Another personal masterpiece (he says modestly) from the template “Here come the seasons” at ETTC, which we featured last week!

Here comes winter,
Here comes winter,
cold weather, warm clothes
Here comes winter,
Here comes winter,
hot tea, cocoa and biscuits
Here comes winter,
Here comes winter-
warm weather, sunny days, there it goes.

Strange Random Language Fact:
According to Illinois state law, it is illegal to speak English. The officially-recognized language is “American.”

The saturday morning porridge is on a slow simmer and there’s half an hour to go before Saturday kitchen…foodie heaven for me.  The weekend got off to a good start with a visit to Amore Dogs last night…only my second visit and the food didn’t disappoint. We enjoyed a pre-dinner drink in the Underdogs downstairs…cool retro armchairs and table service, felt more Amsterdam than Edinburgh and it’s a welcome change from other bars in town.. Mr Ramsden must be raking it in…I’ve worked my way through the menu upstairs at the Dogs and intend to do the same at Amore Dogs in the next few months!  Mr R did award me ‘customer of the month’ at the Dogs not so long back as think I was there about 8 times in one month…mmmmm!

On to the rest of the weekend….just tucking into porridge with cinnamon and honey, delish…hoping to visit Moo today for some lunch, new place on Brandon Terrace, have been hearing good things about it so looking forward to the visit.  Pondering on what to cook tonight…freezing in Edinburgh today so a slow cook hot pot might go down a treat…will peruse the cook books in a mo….and tomorrow, 16 girlfriends (yes, SIXTEEN!!!) and me are off to Eteaket for afternoon tea….bring on the tea and cake, the gossip, the cucumber sarnies, the clotted cream scones, I can’t bear the excitement.. Will def be reporting back tomorrow….won’t be good for the pre-wedding waistline so no doubt i’ll be in the gym every night next week to burn it off, life can be so unfair lol…8)

Right, Saturday Kitchen about to start, hoping for some inspiration for tonight’s menu…

1. 어젯밤은 다음 날이 토요일이라는 구실로 읽고 싶었던 책 꺼내서 새벽녘까지 읽다가 쓰러져 잠이 들어 오늘 오후 1시에야 일어났다.

2. 한국 된장을 끓일까 왜된장을 끓일까 심각하게 고민하다가 오늘은 후자를 택했다. 나는 왜된장은 한국 된장처럼 푹푹 끓이지 않고 재료가 다 익으면 넣고 맛을 맞추면서 마무리한다. 잘게 썬 부드러운 두부는 마지막에 넣고 불을 끄고 뚜껑은 덮어둔다. 청양 고추를 아주 약간 넣어 보았는데 약간 달콤한 왜된장과 의외로 잘 어울렸다. 그래서 미역, 다시마, 호박, 파, 청양고추, 두부, 그리고 극소량의 소고기가 재료였다.

3. 내 배를 채웠으니 이제 나의 둘 뿐인 화초에게도 물을 선사하기로 했다. 보름에 한 번씩 물을 양껏 주면 되는 종류들이라 이 두 분을 오늘 욕실로 초청하여 마음껏 인공 소나기를 뿌려주었다.

4. 지난 달에 우연히 구입한 립톤 옐로우 라벨 티백 홍차를 한 달 가량 마셨는데 그런대로 괜찮았다. 하지만 잎홍차처럼 맛이 깊거나 향이 진하지 않고 무엇보다도 텁텁한 뒷맛이 단점이었다. 그보다 더한 것은 내가 좋아하는 얼그레이는 티백이라도 가격이 만만찮았다는 사실이다. 겨울에는 역시 얼그레이 밀크티라는 지극히 개인적인 취향을 갖고 있기에 아무래도 며칠 안에 베르가못 향의 잎홍차를 구입하게 될 것 같다.

complexities…

Has anybody (aside from me) ever wondered why so many teas are named after colours? We’ve got Orange Pekoe, Green Tea, Earl Grey … Apparently there is even blue tea and as we all know, when some teas are well-steeped we call it black tea. Rooibos is often called Red Tea, we’ve got White Tea, even the rare Yellow Tea.

So let’s see: we’ve got red, orange, yellow, green, and blue … Even grey and white (and black, sort of). And the Famous Five are famous for their ‘pink teas’ (which I realize were events and not a type of tea). All we’re missing is purple tea!

BUT WAIT!

THERE’S MORE!

YES, THAT’S RIGHT – PURPLE TEA EXISTS. Or so they claim.

Anyway. Has anyone else ever noticed this? Can you think of any other teas named after a colour?

This has been “Talking Tea” with Amy.

To be played as you read, if you wish:

“I had dinner before everyone else and afterwards I came and sat at the table, until eight o’ clock when it was understood that I had to go upstairs; the precious and fragile kiss that Mama usually entrusted to me in my bed at the moment I was going to sleep I would have to convey from the dining-room to my bedroom and protect during the whole time I undressed, so that its sweetness would not shatter, so that its volatile essence would not spread and evaporate and, on precisely those evenings when I needed to receive it with more care, I had to take it, I had to snatch it brusquely, publicly…” – The Way By Swann’s, Marcel Proust.

Do people write like that any more?

(It’s so hard to read: the entire thing is long, winding sentences with occasional punctuation and very vivid imagery.)

Will I ever have the ability to read it in the original French?

(Erm…)

I wish school-standard French taught you how to speak it fluently instead of useless little phrases and all that grammar. I’ll be pedantic about a sentence only after I can speak a whole one without hesitating, thank you very much.

On the day of my last journal entry I had a sudden, very strong craving for tea. This is remarkable because I tried tea at the age of eight and detested it. For the next eleven years I was to detest even the smell of the stuff, until I was struck by a need for tea. Weirdly enough, I’m now drinking silly amounts of the stuff. And I really like it.

