Tag Archives: adventures

Tea Tasting for Two

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Today’s post is about an experience that was both fun and frugal!

I don’t remember exactly when daily deal sites came on the scene, but I do know I fell for them hard and fast. I had a lot of fun with Living Social trying to get 3 people to purchase the voucher from my link so I could earn it free, and I was excited to subscribe to Groupon in Atlanta as soon as we knew we were moving! The trip Andy and I took for our one-year anniversary was actually with a voucher purchased from one of the sites. I think the concept is great.

But lately I’ve been getting disillusioned with all the emails. I’ve unsubscribed from all but the major players, and even then I feel like I rarely buy anything anymore. But one thing I do always keep an eye out for are discounts on experiences rather than on products or restaurants. And I’ve had good luck with that of late, with purchases including admission for 4 to the Atlanta Museum of Design, a brewery tour, a walking tour for 2 of Historic Oakland Cemetery, and one that I used this past weekend for a tea tasting for 2!

The tasting was at Zen Tea in Chamblee. Chamblee is a bit farther than I usually like to drive to do things, but for $10, I thought it would be a fun experience. Plus, I was able to share it with my good friend Kimmie, who was in town for the weekend. I would definitely try Zen Tea again. A leisurely tasting there, perhaps with lunch involved, and a visit to the consignment shop next door would be a delightful girls’ afternoon out. The $10 voucher I had included 3 small pots of tea and a dessert for each of us, but the 3-pot tasting is normally only $10.50 (not including dessert), which is definitely not unreasonable.

Kimmie had a giant carrot cake muffin-esque thing, and I had a delicious slice of red velvet cake that didn’t last long on my plate.

The 3 teas that we chose from the extensive list were Cafe Spiced Chai, White Christmas (Heaven) (how could we resist it with a name like that???), and Spearmint.

I honestly wasn’t wowed by any of the teas, but it quite possibly could have been because my taste buds were too overwhelmed by the red velvet and cream cheese deliciousness. Oops. The mint was the best, and I bought some of that to take home, as well as some chai. I also am never sure what’s the best protocol for sweetening tea. I know how I like it, but I don’t know if the level of sweetness I enjoy is necessarily the best for bringing out flavors. So since I was tasting, I tried to sweeten less than I normally would, which may have also affected my enjoyment of the flavors.

All in all, though, it was a fun experience at a pleasant little shop that I’m glad to now know about. Chalk up another success for Living Social amongst the plethora of liposuction, facial, and car detailing vouchers that flood my inbox daily!

Food for the Trail

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Andy and I went backpacking last weekend. He was an Eagle Scout, so he’s camped and hiked lots and lots of times. We’ve been a few times together, and we have a pretty good routine down as far as getting the trip organized goes. He’s responsible for planning the route, picking the campsites, and getting us there, and I’m responsible for the food. (Though, what else is new? ;-) )

The first time we went I was pretty nervous about this and stuck to a “safe” list of bapckpacking foods that I had found on the internet or something. Since then, though, I’ve gotten a bit more creative and had some fun planning our meals. Backpacking food needs to be in light containers with easy open packaging, no fuss when it comes to preparation, and shelf-stable. I tend to think of foods that would be good for kids to eat, because those usually fit all the requirements.

For dinners, we carry a small stove-like thing called a JetBoil. It has an insulated canister that boils water very quickly, and also has an attachment that allows you to place a pot or pan over its propane flame. It’s light and compact and works really well, so we try to come up with as many meals as possible that require only water. Lunches are more casual, and in fact some days we just nibble when we’re hungry rather than stopping to eat an official lunch.

Here’s what we carried last time:

  • Knorr Butter and Herb pasta pacakge with no-drain chicken breast chunks in a pouch for Friday dinner (2 of each, though we only ate one)
  • A freeze-dried (just add water) beef and potato stew for Saturday dinner
  • Peanut Butter and Pretzel M&M’s for dessert
  • 6 Cliff bars in assorted flavors
  • Cranberry Ginger instant oatmeal
  • Berry-flavored apple sauce
  • Ice cream sandwich flavored shelf-stable pudding cups
  • Wheat and cheese packaged snack crackers
  • 2 quart-sized bags of home-mixed trail mix
  • Beef jerky
  • 4 blueberry bagels spread with crunchy peanut butter for optional lunches (the bagels are sturdy enough to not get weird or soggy from the peanut butter)
  • Freeze-dried “fruit that crunches” that I impulse bought at Publix
  • All-fruit “fruit rollups” from the organic kids’ section at Kroger
  • An extra pouch of ready-to-eat tuna left over from another camping trip (just in case)

We actually brought a fair amount of this back home with us, but you always want to have too much food, rather than not enough. You can tell I like to include “treats”–that makes it a lot more fun to me! Chocolate is a good addition to any trail-eaten meal.

