This is the typical jasmine green tea that you can find in most Chinese grocery stores. It’s also the cheapest. A box costs usually about $0.99 for bags or loose-leaf, though I’d say the loose-leaf is better tasting (and better value). I bought a tin of it (which is the same amount as the box) for about $2.99 in Chinatown. It’s manufactured by Fujian Tea Import and Export co. Ltd.; they also make oolong and regular green teas, but I’d say their jasmine tea is probably the best of all of them. It’s a good value for money.
Type: Green
Instructions from packet: Take 3g of tea, pour boiling water. Keep covered for about 5 min, then serve.
Description from packet: ‘Commodity Name: Jasmine Tea’
Ingredients: Green Tea and Jasmine Flowers
The look: Dark greenish brown leaves.
The smell: Distinct smell of jasmine, not very much smell of the green tea. almost like a perfume.
First steeping: A little more full-bodied than the Japanese green tea I reviewed earlier. A nice green tea, but with a different flavour, since it’s a Chinese green tea, which has a different drying process than Japanese green tea. Very warming, with a nice floral taste that isn’t sickly, but subtle. It’s also not too bitter.
Second steeping: Definitely watery, with a loss of green tea flavour. The jasmine flavour tends to overpower, so I would not recommend resteeping.
Type: ‘Maté’ according to David’s Tea, though Guayusa is a completely different plant.
Instructions from packet: 1.25 tsp per cup, 85C water, 4-7 minutes steeping time
Description from packet: Head for the Ju Ju Jungle, made with a guayusa herb and fruit blend that’ll make you feel like swinging from the vines and hanging from the trees.
The look: Fine, small dark green leaves with largeish chunks of dried papaya.
The smell: The only thing I can smell is the dried papaya. It makes me think of a popsicle due to the sweet fruitiness of it, but there’s a vague milkiness to it too.
First steeping: The tea is astringent. The papaya flavour dominates. The tea has a bitter after taste.
Second steeping: At first, the second steeping is watery and unpleasant. Even though I’d read resteeping is recommended, perhaps I needed to use more tea. I left it to steep a little longer and returned to it. Leaving it for an extra five minutes marginally improves it. Drinking it twenty-thirty minutes after the initial steep it becomes actually quite pleasant, but this seems an unreasonable amount of time to wait.
Rating: 5/10. I really, really like papaya (I mean, I have a tag on my blog that’s ‘papaya is so good‘), but the astringency and bitterness seem chemical in nature.
a ‘you could have been so much better than that’ smile
My cousin Julie bought me this tea and sent it back from England with my mum. Whittard’s is apparently a famous tea house in London, though I assume they have branches in other parts of the UK too.
Type: Green
Instructions from packet: For the perfect cup of Zhejiang Gunpowder Green Tea, use one pyramid per cup and always use freshly drawn and boiled water. Allow to brew for 2-3 minutes or according to taste. Should be drunk without milk.
Description from packet: From the Chinese province of Zhejiang, this is a high quality gunpowder tea with tightly rolled pellets and a shiny green appearance. Mistaken for actual gunpowder by 16th century traders, this is a vibrant tea with distinctive sweet and smoky overtones.
Ingredients: 100% green tea
The look: Dark, blackish green-brown tightly coiled leaves in a nice pyramid-style tea bag. Essentially, it’s a convenient loose-leaf, which is good for people who don’t like having tea leaves floating around.
The smell: It smells a little sweet, though there’s no real smoky smell. A kind of complex smell, I suppose.
First steeping: A strong smoky flavour dominates, but doesn’t overpower. It mellows out on the tongue. It is a good quality Chinese green tea, or Chinese-style. The smokiness improves as you drink. The flavour is pretty straightforward
Second steeping: The second steeping is actually not too bad, though obviously a bit less flavourful. The flavours are essentially the same as the first steeping, so re-steeping at least once is a possibility.
Rating: 7.5/10. I don’t always like to have smoky tea, but this one is good for when I’d like to.