I was told today, very sweetly, that I have a nice singing voice. It made me pleased

So yeah, a few things has been happening since I’ve been home, I’ll get to it eventually. Anyways, when I came home on Tuesday, my friend Nicole and I hung out for a bit. We watched Monsters Inc. and painted our nails and stuff.

Then Wednesday, I went to Lord and Taylor for a job interview and well I got the job^^. And when I was there, there was this really cute guy that worked there last year and was hoping he would get a job there again, I kind of hope he did, but it sort of seems he already has a couple of girls he had his eye on, so yeah, that’s my luck for you.  Then after that I don’t really remember what happened. I think I took an epic nap and then my mom and I went to the store. And after that I watched Tough Love, some good stuff especially from a psych stand point. Hmm I should go on that show, I’d be Ms. Lonely, ha, and I made pumpkin gingerbread and dinner rolls for Thanksgiving.

Moving along, Thursday was obviously Thanksgiving. The pumpkin gingerbread and dinner rolls were a hit! For anyone who actually is reading this, here’s the recipes I used:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Gingerbread/Detail.aspx

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Angies-Perfect-Dinner-Rolls/Detail.aspx

But anyways, my niece is almost as tall as me, she’s not even 4 years old and she’s like about up to my chest. It’s crazy, lol.  So my sister has been applying to grad schools, mostly in California, and my mom said if she’s going to California, then we are. I wasn’t sure if she was serious or not. But imaging starting a new life in California, hmm. I wouldn’t mind it so much, but there’s definitely a few things I do want to work on before venturing out to California.  Also to my shock my sister said she wants to learn what I’m learning, and I was just like O.O I don’t think I ever heard my sister said that to me, mean yeah psychology can be very interesting, but yeah. I’m usually the one saying that to her. Well moving along,  my friend Britney had some news, big epic news that she is pregnant..and she asked me if she were to keep the baby if I would be an auntie, and I almost started to cry and felt honored and I wish she was telling me in person so I could have hugged her.  It would be nice to be an aunt to 3 little ones, my neice, my soon to be niece or nephew, Lori is pregnant, and the baby is due in July, and Britney’s baby. ^^

Anyways, this leads me to today. Today was training day at Lord and Taylor and I was so nervous. Amy, the manager, said on Wednesday, that it’s going to be a crash course and they’re just putting me there. and if I have any questions, that they’ll be people around to help me. But, I guess she just said that to prepare me or something. Means, its Black Friday, that will be crazy if she did that, you know? Mean it would sort of slow things down, which is bad on a day like Black Friday. So today wasn’t as bad as i thought it would be. I could have stayed until one, but I wasn’t wearing the most comfortable shoes and we were allowed to leave right after the training orientation, so yeah probably a bad move on my part, but I should have brought my comfortable shoes back home, and we can’t wear sneakers, since its basically white glove kind of service.  But the other people at the training orientation were nice, and we all seemed to get along.

After that my mom and I went to Costco to do some shopping, and it was a mad house in there. I couldn’t wait to get out of there, at least I didn’t need a lot of things.

Today has been cold, rainy, and windy, a perfect day for staying indoors, which is what I basically did when I came home. So since then, I’ve been drinking tea and watching the melancholy of haruhi suzumiya, a really good anime.

Lately, I have been having a more sudden interest in asian culture, eating habits to be more exact.  It just seems to be much more healthier, in fact I remember watching a video where this lady was comparing the American diet to the Japanese diet, and how much more healthier the Japanese diet was, and it quite obvious why too.

Eliza and I are talking about eating more healthier once we get back, which is the smart thing to do. The health habits you form in college are usually the ones that you stick with for the rest of the  majority of your life. And we’re going to post things on our walls to help motivate us too. And also do more yoga and exercising.

And why I just realized how long this is getting, and I still have a couple of other things I want to write about.

So yesterday I had this weird, strange, empty eerie feeling when I got home. Thats the best I could explain it, it just happens at random, and I can’t explain why it happens, it just does.

And all of the sudden, well so far today really, I was really nervous to talk to Josh, I don’t know why. Mean usually before, when I liked a guy and I was about to IM them I would get really nervous, and panicky . But with him that never happens, except for today I guess, I don’t know it just seemed weird.

Hmm also I want to start writing more short stories. I think it would help with my writing.  But I’m not in the mood right now, and I’m so bored, and the disappearance of haruhi suzumiya isn’t dubbed,  so I’m just reading the whole time.

Ehh, well thats all for now. Not much to say now.

Hmm, maybe he just isn’t there. It’s been awhile and he hasn’t said anything yet. Eh oh well.

http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-9415079-tea.phprefnum=delihayat

glass of traditional turkish tea  http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-9415079-tea.phprefnum=delihayat

beverage,drink,breakfasts,glass,herbal,hot,istanbul,liquid,oriental,plate,saucer,spoon,tea,teatime,traditional,turkish,turkish culture,black tea,teaspoon,anatolian

Do you love it or do you LOVE it?

Eva and THAT famous advert

I own this seemingly unmarketable object – Brighton’s loudest alarm clock – because a magazine advert, not dissimilar to the famous one on the top of this page, caught my eye. I don’t remember it well but it probably had one of those catchy little slogans that adverts have: “Don’t live a little, live an alarm clock”, for example, or “If you like a lot of alarm clock on your biscuit, join our club”

Bear with me; I’m coming to my point – but first I must brief you about two other events yesterday that bring me to write this blog.

Half an hour after rising, I was on Twitter when I noticed a message exhorting people to race to www.millionpoundlist.com. The website was one of those attempts to raise money without doing anything much. Click on the link if you want to know how crass it is. In most cases, you’d have to be as thick as a rhino’s bunions to fall for this sort of thing. Alas, it was persuasively worded and I stumped up a tenner hoping there would be some eventual advantage for the tea shop. In retrospect, there won’t be.

