Kayla's Magical Cold-Busting Mess of Craziness (or: The Ass-Kicker)

So, this week Chris caught a crazy nasty cold. I have never seen him cough so much and look so miserable. I knew what had to be done... tea must be made.

Instead of just making him a regular cup of Cold 911 from DavidsTea, I had to be all crazy and take it about six steps further. This is what I did

Mostly equal parts, all from DavidsTea:

• Cold 911
• Nettle leaf (no longer sold, could replace with Liquorice Twist)
• Detox
• Chamomile
• Peppermint (for flavour)

(Combined Ingredients: Peppermint, apple, juniper berries, nettle leaf, mulberry leaf, rooibos, sencha green tea, lemongrass, ginger, ginkgo.With natural eucalyptus, orange, and lemon flavouring)

AND it's all organic!

Add a tsp (or more, I won't judge) of honey.

It just tastes like a sweet, medicinal peppermint. 

Well, I have been informed that, thanks to three large mugs of my madness tea, Chris is free from his sore throat symptoms and feeling much better!
And for someone who refuses to drink or try tea (even when he enjoys the smell), this is a great victory for tea. He even ASKED for some at one point.

There you have it. The Ass-Kicker.
Well, the the kicker of the asses of colds.... yes.

Matcha Matsu...

...Banana smilkshake/ice cream!
 This shit is bananas, B.A.N.A N.A.S.

I'm not kidding it's amazingly good and I love it. Which is why it's the last of my love month reviews. Because I am literally in love with this.

I froze two bananas (which for one person is too much if you just want to make a milkshake, if you want left overs for ice cream or have two people or second helpings, then it is perfect). Once frozen (but not frozen like a brick), I plopped them in the food processor (sorry blender, ya'll just can't handle frozen bananas).
Once in the processor, I pulsed them until it was pre-puree stage. Then I added in my milk and blended until smooth. Start off with a small amount of milk and slowly add more.
After it was smooth, I added in some matcha. For me, I added about a table-spoon. But like with the milk, start slow and add in until you like the flavor.

Once I got it to the consistency I wanted (basically a milkshake), I simply poured and drank.

And don't worry about it melting, because the more it melts, the more smooth and silky it gets. Just make sure to drink it before it's warm, because warm probably wouldn't be the best.

As for the ice cream, it tasted just as amazing.

Make this. Drink this. Turn it into an ice cream and eat this.

Happy creating,

L

Bear Valley Feature Horse: Ghost

This is Ghost in 2005. Such a beauty!
Note, she is not pregnant

Ghost is a horse near and dear to my heart. I sponsor her as much as possible (I sadly can't do a monthly sponsor due to finances). The first time I saw her, it was love. Seeing her before and after pictures, and her story just solidified it.

Ghost is about 15 years old (which isn't all that old for a horse! They can live until over 30!). She was originally rescued in 2005 from a feedlot (yes, horses are sold for slaughter in Alberta. For meat. Meat to be sold to eat in other countries. It is not legal to sell horse meat in Canada to Canadians), and then two years later she was adopted. You may be wondering, why, if she was adopted out 8 years ago is she back with Bear Valley now?

This is Ghost January 2015. She's pregnant.

Assholes. That's why.

She was sold by her adoptive owner, and she has, in her relatively short life, passed hands SEVEN TIMES, and, since being adopted out, been bred multiple times. Let me fill you in on some of Bear Valley's adoption rules.

Unless written consent is given by Bear Valley Rescue, mares are adopted or fostered on the condition that they not be bred. Colts are released on the condition they must be gelded as soon as possible and not be used for breeding. 

Please note that if ownership of the horse is transferred, these conditions must follow the horse to its new home.

Horses adopted or fostered from Bear Valley Rescue are released on the condition that they never be sold at auction or for slaughter.

Bear Valley also is always open to taking back a horse they adopted out, if it's adoptive owners can no longer care for it properly anymore.

She was bred without permission, the conditions of ownership managed to be ignored. Currently, she is going to remain a permanent residence of the rescue. 

She is currently expecting a foal, probably sometime in April 2015. 

Bear Valley Contact Information:

Facebook
Twitter
Website
Linkedin
Donation (cheque, money order, paypal, and ATB cares  payment methods all available!)
You can also sponsor a horse monthly or through one time donations!
Charity Focus

Hot Lips

Okay, if you like cinnamon hearts, you will like Hot Lips from DavidsTea (I can't find it on the site, but I don't think it's been discontinued). To be fair, its description did basically say those very words.

