Cats with Frickin’ Laster Beams

Cats with frickin’ laster beams attached to their heads! Not actually attached to their heads more like attached to a keychain that I can hold in my hand. It’s amazing that you can get lasers on keychains these days. Well, perhaps, not that amazing. A few years ago that might have been impressive. Now, well … go to the local computer shop and you can get one on a keychain for less than $5.

Sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads! THAT’S impressive, but not ’cause the laser beams are scary. I’m sure the sharks have no idea how to use them anyway. Sharks with laser beams attached to their heads are impressive because SHARKS are impressive. And I don’t want to mess with anybody who has taken the time to strap a laser beam to a shark’s head.

But laster beams and cats. AWESOME. Our cat, Mojo, chases the dot of light like the crazy, playful cat that he is. Fletcher isn’t much impressed with the dot of light. He knows it isn’t something he can catch and chew. So he watches curiously. Not the dot, though. He watches Mojo. Fletcher knows that Mojo doesn’t know that he can’t catch the dot, and he’ll watch Mojo play just long enough to catch him completely off guard and pounce on him and chew. Laser pointer. Perfect cat toy.

 

 

© 2013 Debora Kapke

Pu-erh Tuo Cha from Rishi Tea

I’m normally a fan of oolong, but find myself compelled to explore – especially Pu-erh. Oolongs can have such varied and complex flavors and from what I’ve tasted so far, so can Pu-erh.

I have several older cakes I’d purchased a couple of years ago. One tastes fishy and the other like mushrooms. I love the one that tastes like mushrooms! Is it dorky if it reminds me of sitting in a dewy forest under a mushroom umbrella! (Shhh …) In looking for more similar to that, I purchased some of this Pu-erh Tuo Cha by Rishi.

The Pu-erh Tuo Cha cakes are dark and fairly hard. If I score with a knife I can break one in half with my fingers. The brew is inky dark with a little red. The taste is smooth, deep and almost smokey with a few notes of mocha. Not bitter, but it gets strong quickly.

If I search with my taste buds I can find just a hint of that mushroom taste. Perhaps this batch has a lot more aging to do. I think this is fairly “fresh” as it was purchased in Rishi’s new boxes instead of their old tins. I rather miss the tins, but understand. The box is 3.21 oz (91g) and contained about 12 cakes.

I didn’t feel a need to rinse first, but I’ll try that next time. Good for multiple infusions. Steep times varied with second and third steeping. I want to explore more Pu-erh!

http://steepster.com/teas/rishi-tea/164-ancient-shu-pu-erh-tuo-cha?post=163329

Mini-review: Silver Yin Zhen Pearls from Teavana

Teavana’s Silver Yin Zhen is a nice little white tea. Pearl teas are fun ’cause of the whole unfurling process — adds visual enjoyment and reminds me that I should relax like the little pearls in warm water.

The flavor here is fairly classic white tea. I’ll preface by saying that I tend to like white teas a little stronger and, in fact, enjoy a wee bit of bitter. I brewed for longer than the recommended time of 4 to 5 minutes, but at a slightly cooler temperature.

First steep: I let it go to about 6.5 minutes because it didn’t really look like the pearls had unfurled much, and I like the unfurling. 3 or 4 minutes would probably be nice for folks who like a lighter tea because there was some bitterness in that first brew. It was light in color with a pit-of-the-fruit type of flavor (not fruit flavor, but that slightly astringent, slightly woody flavor of the actual pit of a peach or cherry). I enjoy that. After tasting plain, I added a bit of sweetener and this brought out the light florals while minimizing the bitterness.

Second steep: About 5 minutes. Similar, without the bitterness, less astringent. A bit fruitier. I imagine it would have been stronger if I hadn’t steeped the first cup for so long. The leaves are nicely relaxed yet not limp — they’re dancing or doing yoga.

Third steep: Also nice, I let this one steep a looong time ‘cause I got distracted. It didn’t get bitter. Still a really nice cup of white tea. With sweetener, the floral notes are still present.

I’m not sure that there will be much flavor for a fourth steeping of these leaves. Folks who like a lighter tea who don’t steep as long can probably get a very nice fourth and even fifth cup out of Silver Yin Zhen Pearls. Instead of throwing away these leaves, I’ll make a flavorful blend by adding a fruity herbal or rooibos to what is left just to get a wee bit more out of the little dancers.

I purchased Silver Yin Zhen Pearls from Teavana during their after Christmas sale. I don’t know if I’d purchase again at full price. Love those pearls though!

http://steepster.com/teas/teavana/6473-silver-yin-zhen-pearls?post=155337

Science Olympiad Invitational

Binks and her first partner are in their first event at the 2013 Science Olympiad Invitational meet. They’ll be here pretty much all day with three events and lots of fun. I am in sit and wait mode. Ack.

And to all a good night …

Can’t believe it’s done again. Another Christmas past. It might be said that one of the biggest Christmas miracles is the way in which it’s able to bend and warp time. Pure and simple. Good night.