The third event took place at Asda in the Marina, where I got so angry I left my half-filled trolley in the frozen peas aisle and came home empty-handed. Brighton and Hove is full of supermarkets from which I have flounced without any groceries and this time it was because they didn’t have the nut roast I wanted. Or any nut roast, for that matter.

How are these three events linked? Well, they’re all about advertising, or ‘legalised lying’ as HG Wells called it, and how it works.

In the first two, I was duped into parting needlessly with cash by forms of advertising. The third is an example of how I was left disappointed because I didn’t take advantage of the available advertising – in this case, the product search facility on Asda’s website.

Advertising, you see, is everywhere and in some form or another affects you and me hundreds of times a day. This fact, and the fact that the advertising industry here in Brighton alone is worth tens of millions of pounds, tells us one thing: advertising works. For small businesses like Metrodeco, there’s no hiding from that fact. And that is the point of this blog. Sure, if you’re like us, you’ll take advantage of free advertising, or PR, as the PR industry calls it. But you won’t get a steady stream of timely, high profile, on-message coverage unless you pay for it. A local press campaign can increase awareness, establish familiarity and, ultimately, drive up sales.

I’m not going to go further into the boons or the banes (ie. the cost), but what I want to do here is give you the benefit of my limited but valuable (I hope) experience of Brighton and Hove’s advertising industry from the perspective of a small business. That way, if you ever have a heart attack, a brief period of internet stupidity and a bout of intense trolley rage all in one morning and decide that you too need to advertise, it might be a little bit easier for you to navigate that murky world.

So, onto business. Like all good things, good advertising is like tea.

It’s:

Trustworthy

Energetic

Appropriate

Taking each criteria in turn, it has to be trustworthy because, if it’s not, people will find you out and your adverts and everything else you say will become ineffective. Have you seen the recent national newspaper adverts by Halifax building society, in relation to the floods in Cumbria? They claim to have ‘put in place a number of special arrangements to help Halifax customers’ affected. These include three month mortgage payment holidays and emergency overdraft increases. Piffle! These things were available at all reputable banks and building societies before the floods, including Halifax. It looks like spin and makes Halifax look cynical.

People are already suspicious of the whole industry without being lied to and our detailed research on the issue in the Brighton & Hove area shows us why:

Metrodeco Guesstimate Graph 2009

Why energetic? It’s thought we are bombarded with around 3,500 media messages a day from brands attempting to capture our attention and engage us with their products. Even my local bus stop in Kemp Town has now started talking to me with its ‘real time’ display, rather than behaving like a normal inanimate object. Most of this noise is boring. Deeply, mind-numbingly, soul-scarringly, eye-gougingly boring. And utterly pointless too. So by the following day, 99.9% of these messages forgotten. You, too, will be forgotten in the blink of an eye if you don’t attempt to bring something fresh and original to the table. So think about what your advert is saying and whether the consumer will have seen a similar message that day.

Finally, your advertising has to be appropriate in terms of the audience, the likely affect of that advert on that audience and the cost. It’s pointless advertising zimmer frames at the local youth disco, especially if you have to sell your husband or wife to afford the advert.

Below this blog, I have provided a run-down of some of what’s on offer in Brighton and Hove and how much it will cost you. Admittedly, it’s only the print side of things, but I’m sure our friends in TV and radio will let me know if they have interesting to add.

Next week: how to solve the Iranian nuclear crisis.

Ends

CITYWIDE PUBLICATIONS

• BRIGHTON AND HOVE LEADER

Delivered once a week (on Fridays) to homes across Brighton. Importantly, it’s free, which means it has a huge readership (over 95,000 according to its publishers, Newsquest). On the upside, this means all sorts of people will read it, from sports fans to politicians to religious leaders – so you’re likely to reach your target audience and some you didn’t know you wanted to reach. It’s also only available in Brighton and Hove – so if that’s where you customers are, then you’re not wasting any money advertising in places like Lewes, Crawley or Worthing. The downside is that it’s fairly expensive at £7.50 per column centimetre. In English, this means it’s going to cost you in the region of £330 for a quarter page colour advert.

• THE ARGUS

The city’s daily paper and key publication. Same price for adverts as the Leader but slightly fewer people will see your ad – 91,000 read each paper (about three times as many as actually buy it). Thursday is a good bet if you think this is the publication for you as it’s the best-read with jobs guide and motoring pull-out. Again, it’s got mass appeal, but although its core readership is in Brighton and Hove, it is sold across Sussex. If your advert is in the Argus, it’s likely that it will be on the side of a packet of fish and chips within 24 hours, whereas the Leader can hang around homes for a week. However, the Argus is more influential insofar as it is read by far more of the city’s power-brokers and decision-makers than. It might interest you to know that nearly half of the Argus’s readers are over 55. Of those in the core area of Brighton and Hove, 56% regularly enjoy eating out.

• BRIGHTON VISTOR

One of the hardest working ad teams of them all, the Visitor gang are our favourite of all the magazines. They will not only put your ad on the pages of the mag AND the website but will promote you endlessly on Twitter and by word of mouth. At only £275 for a half page ad this publication is definitely recommended. Also, if you’re looking for an ethical ad placement, Brighton Visitor puts massive amounts of time and effort into community events, like the annual Food Festival and does a lot to promote the city in their own time and at no profit to themselves.

