This Makes Me Happy

My favorite new tea is the Republic of Tea's Double Green Matcha Tea. Usually matcha is super expensive-- I swear it costs something like $20 a tablespoon! But this tea is regular Republic-of-Tea- expensive and way worth it. The tea bags are kind of powdery and extra delicious.

Funky Tea

This weekend I went to this really exciting Japanese tea store called Lupicia that just opened up in San Francisco. I couldn't decide between all the wonderful flavors so I decided to indulge in a variety pack. Good decision. Yesterday I enjoyed peach oolong tea followed by an oolong tea with honey-preserved fruits. This morning I came to school and went straight to my tea drawer. I choose the Kaga Bocha, whose description reads, "One type of Houjicha special to the Kaga area with sweet aromatic smell from the roasting."

BAD DECISION. It was soooooooooo funky. The sweet aromatic smell was more like a nasty seaweed smell. I could smell it the moment I took the tea bag out of its wrapper but hoped it would smell better once brewed. Wrong. The "sweet aromatic smell" is now a funk that surrounds my entire classroom. I feel sorry for the kids when they arrive. And the taste of this tea was messed up. Like a dirty sock left in seaweed water.

I must go make a new tea!

Summer Hiatus

Bad news: I took a summer break from blog-writing.
Good news: I read lots of books and drank lots of tea during this break.

As mentioned in the previous post, I did start to read The Effect of Living Backwards. It was AWFUL. Yuck. I couldn't even get through the first ten pages. It was too "crazy" and convoluted, not even in an interesting way. The worst part of the entire book, however, was the freaking cover art. It looked like it was a member of the Ya-Ya series. Ultimately, it was just too creepy to hold a Ya-Ya look-alike book in my hands.

After giving up that book, I started to read To Kill a Mockingbird, which I had (shockingly) never read before. It was the best book ever!! I loved it so much and am now obsessed with it, the corresponding movie, and Harper Lee. And the name Atticus.

I also read Oh the Glory of It All by Sean Wilsey. It was good, despite the quote on the back from Newsweek stating, "Oh the Glory of It All is the best possible proof that it's not facts of a memoir that make it memorable. It's how you tell it." What?! Sean Wilsey definitely starts off with some good "facts"-- growing up with socialites, getting sent to crazy boarding schools, running away from home, stealing cars, etc. etc. He's not exactly starting off with a run-of-the-mill life to focus his memoir on.

In fact, I thought his stories were often better than the way he wrote about them. S.W. overused the pseudo-dramatic lines of "This was the first time this ever happened" and "This was the only time I ever saw him do this." Enough already!

More books were read and I haven't even started on the tea-related content yet, so I will be back with more soon. I promise-- summer hiatus is over...

New books!

Last weekend I went to the bookstore and found 3 books to buy. So exciting! I purchased...

1. I Wish There Was Something I Could Quit By Aaron Cometbus
The new Cometbus book... I read it the night I brought it home. Having read Cometbus zines throughout my youth (ha, I'm amused I just used the word "youth") it is always comforting and strange to read one of Aaron Cometbus' books. It is strange because they are typed, not in the famous of the zine. And this book is particularly strange because it is not all about Aaron's life but actually takes the perspective of other characters too. I was put off by this because it seemed like... well, fiction, I guess.

2. Stop that Girl by Elizabeth McKenzie
I knew nothing about this book before I got it. Now that I've read it I keep reading all these reviews saying what a great teen novel it is. I didn't know it was considered a teen novel! Whatever. I also noticed that on the back of the book it said something like "McKenna single-handedly reinvents the coming-of-age novel" which made me want to barf a little. Well the book turned out to be fine, nothing thrilling. It was a quick read about a girl's kinda-crazy upbringing. But her upbringing wasn't crazy or funny enough to be that interesting.

3. The Effect of Living Backwards by Heidi Julavits
I haven't read this one yet but plan on starting it this weekend... I will report.

White Tea = The Bomb

White tea is delicious! I treated myself to expensive Republic of Tea persimmon white tea a couple months back and I am now hooked. The persimmon white tea instructs you to only steep the tea bag 30 seconds so the tea comes out tasting light and refreshing. I ran out of the persimmon last month so decided to splurge again and get Republic of Tea honeydew white tea. Again, so so good.

So being on my white tea kick, you can imagine my excitement when, scouring the tea racks of Trader Joe's, I came upon pomegranate white tea. In big red letters across the front the box reads: ANTIOXIDENT POWERHOUSE. How could that be resisted? I brought home the tea (at a fraction of the Republic of Tea price) and made myself a pot. It turned out to be the most beautiful red color and super tasty. With as much of this tea as I'll be drinking, I will soon be an antioxidant powerhouse myself.

Calling for a Ban on Alcoholic Memoirs

I am on the quest for the perfect, recently published book. I'm in the mood for a contemporary novel or memoir but I can't find anything to my liking! I went to the bookstore and browsed the other day and I swear every freakin book I picked up was a pitiful memoir about an alcoholic, an alcoholic family member, or an alcoholic friend. Seriously! I mean, I liked The Liar's Club and I could still go for a depressing memoir if the stories are good enough. But please, how many of these books can a person take?

On the novel front, I was particularly looking for a book by a smart woman. Looking around the bookstore I went to, all of the displayed books that were written by woman were "chick lit." This is such an offensive term-- shouldn't (at least some of) these books written for "chicks" be smart and funny, not just about Prada and weddings? Not that I'm against either Prada or weddings, but perhaps they could be incorporated into something other than a "beach read."

Maybe my problem here is with the label. I don't want "chick lit" or a "beach book." I guess I need to describe the kind of book I'm searching for with a catchy moniker? Perhaps if I find a cute name for my ideal genre, the books will pour in.