Tea Tea, Camellia Senesis

They say that the third time is the charm, so I am trying a tea plant for the third time!!!  I believe I have learned from my mistakes. 

I will not add to much extra things to the soil and I will not over water.

I went up to Hirt's Garden, just past Wadsworth and picked up my third tea plant.

They had the nicest selection I have seen on the Camellia Senesis plants and they had two sizes- a 4" and a 6" size.

I randomly selected my plant and hoped for the best.   This is the large leaf tea plant.

https://hirts.com/

4943 Ridge Rd, Wadsworth, OH 44281

Be sure to check the hours if you want to go there, they close at 3pm during the week and at noon on the weekends.

I used the plant light I got a few years ago for Christmas to see if that helps with the red and blue lights.

They say it is an easy to grow house plant...here is hoping that they are right. This time if it starts to die I will bring it in to work...all my plants seem to grow great in my office with the artificial lights.

Psalm 96:3
Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!

Picking up dishes as I go...

At Goodwill in Jackson I picked up this fun dish from Japan...I knew right away it matched some pieces that I already had.

Also, these pottery pieces are super light and almost feel damaged, but aren't.  As soon as I pick up any of these pieces I can tell they all go together.

This covered dish was $4.14.  I believe it is Darco Pottery - Troy NY.

A year or so ago, I picked up this pink pitcher from a Goodwill as well.  It also matches the pieces.

Two or three years ago I picked up these pink cups...that matched these green cups and tea pot that I had bought about 12 years ago.

This is the set that started it all.  This vintage glazed stoneware tea set from Japan I picked up for $10 when I worked at Audrey's Attic.

I am enjoying my eclectic little set of Japanese tea ware all with the basket weave pattern. 

I have tried to research this pottery and I can't find anything on it sadly.

Psalm 96:3
Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!

Kintaro, Brown Sugar Bubble Tea, Parma

Oh man, if you like sushi or hot pot (Also called Steamboat) you need to try Kintaro...and the bubble tea was really good too!!

I ordered the Brown Sugar Bubble Tea.  It was really delicious.  My friend ordered the Thai Tea bubble tea.

We were in Parma visiting Krazy Bins- which if you have never done that you should check it out.  All the items in the store are from Target.  It was lots of fun to check it out and get some great deals.  Kintaro is about 5 miles down the road from Krazy Bins.

https://kintarooh.com/

There are several Kintaro locations in the North Eastern Ohio area.  We went to Parma, since we were in that area, but there is also on in Akron- at Fairlawn, that would be a lot closer for those local friends that follow my blog.

Hot Pot is really fun.  And if there are at least two of you- I recommend one person get hot pot and one person get sushi.  From 11-3:30 it is all you can eat for $17.99!!!

       

With hot pot, you select your soup base...and if you can't decide you can get a side by side pot and try two different kinds.  We did chicken broth.

• A. Chinese Herb
  

  B. Chicken Broth
  C. Sichuan Spicy 
  D. Sha Cha Soup
  E. Mixed Soup
  F. Tomato Soup
• 
  
• Then you select your noodles. we did the Vietnamese Noodle

  • N1. Rice Noodle

  N2. Potato Vermicelli
  N3. Vietnamese Noodle
  N4. Instant Noodle
• 
  
• Then you your meat. We did pork.
  1. Pork Slice
  2. Fatty Beef
  3. Chicken Gizzards
  4. Chicken Meat
  4a. Pork Stomach
• 
  
• Next your seafood. We did crab stick.
  5. Fish Fillet
  6. Clam
  7. Squid
  8. Crab Stick
• 
  
• Then the balls/dumplings. We did dumplings 
  9. Pork Ball
  10. Fuchow Fish Ball
  11. Fried Fish Ball
  12. Beef Ball
  13. Cilantro Ball
  14. Tempura
  15. Dumpling
  16. Homemade Fish Ball
• 
  
• Lastly the vegetables.  We selected a variety.
  17. Spinach
  18. Tomato
  19. Taro
  20. Chinese Cabbage
  21. Broccoli
  22. Fried Tofu
  23. Cilantro
  24. Frozen Tofu
  25. Black Mushroom
  26. Potato
  27. Tofu
  28. Bamboo Short
  29. Corn
  30. Seaweed
  31. Lotus Root
  32. Chinese Lettuce
  33. Turnip
  34. Bean Sprout
  35. Tong Hao Cai
  36. Tofu Skin
  37. Enoki Mushroom
  38. Watercress
  39. Wood Ear
• 40. Winter Melon
• 
  
• The broth heats up at the table and then you cook the items that you ordered in the broth.  And they will bring you as much more as you want.