• LATEST 7/LATEST HOMES

Available for free at hundreds of Brighton and Hove outlets, this weekly glossy mag is a bit younger and fresher than the Argus stable and at £300 for a half page advert, your money goes a bit further. Of all the zillions of city magazines it has the feeling of being the most established and trusted. It’s the one, for example, that the city council leader writes in and has a talented editor in Bella Todd, formally from Time Out. The Latest sales team claim that more than 100,000 ‘in Sussex, London and the South’ read it, which begs the question: “How many of those live in Brighton?” For my money, it’s not as credible as an independent news and features publication as the Argus because it offers favourable ‘editorial’ with paid adverts, leaving readers wondering just how honest the many supposedly objective reviews inside are. However, one of the best advertising opportunities in the city is the Latest’s ‘Hot List’ listings at £10 per week per entry (minimum of six issues). Very cheap but advertisers tell us it is effective.

• ABSOLUTE BRIGHTON

EXPENSIVE!!! £650 for a half page ad but this is the posh kid in the class. This glossy magazine looks higher quality than Latest, with its spine and professional front page photography – so it’s a surprise that it’s free. It is delivered to a limited area of the city around the Dyke Road area (ie the posh houses). My feeling is that if you’re selling dental cosmetic treatment or Ferraris, this might be your publication. There are some very high profile celebrity interviews, high end interiors features, travel features and reviews. However, the writing is not up to the standard of Latest. 25,000 copies of Absolute Brighton are distributed around Brighton and Hove and the surrounding areas and it claims to have a readership of 65,000 plus.

• YOU GOT PAPPED

Unlike most new kids on the block, you get the feeling Papped is here to stay because it’s a bit different being so photo-based. This monthly publication describes itself as “a photographic review of all that happens in Brighton and Hove”, covering “fantastic events, as and when they happen”. Describes ‘mud wrestlers’ among its key audience, making the point, which I’d agree with, that it has a wide appeal. It’s only £200 for a half page ad but that’s because there are only 10,000 copies of each edition, which are distributed to bars, restaurants, hotels, gyms, other clubs.

• GSCENE

This is a bit of a no-brainer. It’s a gay lifestyle mag so is probably the one for you if your audience is the gay community. Worth noting here that, while you might not have thought your audience was necessariy the gay community, Brighton’s gay population is estimated at 50,000. Furthermore half own their own home and 75 per cent are working – so there’s likely to be a bit of spending power there. Gscene is high quality and very independent, which accounts for the fiercely campaigning style of its reportage and comment. There are 20,000 copies distributed in Brighton and Hove, and 10,000 to London and the south coast from Bournemouth to Eastbourne. The editor claims that approximately a further 15,000 readers nationwide download a copy online each month. A good bet at £275 for a half page ad.

• ONE80NEWS

Lesbian and gay free newspaper, fortnightly, claims to be for an older, more informed read. Print run of 20,000 but is read by 60,000. A half page ad is £460.

• ABC MAGAZINE

Free Brighton-based parenting magazine and directory. Distributed in local libraries, leisure centres, children’s centres, doctor surgeries and the like. There are three issues a year and the print run is 35,000 (estimated readership 105,000) – distributed across the county. In Brighton, it counts among its advertisers organisations like Brighton Baby Expo, Tumble Tots, St. Aubyns School, Susanna Cassam Music Tuition and Rox School of Dance & Drama – all give glowing references. The cost is £460 for a half page ad.

• WHAT’S ON

Free pocket-sized monthly listings guide to Brighton and Hove, launched in 1995, 10,000 copies every month, nearly half distributed to pubs and clubs. In the words of the sales team: “Your advertising has greater potential to be viewed repeatedly in a listings guide more than a magazine as the reader returns to the guide on a regular basis throughout the month to view events.” A half page ad is £275.

• BRIGHTON SOURCE

Principally a monthly listings magazine, but also contains interviews with local ‘characters’. Distributed in pretty much in every pub, bar, café, record shop and cool clothes shop in the Brighton & Hove area. A very good cheap option at £40 a month for a listing.

STUDENT MAGAZINES

• THE BADGER

Weekly student newspaper of the University of Sussex Students’ Union.
It covers news, reviews, comment and listings. Claims to have secured exclusive interviews with Will Smith and Johnny Depp. Written by students so likely to be more trusted than the official university magazine. A half page ad is £380, which is expensive for its measly print run of 3,000.

• THE PULSE

Sussex University’s termly glossy mag politics, culture, feature investigations, arts and lifestyle. Again, expensive at £380 for a half page considering the even smaller run of 2,000. But it’s likely to be kept for a longer period than The Badger.

• THE PEBBLE

With a print run of 7,000, Brighton University’s Students’ Union newspaper would seem to be better value at £375 for a half page ad.

BEST OF THE REST

In the West of the City, HOVE FACTUALLY is delivered monthly to 5,000 homes in central Hove, 2,700 in the Hove Park area and 3,000 in Hangleton. It’s A5 booklet size and an ad is cheap at only £65 for a half page ad.

In the East, the KEMPTOWN RAG is widely read and well-loved with its eccentric columnists. It’s hand-delivered to 7,000 homes in Kemp Town (note correct spelling) and Queen’s Park.

There are many other publications that are very local. Some are good, some less so. They’re distributed to anything from 5o to 5,000 homes and ads are usually around £80 for a half page but can be as cheap as £10.

I list some of them here:

Seven Dials Directory (9,500 homes), Fiveways Directory (3,000), Hangleton Harbinger, Hanover Herald, Hollingdean News, Knoll Scroll, Mosaic, Moulsecoomb Community Forum Newsletter, North Laine Runner, North Portslade community newsletter, Portslade Pages, QPCV News, Roundhill Reporter, South Portslade newsletter, West Hove News.

NOTES:

Rates are for one-off ads – discounts are nearly always available for bulk purchases.

As it was, A. and I were on a date, the first we’d been on in a very, very long time. It’s funny. Once you live with someone, you forget to spend time with them. Or you mistake being in the same room as “spending time with them.” It is not the case.

