Tea Collection! Part 1

Hi everyone!
Are you a coffee or tea person?
For me, it's most definitely tea! It really calms me down and whenever I feel like drinking something other than water, I think it's the best option as it has a lot of health benefits.
Tea has caffeine too, just a lot less, so I usually drink it when i'm studying! and I won't be as stressed out, heh heh.

Because of this, I've been collecting tea since the beginning of this year and I love love love all of it and hope that you who loves tea as well, or not, will try it too!

 So this is all that I have.

I'm gonna start with this one! It's jasmine white tea. It's really fragrant and it comes in this packaging. It has rolled up leaves in it and just a few of them will give a strong and fragrant taste!
I got this as a gift from a good friend of mine, Nigel! Thanks so muchh! I like it a whole lot :D

This one is extra calming! Very nice!
Health benefits - powerful antioxidant, reduces fat and cholesterol absorption and calms your nerves.

This is just green tea which I have not actually tried yet, cause I still have the japanese green teabags! but once I do, I'll make sure to signify any differences between this loose leaf ones and the teabags! It probably is more pure as those in teabags often are a mixture.
Health benefits - improve blood flow, lower cholesterol and has antioxidants that fight and may prevent cell damage

This is the japanese green tea that comes in teabags!

  

This one is blue mallow flower! I first found out about this tea in an anime called Special A, where they were having a tea party at Akira's. I was fascinated by it because it supposingly stains and the tea becomes blue. Plus if you add any citrus juice, it will turn pink! I've been looking for it and my parents said they found it in a night market in Malacca.
When I tried this, it actually is black tea. So maybe this is a different type! but it still is good! More to the bitter side though!
Health benefits - good for constipation, husky voice, sore throat, sooth coughing and mosturizing the skin.

This is red rose! Its tea tastes just like how you would imagine roses to taste like, floral. I have not tried this alone, as I've always been mixing it with the apple flower! The shop assistant insists that the combination, together with lavender, is really good! Which is true!

Health benefits - helps menstrual cramps, have vitamin C and contains polyphenols.

The apple flower looks hairy but I think this is how it is suppose to be, haha. Also, have not tried it on its own! But I think the freshness of the tea comes from this.
Health benefits - improves digestive, remove excess fat, clears acne, lighten pigmentation, ease nerves and revitalized blood. Good for the skin

This one is french rose tea! Its taste is actually very different from the red rose tea, in my opinion! It is more fragrant and has a more floral taste! It is my friend, Yvonne's favourite. When she comes over, I'll always brew this especially for her! It goes very well with cakes! This is one of my fav as well! I often have this while studying too.
Health benefits - clears toxin, contains vitamin C, skin whitening and calms your nerves.

If you're a fan of earl grey, I say that you must totally try this! It's mixed with tangerine and I think those ingredients go so very well together! The chemistry they have is like mixing strawberries with cream and chocolate with banana, amazing! It is so fragrant as well. I got this from Cameron Highlands, during my family trip a few months back and I don't regret it at all! So goood!
Health benefits - contains antioxidant, lowers cholesterol, good for digestion, relief stress

I've been wanting to try lavender tea for quite some time, as I have always been a fan of the scent when it comes to body or shampoo products! It smells really nice! Little did I know that the tea is entirely different! It's definitely an acquired taste, unfortunately not for me. I gag at the scent and taste of it but there are people who love it! I have also tried it with citrus(changes colour too) but I simply just can't have it on its own!
Health benefits - promotes relaxation, helps digestive system, relieves indigestion and insomnia

 

before adding lemon...

 

after adding lemon!

Now this is probably my number one right here! As you all might know, i'm a big fan of strawberries! This is actually wild strawberry green tea and it tastes and smells fantastic! I'm not even exaggerating when I say you'll feel as if you are in a strawberry field with lots of flowers, while drinking this! It tastes fruity and like flowers at the same time and it definitely won me over! Must try! :) It is definitely calming too! This mixture is perfection.

Whenever I have guests over, I make them try this tea all the time! hehe.

I'm going to stop here for now and do a second part next time! Hope you enjoyed this and please do try some too! I think it's worth it :) and you can probably find most of them in the supermarket now!


Talking about tea is so exciting!
Elayne.

Favourite cold comfort food.

It's a few hours past lunch and you feel like eating although you're not hungry.
Or maybe it's close to midnight and you just feel like munching on something.
I'm sure everyone has felt that way before.

I'm the type of person who's always looking for food.
When my mouth gets itchy, I'd usually whip something up from the fridge, putting together things that may or may not go well.
Somethings it's a bad thing, where some food don't go well together and I end up with an upset stomach. But sometimes it may turn out heavenly.

My favourite of them all would be Vanilla ice cream with famous amos cookie crumbs.
Everyone has heard of ice cream with oreos or just cookies, but the fact that it is famous amos' cookie crumbs makes it a whole lot tastier.
I'm not sure if I'm late to discover this but I'm just hoping to share this with everyone because it is SOOOO DELICIOUS.
You may just gather the cookie crumbs or smash the cookies in the bag and generously sprinkle on the ice cream. You can actually purchase famous amos cookie crumbs now! They're selling it in bags!
I've never tried it with any other different flavoured ice cream, cause it goes so well with vanilla.

                    

For a savory one, it would have to be pasta salad! Especially if it was the multi-coloured fusilli, with mayo or salad dressing, with cherry tomatoes, avocados, hard boiled eggs and cubed apples!
Doesn't that sound greaaat! Not very hard and not tedious to make too, in my opinion! Delicious with or without those ingredients I mentioned! Can always try it with pears, bell peppers or something of your favourite! A great dish to experiment with.