There is also a "dip bar" where you can create your own dips to dip your items in.  This was fun, but I wish I had googled some recipes, because there are some suggestions of what to mix together to create fun blends.  They had about 15 items there to pick from. Even raw eggs, if you wanted to create an egg drop soup if you wanted.

Here is our broth heating up...and the items we were cooking in the broth....

                                                           

                                                  

  

What I was pumped about was the sushi menu!!!  $17.99 for unlimited sushi, hibachi, appetizers, and more!

Here is the sushi that we split.  It was sooo good!  

Classic Roll and Hand Roll

• Classic Roll: Min. 6pcs Per Order
  Hand Roll: Shaped Like an Ice Cream Cone, One Piece Per Order

We ordered:

• Honda

  Shrimp tempura, cream cheese, topped w. avocado, mango, mango sauce & wasabi sauce

• Jeep

  Shrimp tempura and cucumber, topped w. avocado, salmon w. eel sauce & spicy mayo

• Eel Avocado

• Sweet Potato  **This may have been my favorite

• Crab Stick in a cone

Check out Parma!  There are lots of fun things to do there.

Psalm 96:3
Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!
 

Lavender Chai, LincWay in Dalton OH

My Wednesday Wanderings took me to Canton via Dalton.  I headed to have an oil change for my car, but I thought I would grab a drink at LincWay and check it out.

I ordered the Lavender Chai, it was okay, my thought it might be the Oregon Chai Concentrate with lavender syrup.  I am not a huge Oregon Chai fan, so I found it just okay...nothing special.  But, they do have other drinks that I have purchased that are really nice.  This is just one I will pass on next time.

https://lincway.us/cafe/

They finished the giant 42,000 piece puzzle!  Can you believe it 42,000 pieces!  They had the community work on it in stages.  It is 5' high and 25' long.

LincWay is a great place to hang out by yourself or with friends.  They also have a place to paint pottery which is a lot fun to visit.  I have done one piece there and it was really fun and I was super pleased when it was glazed.

They have a nice selection of food and constantly are doing new seasonal drinks which is really fun too.

I decided to try the egg bites, they were pretty good.  

They are also getting a nice little shop going with local artists items.

You should stop by and check them out.

Psalm 96:3
Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!

Redbud Blossom tea from local trees

I posted pictures of these beautiful Redbud trees at work.  Then someone messaged me and told me that I could make tea out of the blossoms.

At first I thought it was a joke, then I researched it and found it to be true.  It is crazy to me who discovers these things.  Do people just make tea out of anything and then if they die others know it is poisonous??  I guess that is probably how it started!

I grabbed a vase from my desk and filled it up with about 4 cups of Redbud blossoms.  

I let the blossoms sit in water for about 20 minutes and rinsed them several times to be sure I did not have any unwanted creatures.

I made a gallon of tea:

4 Cups of redbud blossoms

1 gallon water

1/3 C sugar

2 T lavender honey

200 degree water, steep for 20 minutes

I wasn't sure what to put the blossoms in I tried several things.  Every thing seemed to be too small.

I then added the blossoms to a blender to steep.  I was amazed that the blossoms almost turned white, but the tea did not turn pink.

I took 200 degree water and steeped for 20 minutes.

I then strained the blossoms and the water.  I have this large strainer that worked great.  I just poured the tea into the strainer and it filtered it all for me.

I added my sugar and honey and added some ice.  I thought it was really very tasty.  It had a bit of an earthy taste- like it came from a plant, but also nice floral notes.

I will make it again next year for sure!!

Psalm 96:3
Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!