Last Saturday, A. and I decided to spend the night together, doing what we wanted to do. Because we are rapidly entering into old age, our night’s plans consisted of going to places “where we could use these coupons.”

It was a cold, crisp, dry night, and very, very dark. The prairies are falling into winter, into short days and long, freezing nights. This dictated our food choice, as we thought warm broth and noodles would warm our bellies, and our adjacent souls. We settled on Phobulous. We would finish the night with a cup of herbal or rooibos.

We did not expect much. A place that puns on the word pho in its title and menu items is, to our minds, trying to hide something. What else would explain it? But we had coupons, a buy 1, get another-type deal, and a bad bowl of pho would still be a hot bowl of pho, so off we went.

After a bit of driving and parking drama (honestly, Edmonton, it’s called city planning… you want to make your city alive and vibrant, freakin’ plan it!), we squeezed into a spot and settled into a 15 minute wait for our table.

Whenever I try a new restaurant, I like to try the staples. If they can’t get the basics right, I have a hard time trusting the more difficult items. I know, I know, pho is relatively simple, broth with noodles and protein. But getting broth right isn’t easy. Cooking the meat right isn’t easy. Getting the flavours from scratch is not easy. Do they use fresh sides? How do they make it worth my trip?

We ordered vegetarian spring rolls, full of onions, sprouts, herbs and, heavens be thanked, taro root. Our second course would be a shared papaya salad, classic Southeast Asian fare. I love this salad. At its best, is tangy, sweet, nutty, spicy and refreshing. At it’s worse, it’s a large, sloppy, sour mess.

I would finish with giant bowl of pho, made with brisket and rare skirt steak.

The room is very nice. Modern, clean, just enough tables to make it feel alive, but not crowded. I thought our table would be awkward, given that it backed into a long, high table, lined with stools. The height of the stools meant we’d have bum in our face all night.

But it wasn’t a problem. The spring rolls came really quick (we found out later that we had gotten another table’s spring rolls, ones they had been waiting on for 15 minutes), and we dug in. Like many simple, deep-fried, pocket-type pastries, spring rolls are easy to make, but very hard to make well. I am big believer in proper deep-frying. I think, if done with precision and care, deep-fried dishes are not only delicious, but they aren’t greasy. I’ll write a post about this some other time.

These spring rolls were perfect. They were delicious. Lightly flavoured with the fat they were fried in, stuffed with goodness, we ate them slowly, carefully, savouring each crunchy, oily bite. We were stunned. That it was unexpected was one thing, but these rolls were perfect.

The salad came eventually. Mandolined papaya, pickled carrots, strips of very dry, very tough jerky, peanuts, tiny bits of golden fried onions, dressed lightly in lime juice and finished with Thai basil and cilantro. Classic all around (maybe not the jerky – I thought it a questionable addition until I discovered the pleasure of moistening and chewing the hard, rubbery jerky with various liquids at my disposal, including lime juice, moisture from the vegetables, oil from the peanuts, etc), and very well done again. Cold, textured and refreshing, it is a great follow-up to the spring rolls. It has a satisfying crunch, a mingling of sour and sweet, and is just fun to eat. I’ve been meaning to add papaya salad to my home rotation, and this one is a good reminder why.

A. is a veteran traveller of South East Asia. She spent 10 months in Indochina, mostly in Vietnam, where she taught English and wrote for the ex-pat newspaper. I saw her falling back into her memories, smiling and remembering Hanoi’s busy streets, her favourite food stands, and the dainty little Vietnamese women who would polish of their gigantic bowls of pho in admirable flurry of gobbles and slurps. “I was twice their size,” she said, “but I could only finish half as much. Truly remarkable.”

It was in the middle of such musings that our (indeed, gigantic) bowls of pho arrived. With it, a second set of spring rolls, which were our actual order, but now got diverted to a table of probably disgruntled patrons. There was no mistaking it. It was pho, with all the trimmings. A delicious broth, white noodles and curls of beef throughout. A bit of rare meat lay above the surface, which I swirled in to the scalding broth so it would cook nicely. A hearty side of limes, sprouts, sarachi, and soy sauce followed, and we began our customization of our soup. I like mine to be as hot and acidic as possible, so in went the sarachi and the lime juice. I add the sprouts in shifts, so they don’t get soggy and lose their crunch.

“This is excellent,” A. muttered as she downed her chicken pho. “Delicious and authentic. This is the real deal.” I could not verify the latter assertion, but I agreed with the former. I wanted to swim in the bowl. The broth was perfect. It changed our moods. Where once were resigned to the cold, dark, howling night, we became defiant and joyous. As our bellies warmed, and with it our chests, limbs, and fingers. We smiled and laughed and marvelled at our good fortune, happy we were in this bright place, made brighter by the inky darkness outside. The food reminded us of other lands, stirring our desires and fantasies to visit them.

I couldn’t quite finish the bowl, which was better than A., who only got through about half. We slumped in our chairs, full, contemplating the rest of the night. We decided on tea and reading, which, again, given this city, was something we’d have to drive to.

No matter. I paid the bill (happily noting the Vietnamese women working in the kitchen), and we were off. The night had gotten even darker, if it was possible. We felt like it was 10 pm. It was, in fact, only 8:30. It made us tired.

Parking the car at home, we made our way over to Steeps. This little tea shop, the original in a now not-unsuccessful chain, is fine place to spend an hour reading or scribbling. We chose our tea (a lavender rooibos for me, which was not very good, and an excellent East Frisian tea for her), and settled in. She was reading John Hersey’s Hiroshima, soon to switch over to People magazine, and I was starting Evan Wright’s Generation Kill.

