Posted by Som
Wed, 21 Feb 2007 04:46:00 GMT
I figure it's time for something of an update on what's been going on around here. I've been busy - I might have mentioned that a few dozen times? Having one kid in school - just one! - makes time fly like you wouldn't believe, unless you've been there.
On the tea front, I have a beautiful new setup for gongfu cha that I really need to get some photos of.
On the craft front, I've been happily folding away with my new origami papers and books. Yet another thing I need to get pictures of. The scarf is coming along more slowly now. I usually knit while watching TV, but we've been watching mostly subtitled foreign-language stuff lately, and I find it hard to split my attention between reading subtitles and knitting. Hopefully I'll finish this gosh-darn scarf before next winter. But don't hold your breath.
Posted in knitting, tea | Tags bento, gongfu | 1 comment | no trackbacks
Posted by Som
Sun, 21 Jan 2007 03:24:00 GMT
A few years ago, I picked up a couple of plain wood trays on sale at Michael's. The first ended up in the hands of my daughters, who plastered it with Hello Kitty stickers and drew crayon portraits of vegetables on the sides and bottom. The second sat, neglected, in the garage until this past week, when I decided I needed something else to paint.
This was a quick, simple project, but it's already been terribly useful. The tray keeps all of my tea-making supplies nice and tidy, and it's the perfect size for transporting a pitcher full of tea and two tiny cups from the kitchen to the living room.
The gaiwan in this photo - the little brown clay cup with a lid, decorated with orchids - met an untimely demise when it developed a hairline crack as I poured hot water into it a couple of days ago. I'd only had it since Christmas, so I e-mailed the company my husband bought it from - Imperial Tea Court in San Francisco. They responded quickly with an apology and an offer of a refund or store credit. I took the credit, of course, and ordered a new gaiwan, along with another pitcher, some new tasting cups, and a couple of their Pu-erhs.
So I have to say that Imperial Tea Court is a fantastic company offering delightful teas, teapots, and tea-making accessories you won't find anywhere else on the web, and they have wonderful customer service to boot! I'm particularly pleased with their Yunnan Pu-erh, which is affordably priced and brews up with the distinctive, calming smell of topsoil after a hard spring rain. Absolutely delicious.
Posted in tea | Tags accoutrements, puerh | 2 comments | no trackbacks
Posted by Som
Wed, 07 Jun 2006 19:32:00 GMT
One of my husband's co-workers' wives is a potter, and my husband commissioned some teacups for me a few months ago. I got them yesterday, and I couldn't be more thrilled:
(The soup spoon is there for size perspective.)
Even the insides are beautiful!
I need to build a little shelf in the kitchen to display them. That Dremel in the garage has been feeling neglected...
In other news, I'm excited to be taking a weekend workshop on permaculture in a couple of weeks. I won't be able to implement much of what I learn until we buy a home, but I want to have all the research done beforehand, so I can get started immediately when we move in. Ultimately, I'd like to grow most of what my family eats, with a bit left over for the farmers' market. I'll have to start a permaculture blog eventually.
In preparation for the class, I'm reading Bill Mollison's Introduction to Permaculture, but it's slow going because it's competing for my attention with Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. I recently read Richard Louv's The Last Child in the Woods, a wonderful book that I will review as soon as I get a spare moment. For now, there are some warm blueberry muffins calling my name...
Posted in books, tea, gardening | Tags accoutrements, permaculture | no comments | no trackbacks