I hate cinnamon hearts. They don't taste like cinnamon, they just taste a mixture of sweet and hot sauce to me. Which, is basically what this tea tasted like to me. Because I hate cinnamon hearts and it tastes like cinnamon heart flavored green tea.

This is hate-speech pure and simple. I can't even say ignorant hate speech because it warned me, for once the DavidsTea description was 100% bang on target.

I soothed my tea hankering with a special concoction I made, which is going to be next weeks review!

-L

K Switching to Bi-weekly

Things are tight.
I have a dozen other things to worry about currently, and buying new tea is just not in the cards.
So, to make my current supply last in updates for a while, I will be switching to bi-weekly posts.

I appreciate the understanding, and apologise for the inconvenience.


~K

Love Tea #7

Yay! The first of my Valentines tea for 2015! One week late, but oh well!

Love Tea #7 is a surprisingly good tea. Like it's creamy, and chocolatey, and you can still taste the tea. It's just sweet enough as well.

I\m gonna be honest though, I am not sure how long I steeped it for. I think maybe 4ish minutes?

Like this is unusually short. Mostly because I have nothing bad to say!

-L

Chocolate Chili Chai

Ingredients: Black tea, chocolate bits, red peppercorns, lily petals, aleppo chili, ancho chili, natural and artificial flavouring


This tea just reaks of chocolate.

Even my boyfriend asked me what the hell I was making because he thought I was making hot chocolate when I told him I needed to write this blog tonight.
 
I wouldn't say that it smells like hot chocolate. I can't say what kind of chocolate, but definitely something on the darker side, almost that fake chocolate smell.


That's another big NOPE. Second in a row.

I DO NOT understand how this is a fan favourite at DavidsTea. It tastes like drinking a chocolate scented candle that has chili powder lightly seasoning it.
Chili inside an actual creamy hot chocolate sounds like a novel concept that I really really want to try... but this... this is awful.

It tastes so fake and I am super glad that I this was a sample that I didn't spend money on.

I don't get this one.


Happy Steeping,
~K 

Bear Valley Feature Horse: Beth

*WARNING. PICTURES OF AN EMACIATED HORSE BELOW*

Picture 1: Beth July 

Bethie's life story has not been an easy one. Even when she came to the rescue on July 9th, 2014, she was in horrible shape and her prognosis was pretty grim. When she came to the shelter, she had a body conditioning score of about one.
She had had a halter left on her, probably from when she was a weanling, and it grew into her face, leaving a big dent in her nose and turning the hair on her head white in a halter pattern on her face.  

Picture 2: October 22nd

She had also had some sort of injury, perhaps from being hit by a car, to her hips, causing either a fracture or muscle tear.  She was emaciated and had sores, most likely from struggling to stand. A horse who cannot stand is often a horse that doesn't survive. This was the first clue to how much of a survivor she would end up becoming.
She has grown stronger every day, and always maintained a sweet and gentle temperament. She is currently now able to be outside with the senior horses, can get up on her own! It will be a long road before she is recovered, but we believe, I believe, she can and will do it. 

Here is her progress photo album!

Jan 23rd

Contact information for Bear Valley:

Facebook

Twitter
Website
Linkedin
Donation (cheque, money order, paypal, and ATB cares  payment methods all available!)
You can also sponsor a horse monthly or through one time donations!
Charity Focus

Pu'erh Caramel

As you all know by now, I love caramel to an almost unhealthy amount. Right now I have a caramel scented candle going too.

I'm almost done being sick (it's been about 2 weeks in total). Turns out it was strep throat, and it did start out from my trip overseas to visit the FIL. I had to take 2 days off of work because it got to where I literally couldn't talk above a whisper, and am now on very helpful antibiotics. Sadly, tea only cures so much. Chugging ginger-honey tea (AKA fresh ginger and honey in boiling water), and oregano oil, helped make my throat feel a little better though.

This tea is called Caramel on the website and it's from Tea Desire. I got it from Zach, my lovely significant other, for Christmas! Rest assured, it is a pu'erh, and it does have caramel bits in it. And it smells divine.

With the first sip I didn't really taste any caramel. The more I drank the more I tasted it. It never really became a super powerful BAM of caramel on the first flush.

You may just love this tea! Starting next week, I may just do some love themed teas!

-L