Dry tea and first steeping (see the odd lumps floating on the surface)
Dad got a pack of ‘energising’ teas as a gift a while ago, so I’ve decided to exploit it and use some of them. It’s also been a while since I wrote a tea review… Chocolate Rocket is in a lot of David’s Tea gift packs, so I’ve tried it before, I think, or maybe I’ve tried a sample at David’s Tea, or maybe I had some at Kate’s… I’m not really sure. I’ve never really had this type of tea before, though. It’s supposedly high in caffeine. I didn’t really feel any ‘kick’ when I drank it, though.
Type: Yerba Maté
Instructions from packet: 1.25 tsp per cup, 85C water, 4-7 minutes steeping time
Description from packet: If you need an energy boost, this energizing hit of cocoa, almonds, raspberries, chicory, and roasted maté will have you up and flying.
The look: Chunks of what I presume to be rasperries (or the cocoa nibs? or both?) and sliced almonds dominate this tea. The yerba maté itself is very fine, quite green, squareish leaves.
The smell: Sweet, but not sickly. Rather like an inoffensive chocolate and fruit pastry or scone at a café – there is potential there, but it’s probably just OK. There is a slight nuttiness to it too, which is pleasant.
First steeping: It’s odd, because bits of the tea float to the surface, and I think they’re the cocoa nibs (cacao nibs?) but they taste kind of like chocolate covered raspberries without the sweetness. I actually like this part of the tea, but I think I’d rather have it as a treat than in a tea. It’s a little irritating, though, because they kind of push themselves on you (as if they have malevolent agency, really) and you can’t really help but eat them since they keep bumping against your lip as you drink. Anyways, the first steeping of this tea is a little disappointing. It’s very mild, and tastes kind of weak. It’s the type of thing you kind of regret making, but then you think, well I’ve made it, and it doesn’t taste terrible, just pretty much of nothing, so I’m going to finish it since I have to write this tea review, after all. I have read though that yerba maté‘s first steeping is often thrown out in South America.
Second steeping: At first, the second steeping is watery and unpleasant. I left it to steep another five minutes, and it marginally improved it. Leaving it for another twenty or thirty minutes led to a rather pleasantly mild tea (unlike the weak mildness of the first steeping). It does seem unreasonable to steep it that long. It might be prudent to use more than the recommended amount of tea in order to avoid the weakness problem.
Rating: 5/10. It smells very nice indeed, and is pretty inoffensive, but I wouldn’t seek it out myself again. If it comes in another gift pack, I’ll probably drink it, but I’d reach for other teas first.
Also, my friend Sharan posted about dealing with body-stress during exam time, and it’s really interesting. There are some things in there I haven’t really thought about during my thesis writing hours… it’s almost the same thing right? I especially agree about scented candles. Scented candles are my jam. I bought some from IKEA recently for a decent price. Candles are soothing and help me keep calm.
Not to be cliché and re-use a gif so soon like I don’t do that anyways but…
I also like to have a cup of tea at all times when I’m working at the computer. Or generally at all times. Pretty much all the time. I think I have an addiction.
One for me, another for me..
Using that gif to segue into something else… Last night I finally started reading Muumipappa ja meri, which is one of my 25 before 25 goals. So far so OK, but it’s slow. I should probably dedicate a notebook to it. I wonder if any of my Moomin notebooks are empty… I think so. I have to get back to my Finnish diary too – I didn’t write in it at all when I was in England, so it’s missing a lot of entries. I’ve also gotten better about wearing all my lipsticks. For the past three days I’ve kind of been on point with my lipstick game. Today I wore Wet n’ Wild “Fuschia with Blue Pearl“, which cost $1.50, which is pretty sweet for what it is. I neglected to take a picture of it on, but I assure you it looked nice, I think. On Friday I wore my Dior lipstick in “Beige Indecise“, which mum bought for me in Chicago on my birthday two years ago when we went to the Dior counter. It’s a perfect nude colour. I really like it a lot, and the formula is really nice. On Thursday, I wore my Mac lipstick in “Viva Glam I,” which is a matte red. I like “Russian Red” a little bit better, but I’ve come to like Viva Glam I more than when I first bought it. Anyway. I’ll probably do a make up post at some point in the future, just to change it up.
