Flower Tea for Serenity

geez I'm so cheesy :P.

I bought this kind of tea a year ago from Sonya's Garden, which was imported from Vietnam, but have totally forgotten to use it. Reason was, I could never find a nice glass teapot where I can put it in (yeah, it is necessary :P). I didn't really know what to expect as I was instructed (if my memory serves me right) that I had to make sure the water is boiling hot when I submerge it, otherwise, it will not bloom. I was pretty anxious that I would fail since it's a year old now - but hey, I don't think teas expire, does it?

I'm more of a coffee person, but I enjoy tea as much. Lavander, rose, chamomile and taragon are my favorites. As opposed to coffee that boosts your energy, tea is a nice drink if you want to relax your body and mind. I could drink it with no sugar. This is the first time I tried this flower tea and I must say I enjoyed it. It's so beautiful and it taste even better.

Flower tea bud front and side view.

It's so small!

Flower tea in full bloom.

The full blown flower tea up close.

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Instant Semi Healthy Refreshment

I don't think any food shoot will happen today. I woke up with a super dirty house and just finished cleaning the living room, and still have to do the bathroom and bedroom. I'm exhausted now to even think about what we'll have for dinner.

So while I was relaxing an hour ago, I remembered a simple drink I browsed from Mylene's tumblr blog. It's a strawberry drink with just water, lemon, honey and sliced strawberries. I thought it was a perfect refreshment after a tiring session of sweepings and moppings. But I had a better idea. Yesterday we dropped by at my favorite store, the Japan Home Center, where everything is bargained. I bought a couple of flavored sparkling water and thought it would be nice to use it rather than just water for this lovely strawberry drink :).

Ingredients:
- sparkling flavored water (or just regular water)
- a slice of lemon
- 2 Tbsp of honey (or more, depends on how sweet you want it)
- Slices of strawberries
- ice cubes






1. Wash and slice the strawberries and put it in a glass.
2. Add the sparkling flavored water (or water).
3. Squeeze the slice of lemon.
4. Add the honey and mix well.
5. Serve with ice cubes!

I called it semi-healthy refreshment because I used sparkling flavored water :P.

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Not Your Ordinary Lemonade

I recently discovered Two Tarts, another food blog that was introduced to me by my colleague in Articulate which is being maintained by his wife. Very impressed with the photography, I browsed for more pages until this recipe caught my eyes. I immediately fell in love with the idea of lavender on lemonade. I patiently waited for the weekend, but at the same time, I was obsessing about the lavenders. I remembered I saw lavender plants at some sort of market around here but didn't buy once since I don't really know what to use it for. So I went out the next day after reading the recipe to hunt for dried lavender flowers. Unfortunately, I couldn't find one - but later on realized that I wasn't looking hard enough.

On Saturday, I visited the Saturday market close to our house with hopes to find dried lavender flowers. It's a specialty market that sells organic vegetables, and hard to find food items. And there, I finally found my dried lavender :). Luckily, I also found lavender plants so I grabbed them as well ;).

Thanks to Two Tarts for sharing this wonderful lemonade drink, we totally dig it! Lavender was indeed a great addition to a yummy lemonade. I just love the flavor, and the scent. I can smell it in my head hehe.



Ingredients:
- Tbsp. dried lavender flowers (you can get it at Salcedo Market on Saturdays, from Spices and Flavors at PHP150 for 50g)
- 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used 5 standard sized lemons)
- 1 cup honey
- 2.5 cups water
- Additional 2 cups of water

1. Heat 2.5 cups of water and honey in a pot and bring it to a boil. Stir occassionaly to ensure that honey dissolves.
2. Stir in 1 tbsp. dried lavender and remove from heat. Let it sit in for about 20 minutes, or when it's cold enough.
3. Strain the mixture and transfer it to a pitcher.
4. Add the 1 cup lemon juice and 2 cups of water.

Serve with lots of ice.

You can find this recipe with lots of beautiful photographs of the preparation process at www.two-tarts.com.


Dedicating this drink to the new member of my herb garden :).

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Refreshing Water Melon

In a tropical country like ours, we get to enjoy summer drinks all year long :P. Here's a simple watermelon refreshment I prepared in 10 minutes.



Making this is super simple. You only need 3 things:
- crushed sweet watermelon
- sterilized milk
- 2 tbsp of honey

And then that's it, chill it in your freezer!

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