Monday, January 30, 2012



Today is Ian's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY IAN.
In other news, I am blogging again. It has been a long time so let's start with an exciting and important hair update. In Oregon I got it dyed red. Now I will continue the series of photobooth pictures where I am looking down because otherwise I always make some awkward face:


I really hated the colour cause it looked washed out and weird so when I got back to Toronto I dyed over top of it:


Yay! Now it's a nice dark pinky red that's a bit lighter than in the photo.

I didn't make any new years resolutions. But I remember last year I said I would learn how to cook. I don't think this has been a complete fail since I know how to make very basic things without a recipe now. For example, last night I made pasta and vegetable sauce and when Matt came in he said "that smells amazing!" So I am going to count this as a win.


Let's talk about tea! Okay! How about herbal tea. Also known as... TISANES!
Basically an herbal tea is any infusion that doesn't contain anything from the Camellia sinensis plant. So it's not really "tea" and some people are all "actually herbal infusions are not TEA, they are infusions so when you call them 'herbal teas' you are actually very wrong, they are herbal infusions." That's annoying though. Don't be that guy.
Herbals teas have a long medicinal history and were first used by healers thousands of years ago. They're still heavily used in traditional medicine. Basically no matter what's wrong with you, there is an infusion out there that is used to treat it. Here are some of the most popular ingredients in herbal teas and their benefits (okay, well these are just some things that I've noticed a lot in teas. I'm not sure if they're really the most popular or whatever.)
  • Chamomile - Calming
  • Ginger - Good for circulation and upset stomach
  • Peppermint - Good for digestion
  • Lemongrass - Also calming
  • Rosehips - Good for colds (since rosehips have a ton of vitamin c)
Personally I hate chamomile and it reminds me of babies (not that I hate babies) and lemongrass tastes soapy and detergenty to me. But whenever my stomach hurts, a mug of lemon ginger tea with honey usually makes me feel a lot better pretty quickly.
You can throw anything natural in hot water and call it herbal tea. Not all herbals are flowery or fruity. One of my favourites from Davids Tea is a mulberry leaf tea that tastes like cake batter. They also have one called Wintergreen Woods made of big leaves and pine needles and you have to just throw a bunch of it in your mug or teapot because it won't fit in an infuser. It tastes like a forest! I think I will make some after I finish writing this.
It's possible to make tea with marijuana. Some people try to make cannabis tea by just throwing it in a mug and pouring boiling water on top but obviously that doesn't work. Maybe it would make a nice (??) tasting infusion but there would definitely be no high involved since there needs to be some fat present to bring out the THC. So if you want to make cannabis tea the right way you need to use butter in it, or I think alcohol also works. Then you'll have a teapot full of pot tea... sorry.
Another interesting herbal is pennyroyal tea. I guess pennyroyal is supposed to induce abortions. A lot of people have tried to use it this way but basically they all just die. So don't do it. Also the Nirvana song.


A few days ago my mom's side of the family was all in Etobicoke so I went and spent the day there. I went to Ikea with my aunts and FINALLY bought my two bookshelves! I built them yesterday with Marshall's help and my room is looking less and less disastrous. I still need a few Ikea things, like inserts for one of the shelves, so I'm excited to go back there and eat princess cake.


4 comments:

Claire said...

Actually, you are incorrect. chamomile is delicious. Once I told an english woman that I put milk in my tea, and she was positively flabbergasted.

Miss you!

And that picture of cooper is scrumtrelescent.

mom said...

That is one of the best pictures of Cooper ever. It really captures his personality!

oma said...

Oh the things I learn from my granddaughter. Here I thought I was drinking tea all along.
Great blog.
miss you.

Allison said...

Erin with red hair! Erin taking photos! Erin blogging again! Portland! Tea!

So overwhelmed with happy. Please stic around? :)