At the bike race with Margaret. I don’t know why I’m squinting. Eye smile? Smize?
I forgot last post to show off this photo from the bike race. I think mixing patterns is fun. The coat has a kind of London tourism theme to it, which I bought at Primark, whereas the scarf is a rip off ‘silk’ scarf pattern from H&M. I think maybe more fashion posts are due too, once I sort my clothes out. Anyways, I’ve got to get going! So here’s a cute cartoon called “Bee and Puppycat”
I really like how Puppycat talks. It’s really cute. Emily
Also alliteration. For those moments when you feel like sounding a bit pompous. Let’s review my 12 before 24 goals.
1. Regain some of my old swimming skills. I feel a bit incompetent in the pool nowadays, and also like I will probably drown if I have to swim more than a hundred metres or so.
So I swam fairly frequently in Tanzania due to going to the pool at the weekend kind of being a thing, but I haven’t really kept it up in England or Canada. Well, maybe I’ll figure it out later. I’ll just keep getting buff so hopefully that will help. Or does buffness sink?
Hogging all the buff
2. Keep up a daily skin/body regimen so that I don’t end up with terrible skin when I’m older (my mum says that she regrets not keeping hers up)
I realise now that I may have implied that mum’s skin is terrible, which it isn’t. I am a bad daughter. I’ve been making sure to clean my face with hot water before bed, and to moisturise before going out. I guess that’s pretty much it. And I do fancy exfoliation with this apricot jazz in the shower.
Tea is apparently good for your skin
3. Learn how to French braid
I genuinely tried this one. But I’m just not coordinated. I need to keep practising.
So bad at braids. It just looks wrong in the mirror and I freak out and take it all out.
5. Finish my thesis and defence on time (that goes without saying really)
It’s going OK, but I would really like to print out these transcripts. But I also don’t know whether printing out 400+ pages is ultimately going to be productive for me.
Thesis dog
7. Manage my money more prudently (I need to start some way other than the “in my head system”)
The in-my-head-system has been upgraded. Sort of. I’m just trying to spend no money on as many days as possible. So far, this is working fairly well, but my grant went down and my rent went up. But I’m moving back to my parents’ for at least the winter (January-April). So I’ll be able to save and pay some money off my credit card (thanks, grad school).
8. Work on getting better in MMA – groundwork and standing, and hopefully participate in a tournament of some sort (note: the goal can be met by scheduling participation even if it comes after my 24th birthday)
I’ve been going more and more frequently, and spending more time in jiu jitsu classes. I’m getting a bit better at grappling and rolling. My friend told me I need to be more aggressive so that’s what I’m trying. When I rolled with him again, he said that aspect was definitely showing improvement. YES.
Totally goes down like this. I of course can do flips. And am southpaw.
9. Learn to knit properly, rather than lumpy, too-short scarves. I want to make nice things!
I haven’t really had the time to pick up my stuff but I will at least look before Friday oh god oh god oh god.
10. Draw or paint a picture every day. I want to get better.
I really hope doodling counts. I am trying. I don’t know if I’m getting better. But I have to remember it’s just a hobby.
a connoisseur looking at my latest “draw something”
11. Make sushi again and don’t fail so miserably at it this time.
I did try to make sushi in Tanzania but it didn’t work out. I don’t want to talk about it.
12. Create a family album using all the photos my mum has saved up, plus more current ones I will take.
Going to try to maybe do it on Friday (my birthday) when I’m home. I know mum and dad have been sorting the photos. Maybe I’ll find more cute pics of child-me.
Maybe something like this
Also I think number 6 disappeared in the void. Sorry breadmaking.
