I guess. Personally, I'm not looking forward to it being dark before supper. I say, just keep the damned clocks on Daylight Savings all year long. It would keep some of us saner.

Well, one or two of us at least.

Anyway, that's it for me for the month, unless for some reason I decide to post from my phone. It's happened before, but it's really not kind to my data plan so I'm trying to get out of the habit. So let's assume that I won't then, and I'll say Happy Halloween if you're into that sort of thing, and if not... um... Happy November?

Later, folks.

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Edited to add: yes, I did go to DAVIDsTEA. Yes, the person at the counter was extremely glad to see that I knew what I wanted and wasn't going to ask for every single canister to be brought down. Yes, they were freaking busy. Still nice to finally have them in town, though.

And maybe I'm not the only one here who hates Teavana.

Another quick post

I spent all day in Lethbridge yesterday (about eight hours or so in a car, all told). Spent today twisting chenille stems (long story) and documenting the installation of our new displays at work.

Plus, I have a cold.

Yeah, I'm a little too tired for a blather at this point. Catch you later in the week, probably, because after all we have to talk about the fact that this city now has a DAVIDsTEA at some point.



Maybe I'll go there on my way home. I wouldn't mind some (more) tea.

Bye for now, though.

Bob the Cat

 It's never a good sign for content when I temporarily label a post "something" while I load photos. Something usually is more akin to nothing, as far as the blather goes.

And I still haven't thought of anything, even while looking at hermit crab information during the wait.

Um, no reason.

Yet.

Anyway, here's a couple of pictures of Bob that I couldn't remember whether I'd used or not (and was too lazy to look up in the archive). You have to admit that he's a handsome dude, even if I think that he could afford to lose some weight.

So could I, of course, so I guess I shouldn't judge too much.

Actually, both he and Tom are surprisingly heavy anyway. They're both big cats to begin with -- without much exaggeration I'd wager that you could fit two of my brother and sister-in-law's burmese in the space of one Bob -- but then they're both so muscular.  Don't go trying to pick one of the Turkey Brothers up unprepared. My usual reaction even though I've done it lots of times is oof.

Or something less polite.

Anyway, that's what I'm calling a post. Off work a bit early today, and I'm thinking of driving across town to a pet store local vendor market that has been enticing me long enough with their tweets about the cool (and did I mention local?) stuff that they stock. Might make a special addition to Thanksgiving or something, I don't know.



We'll see if the car actually gets there, or if it automatically heads for home like it usually does.

Indian snacks

New photo! Phone photo, but still.

What you're seeing there are some containers with Indian snacks in them, surmounted by a plastic beaver.

Because why wouldn't they be, really.

Anyway, some of you by now are bristling and ready to tell me that Indian is offensive and it should be First Nations and...  you're wrong. This is Indian as in India, folks, and I don't think that they'd appreciate you getting miffed at the fact.

The snacks in the containers are Indian snacks actually imported from India (I hate even this much advertising, but you can find this particular brand through the various Loblaws stores if you're curious), and between Wheat and I we go through a fair amount in the office.

They're different, you see. They're not potato chips. They're a little spicy, for one thing (in the non-Indian category, we also like wasabi peas), and they're also made from things that the average Canadian -- or rather, the average WASP -- wouldn't think of as a possible snack food. The top one is an extruded potato, which has a different texture than a potato chip. The middle one is lentils (yummy, yes), and the bottom one is extruded bean paste. There was also a fried chickpea container, but I finished that one up today.

The only reason I'm blathering about them is that it's another facet of how much my tastes have changed since my white bread childhood. Were there Indians in my small town? Yes, in fact I went through all of my schooling with the younger daughter of one family. Were there Indian foods in the stores? Erm... a bit, yes, but I imagine that they went to the city for a lot of things. Would I ever have dreamed of even trying some of it?

No.

And not in a snobby way. It just wouldn't have occurred to me.

Things change, though. When I was a little older I had my first sampling of Bahamian food at a friend's party. It was foreign, and way hotter than I was used to, but it was... good. Yeah, I was that surprised. When I went to university and a friend introduced me to real Chinese food as opposed to the pseudo-Cantonese stuff most of us grew up with around here, it was a revelation. A revelation that's left me with a life-long addiction to Sichwan Beef...

And yeah, I suppose that I haven't looked back since. If you were to take me out to dinner I'd likely be fine trying almost anything (although you'd have to talk me hard into green bell pepper. I really don't like green pepper). Well, maybe not any sedentary bivalves. As someone with a zoology degree I have a problem with eating filter feeders that can't move if the water around them is poisoned in some way. That's nothing to do with culture, though. That's just what happens when you've studied certain things inside and out (literally).

I need to do a bit more work (yes, I'm at work) before I call it a day, but I just wanted to end by saying that it was actually Dad who introduced me to these particular snacks. Yep, tastes change even for the older generations.

I think that's a good thing.

Tea... and other stuff if I happen to still have time.

Some days I have more fun editing the photos that turned out crap than I did taking the photos in the first place...

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Ok, to catch you up on the current tea-drinking. Remember I said that if a person added milk to Cocoa Canela it would basically be hot chocolate with extra caffeine? I tried it the other day. It was. And it was very good.

Yesterday was the first go for Organic Pure Chai. Very tasty, but with only cinnamon and cloves for spices I think that it lacks the complexity of what I personally think of as chai. Maybe it's my definition of chai that's sketchy, I dunno. That's more than possible. It's still a good, drinkable tea, whatever the case may be.

Today I had Assam Banaspaty, and it strikes me as odd that with all the tea I've had over the years I'd never actually tried an assam before. I liked it a lot. It's definitely a candidate for reordering.





Aaand I'm officially out of lunch break. So much for the other stuff part, but it gives me something for next time if I manage to remember it. Catch you later.