The night would’ve ended like this, uneventful, simple, relaxing, had it not been for the very obvious first date that was transpiring behind us. This guy had brought this girl to this slightly run-down, wooden, comfortable tea shop, scoring many points in the thoughtful/cool/interesting category. She was impressed, I think, and would have remained so if he had not begun bloviating on his personal history.

My, was he ever loud. I’ll admit to eavesdropping, but really I couldn’t help overhearing this guy go on about the troubles, tribulations and triumphs of his life. Some gems, most likely paraphrased:

“I grew up Christian. Really Christian.”

“I found myself if Bible college, and then I went to Kimberly. There I had an epiphany. I started questioning myself, my father. I’m not that way any more.”

“I love to read. I read as much as I can. I really like the new Ondaatje (which he pronounced “on-daat-ja”). Um. Also, I like Douglas Adams. Yeah. You know, A Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy? I think all of human philosophy is represented in those books.”

“I also like A Fine Balance. It’s Indian.”

“Oh, I can’t forget, Lewis Carroll’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I really enjoy those books.”

Really. You enjoyed perhaps the most famous Christian allegory of modern times, after telling this girl you spent considerable time and effort extricating yourself from Christianity. Quit while you’re ahead, tea-drinking cool dude. Quit while you’re ahead.

I smiled. I hooked my hand under A.’s knee, and found a comfortable angle in my armchair. I hope you get to do this, friend. I hope you get past your first date.

And this is just rather fun.

Hey Guys!

Happy Day after Thanksgiving. I hope you had a special and relaxing holiday! Now next topic: Immunity Tea. This is something I’ve been making for myself and family members a lot lately, since the running around and changing weather can really give our immunity a run for its money. (Speaking of running around- this is one girl you WON’T catch shopping today on Black Friday, under any circumstances!!! Except food shopping of course   ).

This tea is really spectacular to drink through the winter. It works when you are already sick, when there are sick people living in your same house (or tiny apt!) or at work, OR when you feel the beginnings of a pesky cold coming on. This tea boosts immunity because the combination of the lemon and ginger will promote circulation of the blood and lymph and help remove stagnation. In other words, it will help promote toxins constantly circulating to exit the body. The ginger has warming qualities will help burn out harmful bacteria. An organic lemon is packed with over 200 enzymes that will help restore the liver, one of our big detoxifying organs. The cayenne pepper works to break up mucus in the body.

However, the ORDER you make this tea makes all the difference. For instance, you do not want to pour your lemon juice into boiling water, which would destroy the enzymes…and the whole effectiveness of the tea. So here I’ve broken it down for you, step by step:

Step 1: Peel and chop ginger into chunks. For 1 cup, aim for about 1 heaping Tbs. You want to slice it up so the properties of the ginger will seep into the tea, but don’t make the pieces too small- otherwise you’ll get a bunch of “floaters” that will keep coming up to the surface.

Step 2: Heat up water. It can boil, or if you can catch it right before it starts to boil that would be great. Turn off the heat, and let the water cool down for a minute. Pour the hot water over the ginger pieces, which you’ve placed at the bottom of a large coffee mug. Let the hot water steep over the ginger by itself for about 2 minutes. The ginger needs longer time for its flavor to fully unleash.

Step 3. Cut a lemon in half.

Step 4: After waiting at least 2 minutes, the ginger and hot water should be cooled down enough that you could pick up the mug with your hands and start to sip it. At that time, squeeze half a lemon into the mug. If you have a hard time with lemon, do at least 1/4 of a lemon, and build yourself up. But 1/2 would be ideal!

Step 5: Give at least one good shake of cayenne pepper right into the tea. If you can handle spice, like me, you can try 2 shakes! Don’t overdo it though.

Step 6: Sweeten with a packet of Stevia. Other choices are raw agave, or xylitol. Stevia is the best, as it has 0 effect on our blood-sugar levels. Above all, do not use Splenda or any other fake sugars!!!

Step 7: Mix with a tea spoon…and you are ready to go! And ready to start giving your immunity a big boost.

Enjoy and let me know how you do with it!

Happy and Healthy Holidays,

Love, Kimberly

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!

Quite frankly, I delayed writing this post because I felt like everyone else’s thanksgiving eats were way more blog-worthy (and there were a LOT of them).  Plus, I didn’t get home from work until after 8 pm and all I wanted to do at that point was put on my PJs, watch football (slash Home Alone), and stuff my face (not in that order). 

On a holiday such as this, it would feel weird to eat before giving thanks, and so I feel as though I should acknowledge what I’m grateful for before I share my food.  [There’s logic in there, somewhere]

So here are a few of the things that I’m glad to have in my life…

• my wonderful fiancé
• my loving family
• my beautiful sisters
• my supportive parents
• my friends (old and new)
• my stressful, but rewarding job
• my health
• my happiness
• my appetite metabolism
• my readers!

And now, without further ado…just another day on the cardiac step-down unit.

I brought TWO Tazo Chai tea bags because Starbucks’ holiday hours were 7 am to 5 pm.  Not so helpful for an addict who has to be rocking a considerable caffeine buzz by 6:30 am.  Although not too different than my usual pre-packed work eats, there was something about this specific combination that made my tummy especially happy. 

Apple, salad, dried fruit, bars, and leftover cornbread.  Perfection.  This salad was pretty freakin’ huge, and contained spinach, leftover curried parsnips/carrots, cherry tomatoes, and raisins.

Recognize the new one among the bunch? 

Yep, the first flavor I tried was the Tribal Cinnamon Oatmeal. 

No superman vision?  No worries, see below.

Organic Rolled Oats, Organic Raisins, Organic Agave Nectar, Organic Peanuts, Organic Brown Rice Syrup, Organic Apples, Organic Almonds, Organic Whole Grain Crisp Rice, Organic Cinnamon, Organic Sunflower Oil (Organic Sunflower Oil, Natural Tocopherol, Organic Rosemary Extract).