The first thing my conscious mind says to my body in the morning. And yes, my body is Jason Statham
This morning I woke up naturally, which is the best. Then I lay in my little mosquito-net cave reading Sjón’s The Whispering Muse (Excerpt). And then Isaac and Caren run to ask me about the luggage policy for Precision. Which is kind of ridiculous. Their excess weight fee is quite low (I was told 5000tsh/$3.20 for about 7 kg over). But if you want to take another bag, it’s $200(US). I understand their planes are small (they advertise that they have 767s, but the route to Mwanza is in a smaller plane), but it’s pretty insane. I thought that like me, Caren had two bags, but she has three, since she paid for another (my parents told me that she paid for another, but I thought they meant she had two). Luckily Isaac is not taking any luggage, but there’s one bag left over.
Carry on will work, but they do weigh it, and the limit is 10kg, though they have lee-way of about 2-3kg. I can’t remember if I wrote this story, but I was overweight with my main bag (32.5kg, but they let it slide for free, aww yiis)… then I was overweight with my carry-on (17kg…) so I started to remove all of my electronics and was resigned to paying $200US. However, all the staff were debating about what to charge me, and so they didn’t see me take everything out and shove it in my purse, I suppose. They decided to reweigh my carry-on and apparently all my electronic stuff weighed about 6-7kg. So they let it fly and when I got to the departures lounge, I repacked everything.
My luggage strategies
I set up my final kitchen interviews this week, and helped with the deliveries again. The mamas at Igoma dressed me up since I complimented one of them on their kitenge- I guess she thought I was talking about the apron. I could not stop laughing. Everyone was so happy there, or at least the general mood was. One of the other mamas was cutting papaya (called popo here), and she gave each of us (Abdallah and Christina) a huuge plate. I felt a bit guilty, but I didn’t want to be rude, so I didn’t refuse it. I’m glad I didn’t, in a way, since it was perfectly ripe, with the nicest texture and sweetness. Next week I might bake something for the kitchens, if I have time.
Also I’m taller and bigger than a lot of people, so I look ridiculous in all group photos, especially those with little hats and aprons. (with the yoghurt fridge)
Mahina
On Friday I went to do interviews in Igombe, which at about 20km away from the town centre, is the farthest kitchen away. We actually had to stop and wait by the airport since there was a random military exercise going on (which we only found out later). We were all a bit worried a plane had crashed, but in the end, it worked out. Steph bought everyone a banana, which was delicious and totally appreciated.
Waiting at the airport featuring gross, mosquito-bitten feet.
How I was sitting in the van for about a decade
I did eventually make it to Igombe with the others, who were off schedule by almost an hour and a half, so they had to hurry away. The mamas at Igombe are very nice, and have such a positive attitude. The name of their kitchen is Mashujaa (heroes), since they made it through many struggles to open up. We took the daladala back, since the lift was only one way. The Igombe-Mwanza daladala is much bigger than the others, about two thirds the size of a regular city bus…
An average city bus (I took this last summer when a TTC bus crashed into a building at the end of my laneway)
But it’s really old and creaky. And dusty. I sat on the wheel, which reminded me of riding the school bus as a kid; my legs cramped up hardcore. The ride takes quite a long time because it stops fairly frequently, though it only makes two stops in town. My translator and I walked back to my neighbourhood and I discovered my new doom: Victoria Fast Food. They sell the usual types of food. The samosas are phenomenal, but the best thing there is their white swiss roll (which I haven’t snapped a photo of – yet). It’s got orange cream icing instead of the regular stuff on the inside. On the outside is regular white icing encrusted in chopped cashews. It costs 1000tsh ($0.65) and is going to be the death of me if I’m not careful.