And beef jerky isn’t something I’d ever think about eating on a regular basis, but I sure do enjoy it out in the woods. The freeze-dried dinners, which you can buy at any outdoors store, are a great, easy cleanup option, that are also pretty tasty and hardy. Next time, I might just stick with two of those rather than trying to make a camp dinner out of real dinner ingredients.

We also brought along an assortment of teabags and instant coffees for in the morning. I never sleep well in the wilderness, and this past time it was actually a little chilly overnight, so that hot cup of caffeinated goodness is a pleasure in the morning. My favorite mixture is a package of hot chocolate mix stirred in with a couple of tubes of instant coffee–instant mocha!

The best and most fun lesson I learned this time was to use the bulk bins at Whole Foods or somewhere similar to get ingredients for trail mix. That way, you can buy small amounts of lots of different things, and not spend very much on each element because it’s charged by weight! This is much better than having to buy a whole big bag of, say, almonds at a regular grocery store when you really only need a handful.

So there you have it: food for the trail. Have you ever been backpacking? What kinds of food do you eat while camping?

Some Food for Thought

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I had the wonderful experience on Friday of going to hear Anne Lamott speak at First Baptist Decatur. Lamott is the author of several novels and non-fiction books. I haven’t read any of her novels (yet), but I devoured her books Traveling Mercies, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, and Grace (Eventually). She has a son, Sam, who figures prominently in most of her books, as she raised him on her own. He recently had a son, and they wrote a book together called Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son’s First Son. It was in response to her earlier book on the first year of Sam’s first life called Operating Instructions.

Okay, enough introduction. Suffice it to say I love Anne Lamott and she was just as funny and hard-hitting in person as she is on the page. I honestly got a little giddy and star-struck when I saw her walking out onto the stage! She has these kooky dreadlocks and a dry, slightly raspy voice. She can joke and curse and pray all in the same breath, and she says things about God that make you go, “Wait a minute. Am I allowed to think that?” But you know her thoughts stem from a deep and personal relationship with Him (or Her, as she sometimes like to say).

Sam read with her on Friday, and he was not at all what I expected! He’s a tall, dark, and handsome type, currently in art school to be an inventor. The rapport between them was incredible. While the readings from this current book aren’t particularly applicable to my life, the writing was still incredible, and the live format allowed the session to be infused with more of Lamott’s trademark general discussion of faith. I’ve of course forgotten most of the gems, but hearing them made me want to a) go back and re-read all the books of hers I have read, b) find them all at used bookstores so I can have my own copies to write in and lend out, and c) read everything else of Anne Lamott’s that I haven’t yet. My Kindle wishlist is ridiculously full at the moment.

I’ll leave you with this bit of wisdom that she used to close the night. Someone asked what her advice was for someone who wanted to be a writer, and here’s what she had to say (which is relevant to someone who wants to be anything, really):

It’s not in anybody’s best interest for you to pursue your dreams, so it’s gotta be in yours, because that’s what you’re here for.

Simple, to the point, and utterly true.

Have you ever seen one of your favorite authors in person? What’s your favorite piece of advice from them?

A Hooley Night and a Hurling Match

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Since we were in Ireland visiting family, we got to experience some things that the average  tourist might not. And, conversely, Andy’s family got to do some touristy things that they might not normally do as residents of Dublin!

This past Saturday night, we all piled into cars and headed up into the Dublin mountains to Johnnie Fox’s, “the highest pub in Dublin.”

We had reservations for their renowned Hooley Night, a multi-course meal of traditional Irish fare followed by live music and a set by some Irish dancers. We sat crowded into long tables in a room with tourists from all over the world! The experience was what we might call “hokey” over here, but since it was unique to me I enjoyed it (though the show went on rather long!). I branched out and had steamed mussels for my first course (I wonder if they bought them from Molly Malone?) and then lamb stew for my main course. For dessert I tried the Whiskey Gateaux, and lemme tell you, it had some whiskey in it! It was fun hearing some of the traditional songs that I knew and others I didn’t. In one song in particular I could really hear the influences that led to the creation of bluegrass and the likes. And the dancers were fabulous. I don’t even know how anyone can move their feet that fast! My seat was right at the front of the small stage and I think I flinched every time they did a high kick! It was a fun experience all around.

