Tea Lovers Be Warned!

I felt so loved – better, understood – when Beloved gave me the ultimate tea-lover’s gift: a fancy glass teapot (you know, with the thingy in the middle for the tea leaves so you’ll never have to catch them between your teeth again) and a selection of very cool, very expensive teas to sample. Perfect! Now I could upgrade to gourmet tea guzzler while I slaved over my hot keyboard.

I quickly learned my caffeine lesson when I tried Vanilla Black Tea. I whipped up a pot, slurped down a first cup, loved it, and went back for seconds. Then thirds. (Well, it was delicious.) Imagine my consternation when, come midnight, I was more awake than I’d felt in weeks. 1 am and I was rearing to do an all-nighter. That’s when I knew Vanilla Black was not a good option after dark. Not unless I wanted to be very energetic – and before you start sniggering, folks, let me tell you those days are few and far between now there’s Master Seven and The Destroyer to contend with.

Romantic Rose Tea was delicious - though I did begin to worry about my sanity when I caught myself eating it straight from the packet.

But the tea that most upset my equilibrium was Coffee-Flavoured Tea. I love tea and I love coffee, so coffee-flavoured tea sounded like the best of both worlds. I brewed it with love, hovered over the teapot to savour the aroma, and poured my first cup with anticipation. It all went downhill from there. Until that moment I hadn’t realised that part of the coffee experience is texture. Coffee – even black coffee – has a more oily consistency than tea. As in, coffee’s not quite as - well, watery.

I know, I know, sounds nuts, right? But I was drinking something that tasted, to all intents and purposes, just like coffee – but in my mouth it felt all wrong.

Needless to say, the Coffee-Flavoured Tea isn’t in very high demand at our place. Any takers? Ooh! Let’s do a poll! E-mail me (visit my website) and I’ll post out samples.

How about you? Have you ever tried a specialty tea that left you begging for more – or wishing you’d brewed your old socks instead?

Who said Blogger was easy?

I'm fighting with Blogger - and losing. Definitely losing.

I've built my own website, for crying out loud! You'd think I'd be able to figure out a way to make my Blogger page look consistent with my website. But no. It's beyond me. How to get my banner across the full width of the page? Or, if I can't do that, how to shift my "About Me" box up, so that hideous blob of white space is made use of? And why won't my "GirlTalk" title change to the font and font size I've requested?

What I need is a computer genie to whoosh out of a bottle and fix it for me, but the only bottles close to hand are of the milk and tomato sauce variety.

The good news is I'm here, and planning to post my blogs on Blogger from now on. I hope you'll be able to live with the inconsistent look of my Blogger page (I'm not sure I will). And if you have any suggestions for helping me tame my Blogger monster, I'm all ears!

(Postscript: Ooh! Excitement! I've managed to tame the "GirlTalk" title! Oh ye-ah, oh ye-ah...)

Maggie's Attempt At The Good Life

We leapt at the chance. A week of The Good Life? Perfect! Fresh air, peace and quiet, and a brief escape from the lingering stresses of QuakeZone. Exactly what we needed.

Bursting with anticipation, we shoved a few clothes in a bag, grabbed the portacot, strapped in the kids, and headed for the wop-wops.

Our destination: Motukarara. (Try saying that after a couple of wines.) Far enough from town that we wouldn't hear the constant thrum of traffic, streetlights wouldn't mar our view of the Milky Way each night, and we'd feel the tranquillity seeping into our bones.

The daily trips into town were a drag - school runs twice a day (not to mention swimming lessons, soccer practice, and weekend soccer game), a couple of pre-school sessions, Beloved had to work in town, and I had several appointments that couldn't be missed. Aside from that, though, we had a fair taste of The Good Life. Here's how it panned out:

Day 0 - turn off TV, can't get it working again. Not a biggie for me - but major for the kids.
Day 1 - pre-dawn wake-up by three cats scratching furniture and demanding food. Hens produce very first egg, just in time for Master Seven to discover. This is indeed The Good Life. :)
Day 2 - Magnitude 5.3 earthquake at 3am. Kids upset. Rest of night a write-off.
Day 3 - OMG one dog looks dead! (False alarm. Whew.) Miss Nearly-Two locks herself in bathroom. (Not a false alarm.) Shrieking gale-force winds all night. Sleep impossible. Convinced roof will fly off. (It doesn't.)
Day 4 - Hint of cat pee in living room. Magpies attack one of their own in field. Shrieking gale-force winds all night again. Sleep deprivation takes its toll.
Day 5 - Tyre blowout. No cellphone reception. Master Seven waiting at school... and waiting... Screaming kid in back of car. The Good Life sucks.
Day 6 - No internet access. Feel like I've lost limb. Miss Nearly-Two poos on kitchen freaking floor.
Day 7 - Fantail flies into house (death omen according to Maori superstition). Fan-freaking-tastic. Chirps merrily, has to be shooed out. Miss Nearly-Two enchanted. I'm filled with dread. Fine. Take my damn internet access. Just keep my loved ones safe.

Conclusion: The Good Life is over-rated. Or maybe bad things just happen to me more than anyone else. What's your take on it?