I ended up reading at home for a few hours and not going out on a bar crawl which sounded legendary… I was a bit tired from going out for a drink on Thursday, plus going all the way out to Igombe, and I wasn’t in the mood initially. And then I was too lazy to cook, so I went back to Victoria Fast Foods and got additional samosas for me (called sambusa here actually) and some maandazi (a sort of softish doughnutesque pastry) to share with my roommates. As soon as I walked in the second time, they knew what I wanted.. <_<
Samosa understandings…
It was almost getting to dusk when I left the apartment, and I knew I’d make it home with moments to spare, when I suddenly ran into the professor from NIMR in the street- it turned out he was checking on his businesses (which I wasn’t aware were so close to our apartment!). He has a bar, a drinks-point/grocery, and a cosmetics shop. He showed me all of them, and they were all very well maintained – I was very impressed. He explained to me that he had to run these extra businesses (with his wife) since the salaries for academics here are fairly low. By the time we were finished talking, it was dark, but I knew I was 500 metres from home. Plus, I’d walked in a group on Thursday from Capri Point to Poliisi Bar after dark, so I was feeling emboldened. I set off after saying goodbye and walked home without feeling afraid.
I was wearing my kanga
I had bought ice cream at Zagaluu’s with designs to try it – since Azam ice cream seems to be everywhere, and I don’t want to spend money on ice cream without trying it cheaply (1000tsh/$0.65) first:
My midnight feast. Also mango juice mixed with Ribena in a mango chutney jar is the best thing ever.
This is what disappointment looks like, manifested in ice cream form
I ate about a quarter of it. It tasted like really artificial, terrible, too sweet, sort of half melted soft serve. I can’t even describe how awful it was. I was pretty disappointed, but at least I know better than to buy it again. I will probably return to the partially eaten tub in the freezer every so often, but I won’t seek it out again.
Ice cream feelings
I suppose I’d rather spend 1000tsh ($0.65) on a pikipiki, so I can feel like Lady Gaga in the Judas video, with my hair flapping in the wind (at least that which isn’t stuffed into a helmet of dubious cleanliness), and my scarf flying behind me. Maybe I’ll get some fab jewels from the costume jewelery sellers and some sheerish scarves and go around standing on motorcycles, holding impromptu dance parties with Daryl from Walking Dead. I also kind of want to have yellow hair again…
The cat’s coming too. (Norman Reedus taken by Terry Richardson)
Yellow hair and long nails… ;-;
I have been really stressed so my nails have been picked to nothing. They’re so short and I feel so sad and embarrassed. I have to stop picking at them. By the time I’m in England I want them to be presentable and nice for Nan’s party. I also want to sort out what I’m wearing there, but I have honestly no idea. Maybe I’ll have something made, maybe I won’t… or maybe mum and I will go shopping before the party, if there’s time (Hey Mum, if you’re reading this, you know the plan now…).
I’ve been at the Gold Crest cafe for a few hours, and actually had lunch here, which was pretty good actually. I’ve also been drinking endless cups of tea.
Toasted chicken sandwich with chips and tomato salad (9000tsh/$5.75)
In any case, I’ll leave with a song full of energy, since I have to go to the airport in 2 hours. I want more portable music… my iPhone is full of apps and photos. I definitely need a proper mp3 player… I couldn’t find my iPod nano (which I’ve had since I was 15 or 16. Blue metallic goodness)… maybe it will be my birthday present to myself this year. Anyways.
So I joined a gym, since I’m worried about my muscles atrophying. In fact, I joined the only gym. We all went on Saturday. When I was waiting for everyone to get ready I made faces in the mirror. I am an adult. I swear.
My goal body
We had a pretty good workout, then we ate at Sizzler again. I got their remarkably bizarre, food-court accurate Chinese again. It was pretty good, though the sweet and sour chicken is better. The ‘fried’ rice is phenomenal. We went home for a bit before deciding to head out to Gold Crest for sunset. Despite my earlier misgivings, I must say it went much better this time around. No one tried to buy my things off me, and we made some new friends.
SMILE.
Sunset!
The view at Gold Crest is pretty good. Our new friends were on a project at the hospital and we may go to the islands in the lake with them next weekend. We also met a German guy who was quite nice; also one of the first Germans I’ve ever met to say it’s nice to hear a foreigner speak German, even if I did make some mistakes. He was working on renewable energy and has been in Tanzania for over 8 months! I hope we get to see him again, though he said he was going to the field for a few weeks.
