NaNoWriMo Day #3 / DAVIDsTEA 'The Glow'

Day #3 of NaNoWrimo has just passed. I thought I was making reasonably good progress, with just over 4600 words or so on my story. Then, I went to visit the forums and I saw that some people already had over 10,000 words. It's only the third day! Mad respect for them. 

It's starting to feel like winter now: Starbucks has their seasonal Christmas drinks out already; the weather feels like it's in the negative degrees; I slipped this morning walking to my tutor job ... it feels like December even though it's November! It's cold even in my apartment, which is notorious for its heat.

To keep myself warm and hydrated while I studied for my STAT midterm and watched TV, I made myself a cup of tea. It's a new kind I bought from DAVIDsTEA; I didn't know there were so many near my home - there's one in Lougheed, one in Waterfront, and one opening over at Metrotown. I applied for an opening as a tea guide to the Metrotown location but alas, I was a few days past the deadline.

Today, I poured myself 'The Glow', which is an herbal blend of rooibos, jasmine, cinnamon, and rose petals. 

I personally don't like tea from Tea Forte, but I can't deny that they sell very cute cups.

The Glow is said to be good for the skin - it's apparently like a spa in a cup. I don't know about any beautifying effects, but I love the delicate flavours of the jasmine and rose petals mixing together. The cinnamon is just barely there; you can taste it but it's not overpowering at all. It enhances the general flavour of the tea, and adds a bit of texture to it that might not have been there if it was only jasmine and rose. 

I've never had non-flavoured rooibos tea - I thought the taste of the rooibos was the cinnamon at first until the second sip. Though not bitter (even before I added my 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar), it certainly gives it a bit more of an earthy taste. It's not so bad the first few sips, but after a while, the rooibos seems to give the tea a sort of ... medicinal taste? That's my own interpretation of this odd feeling. It's not bad - it reminds me of the swallow nests or rose-infused Chinese medicines that people drink for skincare. It's just not something I would usually want to drink on a daily basis. 

'The Glow' was put on my 'To Buy' list when I went to the Waterfront location of DAVIDsTEA because I was interested in the beautifying effects. Now that I've tried the tea, I can positively say I will probably buy it again in the future. Despite my comments about the flavour of the rooibos, I am still enamoured by the delicate harmony of the rose and the jasmine. I am relieved, though, that I didn't buy too much - 50 g is more than enough at one time!

The Glow
Brand: DAVIDsTEA
Type: Herbal - Rooibos
Caffeinated: No
Price: $7.50/50 g - reasonable
Flavour: 9/10 - delicate and harmonized, but I personally don't like the flavour of rooibos
Recommend: 85% 

NaNoWriMo Day #2 / Rosemary Marinated Chicken w/ Cucumbers on Toast

I was never really sure what to write about for NaNoWriMo and so yesterday, when it started, I just let myself type away at the keyboard. Now, I just have the most basic skeleton of the plot but nothing else; I am literally writing by the seat of my pants, making up things and throwing them into the mix as I go. 

This does mean if I ever plan to use the story after NaNoWriMo, I would have to go through some serious editing.

*+*+*+

Today, I decided to cook something fancy for myself after going to a job interview for the fancy L'Occitane. I even bought myself some fancy tea on the way home. When I say 'cook something fancy', I don't mean something like lobster or sirloin steak. Boy, when I usually cook, it's just pouring hot water into a bowl of instant noodles and maybe adding in some boiled vegetables and meats if I feel extra special.

I can't find my dad's camera, so I have to use my cellphone. And I didn't have space on my table because I was writing STAT homework. It's the first day. I'm sure it'll get better.

I marinated strips of Costco boneless chicken in rosemary, garlic, salt, soy sauce, potato starch, and alcohol for approximately five hours while I lazed around doing STAT homework and watched Bloody Monday 2. I only watched a few episodes in Taiwan but I didn't get anything since I didn't watch first season but now I feel glad I took the time to do so. It's a very good show. It also reminded me of the pain of liking a show with a very small fandom. 

Anyway, after marinating the chicken, I cooked them with my trusty frying pan while I buttered up some toast and cut up some cucumbers. I cut up too much so I had to separate the two slices - my dreams of a chicken sandwich were dashed for tonight but this also means I get to eat two slices instead of just one big sandwich. Is that better or is that worse? I think it's better, personally.

The chicken was so tender and juicy I was worried I had undercooked it, but it was perfect. I didn't remove all of the rosemary from the chicken because I thought it was unnecessary - imagine my surprise when I bit into a piece of chicken only to receive a mouthful of rosemary flavour. That was wild. The butter, cucumber, and marinated chicken were so harmonized - both the butter and cucumber didn't detract from the taste of the chicken but enhanced it instead. This is a very easy recipe for a hungry student and I think it will be added into my slowly growing recipe repertoire. 

That is, if I could get the chicken from Costco. My mom gave the chicken to me, and I don't really have a Costco card. This could be a problem if I want to make this in the future. 

I didn't think tea or coffee was appropriate but I also didn't feel like drinking water so I just poured myself a cup of milk. I even used one of my favourite cups just because I was taking a picture, even if the picture turned out to be so bad. I bought Avalon milk from the Nesters at school and it tastes so weird. I normally don't like North American milk compared to milk from Taiwan or Japan, but I would even prefer the normal brand than Avalon. 

Drinking it straight is kind of gross, but using it in tea and coffee makes it taste so much better than the normal brand. I made macaroni and cheese last night with the milk and it ended up making the macaroni so much better. I guess it all depends on what I use it for.