Nutrition Info here

This bar tasted JUST like a bowl of oatmeal.  Delightful!  The flavor of the cinnamon and nuts tasted precisely like a bowl of oats with all the toppings.  The agave nectar made the consistency gooey without leaving anything sticky on my fingers.  It separated easily AND I was able to break off bites without it crumbling apart.  This is my ideal texture in a work setting because I can eat it easily on the go – no muss, no fuss (read: no crumb-covered scrubs).

Work was nice and mellow.  They overstaff on holidays because they want to make it as stress-less of a shift as possible.  Another perk of working holidays?  The chief of cardiac surgery buys a HUGE banquet style spread for everyone who works on Thanksgiving (and the time-and-a-half pay isn’t too shabby either…).  As gorgeous and thoughtful as the feast was, the vegan friendly options were extremely limited (as I suspected they would be).  Oh well, more for everyone else. 

I got home and was delighted to have already prepped a bunch of eats to replicate my own gourmet Thanksgiving meal. 

Roasted veggies (butternut squash and brussel sprouts)

Cornbread and broccoli

Sweet potato tower

Spinach artichoke dip with every carb vehicle in the apartment (represented by the above photo – which was a pathetically inaccurate display of the actual portions consumed)

That’s more like it.  Goodbye cornbread, you were great while you lasted.

I was WAY too full for dessert.  Oof.  Food baby twins.  Like Kate Gosselin and the Octomom combined. 

Instead I busted out an old friend.  Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride tea!  I rolled myself to bed after my feast for a serious snooze fest.  Off to the West coast for the weekend!

making beauty and throwing it away and making more.

windy today and i feel less than brilliant. driving over the hill from work there are the dark parts on the road, when you pass through clumps of wood and the bright spots where you have a view of the ocean but that doesn’t make the road an allegory. i watch the trees, tossing in what certainly looks like sexual arousal. everything looks frail, the sky is grey blue and tells me that it all wont stop unfolding. a bit of air sneaks past a window and into my hair. last night i dreamed again. like a stain on my subconscious sheets that i’ve scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed but never got out. what i thought was an end turned out to be a middle what i thought was a brick wall turned out to be a tunnel what i always think i know is just a color in the sky, but i sat in the park the other day and watched natures wastefulness. its been doing that all week, making beauty and throwing it away …and making more.

So it’s 5:24 am on the day after Thanksgiving.  BLACK FRIDAY!  The stores are teaming with avid, somewhat deranged, shoppers…. or so I’ve been told! Stores are giving away $1,000 gift certificates, 2,000 inch big screens for 49 cents, free popcorn, $10 off your $11 purchase, yada, yada, yada.  I’m only up because I was coughing so violently, I didn’t want to wake up and keep up my also sickly husband, who is snoring quite comfortably at the moment.  I’m drinking tea.  THAT is a tell-tale sign that I’m not well.  I only drink tea when I don’t feel up to my usual perky self.

Rick and I did get up at 5:00 am on BLACK FRIDAY three years ago, but it was not to shop and SAVE SAVE SAVE.  He had surgery #3 on his Achilles tendon at 7:00 am downtown.  I remember driving by the packed parking lot in front of Circuit City and wondering who came up with midnight shopping???  It’s crazy.  It’s only the crazy people who shop when they should be sleeping.  It’s the crazy people who come out at night when the moon in full.  Why would a store owner bend to the desires of the crazies?  And promote their uncouth crazy ways?

Now if the scrapbooking stores did the 3:00 am spend ten cents and get $400 worth of scrapping supplies, I’d be camping out in front of the store with my Coleman lantern, personal trimmer and pile of photos, rounding the corners for future pages.  But they don’t.  They’re not crazy.  See, this proves it that scrapbooking women are not crazy. 

OK, the bottom of my teacup is staring up at me.  I’m no longer coughing up a lung.  I can now go back to bed and dream of all the money I’m saving my husband by not participating in BLACK FRIDAY!  If you’re a CRAZY person, please let those of us who stayed in our warm beds know what we missed.

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Okay, so I’ve been on a chai kick lately, obviously (2nd chai post in two days).  Well,  tis’ the season!  I created this recipe one day in my head and had to try it out.  I was impressed with the results, as were those that were lucky enough to be gifted some! (The actual cookie base was adapted from the Joy of Cooking’s Classic Oatmeal Cookie).

Black-Bottom Chai-Spiced Oatmeal Cookies

Steep:

3-4 high quality chai tea bags in 1/4 cup boiled water for 10 minutes, covered.  Remove tea bags and let cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile wisk:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose baking flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3/4 tsp cinnamon
4-6 grinds of fresh black pepper

In a separate bowl, blend:

2 sticks of butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla

Add chai tea concentrate to butter mixture.  Gradually add flour mixture until smooth.

Stir in:

3 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

Place dough in refrigerator to stand overnight or 12 hours, covered (this step is important for flavor, do not skip this step).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with the rack in upper third of oven.  Grease cookie sheets.  Drop dough by heaping tablespoons, 3-inches apart on greased cookie sheets.  Gently press cookie downward to create a semi-flattened disk.

Cook for 8-10 minutes.  Let stand 2 minutes on tray before removing from cookie sheet.

Meanwhile, in a double boiler, melt and cool to tepid:

12-14 ounces of high-quality semi-sweet or dark chocolate, chopped

Once the cookies are completely cooled, spread the bottom of each cookie with sufficient chocolate to coat.  Place face down on wax paper or tin foil and place in a cool area to harden.  Do not remove cookies from wax paper until completely hardened, otherwise you will lose the chocolate from the cookie.  Store in a cool location for up to one week.

And of course, enjoy!