The city stadium and more lake
Night view
If there’s one thing about night here, it’s that it gets dark – country dark. In the downtown it’s a bit better because most of the businesses leave some of their lights on, but as you get out to our neighbourhood, it truly is black as pitch. Also inconvenient about night is that there are many noises, and noise here carries a bit differently than at home. Often I’ll hear a noise that sounds like it’s in my room or right outside, but it’s really across the street or even somewhere else entirely. It’s fairly deceptive. The worst noise comes from the wedding venue across the street, which plays the same songs every wedding, one of which drives me up the wall. Sometimes the weddings go until 1 or 2 in the morning which can be annoying.
When I first got here, this was my reaction to every little noise
To mitigate for that kind of night when you wake up and you think something scary is in the room but you don’t want to move but then you turn on your torch but the mosquito net is blocking the light so you still can’t see outside the net and you think that someone’s creeping around your room being a total creep and stuff, and not actually doing it to steal anything but just creeping around to straight up scare you… I had cake for breakfast. I had wanted to try the cake from the bakery by Gold Crest (I think the bakery’s called Royal Oven) for ages, so I bought a cheaper slice (“vanilla cake”, 2500tsh/$1.60). Though it didn’t benefit at all from being in the fridge overnight:
Pre-gym Breakfast of Champions
We also set our minds to going to the gym again, as well as maybe going to Tilapia for supper after. Though once we got to the gym, we realised they were closed on Sundays (which is odd, since I distinctly remember on their noticeboard that they are open on weekends…). So we went straight to Tilapia and paid to use the pool. I luckily had brought my e-reader and occupied myself thus while the others swam some laps. Then I swam about 15-16 laps (12 before 24, remember?) at a somewhat leisurely pace.
Necessary poolside accoutrements: e-reader, ridiculously high SPF suncream, and sketchbook
The general ambiance at the pool
I also took this really ridiculous photo of myself:
The pool is serious business
After more lounging and general laziness, we decided to have supper by the lake again. I had a mutton biriyani with some garlic naan (17000tsh all in/$10.75) plus some Stoney Tangawizi, which is like this weird ginger beer that tastes extra gingery and has a bit of bite to it when it hits your throat. It’s got a very intense flavour (and is non-alcoholic!). The biriyani was pretty good, though I was annoyed I had to pay extra for naan. The others got the jalfrezi of last time and a paneer curry which had cashews that was particularly good. While we were eating we saw some people sailing and it looked quite nice.
Sailing boats
Then we saw another of the reed-canoes which I had seen last time also. This time it was less dark.
Reed-canoe?
It was a beautiful day, and a shame it had to come to an end. But we were very full and decided that walking home was the best course of action to assuage the food pressing against our bellies. When I got home, I talked to mum and dad on the phone and it was nice to hear their voices again. Also I tried to use the internet but it really didn’t go so well:
Statistics for the internet.
Sometimes the speed for the download would drop to 0.0 kbps and that sucked. But I think it’s also because in the living room, there’s more concrete walls and the (mobile) Internet doesn’t quite get through. Now I’m sitting by the window and it’s much better. Though the others who are using Vodacom’s service instead of Airtel’s have a much better speed. I’m waiting for my bandwidth to run out, then I’ll probably switch. I have two more gigabytes to go, though it takes forever to reach anything.
My expression when I’m trying to will the Internet to be a little faster, but it’s not doing anything, just sitting there.
There are strange things I’m starting to miss while I’m here. Rainy days especially. It’s dry season now. But even the rain here is different (at least that which I experienced in April)- it’s highly localised, and it doesn’t last for very long. I want rain running over asphalt, the sound of it drumming on my umbrella, walking through puddles in my wellies, and the sort of cosy sense you get when you come into a café from the rain and sit in the window with your tea staring at the people going by…
Fancy Chicago high tea not necessary
Anyways, I’m hoping to be up at a reasonable time, so I’ll leave it at that.