I definitely have a lot more somewhere at the back of my head but I can't seem to recall them at the moment. I'll blog about them when I do remember! Cold, yet easy to make and also tasty food to satisfy your cravings!

If you have not tried any of these, please do! They're definitely worth it.

(p/s: I talk about cold ones because if it were warm/hot dishes, it would be never ending!)

Signing out,
Elayne.

Just a random Saturday.

Hi, this is my first time using the mirror effect, am I doing this right?

Today I woke up pretty early, like 10am! It's a great achievement for me considering I've been waking up at around 3pm the past week!
It's not that I've been sleeping for a long time, it's just that I have trouble sleeping at night and so I end up sleeping about 5-6am.. The same for last night! But last night was a little different because I got to sleep while skyping with my boyfriend, Leonard and it was really comforting!

I actually planned to jog as I awaken but I felt lethargic and so I just jumped around my room as exercise (It counts!!!). Then, I stormed into my parents room(as I always do) and asked what's for brunch. Mommy said she wanted to go to Main place to shop for groceries and she was gonna prepare a Halloween themed dinner!
So we went there to eat at Fish&Co and then went grocery shopping!

After that, went home and played with my rabbit, Stewie, for a bit and bummed around the house.
I helped my mom with the eyeballs for the soup and the sauce for the creepy hand!

The creepy hand! Made by mommy

Eyeball soup!

(I did not manage to dine at home because the food wasn't ready when I had to go out. But it's okay! I'm fine with leftovers :D)

Soon later it was alrdy approaching dinner time which I alrdy had made plans to go out with 2 friends of mine, Shyan Le and Khang Chee (we were interns) to our friend's house but at last minute, the plan did not work out so we decided to head on to just dine and go to meeples.

During the car ride, KC had this exciting idea to bring us to Publika to dine at The Red Beanbag.
We took the wrong turn and all but still made it and dinner was great!

Halloween themed. Photo stolen from KC :D

I ordered the Portobello&Pancakes. It had poached eggs, rockets, tomatoes, if i'm not mistaken it's salsa. It was satisfying!

Portobello & Pancakes

We headed to Wonder Milk as well to satiate our sweet tooth!
We tried out their Butterscotch milk, cold and it was really good! Imagine having one that is hot on a cold rainy day and watching a movie, all cuddled up in the bed, blankets and pillows. YUMM!

From top left to right - butterscotch, smores, cookies and cream.
From bottom left to right - oh my chocolate, smores, rocky road.

We then decided to crash at my place to play the Kinect! Unfortunately there is no footage of us doing so because we were busy jumping around and having fun! We played Rise of Nightmares and Dance Central, ate our cupcakes and they left about 12.

Now I'm skyping with Leonard again while typing all of this! Hopefully for tomorrow, my jogging plan works out.
I've been wanting to blog about my tea collection, maybe that'll be my next post! (Initially wanted to blog about cosplay but I still want to collect more pictures!)
This will be the end for now.


See you soon!
Elayne

Comeback.

Just a random recent photo

HI GUYSSSSSSS! :D
It's been suchhh a long time since i've blogged. To those that still follow me will surely be surprised when you see my blog updated in your feed!
I've decided to start blogging again because instead of moping around my house doing nothing, I'd like to use this blog as an excuse to do something exciting everyday (Hopefully).
I have actually considered doing vlogs but i'm just TOO SHY and AWKWARD!
Maybe someday when I gain more courage and find that people actually enjoy knowing what am I up to in life then yeah I would!

I am still making song covers but not as often as before.
Recently I've been very into baking and have been truly inspired by the anime Yumeiro Patissiere.
I have this craving for desserts, especially cakes. I find them super yummy. That's actually really weird cause before that I couldn't really take sweet stuff. but now.....SWEEEEEETSSSS! :D

Not only that, just this year, few months back I tried cosplaying and it was REALLY fun!
I had so much fun and I actually think i might do it again!
It was all thanks to a friend of mine, Chia Mei, who guided me through it all from "I wanna try cosplaying" to "I wanna cosplay again!"
I have many pictures, so soon I'll put them up in another post!
I also have short videos of Chia Mei performing! She really sang good! In my opinion, she was the best singer on that day! Good job!!

Because of cosplaying, I learnt how to sew! The internet taught me how and mommy taught me how to use the sewing machine. I really didn't know sewing could be so much fun! After sewing my cosplay costume, I still wanted to continue sewing, so i searched up what is easy to sew.
The results were a Kimono Cardigan! I started sewing them and one day just decided to sell them :)
I shall elaborate all these in another post as well! I also sewed a dinner dress for my mom! I hope she loved it! It was my first time and the workmanship wasn't all that good but I'm sure if she gives me another chance to sew another dress, i'd do better! I promise mommy! *eyes full of hope*

As to why I am so free, I just finished my A levels this mid year! I got my results 1-2 months back.
I definitely could've done better but knowing how I did, I'm actually satisfied with my results!
I'm planning on only starting my degree next year because I don't wanna be facing books just yet, and a gap year is far too long for me. I'd forget everything by then.
What I wanna do, i'm not too sure yet but I don't have many options so i'm trying to work with it.

One more thing is that my love for anime came back, once again! I've actually been watching it everyday since the beginning of this year! It just helps me get through the days and they are very inspiring (as I mentioned about baking) and brilliant and have beautiful soundtracks too. If you guys have any to recommend to me, please do as I am searching for new ones everyday. Also, if you'd like any recommendations, do ask as I'm am very willing to share!

That is all for now! Just an update i guess.
Till next time,
Elayne.