Got Mead

We still like mead which is more or less wine made from honey instead of grapes. I’d been thinking we should give Redstone Mountain Mead another try for a couple of reasons.
A.) Now that the Mead we’re making ourselves has aged a bit, I’m really struck by how much difference time has made to each batch and how different each batch is. I couldn’t help but wonder if the bitterness from the April 13, 2011 batch might not have aged out. The honey has me more more curious too as honey can vary quite a bit from batch to batch even within the same variety.
B.) I think I’m starting to get a feel for the taste of real Mead, not just bottles labeled “Mead” that contain a host of other flavoring agents to appeal to the masses with fruity, tart, candy-like flavors. The Redstone Mountain Mead from April 13, 2011 was probably the closest to real Mead of what I purchased at Total Wine in the past.*
C.) Mead is generally yummy.
D.) The colbalt blue bottles are beautiful and we can reuse each one we empty. It’s a tough job to empty them, but somebody’s got to do it. (See #C. above.)

I’d been wanting to give Redstone Mountain Mead another chance since the April 13, 2011 batch was somewhat bitter and wasn’t what we were hoping for at the time. The more I learn about Mead the more I realize how many different factors can affect the flavor causing bitterness or off-tastes. Redstone bottles are dated — each batch, unique. We might get more of the same or not. Only one way to know for sure … Next we purchased the August 15, 2011 bottle and we were really impressed this time.

August 15, 2011 was delightful with a pleasant, distinct honeycomb taste. Sweet without being sickeningly so. The bitter aftertaste of the April 13 batch was absent. While Aug 15 didn’t have the deep, dark taste of Fox Hill, Special Reserve, it was overall just a really yummy classic Mead taste with enough depth to make it interesting. Pleasant all around with no funny tastes and none of that bitterness. The color was a more golden than white wine, but not at all brown.

I went back to Total Wine hoping to get a bit more and actually found a November batch instead. I’m guessing there are a few other folks out there who found the August batch appealing.

I’m going to check around for more August, but in the meantime I purchased a November bottle as well as a Redstone Black Raspberry Nectar. We’ll try those next. Black Raspberry Nectar is something we hadn’t seen at Total Wine before, and according to the Redstone website, it’s their most popular mead. It’s a melomel which means it’s made from honey and fruit. It’s carbonated and at only 8% alcohol content I expect it to taste fairly mild and perhaps a little wine-cooler-ish. I’m hoping it has more depth and natural flavor than coolers.

We recently went to a SodaStream House Party and that has me wondering more about carbonation. I don’t think I want my mead to be carbonated, but with fruity flavors it could work. I like cider or cysers carbonated. I’m guessing a SodaStream wouldn’t work well for this kind of beverage, though, I might do a little research.

*Chaucer’s Mead, while yummy, tastes a little too consistent to be just plain classic mead. I think there’s got to be more processing going on for the consistency of taste and aroma. What we’ve had over the years is much like it’s always been. Don’t get me wrong, still yummy with a distinct honey flavor and aroma, but not the depth and unique character of an unprocessed, unadulterated mead.

Voting

Doing my part to vote and standing in a long long line that seems to be moving fairly quickly. Glad to live in a country where I can vote and where I can both agree and disagree with my fellow countrymen. Hoping to get out of here quickly enough to head over to the Lego store while they’re still doing the Tuesday free build. Lego for President! (No, not really.)

The British Have Bad teeth?

It has been said that the British have bad teeth. I am convinced that they don’t have bad teeth. They just have tea-stained teeth. Like I had. Thank you Tyson’s Corner Dentists for such a sparkling cleaning. My teeth look great. I better keep on top of those tea stains. It’s hard though, as I really like my tea a lot and don’t plan for one moment on giving it up. I think I just need to keep to my lighter teas like green, white, and a few oolongs or herbals. And remember to brush afterward or use a Waterpik. Smile.

Squirrel!

Yesterday a squirrel had parked himself under my car just behind my front wheel in such a way that if I backed out I’d squash him.

Vacation, yummy stuff and Amtrak

On vacation and eating yummy food here in the Carolinas as is tradition here.

Took Amtrak ’cause sometimes I just don’t want to drive that far. Amtrak has wi-fi so we can play some games. We can stretch legs and snooze. Much better than the painful bottom and cramped legs I get from the long drive. We had a delay on our train ride in when our train hit a motorcycle as we neared the Durham Amtrak station. Supposedly the motorcycle exploded on impact and no body was injured. When I asked they said the guy let go/jumped off the bike before it collided with the train. Not much to see, hear or feel as far as we were concerned. The train is huge compared to a motorcycle. The only thing I noticed that was even remotely different was a slight strange smell like a little burning rubber mixed with gasoline fumes. We were delayed about 45 minutes as the police made a report and the conductors checked the train for damage. I’m not even sure who hit whom — did the train hit the motorcycle or did the motorcycle hit the train? Either way, it seems like it was one of those crossings that only have lights to indicate an oncoming train. Or something who knows. Just another weird thing while on Amtrak. Go figure.

Yesterday, we visited the Museum of York County which was pretty cool for a small Caroline museum. Maybe I’ll post some photos. There are lots of “stuffed” animals. Binks was worried about whether they were animals that were killed some other way or if they were killed and stuffed specifically for the museum. That would make her sad. Other fun exhibits there though and I think we’d definitely visit again.

Been eating yummy chicken, ribs and BBQ here which means I’m officially in a meat coma. Yum! But I don’t normally eat this much meat. Binks and I made yummy chocolate cake which we doctored a bit by adding an extra egg to the mix. We made homemade chocolate frosting (I’ll see if I can post that recipe). It was totally delish!

Lovely weather.