The next morning we headed out to a Dublin suburb of sorts to watch Andy’s cousin’s boyfriend (whew, that’s a mouthful!) play in a hurling match. In my mother’s words, “What in the heck is hurling?!” The best way I can think to describe it is that it’s kind of like lacrosse, only you’re balancing the ball on a wooden paddle instead of in a net. It’s a pretty rough game, and helmets have only been compulsory for the past year or two!

Here’s a video that explains it a bit:

There’s a well developed club sport system in Dublin and surrounding areas that people are very into, so a lot of the guys on this team have been playing together for awhile. There was a wicked cold wind the morning we went, and I hadn’t exactly brought clothes suited for standing outside watching a sporting event, but it was fun nonetheless. Since you’re just standing on the sidelines, not sitting in bleachers or anything, there are times when the players and/or the ball are coming right at you! I definitely didn’t really understand what was going on most of the time, but I felt like it was an “authentic” Irish weekend experience.

We went to a restaurant afterwards to warm up, and I discovered the concept of a “carvey.” It’s basically like the concept of Sunday dinner after church here: many places have a buffet with multiple kinds of meat (the carvery) and a big spread of sides. They even had dressing with cranberry sauce! While none of us went whole hog and had the carvey, I did have the vegetable plate, and it was reminiscent of a good ole Southern plate. The tea was also free-flowing, brought to the table in big pots that allowed each of us to have several cups.

That pretty much wraps up our trip. We were up way early the next morning to head home. We were so efficient in getting to the airport and getting checked in that we were waiting outside customs before it even opened for the morning! Our flight was uneventful–I watched way too many movies–and we had the afternoon on Monday to begin getting back into the swing of things. It’s been just a normal week, making it kind of surreal to think that just a few days ago I was in an entirely different country. I am again just so thankful that we were able to go!

Red Brick Brewery Tour

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A couple of weeks ago (well, okay, a month…it was on New Year’s Eve) A. and I used a Groupon that I had bought back in October to take a tour of Red Brick Brewery. They’re the oldest craft brewery in Atlanta, and their slogan is “beer from around here.” I am not a huge fan of beer usually, but I am always game to try new flavors, and I thought it would be fun to visit this local landmark. The brewery itself is tucked back behind a residential neighborhood at the end of an almost industrial dead-end–kind of a strange setting! But they had everything set up really well for a fun Saturday afternoon.

The deal with the Groupon was a tasting package, complete with souvenir pint class and coozie (which they were out of, so we should be getting in the mail sometime). Well, the “tasting” tickets were each an entire pint, and we had 4 each! I only used three, and on the third I asked for just half a glass. Needless to say, I was a little happy. But it was fun trying their unique offerings! I had a blonde, a brown, and their signature Laughing Skull Amber Ale. I think the blonde was my favorite (it was pretty light and insipid, which is a good descriptor in my beer vocabulary), but the brown had its merits too. We were a little disappointed that we couldn’t buy any to take home with us, but I guess it requires a different sort of license to be able to sell.

Since they obviously can’t expect people to down 4 beers in a short period of time, the brewery provides some entertainment while you taste and wait for the tour. Some nights they have trivia or live music, but Saturday afternoons are game time! They had cornhole toss set up outside (even though it was January it was 70 degrees and sunny, so that was fun) and ping pong and darts inside. They also had some tables where you could just sit that were practically on the brewing floor.

The actual brewery itself isn’t much to look at–it’s basically a big open warehouse with lots of different vats and barrels. So the “tour” didn’t move a whole lot, as you might expect a tour to, but it did  include a lot of interesting information about the brewery’s history and the process of making beer. One fun fact I learned is that yeast begins to mutate if you let it feed on gluten for too long, so brewers have to keep a careful eye on it and discard the yeast when it starts getting “funky.” However, Belgian beer has such a unique taste because they have, over the years, embraced the “funk” and let their yeast mutate away! Red Brick is still a relatively small operation, partly due to the weird liquor distribution laws in Georgia. They have a very small bottling operation that can only do 6 bottles at a time! So any time you see Red Brick in a store, you know it has been bottled practically by hand.

 Pardon the terrible quality iPhone picture. The lighting was not so good, and we had an older (probably drunk) man snap this for us. Let’s just pretend it was Instagramed and is supposed to be grainy like this!

All in all, it was a really fun afternoon, especially with the Groupon that only cost $15 for both of us to enjoy our beers! I would do this visit again with out of town friends who were particular beer enthusiasts, because it’s a really neat segment of Atlanta history.

Cheers to a good weekend and fun times for all!