How do you like your tea and how do you imagine drinking it? At The Rose Garden Tea Room, you can have your mini cakes and eat them too, and obviously, it’s where you can have your tea and drink it too. In fact, you can have your choice from five types of hot tea: Strawberry Kiwi, Rose, Apricot, Estate Black, and Mandarin Rooibos. At that time, I liked my tea non-caffeinated so I went with the strawberry kiwi – it was lovely, tangy, and pink in color. Our amiable hostess said that the kids love it very sweet. The kid in me likes the tea, but the adult in me likes it tart. And I imagine drinking my tea in a peaceful setting… the rose garden in The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens would do beautifully. Continue reading
Cafe Home Koreatown
17 Apr
This sizeable café has found a handy spot being right next to The Boiling Crab and The Boiling Crab To-Go, and whoever runs Cafe Home has got some shrewd business sense as the establishment has opened its doors to welcome customers from The Boiling Crab To-Go with the requirement that they order drinks. Not a bad trade since The Boiling Crab is usually packed and that the next best thing is getting a to-go order and sitting somewhere nearby, and sitting in a place that sells drinks is convenient. Cafe Home is that place. Continue reading
Mango-Banana Frozen Yogurt
31 JulAnyone else sweating like a pig out there? Just me? Right. Of course not. Well, to all my fellow sweating pigs, this post is for you.
As hot July rolls over to hot August, I can’t imagine a better way to say goodbye to good ol’ July than with a frozen yogurt or “froyo” for short. Or… “super-awesome-yum-yum-yum-yum-yum-to-have-when-it’s-hot” for long. We are short on berries but long on bananas in our humble household, and as luck would have it, we’ve got mangoes too.
Fruity Frozen Yogurt
1 cup frozen bananas, sliced
1 cup frozen mangoes, cubed
2 cups vanilla yogurt
2 tablespoons honey
Pinch of ground cloves or cinnamon, optional
Using a blender, grind or grate the slices of frozen banana. If your blender has a pulse feature, use it to give you more control. Next, grind or grate the frozen mango cubes. The grated fruits will be along the sides of the pitcher so make sure to push them down before adding the yogurt. Add 1 cup yogurt. Blend. Add the last cup of yogurt. Blend. Add 2 tbs honey and any spices you want for flavoring. Blend. Place the mixture in a container and freeze for an hour.
Smile and serve.
Disclaimer: I didn’t wait an hour to allow the yogurt mixture to freeze. After 10 minutes, I cried out, “Yo. Froyo. Ready or not, I’m taking you out.” That’s how I ended up with a soft frozen yogurt. Thanks to the heat, it’s also melting fast.
The nice thing about summer is the abundance of fruits especially great for shakes and smoothies. You can use any fruits you have available. And if you don’t have any frozen fruits, use them as is and add 1 cup of ice – you’ll end up with a nice lassi instead of a froyo. However, if you’re feeling lazy (it’s understandable, it’s summer), make your way to Starbucks or your favorite drink bar to get something nice and cold.
Happy summer!
BevMo! in Washington State
12 MayHey fellow Californians, have you heard? (Because I just did.) BevMo! is coming to the Evergreen State! and will be opening two retail stores in Tacoma and Silverdale! Woot! Why not Seattle or any of the Eastside cities, I don’t know. Why BevMo!? Why?
For those not in the know about BevMo!, head over here or click the image above to learn how you can get your drinks for less. Just to be clear, always drink responsibly. Never drink and drive. Again, always drink responsibly.
We know California knows how to party and it looks like Washington State is going to learn a thing or two. Not that the California transplants haven’t livened up things a bit already.