I just suggested the garlic treatment to someone whose personal internal drive is under viral attack. I’ll save the garlic for later, in my case: six am is a bit early for garlic, even in France. I’ll stick to tea with lemon and ibuprofene, for the time being. No, I hadn’t intended to blog about my virus attack but I offer it up in a spirit of blogger solidarity, so to speak.

The photo du jour is part of same: I grabbed it the other day on rue des Peseignes. As with just about everything on that street, Monsieur Gout’s supermarket was felled by the crash of the leather industry in this town. In French, ‘gout’ does not describe the same  painful condition it does in English; if you add an accent on the ‘u’, you get the word ‘goût’ which means taste.

In story, I stopped yesterday at a point when one of my characters was having thoughts of goofing off – a fairly uncharacteristic activity for her. I did some random reading, then picked up my good old Pablo Neruda.  Found him in Paris, after the Spanish Civil War, goofing off with none other than French poet Paul Éluard. At which point Neruda reveals the  following secret: nothing is more important to poets than wasting their time. Apparently Neruda and Éluard did wonders together in that regard. Neruda writes: “Avec Paul, je perdais la notion du jour et de la nuit qui s’écoulaient et je n’ai jamais su si nos propos avaient ou non de l’importance.” (With Paul, I lost all notion of the passing of both the day and the night time, and I never found out if our exchanges mattered or not.) Sounds like high-quality moodling to me.

I see Pablo is about to meet Nancy Cunard who has a printing press. Apparently, Nancy translated Lewis Carroll’s  Fit the Fourth into French. The mind boggles. How do you translate ‘Snark’? What about ‘uffish’, ‘gallumphing’, or ‘Jubjub’?

More tea is in order over here, for now. My best to mankind, both in the general and in its particular manifestations.

***

P.S. at 13:20 (it’s that kind of day):  a new Not To Be Missed link on the blogroll – the one, the only Bureau of Public Secrets. You’re welcome. I’ll now attempt a bit of writing( but sleeping and playing mah-jong solitaire come more naturally today).

Warmth rushes down my throat as I take my first sip of hot tea. Something about it floods into my deeper than physical self too… and it seems to burn the darkness away. Such cold, such bitterness lurk in the hollows of my depth… squeezing every bit of tenderness and joy and peace and compassion and love out, out, OUT of me! Frigid insides, cold as death I am at times. Cold as someone who’s been hurt… who’s lonely.. who’s afraid.

Until the warmth…

Hot tea, you warm me back into feeling the feelings I tried to forget. Sympathies return to my heart and longings of rage fall aside.

It is time to grow up. It is time to tend to all of the sadness and sorrow felt. People so hungry they run away.

Oh, but I tire of tending the broken sometimes… the hearts ache relentlessly and I feel never ending bellows scourge me inside out… burn holes through me… and even take advantage. Lord, why? I have heard 20,000 sermons on why I should not ask why… but in my weakness I ask again… why, Lord?

Why do they hurt? Why do we hurt? What characteristic of you do I carry that causes my heart to wrench in sickness and carry the burdens of the broken ones. I am a broken one too. Yes. A broken one too, Jesus. What in me rises up toward injustice and weeps with the battered… even when I don’t want to. Lord, I need you. I want to be a giver, not merely a receiver of your love and grace to hoard them in selfishness.

I must be so alone. Who else knows my longing for Your presence? Who else knows the  depth of Your great Love to me? You God, are all I need. You Lord, are more than capable of guiding me. You Jesus, have made me with fear and wonder, because I can choose whether or not I represent You well.

I want to represent You well.

Hot tea, you have warmed me… warmed my insides softer and softer still.

I am open to your movements God. Show me where you want me. I will go.

In this episode I’ll break down different types of teas so you can know what to expect from each kind. Learn the differences between White, Green, Oolong, & Black teas. From the taste, to the brewing instructions, to the health benefits, this is your quick guide to tea. Cheers.

If you’re having trouble viewing this video, check it out on my Vimeo page.

Happy Turkey Day!

1. EE had never heard of the Macy’s Day parade before we told her about it.
2. Jazz had never heard of the Macy’s Day parade before I told her about it.
3. This is so not okay with me.

But, I’m not going to complain about that right now. I just watched the parade and I was kind of stunned by how many terrible singers they had on the various floats. Now I am watching the dog show. I mean, I really don’t understand dog shows.
____
(Drafted before day at the J’s)
____

So, the J’s.
Define: Chaos.
Many small children running around a house, trying to kill each other/steal each other’s clothing/steal Zsa’s phone and go through her text messages/interrogate the older children about their love lives.
Yeah. Things calmed down by the end of the night, they turned on “Night At The Museum” and it was all good. I ate so much food. I had turkey and stuffing and gravy and pie. That doesn’t sound like that much, but I had it in mass quantities. There were 30 people there. The table (yes, we all fit at one table) was the biggest table I have ever seen. I hung out with the little 7 year olds and this one other girl who was there… She was 14 and we talked about books and how much it sucks to be a freshman. Anyway, it was a pretty good turkey day. I hope you all had a great time.

Because it’s turkey day and stuff, a list of things I’m thankful for:
- Friends
- M’family
- Coffee
- Tea
- Orange tic tacs
- Sweetriot
- Starbucks
- Libraries
- Books
- The internet
- Google
- Wikipedia
- MLIA
- Twitter
- Loud music
- Food
- YWP
- R2
- Chinese class
- French class
- iPods
- The cold
- Snow
- Funny things
- Computers in general
- Winter
- Fall
- Doodles
- Good moods
- Good weeks
- Good Days
- Happiness
- Minimalism
- Movies
- Music
- Pasta
- Soliloquies

I hope you’re hooked – because here are some more installments of the journey – from tea country to Buddhism to buying silk…  All brought to you by Karmacake.

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9