Ginseng Oolong

More than a year after I bought this tea set and ACTUAL Chinese tea from Beijing(when I went there on a tour with my school) I have finally used it for the first time. I bought the tea and teapot as a gift for my mother and once the Ginseng Oolong tealeaves started to brew, all the memories started to come back; the hustle and bustle of China, the smog filled skies, the seahorses on a stick, the cheap gimmicky Chinese souvenirs, the Chinese french fries and just the general atmosphere. In particular it brought back the memory of the Chinese tea ceremony I went to with other students from my school. The ceremony was just so relaxing and beautiful and was held in this small room with ornate chinese drawings covering the walls,glass table and chairs. We tasted all these delicious teas and they told us all these interesting facts about tea in China such as the fact that you're meant to drink tea out of the miniature cups in three sips - which is very hard when it is boiling hot! Plus at the end we had the opportunity to buy things from the tea store next door which sold all these handmade clay teapots. I specifically remember one which looked similar to a pumpkin and another that had three life-like clay frogs attached to the outside.

It's school holiday time at the moment and I've been inspired by the lifestyle section in our local weekend newspaper to get fit and healthy before Christmas as they're having a 6 week week get fit/healthy guide. I try to eat healthily but I just find myself pigging out when I haven't organised meals and I definitely don't do any exerecise so there is most certainly room for improvement. I think what's really going to help is filling in this health contract that you have to re-write each week where it states what your goals are and you have to sign it at the bottom. I'm also going to be writing a health diary where you record how you're doing each day and how you can improve. I'll let you know how it goes once I get into the swing of things :)

A hunting we will go

A hunting I did go and look what goodies I found around the house that belong to my mother:

A vintage metal/brass easter egg and some book plates with a unicorn on the front, it's a shame they were only in one design.

I really do love vintage and/or retro items so I thought I'd share with you the vintage style teacups I bought my mother for mother's day:

My mum and I tried a new tea we bought in them, white tea. It's meant to be really healthy for you and like green tea it reduces your chance of contracting dementia(If you drink it often enought that is!). It definitely is an acquired taste though, one which I have yet to 'acquire'. Maybe I just made it too strong though. I do want to try more of these fancy herbal teas and such in the future. In my local supermarket they now sell organic dandelion tea- wonder what that would taste like?

And look what I discovered....a flower!

A glass and a half-full

You know how my reward for drinking water was that I got to drink it out of my pretty glasses? Well here's a little photograph of them.



I'm honestly in love with them. I bought them when I went on vacation with a friend and her family to a little holiday town named Busselton. They had lots of neat little shops there, selling lots of little quirky bits and pieces and some really good thrift stores. A lot of the places sold organic and eco-friendly products so I stocked up on organic skincare products. I also bought this organic vanilla cupcake mix. Now personally I'm not a huge cupcake fan(I'm more of a savoury girl) but I had to buy these as they were organic and I am so so glad I did. They tasted 'divine'! They just had this delicious natural vanilla bean flavour, instead of the artificial flavour you usually get with those packet mixes. I was a bit sad once I'd eaten all the cupcakes as I didn't think I'd be able to get the mix again but luckily for me I found them in this store called Liquorice that sells dried pantry foods and such. I was ecstatic once I found them and to my delight the store also sold other varieties in the range, as well as pancake mixes! They are quite expensive though, at $15 a packet but for the occassional treat I definitely think they are worth it. Next time I buy a mix I'll take a photograph for you all.